The Cost of Greed (Pt 2)

* Episode (must be logged into Patreon to view)

★★★ (3 Stars)

Reviewed by Mick P.

THIS IS A THREE STAR REVIEW BECAUSE WHILE THE BUSINESS DID EXACTLY WHAT IT SAID IT WOULD DO, WHAT IT DID SUCKED. THIS IS MY GENERAL REVIEW GUIDELINE THAT I APPLY TO ALL OF MY REVIEWS ON THIS SITE: DOES IT DO THE JOB? THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. IS THE JOB IT DOES GOOD? ALSO IMPORTANT.

★★★★ (4 Stars)

Reviewed by Elaine R.

Dropped my coat off here and got some chips directly and directly won a LOT in the black colossus, bought my coat back and also another, better coat.

★ (1 Star)

Reviewed by Gregg G.

NOT A COAT CHECK!

★★ (2 Stars)

Reviewed by Keiko N.

Still not super sure why Chip is behind glass and I had to feed my coat into a sort of plastic hatch. Not sure what’s happening there because it got stuck and first Chip said he couldn’t get out because of “protocol” and then he just opened a door and came around the front and pulled the coat out and took it back with him.

★★★ (3 Stars)

Reviewed by Ludwig O.

this isn’t a coat check

## Cast

* Austin Walker
* Alexa Baker (Ali Acampora)
* Jake the Jackal (Art Martinez-Tebbel)
* Syd Ruiz (Sylvia Clare)

## Plot

The episode opens with Alexa helping the Graysand Paranormal receptionist, Orville, with the coffee machine. He asks them what they’re working on, and they say it’s a “sea one”, as they believe the paranormal creature to have come out of the ocean. Alexa says that this is her first time dealing with a sea creature, which Syd is surprised by since they are next to the ocean.

Jake suggests they go to the Museum of Maritime Oddities, and they take a jitney to get there with their equipment. There is an exhibit on the creature that Alexa read about in the Bluff City Current, which enables the team to get further information on the creature.

Olive, the museum‘s receptionist, tells the team about selkies and kelpies, which they believe might be the creature that was seen. Alexa thinks the creature is a selkie and so she believes that they need to find a coat for the creature so that the selkie can return to the ocean.

The team heads to Cash4Coats (the boardwalk location). Alexa does a confessional from the van (“when I saw that coat, I knew I had to destroy it”). After some confusion, Alexa asks Chip Directly if he has gotten any coats recently that are especially extravagant and warm, like a seal coat. Chip says that he does have a coat that matches that description, a very heavy house coat that is made out of strange material. Alexa puts her arm in to test how the coat feels and the weight of the coat is almost painful, and she feels a strong call to the sea. Chip says that the coat will be $300, but he will accept $400.

Alexa maintains eye contact with Chip as she tears the coat in half. There is a cut to Jake in a confessional exclaiming in shock at her actions. When the coat pulls in half, the sweet smell from the casino fills their air. The coat also doesn’t fray the way you expect, instead appearing as though the material has been burned.

Orville calls, telling them to turn on the radio. They do, and they can hear the siren’s song playing on every channel. It sounds attractive and mellow, calling Alexa towards the casino.

Chip freaks out at Alexa ripping the coat (“I’m gonna collect one day!”), but Alexa remains calm, throwing the coat on the floor and leaves. Syd is already in the van, pulling it up on the boardwalk wearing a ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ hat she accidentally stole on her rush out. Jake has to run back into Cash4Coats to grab the camera that Syd dropped.

As they drive back to the office, they pass under the casino walkway and the aquarium surrounding it is glowing. The team discuss Alexa ripping the coat, and Jake and Syd are openly distressed by Alexa’s actions as they believe it will cause the creature to be angry at them, but she believes that the coat was cursed and so the creature will be thankful.

Alexa is able to prepare the ghost translator machine, but unfortunately it translates the creature’s words from gaelick but the creature should have been translated from scottish gaelick. Orville wishes them luck (“I hope I see you again!”)..

The team drives to the casino, deciding to flank the creature. Jake enters from the Black Colossus side and Syd and Alexa enter from the Menagerie side. Jake enters the Black Colossus, finding it to be very busy. A few fans approach him and ask him for autographs (“let me get a jelfie!”). Jake takes the selfie with the fans and pushes through the crowd to the elevator to the skybridge.

Alexa and Syd enter through the Menagerie and find it to be very empty. They can hear sounds of all the slot machines going off indicating wins, even though there is no one at them. Above them, at the top of the elevator, they can hear a strange noise, like wind and the siren’s song. Alexa heads up the escalator, followed by Syd. When they are half-way up, the escalator turns on. The other escalator turns on, and Alexa realises the escalator and the other electronics in the casino are combining to play the siren’s song.

