The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4

**The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4** is the second episode of Act 2 of The Mandela Catalogue that premiered on November 25, 2022 at 8 PM CST. The episode focuses on the aftermath of The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 2.

## Plot

### in the beginning

The episode begins with an animated short that depicts a simplified story of the creation of everything from the book of Genesis. A narrator walks the viewer through the process, beginning with the creation and separation of light from darkness followed by the sun and moon forming to symbolize the day and night respectively. Along with this, the separation of sky from sea and sea from land is shown with life of all varieties being created to inhabit the three new domains. However, during this sequence, a tree in the background glitches and something is seen appearing beside it. The story returns to discuss the creation of Adam and Eve as they nap happily through the day, but then the time suddenly cuts to night before Adam is shown waking up and walking alone through the darkness.

He eventually stumbles upon the tree from earlier with what appears to be a robed figure standing under it and a thick cloud of fog eventually clears to reveal an apple lying in the grass. The short ends with Eve waking up not long afterwards to see Adam standing over her, blocking her view of the stars above and causing her to be afraid.

Cut to highway with graffiti saying "NO USE ANYMORE TO TRY AND...", and we are then shown the MCPD building, and we hear Dave Lee talking to an individual named O'Brien over the phone. O'Brien tells Dave about his successful band gig at a church. He asks how Dave has been. Dave explains that local businesses like his haven't been doing well recently. O'Brien offers to help Dave get a job at the church if he ends up having to close down MandelaTECH.

We then see Evelin Miller, an employee, sorting through tapes, and we then see her looking at a paper attached to a tape, and one of them says "RESTORE". The back of it says "Dave, Same old procedure. Drop off when you're done. -Thatcher". Evelin, intrigued, decides to steal it for investigational purposes. Evelin is then seen walking in a room where she finds an old CRT TV, which says "PROPERTY OF DAVE, HANDS OFF!!!!!". We see the text "VIEWING INTENDED ONLY FOR MR. LEE", but Evelin looks at it anyway, and it shows the Toddler Stress Assessment Video from Vol. 1.

We then cut to a scene of what looks like someone sketching something, and after the drawing is finished, it looks like a weird, sketched version of Thatcher Davis, we are then shown Thatcher in his room before he then walks away, we are then shown a scene of Thatcher looking in a cabinet or a door, and Thatcher looks in another room/cabinet while lamenting over the lack of food he has before he closes it.

A video of Bythorne High Daily News plays. Lola Adair, a student, encourages people to join the art club. Sarah Heathcliff, an alumni of the school, introduces herself as the founder of the school's paranormal club. She says that she is looking for work partners to help her carry out private investigations, and provides her email address. It then cuts to her photo and text saying " - CURRENTLY AT LARGE - ", a present day reference to BPS still being wanted by the FBI. Adam Murray emails Sarah expressing his interest in joining the club. An image shows that Adam is also still at large. On a website, Sarah announces that Adam is the newest member of the BPC.

Sarah uploads a video announcing that the BPC has been rebranded to the Bythorne Paranormal Society. The video provides information saying that Sarah and Adam will do free private investigations from 4-11 PM.

On July 14, 2007, at 11:17 PM, Adam and Sarah arrive an abandoned building, now a crime scene. Adam sets up a camera in front a hallway and activates night vision on it. At 12:46 AM, he has Sarah activate an audio lure of people screaming. A door opens by itself. Soon after, multiple arms reach out of doors in the hall, terrifying Sarah. She begs Adam to stop, and they flee the building at 12:49 AM. As they are driving away, Sarah tells Adam that he will need someone else to accompany him on investigations. She says she will manage the BPS' online presence.

### two years later

Immediately after the events of Volume 2, dashcam footage shows Adam driving back home, implying he found Jonah dead and took their car. He is recording a voice message to Sarah, telling her that he's caught some good footage.

Cut to a texting app being used by Adam. He removes Jonah as a contact before asking Sarah if she heard his voicemail. She did not, and asks Adam how the visit to the woman's house went. Adam tells her that Jonah died. Shocked, Sarah demands that Adam call her. She tells him that someone will eventually find Jonah's corpse. Adam is quite nonchalant about it. She says that it's strange how she's more sympathetic to Jonah, who she hardly knew, than Adam. Sarah harshly orders Adam to make a memorial video for Jonah. After they hang up, she tells Adam that it's no wonder Evelin left him.

A population trend report for Mandela County from 1990-2009 is displayed, with the population dropping from 19,867 in 1990 to merely 1,075 in 2009. Thatcher Davis laments in his thoughts about the effects that the Alternates have had on the citizens of Mandela. He calls Ruth Weaver his guardian angel, who he left to die in an act of self-preservation. He tells Ruth that he will make her proud by exacting vengeance on the Alternate that killed her. Thatcher gets up in his bed to see a smiling entity staring at him from within his closet.

