Episode 119 Morals

In plain English, these are the morals from Episode 119:

Mary and Charlie chill out and warm up to Carl and Ruth.

It's kind of obvious where this is headed, so I decided to challenge some of our preconceptions about that to make sure the plot didn't get too predictable. One thing I assume we're all thinking is that Mary had nothing to do with Carl's disappearance. But who knows? Maybe she called the same place Phyllis did and had Carl hauled off, but without later calling it off.

The part about the foursome is just light humor to tie it off since we're in the holiday season and I wanted it to end on an upbeat note. But the other part, about the kidnapping, is the nice kind of rich ``lurking detail'' that I'm hoping we'll eventually see before the ``obvious'' part of this plot plays out. Even if Mary didn't do it, I hope we find out what was happening in order to give this plot more depth.

Katherine and Jill get down and dirty in a strange and complex game of give and take.

The judge had said he was going to return to the matter of fines for Jill and Katherine and then never did. So I was thinking of something nice for him to do to them, and confiscation of the house presented itself. But then I wasn't sure the state would hold the house, so I looked around for someone to give it to. And before I knew it, this plot had written itself. Having rich characters like Katherine, Jill, and Beatrice really makes the writing easy!

Alice and her ways, though not on the up and up, bring happiness and cheer.

It's been bugging me for weeks that Alice is talking to everyone about a reunion that isn't going to happen. Seems like someone from the school might call another asking about it, and that the effect might snowball as shown here. I originally wrote them as milling around looking for food that never came, but it was a real downer. This is a holiday episode, and I wanted something light and cheery.

Trisha and Meg close and lock the door on a painful and difficult problem.

Now I just know someone's going to ask how the idea of locking Phillip in a closet fits in with the holiday cheer thing. Well, let's just call it a gift I'm giving myself this year. Sorry, Phillip. Hope you're having a Merry Christmas in there. I'd offer to save you some punch, but it's going to be a while until you get to use the bathroom, so you're better off without it.

That's all for Episode 119's morals. Don't miss Episode 120 and its morals!
If you missed any older episodes, see the index.