Carmilla – Act I: Episodes 1 – 5

By starrymag | September 16, 2016

By: Kathryn Trammell

 

As thousands of us across the globe begin to wander head first into the social maelstrom known as college, so too do our favorite heroes and heroines of “Carmilla” as they return to Silas University where getting to class on time is nearly impossible due to a plethora of “transit inconveniences.” But whether there be sinkholes filled with molten lava, vampires running amok, exploding fungal colonies or psychotropic fog, Silas will be sure to sculpt any mundane student, if they survive, into a well-rounded individual. So buckle up, Creampuffs. This season of “Carmilla” looks like it’s going to take us for a ride.

 

Episode 1

 

That ride begins the moment the title screen ends and we are introduced to a version of Laura (Elise Bauman) who looks and sounds like Season One Laura, but is the farthest from that version of herself than we’ve ever seen before. There is an edge to her this season that comes out in every word she utters and Elise Bauman positively owns this new version of the character that she’s come to hone for three years. Gone is the girl who used to envision valiant quests and heroic actions as the idealistic means by which one’s happy ending can be achieved. The new Laura is too tired, scared and hungry to believe in that kind of optimism anymore. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s been forced to live underground with her ex-girlfriend ever since the Corvae Corps invaded Silas that has her so on edge.

 

But, for all her newfound snark, Laura assures her now non-existent viewers that not all hope is lost, especially in the food department. Apparently the library where she, Carmilla (Natasha Negovanlis) and LaFontaine (Kaitlyn Alexander) escaped into after Season Zero ended, is magical where its artifacts allow it to generate a portal to any place and time (think “Warehouse 13” meets Howl’s Moving Castle meets the Tardis). If the potential for vending machine meal-induced scurvy ever does arise, she can always eat out – “far out.”

 

Aside from being able to manipulate space and time, the library also seems to have a personality. This personality is most apparent in the opinions it seems to have formed about its newest residents, which it has no problem making known every time it drops a book on Carmilla’s head when instead it offers Laura a cupcake. Perhaps this is done in mockery of every time Carmilla used the term “cupcake” to condescend Laura, but I digress. To say the library isn’t a fan of Carmilla would be putting it lightly.

 

LaF, on the other hand, is right at home inside their new digs. Every surface inside every room is full of exploration potential and when they figure out that the door to the library is a portal that can be controlled by a series of specific knocks, they share the discovery with Carm and Laura.

 

It’s perhaps for the best that LaF’s curiosity with the library also serves as a distraction given that at some point prior to this episode, the library began to receive Silas video feeds again. In the first of these videos, which Laura plays for us in a “previously recorded” flashback scene, Perry (Annie Briggs) sits at a desk with her hair swept to one side and her face the emblem of every Joan Crawford-esque moment that made audiences both applaud and fear her – a true testament to Annie Briggs’ acting. Before she even speaks, we know Perry’s body has been high-jacked by the soul of the Dean (a/k/a Carmilla’s Mommy Dearest). When Perry does speak, it is to assure her viewers that “with the generous sponsorship of our friends at Corvae, Silas will rise again.” She also makes sure to let three very specific know that regardless of whatever “dank little hole they’re currently hiding in,” no one will get in the way of her success.

 

LaF and Laura stare at the screen in disbelief while Carmilla hurls every expletive she can muster into the air. She surmises that the moment Perry became possessed with the soul of her mother was the same moment they found Perry covered in blood at the beginning of Season Two. She also tells Laura, who would like to assume the library can offer them sanctuary from the Dean, that they aren’t safe anywhere as long as Carmilla’s mother is alive.

 

In a complete reversal of roles, the episode ends with Carmilla focused on her hero’s quest to kill the Dean and Laura focused on finding ways to bolster her apathy against the quest – until of course all of the water inside the library turns to blood.

 

Episode 2

 

LaF and Laura try to figure out the meaning of the very Biblical and bloody turn of events that has made the water so undrinkable. But what spells dehydration for LaF and Laura also spells lunch for Carmilla, who instantly takes a sip from one of Laura’s Harry Potter jars before spitting the blood back out. There’s something “very wrong” with the blood Carmilla says, before strangely defining its taste as being “dead.” Carm and LaF think that this new development indicates that the Dean has potentially opened a new gate and they rush over to their literal drawing board to Sherlock and Watson their way through the evidence.

 

Laura, still refusing to participate, finds a pair of glasses on her desk where she usually finds cupcakes. Once in her hand, the glasses try to force themselves onto her face, but Laura fights them off claiming she has 20/20 vision and Elise Bauman fights them off with all the excellence of Charlie Chaplin. Carm views the eyewear assault as the library’s attempt to lead them to another clue and dons the glasses herself. The lenses allow her to see a message that appears around the frame of the door/portal that says, “You’re running out of time. If you want to stop her, the Book of Lives is the first talisman.” They also show Carmilla the sigil of non-specified bird and the date 1874, which was the year that Silas was founded.

