The Limits of Immortality

Season 1, Episode 8

**The Limits of Immortality** is the eighth episode in the Disenchantment series. It premiered on August 17, 2018.

## Synopsis

Elfo's been kidnapped! Bean, Luci, Sorcerio and the knights search for him, along with a magical pendant needed to complete the immortality potion.

## Plot

King Zøg talks to the statue of Queen Dagmar, while Jerry, the dimwitted servant, watches through the oracle fire. Zøg goes to see Sorcerio, who is working on the elixir of life, but all he can produce is a Truth Serum, and shampoo that makes a horse laugh.

Bean, Luci, and Elfo walk though the town market to pick up turnips, but they see a parade in the market. Elfo gets kidnapped by one of the entertainers, and Bean tries to catch him, but the kidnapper escapes.

Meanwhile, Sorcerio goes to see Odval about his inability to create the elixir of life, and they go to the burned-down candy house to get the Omnicon, a magical book. They bring it to Zøg with the information that the elf's blood must be distilled in a vial called the Eternity Pendant, and can mount a crusade to find the vial, and the kidnapped Elfo.

Bean, Pendergast, Turbish, Mertz, and Mertz's mother visit Gwen the witch to ask about the book. She directs them to her ex-husband, Malfus, who lives on the Devil's Snow Cone, a mountain far to the north. They pass through the single trap with two parts, and enter his cave. He tells them a story about how he met Gwen, used the pendant, discovered that immortality was a curse, and disposed the pendant over the edge of the world. As a thank you, they give him the laughing horse, which cheers up Malfus considerably.

They visit the edge of the world, and Bean purchases rope from the gift shoppe clerk, Daryl. She climbs down the edge, but slips and falls, pulling down Sorcerio and Luci. They are saved by a griffin, who informs them that she caught the pendant and traded it to a King with a crown of snakes. Big Jo, the exorcist, arrives and informs them that the King belonged to the lost city of Cremorrah. Bean realizes that Big Jo has kidnapped Elfo, and she and the others ride the griffin to catch him. Bean and Luci are captured, and placed in a cargo ship with Elfo.

The group arrives in a desert, and Big Jo informs Elfo that the Pendent will activate and ding when he approaches it. Bean fashions Elfo into a DIY metal detector, and they find a way into the city, where everyone has been turned to stone. Big Jo tells them that Cremorrah had a snake-economy, and the empire of Maru, with its mouse-based economy, grew jealous and turned them to stone. The King was the lone survivor, and he attempted to revive his kingdom, but too was turned to stone.

They approach the frozen King, but an assassin from Maru in the service of Emperor Cloyd and the Enchantress fights Big Jo and his assistant, Porky. In the cover of the sword-fight, Bean, Luci, and Elfo find the vial and begin to run. Big Jo attempts to stop her from leaving, but the assassin cuts off his arm (again), and then fell on his own sword, his mission being complete. Bean, Luci, and Elfo fill up the city with sand. Big Jo is buried, and the griffin rescues them from the vortex. It caries them, along with Sorcerio, back to the kingdom, while Malfus offers words of wisdom from the background.

## Cast

* Abbi Jacobson as Princess Bean
* Eric Andre as Luci/Pendergrast/Knight at Cliffside/Porky
* Nat Faxon as Elfo
* John DiMaggio as King Zøg/Laughing Horse
* Tress MacNeille as Gwen/Mertz's Mother/Darrell
* David Herman as Jerry/Griffon
* Maurice LaMarche as Odval/Big Jo/Scottsman
* Lucy Montgomery as The Enchantress
* Billy West as Sorcerio/The Jester/Mertz
* Jeny Batten as Gwen
* Rich Fulcher as Cloyd/Turbish/Malfus the Philosophe

## Deaths

* Sir Mortimer (trap part 1)
* Sir Unknown 1 (trap part2)
* Sir Unknown 2 (falls of edge of world)
* Porky (presumed; unknown)
* Assassin (suicide)

## Callbacks

* **Scotch Eggs:** Elfo find himself under a kilt again.
* **Everyone Hates Daryl**: the engraving that reads *I hate Daryl*.
* **Wild Party:** the "disrespectful" party at Cremorrah is a callback to the one in S01E04.
* **Birdman Rides Again**: the second rescue is a callback to the earlier one.

