Chapter Eighty-Five: The Nelson Paradox

Title Card

**Chapter Eighty-Five: The Nelson Paradox** is the fifth episode of Season 7 of *Tales From The Darkside,* and the eighty-fifth overall. The episode serves as the fifth episode of the Belsen Arc, and the climax of the arc itself. The episode aired on December 8, 2023.

## Synopsis

**THE BRIDGE BETWEEN NELSON AND BELSEN** — After many mysterious events happening in Belsen, Bryson uncovers the mysteries behind the town that change his life.

## Plot

A body lies at the borders of Belsen, revealed to be Katie. Meanwhile, it’s revealed that many previously deceased citizens have just come back from the dead, including Bryson, Sonia, Gordon, and Tania. However, the resurrected have no memories of the previous events, almost as if they are distant memories. The Belsen race has become irrelevant, and the citizens have returned to a mostly normal life.

Yasmin wakes up, and Bryson runs into the kitchen and asks, “Honey, where’s Emily?” Yasmin questions, “Emily?” Bryson reiterates, “Yes? Emily, our daughter?” “Daughter? We don’t have a daughter.” Bryson is confused, but tells Yasmin, “Must’ve been a dream. Hey, I’m gonna head to Carson’s house for a bit. I need to talk to him about school.” Yasmin gives him toast, and Bryson heads out.

He arrives at Carson’s house, and Bryson asks him, “Dude, haven’t you felt weird today?” Carson answers, “Now that you mention it, something weird did happen. This thing was on the ground in my room this morning.” Carson gives Bryson a Dodge supercharger, to which Bryson responds, “It feels familiar, but I don’t drive a Dodge.” Veronica walks into the room, says hi to Bryson, then tells Carson, “Babe. We gotta go work. Remember? We have to calm the situation.” Bryson asks, “What situation? Maybe I can help.” Veronica responds, “No, this job is more of an Angela problem. She knows how to deal with cases like this.” Bryson returns home, but Yasmin tells him, “Sorry, I gotta head to school. Maybe you should work there with me.” Bryson thinks, “I thought I already did. Why do I feel like I’ve already done this before?”

At Belsen High, multiple students, including Johnathan, Ethan and Melissa, have had an outbreak of an unknown rash. Angela calls for the school to be shut down for a bit, and calls upon The Group to help her. A half-molten body comes out from the closet, and targets Angela. Luckily, Bryson arrives and shoots the creature, killing it. Angela takes a closer look, and finds out it was Olaf. The Group arrives, and are confused. Bryson suddenly has deja vu, which shows Olaf dying in an explosion. Bryson then realizes, “Oh my god. I think I know what’s happening.” Suddenly, Katie walks into the class, and asks everyone what’s up. She points at Bryson, and tells him, “I know as well.”

The Group, Bryson and Katie all sit in a circle. Katie begins, “Okay, so we live in Belsen. However, there’s a parallel universe. Well, we’re the parallel universe to the prime universe, Nelson. The universes are conjoined, and we need to split them, or we’ll all die. How do you think Emily and Olaf died? They died in the Nelson universe.” Bryson asks, “So how are we supposed to do that?” “We need you to become a living battery of sorts, and write stories about Belsen, basically making new stories, and not having Belsen latch onto Nelson.” Yasmin objects, saying, “No, I’m not about to leave Bryson to sacrifice himself just for some universe.” Katie answers, “Yasmin. It’s okay. It’ll only take a few seconds, but eventually, we’ll forget about Bryson’s sacrifice and move on, eventually living a normal life.” Yasmin cries, and hugs Bryson goodbye.

Bryson then goes into a bunker. The next day, everyone had forgotten about Bryson, and moved on. Katie then narrates, “And thus, Bryson has sacrificed himself by staying in a bunker for all of eternity. The living battery keeping Belsen and Nelson separated has worked. You might be wondering, ‘What’s going on in Nelson?‘ Why don’t we head there and see?” Back in Nelson, the Argos Dam has exploded, but the water only spills a bit. Bryson and Yasmin are confused, and head up the mountain to find the remainder of The Group.

## Kills/Deaths

Katie Jackson (Belsen): Murdered

Emily Gutierrez: Erased from existence

Olaf Sambers (Belsen): Body half-molten, later shot and killed

## Revival/Resurrected

Bryson Martinez (Belsen), Sonia Lane (Belsen), Gordon Molina (Belsen), Tania Thompson (Belsen), Katie Jackson (Belsen): Resurrected

## Trivia

* The episode title is a reference to The CW’s *Riverdale* episode “Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox.”
* The title card, which shows the town sign saying “No Place Like Home” references Bryson figuring out about the bridge between Nelson and Belsen.
* The episode is the first episode to feature resurrections and deaths in the same episode.
	+ By extension, it’s the first episode to feature a character die and be revived in the same episode, being Belsen’s Katie Jackson.