As they reach the top of the escalator, Alexa transported to a Scottish loch, surrounded by wildlife making the siren’s song. Where the skybridge would be, is still a door, standing alone in the wilderness. Syd follows her and fades away a moment after her. Syd contacts Jake on the walkie talkie, and quickly updates him on the situation.

Jake moves to open the door, but is stopped by Jakob. Jakob tells him to back off as his team are already inside. Jake says his team is most likely dead, as they have waited too long to give Jakob the signal to enter. Jake says that he’s going in, with Jakob following him. They see the inside of the skybridge with Syd and Alexa, with no sign of the forest of the Trenton team although once he enters the skybridge, Jake also find himself transported to the loch.

To Syd and Alexa, it appears that Jake and Jakob have both phased into existence. Jakob has a gun, which Jake expresses surprise at.

Alexa walks forward towards the lake, pulling out an aquamarine crystal to give herself strength, and pulls out her cell phone. When the water is up to her ankles, she activates a translation ap, and speaks to the creature (“you can stay here, if you want”). She begins to understand the song, and that the siren had been a woman who had been attacked by her town for being a witch, thrown into the ocean, and had swam towards Bluff City to be free of the ocean.

The siren opens the door. Jakob holds up the gun at her. Jake convinces him to put the gun down. The siren walks back to the door and the others follow. When they walk through the door, they are back in skybridge on the Black Colossus side, with the siren walking towards the Menagerie side.

The aquarium is now empty, and then appears to be still under construction, and the Bluff City outside seems to be from the past. The siren opens the door to show the Menagerie under construction. Jake asks why they’re here and the siren answers (“my song heard their song”).

She heads deeper into the Menagerie, past the rest of the terrified Trenton team, and past the casino workers, which the team can now see are skeletons. The siren says that the Menagerie was built with real people that they worked until they were skeletons. The floor gives way underneath them, cutting off the song, then more skeletons come from behind them to repair the floor.

Alexa asks if there’s anything they can do to stop it, and Syd said she thinks it already happened. The siren says they cannot be helped, as she does not know how to free them. Mint suggests that they could find their bodies and free them that way.

The siren says that she knows what happened to her jacket, but that it turned out okay as it meant that she could talk to them. Alexa offers to pinkie swear to help, and the siren accepts, leaving Alexa with a tattoo of a seaweed pinkie ring. The siren walks them back to the door.

They decide to look for the records. Alexa says that if they can’t find the records, they could also dig up the bodies. Jake is shocked by this, as it is vandalism. Alexa asks if the Trenton team will help them, and they agree, after some reluctance.

As they open the door, Millennium Black is waiting for them. He is mildly surprised to see the Trenton team, and asks them if they have found out what happened. Syd shows him the footage she shot. Jake asks him what they should do, and Millennium says that as far as he’s concerned they did their job. He does have another job for them, if they want to “go a little further for the city”. They can either publicly expose the Verandas or put the bodies to rest. Alexa says she would like to do both. Their plan is now to release the footage and to dig up the bodies.

Millennium says he never wants to see the Trenton team in “his town” again, and Jakob talks back. Before anyone can react, Millennium has Jakob against the wall, laughing before he lets him go, walking away.

Months later the video goes viral, but most people believe it to be a hoax or some kind of promotion for a movie. In the interim, the team have been researching the identities of the dead workers, in order to contact their families and put them to rest. What they find out is that the dead workers, around 15 total, is that not all of them workers have died on the same day, that they are people who have died over the course of the Veranda family’s operation in Bluff City, and they are using these skeletons as free labour.

The team, under the direction of the siren, sets about slowly consecrating the casino - coming in one at a time, each day to wipe down the surfaces with holy water, or switching the chips for blessed chips. They are also encouraged by the protestors outside, who don’t believe the video but do believe that the casino is exploitative.

Through the use of rituals, Alexa brings the skeletons back to life for 24 hours, giving them a chance to say goodbye and live their lives for a short time before they go into the afterlife. Millennium ensures that they are taken care of for their final day.

One of the skeletons insists on staying behind to help stop this kind of thing from happening again. The selkie also stays, and opens a crystal shop on the boardwalk.

Alexa takes a two week vacation, and she takes the time to relax. She goes to a jeweller in town and gets the aquamarine she was holding when she contacted the selkie made into a necklace which she gives to the selkie. The selkie checks it first, in case it’s a trap, but she does wear it (“I had to check” “I understand”).