## Cultural references

* **James Bond** / **Miss Moneypenny**: As secretary to Odval, Miss Moonpence is an affectionate parody of Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond franchise. She appears in:
	+ ***Goldfinger*** (**1964**): when Big Jo says "No Mr. Elfo, I expect you to fry," this is a reference to the line "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
* ***Hitchhiker's Guide the Galaxy***: The Gift Shoppe at the Edge of the World is likely a reference to the "Restaurant at the Edge of the Universe."
* ***Discworld***: the edge of the world drop-off is reminiscent of that of Discworld.
* **Morris Men**: the dancing in the entertainment scene is Morris dancing, a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music which is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. usually wearing bell pads on their shins.
* ***Letter To His Father*** (**1919**): Malfus' book which is "more a letter to my father" is likely a reference to the letter Franz Kafka wrote to his father Hermann, indicting him for his emotionally abusive and hypocritical behaviour towards him.

## Trivia

* The King's line about finding the one true God is a reference to the Crusades.
* When Sorcerio puts on the "beak", this echoes the scene in the *Monty Python and the Holy Grail* with the "witch" and the turnip for a nose.
* Big Joe is a villain of the Bond variety, but doesn't think of himself as one.
* When Big Jo says "You're not a stone guard *guy!*" this is the sort of thing G.O.B in *Arrested Development* would say.

## Gaffs

* Malfus gives the direction to the edge of the world as "just up Cherrywood Road, take a right at the dance academy." Cherrywood *Lane* is shown on the map.
* In the scene where the assassin fights Porky, before the trio locate the pendant, Bean mentions sneaking out *"undercover of all the clanking"*. Luci suggests getting the pendant - a ridiculous thing for her to forget given it is the macguffin of the show - and the sword battle continues behind them *making no sound for 20 seconds.* The sound/action picks up after they find the pendant.
* Finding the pendant was Big Jo's sole reason for leading them all to Cremorrah, yet he seems to lose interest in it\* during the 20 seconds in which he could have easily grabbed it from the trio, just as Bean forgot it's importance 30 seconds earlier.\*
	+ Either this is *subverting the macguffin trope* (a risky strategy) or poor writing, It is risky because if the characters don't care, why should the audience?

## Quotes

**King Zøg:** Send all the knights on a quest for the vial. Cancel all other quests. We'll find the one true God next year.

**Big Jo**: Thank you for the information Birdman, you've saved me a lot of time. Unlike other villains, I shalln't be telling you my plan. Good day...Oh, and in my mind, I'm not a villain: I think what I am doing is good.

**Elfo**: "*What's going on? Why are people so excited?*"
**Bean**: "*Remember how people used to just work, starve or eat? Well now there's a* fourth *thing - entertainment.*"
**Luci**: "*Entertainment is just a tool that pacifies the masses and leads to the decay and ultimate collapse of civilization: let's clap along!*"

**Jerry**: Aww, he's like a coconut. Hard on the outside, but on the inside...coconut!

**Bean**: "*Where am I?*"
**Elfo**: "*In the hold of a cargo ship!*"
**Bean**: "*Elfo, where are you?*"
**Elfo**: "*In the hold of a cargo ship!*"

**Mrs Mertz**: "*But what if there's a third part? You're not sending my peanut in there.*"
**Mertz**: "*Mom!*"
**Mrs. Mertz**: "*What? "You put on metal clothes, I'm supposed to stop worrying about you".*"
**Luci**: "*I rather die than listen to this... I'm goin' in!*"

**Luci**: "*What the?!*"
**Big Jo**: "*We can do this the easy way or the hard way. (* Shows bottle for "easy way" and razor knives for "hard way)'**"**
**Luci**: "*I'm all about the easy way.*"

**Big Jo**: "*Of course. Cremorrah.*"
**Luci**: "*It's that creepy exorcist!*"
**Big Jo**: "*I have a name, you know.*"
**Sorcerio**: "*Big Jo.*"

**Luci**: "*Sup?*"
**Bean**: "*Why did you jump?*"
**Luci**: "*Eh, Mrs. Mertz looked at me like she was going to say something.*"

**Elfo:** Big Jo and Porky have a really toxic relationship.

**Unknown Knight:** They call it an edge, but it's more of a gentle sloooooope! (Loses footing and falls)

## References

1. ↑ Do you expect me to talk? *youtube.com*
2. ↑ MPATHG Witch Scene *youtube.com*
3. ↑ G.O.B. *arresteddevelopment.wikia.com*