Cut to a phone call between Dave and Evelin. Evelin asks if he is firing her, which he denies. He tells her that he doesn't remember the last good day MandelaTECH has had. Evelin pleads with Dave to keep her job. Dave tells her that he will put in a good word for Evelin with his good friend who used to work at the police station. As he says goodbye, Evelin questions the old CRT TV and is about to ask why he still has it before he hangs up on her. Dave then calls O'Brien, telling him that he will take him up on his offer to work with him at the church. As the entire conversation takes place, Dave is seen looking in distress as he sees that Evelin has accessed the old TV and the tape he did not want anyone to touch.

### remembrance

We then see what seems to be Thatcher's alternate, who then disappears into darkness.

We then hear Thatcher Davis talking about being afraid of your own reflection, meaning him and his alternate, saying to himself as "a man without purpose", a world that doesn't need "him" and "a scared boy with a gun" referring to Mark Heathcliff, saying "Sound familiar?" in Mark's voice while the outside of Mark's house is shown, with a red box on his window of his bedroom, where Mark had died.

We then see Thatcher watching old films as he writes a letter to Ruth.

We are then back to Adam and Sarah, on the texting app with Sarah asking Adam if the memorial video is done, Adam says sure, but Sarah is confused on why Adam said sure, but Adam sends the memorial anyway, saying that its stupid to upload it because it makes it more dramatic then it needs to be, but Sarah doesn't care and says that it's his fault, and saying that it's his PR this time. Adam says whatever and uploads it, but the image is missing because it failed to upload, with text saying "A Celebration of Life". Sarah is confused on why the image failed to upload, which also confuses Adam, and Sarah says that it's not time for joking around, and that he needs to get the video done. Adam retorts that he accidentally sent the wrong file so he uploads draft 2 for Sarah to see, with Sarah wanting to ask why he's acting like this, but changes her mind as Adam sends the second draft. We are then shown a slide of a "special announcement" about Jonah with Adam remarking about how Jonah "brought a positive energy to an otherwise serious organization." But mid-sentence, the video cuts to footage of Adam in a room from the second night he stayed in the house, and a drawing of the Preacher or Messenger is shown. As Adam is about to open the closet door, a photo of flowers appears, with the memorial of Jonah Edmund Marshall filling the screen and showing that he lived from March 7th, 1988 to January 13th, 2009. After that fades out, Evelin Miller is shown instead of Jonah Marshall, saying that she's a special guest, and we hear her recording from mandelapolice.com, with text saying "ON THE PHONE: EVELIN MILLER". After that, we hear a recording of him and the alternate copying his words, scolding the alternate to shut up, with Jonah's car cam, until the video mysteriously crashes.

### correspondence

A computer software called Face Studio 2 appears on screen. An unsettling 3D model of a speaking head says that Face Studio 2 is able to make one's face say anything they want. The software requires the user to provide their personal details and three pictures of their face, demonstrated by three images of a man's face appearing, each image at a different view. The head says that Face Studio 2 now allows users to customize their saved faces even further. The guide ends with the head saying that digital technology has "come and saved us all", and tells users to tell others about the software. The screen glitches out and returns to show Adam's bedroom, with the TV on and his mother's hanging corpse present. (This "clip" is reused from The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 333.) The head incoherently speaks multiple sentences: "A thriving society of followers of the true savior...", and "A mess of tangled limbs danced around my bedroom. I held my breath, and waited for it to stop. I was too scared to..." The section ends with the head stretching to vertically cover the screen (appearing to be The Murray Household Alternate) and repeating "Truth" 8 times before freezing.

After receiving an email from Thatcher hiring her to work for the MCPD, Evelin enters the station, which is seemingly empty. She stumbles upon a room with a desk and images of Thatcher and Ruth plastered on the wall. The room is also connected to the archive room. Cut to Thatcher in his home. He gets a call from Dave, who tells Thatcher that he has moved on from his work at MandelaTECH. Upset, Thatcher tells Dave that he has no idea how to do anything that he relied on Dave to do for his investigations. Dave tells Thatcher that if he had given up on trying to solve the cases, he might be currently living at peace. He tells the former lieutenant that he needs to learn how to accept things he can't change from 17 years ago.

