What Lies Beneath

**"What Lies Beneath"** is the eighth episode of Season One of the Archive 81 Netflix TV series and the righth episode of the show overall. It first aired on January 14, 2022.

## Summary

*The Otherworld beckons. Melody circles back to the Visser, where a new device captures a sacrifice. So much depends on Dan's journey into the unknown.*

## Plot

Melody begs and yells to be let out of Rockland, saying she does not belong there. Dr. Turner approaches her, so she asks if he is part of Samuel's cult, but he tells her that he brought her there because it is the only way to keep her safe. Dr. Turner tells her that he knows the man she saw at the séance, but he introduced himself as Alexander Davenport. Melody tells him that he knew everything about her, but Dr. Turner says that he kept that information anonymous. Melody tells him that Samuel had sent that letter to the convent in order to lure her to the building. Dr. Turner tells her that he is delusional and thinks he needs her, which is why he had brought her to Rockland. She tells him she does not want to be locked up there, so he tells her to give him a few hours so he could get her out of the city. Melody looks him in the eye and tells him that he had taken Jess and was planning on using her for his ritual, having grooming her for years. Melody says that they need to help her, so he says that he would call Child Protective Services and promises to take care of it, but Melody does not believe him, wanting to be let go from there. However, Dr. Turner tells her that she needs to see someone first.

Melody and Dr. Turner walk down the hall into a room, where Anabelle is painting obsessively on the wall. Anabelle turns around and sees Melody, hugging her and happy she was there. Melody says that she had meant to visit her again, but is interrupted by Dr. Turner, who locks Melody in as well. Melody asks why she was painting on the walls and Anabelle says that it was because she was not brought any paper. Melody recognizes the woman, saying she had done something terrible a long time ago, murdering someone, which makes Anabelle say that she could not be let out then. Anabelle starts drawing lines on the face, saying that she was not dead but in the other place, "The Otherworld". Anabelle says that Iris calls her and wants to go home, which she knows because the ferryman has arrived. Anabelle says that he cannot be seen anymore, but was up there - the comet opens the door. Melody realizes that the ritual would happen that night and wants to leave, but Anabelle tells her to stay with her. Melody says that she needs to go back with Jess and leaves through the window.

Anabelle tells Mark and Dan about how Melody escaped and Dan asks if she is sure that his father was not working with Samuel, but she says that that was what she remembers. Anabelle says that she has been painting Melody for a long time and hears her calling. Mark tells Anabelle that Melody died in a fire at the Visser, but Anabelle says she did not and wants to go home, needing Dan to find her. Anabelle also says that Jess left something for Dan and hands him a box of tea bags, which she wanted to keep safe. Mark says that he looked up Jessica Lewis but did not find anything and Anabelle lets them know that her new name is Sister Mary Cecilia and went to Haiti just recently. Dan wonders what is in the tapes, but Anabelle does not know.

Mark and Dan watch the tapes, where they hear a distorted growl and different noises. Dan brings out a video camera made for kids and knows that Jess had one. There they see a video Jess shot asking Melody what she wanted to do growing up. The other videos show static except for another one that shows Melody, saying that she is looking for Jess, who was being held against her will. She says that her footage is submitted as proof against Samuel, also adding that if something happens to her, Samuel is responsible.

Melody grabs a key and moves through the Visser building, going up to the 6th floor. There, she looks for Jess, but nobody answers the first door. She walks into the other door and hears chanting - she hears Jess and wants her to open the door, but Jess cannot do so. Melody asks her to stay where she is and tries to use the fire escape. There, through a window she is able to see Jess and gets in the room with her. She tells her that she is fine and wonders if she would be a part of it, but Melody says that she was not and sets a chair so that the door cannot open. She tells Jess that they need to go through the window, but Jess says that she is needed since she could hold a new world inside of her. Melody tells her that she is not safe, but Jess says that she had already been warned that Melody would try to stop them and wants to help them, since it was her destiny. Melody tells Jess that she was going to be sacrificed by slitting her throat since it was part of what their cult did. Jess has a hard time accepting it, but Melody tells her that she was chosen because she wanted to help people. Melody asks where her mother is, but Jess does not know. Melody tells her that they need to go through the fire escape, and they start leaving when a man calls for her. Melody tells Jess that she needs to go and run, saying that she would be right behind her.

Jess goes down the fire escape as John Smith walks in and asks Melody where she had come from. When John asks where Jess is, Melody does not answer, but John sees her running down the street. John asks what Melody had done and punches her straight across the face.

