Puzzled

**"Puzzled"** is the fourth episode in the second season of *The Hollow*.

## Overview

In a strange world filled with shifting shapes, the friends face a puzzling villain, then test their luck on a high-stakes game show.

## Plot

The guards fire laser guns at Adam, Skeet, and Kai. Kai tries to stop them with fire, but this proves ineffective. Mira calls to them from a door, and they run to her. Once they are through the door, they fall.

### Puzzle World

They land on a platform in a puzzle world. The four are happy to be reunited. Mira shows the others what she has discovered about this puzzling new world, including that the orientation of gravity is relative to their position. Thus, they can walk on what appears to be the sides of surfaces. Adam explains what happened with the other team and the Weird Guy. Mira apologizes for going into the Hollow without him.

Skeet theorizes that the way to return to their real lives is to die in the game. He jumps off the edge of a platform only to fall out of the sky and land where he started. He continues to assert that dying in the game is the obvious solution. Mira makes Skeet promise not to try to die again.

They reach the end of a path. Puzzlehead appears and taunts them. They work together to bridge the pathway and get through.

The path leads to an empty castle room floating in a stormy sky. Once inside, the door slams behind them. A note on the back of the door reads, "Wrong turn, oops." Puzzlehead appears again and taunts them. The room then starts to disintegrate, and they fall. Kai uses his fire propulsion to fly, and he catches Mira on his back.

A large tower appears below, and Adam, Kai, and Mira lands on top of it. Kai dives below to retrieve Skeet, who resents not being able to test his theory again. On top of the tower, Puzzlehead appears as a 4x4 Rubix cube. Mira deduces that they need to solve the cube, which shows the Hollow logo on one side. She directs her friend to help turn the sides of the cube until it shows the logo. After they solve it, Puzzlehead tells them that they have won, but there is yet another game. A portal opens on the cube, and they go through it as the tower crumbles beneath them.

### Pick the Portal

They fall into a place that is entirely yellow. A disembodied voice announces the beginning of a game show called "Pick the Portal" and introduces the host, Andy Kuma. Adam recognizes Akuma from the previous season. Akuma presents three doors and explains that one door leads to freedom while the other two lead to some untold peril. Kai impulsively chooses Door #1. Before revealing what they chose, Akuma opens Door #2 showing a donkey. He gives them an opportunity to change their choice. Mira suggests that they should switch, explaining that it would give them a two in three chance instead of a one in three chance of being right. They agree to switch. Akuma opens Door #3 revealing Katsuro. Akuma leaves on the donkey behind Door #2. The teens run to Door #1, but it is locked. Katsuro crawls out of Door #3, and Adam fights him. While aiming for Adam, Katsuro smashes Door #1, revealing the portal. Adam knocks Katsuro unconscious, and the teens run through the portal before Katsuro wakes up.

### Meeting Louie

They land in an open countryside. Adam remembers the map he got off the team that lost and pulls it out. They are surprised to see that the map is blank, and Adam hypothesizes that it might be blank because they are not players in this game. Skeet points out a flashing light in the distance, and they decide to walk toward it.

Adam slips in some slime. Skeet slides down the slime trail inspiring the others to do the same. Skeet stops when he notices that a hill they saw before has moved. The hill moves toward them and reveals itself to be a giant snail. They realize that the slime came from him. Mira tries to talk to the snail, but she cannot get through to communicate. The four engage in a fight against the giant snail, and Skeet does not survive it. Louie is called away by an unseen man.

As Mira cradles Skeet's lifeless body, Adam gives him some medicine, but it has no effect. They concede that Skeet has passed away. Mira holds him and cries.

## Characters

In order of appearance:

* Guards
* Adam, Skeet, and Kai
* Mira
* Puzzlehead
* Akuma
* Katsuro
* Louie
* Jules Voulcan (heard off-screen)

## Cast

* Ashleigh Ball as Mira
* Connor Parnall as Kai
* Adrian Petriw as Adam
* Jesse Moss as Skeet
* Sam Vincent as Puzzlehead & Voulcan

## Notable Quotes

Read the full transcript here.

* *"I think my stomach's getting a headache, or is my head getting a stomach ache?"* – Skeet
* *"You just have to remember that your up is always up unless you're switching over to a new up, in which case that up is your up, which is the new real up."* – Mira
* *"Hi guys. What's up? Get it?"* – Kai

## Gallery

 **Season 2** | "Home" • "Hollow Games" • "The Return" • "**Puzzled**" • "Alchemy" • "Dead End" • "Unbalanced" • "Fang" • "Fire" • "Race"