### malignance

Sitting at the desk, Evelin opens a drawer and finds a key inside. The scene cuts to a church where Dave has come to meet up with O'Brien. The two are on the phone, with Dave telling O'Brien that he's outside the building. O'Brien, in an odd tone, tells Dave to stay still. The sky darkens, frightening Dave. He directs his gaze upwards, seeing a bright light from within the clouds. A close-up of Dave's sunglasses shows that he is now staring at 'Gabriel'. The false angel tells Dave that despite having everything figured out, he still managed to follow the Shepherd. 'Gabriel' mocks Dave's foolishness, saying that he lived his entire life clueless. 'Gabriel' tells Dave that he will soon move on to his "cop friend", noting that he "seems like an easy target." Terrified, Dave tells 'Gabriel' that he isn't real and won't accomplish anything. The demonic angel tells Dave that he has already done all of his bidding before manically laughing. Dave falls to his knees and clutches at his face, with 'Gabriel' appearing behind him. He drops to the ground, dead, with blood leaking from his eyes.

Evelin uses the key to enter the archives room. She opens one of the drawers to find three files labeled Murray, Murphy, and Mulholland. From the Murray file, she takes the divorce paper of Adam's parents, and a paper reviewing Adam's performance during the Toddler Stress Assessment. It turns out that Adam responded to none of the stimuli he was exposed to during the assessment. Evelin’s eyes widen in fear when she reads this. An unknown person then pulls down a lever, cutting out the lights in the police station. Evelin calls Thatcher's name, wondering if he is responsible. An emergency is signaled throughout the building. Evelin peeks her head around a doorway. A figure is seen swiftly traveling through the halls. Evelin is seen peeking out the same doorway, but this time a disembodied grasping arm extends above her head.

An unknown person contacts Adam on the texting app. The person asks Adam to confirm his identity. Adam attempts to tell the account to "fuck off", but before he can, the person's previously default profile picture changes to a hooded figure. Adam's screen distorts, with the hooded figure now speaking to him about his past, with imagery from past episodes appearing as he speaks: "*The flicker of the TV illuminated his bedroom, drowning out the darkness with his favorite programs. Do you remember how we became friends? The light scared off all monsters; they kept him safe. Do you remember my face?* [Stanley appears over his face] *With contorted flesh and broken bones. I made myself known.* [6's appearance on the TV from Intruder Alert appears] *Do you remember my touch? I cradled him in my arms. My sweet boy. I took him away. Do you remember that night, Murray?* [Emergency Alert System broadcast from Intruder Alert appears] *When you stared into the mirror? You see the same monsters from your bedroom, don't you?* [The Preacher appears beside him] *But your skin is not your own. You're not the real y-"* 6 is cut off by a voicemail from Sarah. She asks Adam who he is talking to. She asks him to call her back because she doesn't know what's happening, all while 6 is fading back into the darkness. She jokingly tells him to not make her worry about him.

The screen fades in to a broad view of Mandela. Text appears on screen: **"I DECEIVED HIM, THE MANDELA PROPHET. WE HAVE THEIR PRAYERS, AND THEIR RECORDS. IT BEGINS TODAY."** Three images of Adam appear, in the exact same way as users of Face Studio 2 are supposed to provide images of their face. The episode ends.

Due to a brief chat of Adam asking someone what Face Studio 2 is, it can be assumed he used it to get more information.

## Trivia

* Alex Kister announced that Vol. 4 could possibly end up being shorter than Vol. 333, but Vol. 4 actually came out to be twice the length of Vol. 333.
* In the end credits, the voice of 6 is credited as "Stanley". This means that the Stanley from *The Might of the Subconscious* short seen in Vol. 333 is just another form of 6 and therefore implies that 6 can summon alternates at will on top of being able to pass through screens.
* The audio that plays when the example images for Face Studio 2 appear is the same audio that appears in the game Maple County when the player is presented with the choices of people.
* The texting app seems to be inspired by Windows Live Messenger.
* In the original tale of Genesis, Eve is the one to first bite the forbidden fruit, not Adam. This change is likely meant to represent not only how Adam is being toyed with by Alternates, but also about how extensive the Gabriel alternate’s tampering truly is.
	+ Conversely, some depictions of Genesis identifies Satan’s disguise as the Hebrew serpent, as seen in Vol. 2, who was responsible for Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
* After The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4 has been released, Alex Kister the producer got plenty of criticism for the so-called unrealistic live-action scenes with him responding that the lack of realism was purposefully an attempt to give the segment an uncanny valley quality.

## Gallery

The Forbidden FruitEve staring at Adam in horrorAdam looking down at EveDave Lee, right before getting killed by "Gabriel"
### Teasers

Evelin Miller in the MCPDAdam and Sarah discussing the events of Vol. 2Evelin walking into MCPDThe Bythorne Paranormal Club being rebranded to the current Bythorne Paranormal SocietyTeaser advertising Vol. 4 as the beginning of Act Two of The Mandela CatalogueThe reveal of the release of Vol. 4Teaser released by Alex on 24 Nov 2022
### Miscellaneous

A meme uploaded by Alex on their Twitter.
## Sources

1. ↑ [1] Alex Kister discussing the possible length of Vol. 4