 

Carmilla is unfamiliar with both the sigil and the quote, but speculates that it must be related to her mother in some way as she was never one to shy away from dabbling with charms, amulets and possessions. Laura blows off Carm’s speculation as just that – speculation. And when Laura again turns down Carmilla’s invitation to join in completing some research, the following discussion ensues . . .

 

Laura: Since when do you have a problem with me choosing handcrafts over mortal danger?

 

Carmilla: I don’t know. Maybe I just remember a girl who rallied an entire University to find her missing roommate.

 

Laura: Maybe I remember everything that happened after that.

 

Before Carmilla can go upstairs to join LaF on their research, the Dean/Perry opens up a video feed directly into Laura’s computer. She’s found a way to speak to them.

 

Episode 3

 

Carmilla trudges back down the stairs and walks directly up to the computer to confront her mom, who claims that she will leave them both alone if they stop their quest to overthrow and/or kill her. Laura is ready to accept the truce, but Carmilla only stares at Laura in disbelief before reminding her of how untrustworthy her mother’s “truces” can be. Hearing her daughter speak so cynically about her character, the Dean makes it known that if they don’t agree and she has to instead come to the Library to stop them, that it won’t be a pleasant experience – for either of them.

 

Once the Dean ends the feed, Laura again tells Carmilla that the truce is their best option, but Carmilla stays firm in her opposition. She tells Laura that her mother wouldn’t be offering a truce unless she knew they were close to finding a way to defeat her. Carmilla goes back to the evidence board just as LaF walks downstairs with some solid information: The person who wrote the message above the door was an oracle named Ukuku who was also a member of the Board of the Governors before she was killed by Vordenburg. She wrote the message in 1874 because she foresaw the future and knew that the Book of Lives would be one of the best bargaining chips to release Perry of her possession. Unfortunately, the only way to find the location of this book is to scour for clues 142 minutes of Board meetings that the Library has stored in its collection.

 

As Carmilla turns to follow Perry out of the room, Laura reminds her that if the Dean finds out she’s looking for the Book of Lives that their opportunity for a truce will end. With a smile that could make any halo turn to horns and a wink that could stop any beating heart, Carmilla seethes, “I’m thinking that won’t be a problem if she doesn’t find out until I’m killing her with it.” The words leave Natasha’s mouth with all the sweetness of poisoned candy and I’m convinced more than ever that only she could deliver the line in such an incredible way.

 

A few hours later she returns to the room where Laura is trying to remedy her boredom with knitting until her curiosity forces her to inquire about Carmilla’s ongoing research into the location of the Book of Lives. Carmilla teases Laura asking why she would care to know anything about it, but their conversation is cut short when the room begins to shake and the lights begin to flicker as if the monster from the Upside Down is near. LaF runs into the room and tells them that she thinks the library’s actions can mean only one thing: the Dean is trying to attack them.

 

Episode 4

 

LaF opens the door to the library and realizes that it is spinning repeatedly through multiple dimensions in what they believe is an attempt to dodge the Dean’s attacks. They notice; however, that the library keeps oscillating towards one particular dimension – a red room filled with a tornado of knives. Ever the Watson, Carmilla believes the library is leading to yet another clue or even directly towards the Book of Lives, which may be kept inside the Red Room.

 

She decides to go inside, as vampires are extremely fast and immortal and can’t be harmed the way humans can by numerous flying knives. In a sweet yet panicked moment, Laura admits, “I’ve lost too much already. I can’t lose you too,” but Carmilla only smiles at her and says, “Sorry, cutie. Safety’s never really been a good look on me,” before flinging herself through the door.

 

With Carmilla through the portal, the library comes to a halt.

 

Episode 5

 

After thirty-six minutes pass in which Carmilla still hasn’t returned from the Red Room, LaF prepares to go in after her as back-up. When Laura says she won’t go in with them, LaF says they aren’t surprised by Laura’s decision. Laura thinks this means that LaF views her decision as cowardice, but LaF says that given every obstacle they’ve seen Laura overcome there is no way they could label Laura as being afraid of roomful of flying knives. Instead, LaF drops some serious psychotherapeutic truth bombs on Laura before she departs, namely that her resistance to helping them is due to Laura’s fear that she could get hurt all over again by allowing herself to admit her “repressed squishy feelings” for Carmilla just to lose her in the end.

 

Luckily, both LaF and Carmilla make it back alive with the Book of Lives in hand and Laura gives both of them a hug that neither of them expects (I’m not sure Kaitlyn Alexander and Natasha Negovanlis were expecting it either). After a brief celebration and an even more brief exchange of “repressed” and “squishy” flirting, LaF excuses herself to go investigate the book while Carmilla brushes off Laura’s congratulations by parroting Laura’s original belief that the book will only lead them to more conflict.

 

The awkward tension inside the room is put on hold; however, when a transmission of the Dean’s most recent desire to address Silas pops up on Laura’s computer screen. In it, she makes a direct threat to those that would oppose her and says that it’s time to discuss some consequences.