When Melody comes to, she is surrounded by Samuel, Tamara, and Cassandra while tied to a chair. The Circle is playing behind them and Samuel tells her that she had come back home. Melody tells him that his vessel was gone and not coming back, but Samuel says that that was fine since she was the one he really needed. Cassandra strokes Melody's hair as Tamara takes off her necklace and wears the black one. Samuel looks at Tamara in the eye, and she nods, accepting her fate. Everybody gets into position as Samuel begins speaking the ancient language, beginning the ritual.

Melody yells to be let out as Samuel begins the ritual and everybody begins humming and placing their masks on their face. John approaches Melody and grabs her, bringing her towards Samuel while she calls for help. Samuel grabs the knife and cuts the palm of her hand, which John places on the Kaelego figure, covering it in blood. After that, Tamara approaches Samuel, who slits her throat and she dies instantly. Samuel asks Kaelego to come forth and a blue portal opens above them and stretches into the ground. Inside the portal is Iris Vos, which Samuel does not understand. She looks at Melody, who turns around when Jess calls her name. Melody tells Jess to run and Iris turns around to look at her as well. Jess records everything as Iris vanishes and the portal starts covering everything.

Mark summarizes everything, saying that the ritual was done at the Vos mansion, which had collapsed with no survivors or bodies found with the same thing happening at the Visser in 1994. The ritual was done again and disaster struck, but now they had a better look. Mark says that if he believes everything they had seen, they got a glimpse into The Otherworld and the ritual opens a door, where the worlds intersect. Iris had tried to pull Kaelego out, but was pulled inside instead, so Dan realizes that Melody could be there as well and the visions that he has been having are a way Melody has of saying she is trapped, but they do not know how to get her out. Dan says that Davenport probably has a plan, but Mark tells him that he is lucky Davenport had not killed him before. Dan says that his father had tried to help and failed, so Dan says that perhaps everything he lost all comes back to that moment and he has a chance to make things right.

Dan is at Virgil's front gate and he says that their agreement was clear, but Dan tells him that there is another tape, which Virgil says is impossible. Dan tells him that something else was left behind the night of the fire - the end of Samuel's story, which makes Virgil open the gate. Dan leaves his car behind and walks inside with Virgil, where he shows him how Samuel killed Tamara. The tape ends and Virgil wants to know if there is more, but Dan wants to ask some questions. Dan says that Virgil knew what was on the tapes before he even touched them, but the latter says that is not true, but Dan knows that Virgil believed something was on those tapes about his brother's cult and the Vos film. Virgil says that Samuel had told him all about it and he believed his brother was crazy at the time. Dan asks what is on those tapes and Virgil tells him that they are a glimpse into another world and waited 25 years to see them because he did not have the tapes, only getting them at an auction the year before.

They ended up at a facility because Dr. Turner had put them there, but Virgil does not know why. He tells Dan that they burned down his house in order to destroy them, also saying that there are people that wanted to raise that demon more than anything and people who wanted to avoid that more than anything and his father was on the other end of those people - his family paying the price and Dan's survival being purely accidental. Dan tells Virgil that Melody is still alive and in the Otherworld and needs his help to get her out, which Virgil says is impossible since it is not a hospitable environment for a human being, having spent the better part of 20 years researching the properties of that dimension, but Dan tells him that Samuel is in there as well, playing the rest of the tape for him. Virgil describes Samuel as irrational and has no reason to rescue him from the tomb he had trapped himself in willingly, which angers Dan, so he charges at Virgil and the two fight until he pulls out a gun. Virgil says that he is sorry because he really does like him, but Mark shows up and hits him in the head.

Dan walks into the hole he made in the pantry and goes downstairs with Mark, who is nervous about Virgil sending people to kill them. However, Dan says that he went there to get Melody out and says that everything they need is there. Dan tells Mark that they know how to do everything, but his friend reminds him that both rituals ended in total destruction and would not let himself get his throat slit. However, Dan says that he is not trying to raise the demon, but open a door instead, which Mark says that he would not let him do because it is suicide. Dan tells him to go since it is not safe and it would make a great story for his podcast, but Mark says that he had not been doing all that for the podcast, but because he cares about him and does not want him to die. He says that if Dan was really going to go through with the plan, then he would not leave him there and both of them hug.

Mark and Dan head downstairs to the room identical to the Vos mansion with Melody's tapes playing, which surprises Mark, saying that the place was very weird. Mark grabs the book and hopes that Melody is inside, but is called by Mark who has a gun pointed to his head by Bobbi. Bobbi tells Dan that she does not know if Virgil was going to make it; he says that the hit was in self-defense, but she says that he only wanted to hijack the place. Dan says that Melody was trapped and they needed to help her, which makes Bobbi ask why he would risk his life for somebody he does not even know, but only a shadow. Dan says that it is not like that and Melody was counting on him. However, she tells him that the ritual did not work for the others, and it would not work for him since they did not have everything they needed. She tells them that the book should have been destroyed since the Vos family stole it and it did not belong to them, but they failed to acquire the key they needed.

