The Pauline Phoenix Experience

Spoiler warning!
alertThis article contains major plot details for **BOTH SEASONS** of Dead End: Paranormal Park. If you haven't seen the series yet, and don't want to know anything, stop reading now.

> I could stay here forever with Pauline, with **my** Pauline.
>
> Norma, to Barney

### Writer

* Brydie Lee-Kennedy
* Hamish Steele

### Director

Liz Whitaker

**The Pauline Phoenix Experience** is the eighth episode of the first season of *Dead End: Paranormal Park*, and is the eighth episode overall.

## Summary

Norma discovers a portal into Pauline Phoenix's movies — and a new mystery emerges when the friends follow her there.

## Plot

The episode starts of with the main cast, alongside a young Pauline (as "Gail"), in the show *Dead End* with Norma as Patience Bonaparte, Barney as Reginald, Pugsley as the Uncle ("Charlie Bonaparte" as Norma states in "The Job"), and Courtney as Mildred. They are playing the parts in the show until Pugsley snaps out of it. He bites Barney's leg to snap him out of it, with Barney breaking the fourth wall before getting sucked into the "literal" fourth wall. Pugsley jumps after him, finding themselves and the others in another film. After Norma (as "Sir Spheroid") chops off some of Barney's hair (temporarily due to it not being real), Barney, Pugsley, and Courtney all run into the next film.

Barney recognizes this film (*Dynamite Doris*) and realizes when Pauline starts to glitch, it might be a good idea to play along with the film. After realizing it works, he gets excited; until he realizes that the first person she kills is the sheriff and he's "The Sheriff." Before he can do anything, Norma (as "Alligator Anderson") walks in, with her and Pauline pulling out their guns shortly after. Courtney (as the Bartender) tells them not to fight and Barney tries to get Norma to snap out of it. Barney stands between the two to try and get them to stop, only for a blank to be shown and gunshots to be heard. He realises nothing happened and fakes dying, only to drag Norma out of the bar in an attempt to snap her out of the acting. She doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that none of it is real.

Courtney comes up to Barney and he uses this as an opportunity to wack her on the head, allowing Courtney to come back to reality. When they both realise they can't find Pugsley, they realize he's become a horse and burst out laughing (he then tells them to stop because he's afraid of heights). Not long after, the three head towards the fourth wall and wander into *Dr. Love*, where Norma is "unconscious" as Pugsley tries to wake her up. Pauline leaves the room, but not before kissing Pugsley on the cheek, leading to Pugsley complaining about the role he got. Norma suddenly sits up, asking if they want to swap. When Norma realizes what she did, she pretends to fall back into a coma. Soon after, Norma says she'd known none of it was real since *Dead End*. This prompts Barney to sit up in one of the other beds in the room and try to talk to her, but Norma runs out of the room saying that he doesn't understand. When asked to leave, so they can run after Norma, Courtney doesn't want to leave at first because she says that they've "got great snacks" in reference to the liquid inside the blood pouch.

In search of Norma, the three go through multiple different shows; a caveman movie, a mermaid movie, and a space movie. They try getting Norma's attention as they go through each of these before ending up in an exercise show. While Barney tries to convince Norma that she can't keep running away from it all (and Norma tries to tell him that she can), Courtney seems to be enjoying herself with the exercise and claims that she doesn't want to get involved with all the mushy human stuff. Norma admits that she doesn't want to go back because Pauline will be different, but runs off again before saying anything about Barney's further statements. Barney runs after her, falling as he watches many of the movies and shows that they'd just been in along the side. He eventually ends up back at Dead End, where Norma is still Patience Bonaparte despite knowing that none of it is real, unlike the others who are all themselves. Barney eventually convinces Norma that hiding away here isn't good (not without Courtney making jokes).

Before they all go back, Norma decides to see the insurance ad for herself. The group do their parts and watch as Pauline ignores her stunt double's (Barborah) advice and films the ad herself, only to fall off a cliff. The person holding the camera drops it, landing in a way that shows the rock Pauline must've hit with some of the red from her dress on it. Barborah runs down to her, crying, telling Pauline to wake up. Suddenly, Pauline's spirit possesses Barborah and attempts to erase the footage. The camera shuts off as Barney, Norma, Pugsley, and Courtney are all flung out of the TV. It's much darker than it was before and Pauline's ghost is gone. They realize that Pauline had died roughly 30 years ago, possessing Barborah to keep herself alive and, once she was done with her, possessed more and more of the impersonators to not only stay young forever, but keep her career alive. Also, Barney realize that despite Jennifer Swan being her latest victim, although she was free now, Pauline needs a new body.

Norma is upset after everything she witnessed, but despite being told that it wasn't a joke, Courtney thinks that Pauline tricking her "idiot fans" into believing her was great and she can see why Norma liked her so much now. This leads to Norma starting to cry, with Barney and Pugsley telling Courtney to knock it off. Courtney tries to act like being told that she wasn't allowed to be with them right now didn't hurt her, but her voice starts to shake, giving away the fact that it did. Shortly after, Barney, Norma, and Pugsley are caught by security. All three are labelled as traitors, being banned from entering park for life. Courtney is then seen being upset over them, and Pauline convinces her to help get her a new body, offering a trip down the elevator in return.

## Features

### Characters

* Employees of Phoenix Parks:
	+ Barney Guttman
	+ Norma Khan
* Pugsley Guttman
* Courtney Cahatel
* Pauline Phoenix
* Jennifer Swan (flashback)
* Barborah Winslow
* Gord (cameo)
* Temeluchus (indirectly mentioned)

### Locations

* [Phoenix Parks]]
	+ The Pauline Phoenix Experience
		- The TV
* Elevator (mentioned)

### Transcript

*Read the **transcript** for the episode here!*

## Trivia

* It is revealed that Courtney is somewhat of a gold digger, as she states that her type is "rich and hot."
* It's shown that Pugsley is afraid of heights.
* This is the second episode to feature an onscreen death, albeit this time, being a flashback.
* Despite being in-character as Patience, when Gail hugs her, Norma still shows signs of being uncomfortable with physical contact. This may have hinted that she knew that they were not in the real world all along (as revealed by Norma later in the episode), or just that she will always be herself no matter where she is.

### Cultural References

* One of the films the gang goes through is a reference to the animated film *The Little Mermaid*.

## Continuity

* Barney recalls the events of "The Tunnel" and "Trust Me" during the scene where he tries to convince Norma to come back to the real world.
* Flashbacks of Jennifer from the first episode are shown again when Barney and Pugsley think back to Pauline's latest victim.
	+ Pauline also recalls Courtney transferring Temeluchus into Pugsley's body.

## Errors

* The summary for the episode has a few errors;
	+ Norma doesn't "discover the portal," as in the previous episode, Pugsley, Barney, and Courtney were all sucked in, whilst Norma jumped in.
	+ There is a typo; "when the friends" should be "when *her* friends."
* Despite Dr. Love not fully pressing her lips onto Pugsley's cheeks, it still left a kiss mark.