Ep. 03: Lord of the Mysteries

Showing no sign of slowing down, or on easing up on its underlying horror elements, this episode of Lord of the Mysteries definitely kept me on my toes. I’m usually not one to be scared of clowns. And my eyesight normally means I’m not susceptible to jump scares. And yet within the first ten minutes or so, the show succeeded in making me nearly jump out of my skin four times. Two of those while trying to get a screen shot.

And that’s all thanks to this creepy little bastard. With his glowing eyes and razor sharp, needle like teeth. Remember I said that clowns don’t scare me? Well, glowing lights of any sort in a dark environment have been a thorn in my side since childhood. I have a very overactive imagination, and use to think the mirror in my dresser was possessed when I was a kid. To the point where my family would let me put a towel over it at night to keep the ‘monster’ in there from coming out.

And as someone who went through a ton of medical procedures as a child, anything that makes me think of needles is a big fat nope. And this thing looked like it had hundreds of them. It didn’t even need to get to the point where it was trying to do anything to our team of investigators. It opened its mouth, lunged toward the camera, and I instantly sprang back in my chair. Again, and again, and again.

As far as what this marionette reject was actually capable of, when it’s appearance alone wasn’t trying to give me a heart attack? It’s power was pretty intriguing. It’s tied to the Antigonus family, the people who own a book the investigators are trying to track down. Listening to them explain it, the puppet put me in mind of an SCP ( which stands for Secure, Protect, Contain) creature like the Hard to Destroy Reptile, the Shy Guy or the Plague Doctor.

After using some divination to figure out where to go–which was interrupted, but eventually successful once Klein was given a yellow gemmed trinket to help him focus his ability better, the group eventually makes it to an abandoned warehouse, which is where we spend the majority of the episode. With a big, multi-layered, and beautifully animated fight.

This kinda happened in a waves sorta way, if you’re a gamer who has ever fought a boss or boss situation where you deal with one thing and then move on to another in a sequence of situations. The first was this hulking abomination, which swallowed the book our group was trying to get ahold of.

Eventually, everyone came together to buy time for Daly to use an attack that took this thing out. It was crazy hearing the way our group was identifying it changing on the fly. Initially, we thought it was a Beyonder who went berserk. Then we eventually thought that it was a dead soul who had been turned into this thing.

It was a legitimately tough fight for this team, and I really like the fact that the show made everyone seem like they had a role to play. So often it can be easy for a shoe to lay everything on the main character, leaving the side cast to act like a bunch of cheerleaders. That wasn’t the case here. Daly and the others all played important roles, despite the fact that Klein did, indeed, help with some kind of talisman or other tool that he struck this creature with.

As if we hadn’t gotten enough clown imagery in this episode already, the clown we saw in an earlier episode, while Klein was exploring the town, is back. And he wants the book. It looks like he’s part of some kind of secret order, and when the little marionette we met earlier in the episode uses its powers to freeze everyone solid, this guy tries to make a deal with Klein. Safety, and the name of the level eight Seer sequence, in exchange for that oh-so-coveted book.

Fortunately, Klein doesn’t need clown-boy’s help, as he has access to the fog. And while that doesn’t pull him immediately out of danger, it does give him time to think. And help him realize that he’s not actually under the marionette’s control. A detail the clown–if he’s part of the seer line–should have realized this was the case. But somehow, he didn’t. Even after this fight, we hear that this person Klein took out was at least a sequence seven Beyonder, so I am a little confused about some of the details here.

But what matters is that Klein is learning to utilize the Fog, and he did find out that the next sequence for the Seer path is the Clown. So hopefully there is something he can do for that. Because it appears that his initial Seer potion has fully settled in and, provided he can find the means, he’s ready to advance.

The rest of the episode was pretty chill. People seem generally happy with Klein’s performance and he gets the afternoon off. He goes to visit a former history professor, trying to find out more info. But based on how things go down, it’s possible he just set up a situation that could bite him on the butt going forward. Everything is bright and cheery as Klein and this guy exchange pleasantries and discuss information. But once Klein leaves, things take a lot darker turn.

I’m not sure if the tentacle shadows and skeleton creatures are a manifestation of or from this professor, or whether he’s just witnessing them. But given how shady things in this world tend to be, my defenses are up and I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw a truck. It does a great job at presenting a potential issue for Klein and his allies–whether we’re talking the investigators from the church, or the members of the Tarot Club–to look into moving forward.

Lord of the Mysteries continues to impress with consistently gorgeous–or sometimes gruesome–art, atmospheric music, and an interesting story. Still not getting a deep emotional connection to this cast yet, which is a bit of a bummer. But the plot, world building and overall head-scratching nature of things is continuing to hold my interest. And now that you know my thoughts on this episode, what are yours? Feel free to share them in the comments below.