Mark realizes that Bobbi is a Baldung and Bobbi tells them that only a Baldung could open the door with both the spell and key. Dan wonders if she would get Davenport inside, but she says that she would never do that - he was only a means to an end. Mark wonders if she was going rogue and raising Kaelego, but Dan realizes that she was not there for that and wants to get Melody out too. Dan realizes that Bobbi is Melody's mother, and she tells them that she thought that if she gave her up, she would be safe and would not have to bear the burden of their bloodline, having no idea that she would go looking for her. Bobbi says that she has spent 25 years trying to get her back, knowing she was in there because she dreams about her every night, but she does not have magic anymore, so she needed Davenport to make that possible, someone to thin the veil enough to crack inside, which is what playing the footage does.

Bobbi, Dan, and Mark begin by trying to find the frequency to enter the other world. Dan mentions that Davenport had told him no human could survive there, but she tells him that Davenport has no idea what he is talking about, but it would be disorienting, and Kaelego would want to keep them there since he is lonely and would want them to surrender. She tells Dan that she could hold it open for five minutes and begins the ritual, telling him to follow the sound of the key to go back home. She covers the Kaelego figure in blood and begins chanting in the ancient language, opening the door to the Otherworld.

Dan walks into the door and wakes up, hearing birds chirp outside of what appeared to be Davenport's compound. He looks at his watch and hears a metronome clicking and his sister playing the eerie melody she would play before. She greets him, but keeps playing as he sits next to her. He tells her to stop playing and Dr. Turner walks down, saying that he liked what she was playing, also greeting Dan. His mother walks down and sets the dinner table, so they all sit down, as Dan realizes that he was living as if the fire had never happened. Dan remembers Melody and says that he needs to leave, but his father says that they could start again with the life he was supposed to have, but his voice distorts.

Dan runs through a hallway and calls for Melody, getting no answer until he walks into a door, which looks like the Visser community room. In there, he hears music and walks through a curtain which takes him to a church. There, he sees Melody playing music and she asks if it is him. He tells her to go with him, but she says that she is waiting for someone. Dan tells her that it is a trick, but she does not think so. He asks her to trust him and she admits she thought he was only a dream.

Melody grabs his hand and a loud sound starts breaking all the glass in the church, also hurting their ears. Dan and Melody run together until Dan realizes that they are supposed to be in the compound. Looking at the TV, he sees the compound there, and when he changes the channels, he gets different views of it. While Dan moves the TV around, Melody calls out while hearing faint chanting and gets separated from Dan. She hears the noises through the AC, but it stops when she opens it. Looking at herself in the mirror, she sees Kaelego approaching her, so she screams and Dan runs towards her, taking her through the hallway again until they reach a place where Dan can hear the key resonating. Through a door, Samuel appears and grabs Melody, dragging her through the door with Dan unable to follow.

Melody calls for Dan, but sees Bobbi there, who reaches her hand out and helps her get up. Melody asks if they know each other, but Mark asks where Dan is. Melody says that she does not know because he was right next to her, but Samuel was there as well. Mark calls for Dan, wanting to know where his friend is.

In the meantime, Dan wakes up at a hospital; he calls out to see if anyone was out there. A nurse walks up to him, saying that they were worried he would never wake up. She tells him he was out for 10 days. He asks for Mark, but tells him he had had no visitors. He asks how he got there and she says that he was luckier than the rest of his neighbors at the Visser building. He asks what year it is, but she says that she would get the doctor for him. On the TV, Dan sees that the year is 1994 and Kurt Cobain is pronounced dead, which makes him realize he is stuck in the past.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Dan Turner - Mamoudou Athie
* Melody Pendras - Dina Shihabi
* Samuel - Evan Jonigkeit
* Anabelle - Julia Chan
* Jess - Ariana Neal
* Mark Higgins - Matt McGorry
* Virgil Davenport - Martin Donovan
* Steven Turner - Charlie Hudson III
* Cassandra Wall - Kristin Griffith
* Bobbi - Jacqueline Antaramian
* John Smith - Eden Marryshow
* Tamara Stefano - Kate Eastman
* Iris Vos - Georgina Haig

### Additional cast

* Patient - Dan Gradijan
* Visser Tenant - Johnna Leary
* Visser Tenant - Daniel Johnson
* Array - Ailén Videla Ortiz