Purgatory, Missouri – Season One, EP 4:  Perimeter

Purgatory, Missouri – Season One, EP 4:  Perimeter

It’s wild what you can learn by reading between the lines…err…listening between the…umm…waves?  You get it – I’m talkin’ about the extra information that comes along with just about everything you see or hear these days.  The content built from content…the behind the scenes exposes…the interviews, fan fiction, and perhaps if we all cross our fingers and hope for the best, maybe even something like you’re about to read here today as we check out the latest episode at the halfway mark of Purgatory, Missouri.  Strap the fuck on in dear readers, dear friends…I’m about to dive as deep as I can for this here review.

Because I’m at least familiar with how many millions of twists and turns there are in this series, and very aware of how lost I’ve become within them, I went back to the very start before I listened to this new episode.  I mean allllllll the way back – right to the foreword that actually occurs before we even meet Theresa, read by the creator of this series, Mr. Stuart Pearson himself.  I paid particular attention to this piece, and kind of shook my head in disbelief that I didn’t even check it out until now, because, like, what’s the point of even including a foreword if it wouldn’t provide some kind of clues as to what was to follow, right?  In it, you’ll discover Stuart spends his time recounting the events of his childhood, drifting in and out of a different kind of episodes – seizures, to be precise.  What he details is very close to the static we hear as the characters seem to black out throughout the stories we hear, right before they end up in Purgatory, Missouri.  Stuart goes on to describe what appears to be somewhat of a yearning to understand what really occurs in the dream-state we experience, and you can hear how that’s relative to what it would be like to have a seizure.  It also gets pretty close to the earliest theories I was sharing myself as I listened, where I was musing that what we’re listening to are essentially NDEs – near death experiences…just sayin.’  Overall, it felt like Stuart was more closely alluding to the space between our consciousness and the black hole that seems to get us to our unconscious state, but he was also quick to point out that we still have a consciousness of sorts, even when we’re unconscious.  You all following?  I’m as curious as to where this is going as you are…if only to find out whose reality we’re really living in.

If I had to hazard a new guess, based on this information I should have been paying attention to from the get go…I might posit a theory that Blanca is in fact, Stuart himself…or that she at least gives voice to his own perspective on all this madness we’re discussing.  As you listen to episode one, you’ll find a good moment where Blanca is explaining her own theories as to what Purgatory, Missouri, is really all about, and it felt like that had a distinct parallel between what Pearson is talking about in the foreword he’s included with this series.  As to how the phone booth plays a role in this delightfully twisted tale and what that might symbolize in the real world we think we’re living in…I’m still not complete sure about that yet.  It could be like…our attempts to wake up from whatever we’re stuck in, whether it’s a dream or a medical condition…or worse…but maybe someone only answers when we’re ready to move on.

You’ll appreciate a second listen, I’m sure of it.  You’ll realize you meet some of these crazy characters long before you thought you did, or at least hear them referenced in the murmuring background chaos.  There are clips of dialog that you’ll hear that might just be bigger clues than you understood before…like “bad choices last forever.”  To a degree, I still felt like I was somewhat on the right track, even if I’m not entirely sure of where that track leads…ever.  Isn’t that the original point that Stuart was making to begin with though?  How can ANY of us know where this is going?  As strange and foreign to us as the story of Purgatory, Missouri, might be…isn’t that in itself a metaphor for what it’s like to figure out what life is, or isn’t?  How real, or unreal our experiences are?  This entire thing could be a dream!  Even weirder, like this series will happily muddy the waters for you – what if that dream isn’t even YOURS?

It’s interesting to notice the things you might not have before – like how Tony doesn’t seem to go through the same thing that Theresa did, and seems to remember his name at the point where she had forgotten hers.  You can also hear his backstory floating in on the wind as he’s talking with Blanca as well, like she’s able to pull his whole truth out of thin air without needing him to really confirm what she already knows.  Like it or not (and I love it, I truly do), Blanca is our tour guide for whatever this turns out to be – she’s the main recurring character to the point in the story we’re at, and we have to wonder if Purgatory, Missouri, would even exist without her.  She still doesn’t have any idea why she’s there – and another clue regarding that, is the phone never seems to ever call for Blanca like it does for the rest.  Roger still seems to be the most forthcoming, or have the best understanding of what he’s potentially going through as we meet him for the first time, proclaiming “I’m dead” as he realizes he can’t exactly go posting about his findings online anymore.  He’s well aware that he killed himself, which seems to negate the NDE theory, but does open up the door of possibility that death is just another part of life.  Life part two, beyond the breathing.  The sequel.  The next chapter.  The…second coming?  Too far?  “How can I prove to you that this is a simulation?” asks Roger – and to be fair to this confused character of episode three – how can any of us do that?  How can any of us rule it out?  What if this all means something?  What if this all means nothing?  I feel like Stuart is actively trying to turn me into a Pinbot.

Notably, before Roger’s episode is finished, you hear the first mention of the Perimeter, which is the title of episode four.  Even listening to the prologue for the episode, I’m thankful I went back to listen to the foreword before I started writing this.  I know it’s taken forever to get here as I wandered back through all the information (thanks for your patience, I’m a step slower than the rest of the kids in the sandbox), and I wish I could tell ya it’ll make anything any clearer to me (told ya)…but things seem to be circling back to the dream-state theory…so let’s see what else we might be able find out in episode four.

Roger returns!  So that’s heckin’ cool.  Even though he’s been warned to stay away from Blanca, he doesn’t seem to be inclined to do that in the slightest, and opts to team up with her to venture out to the perimeter.  We also get some of the inside dirt on who Five was…at least at one point in time…which helps explain why she had no idea what a pinball machine or a computer even was when she was talking with Roger back in episode three.  The backstory also suggests, if we’re on some kind of linear timeline, that Highstriker has been there even longer than Five has.  Why it’s uncertain about whether or not the timeline is linear, is because Highstriker, who is attempting to lure Five into the hall of mirrors and being fantastic rude about, ends up having to explain what a phone booth is to her, because she seems to have no concept about all this technological mumbo jumbo.  In any event, we know that Five theoretically used “a mother of two as a human shield against an assassin’s bullet.”  Not to get too nerdy here, but the telephone was invented in 1876, and the bullet predates it by forty years.  Not sure if that’s a clue or not, but if time and history plays an accurate role here, then we can assume that Five comes from some point in between 1836-1876.  Highstriker was Hall Of Mirrors way back when they met, and Five was once known as Ferris Wheel.  Am I getting all this correct?  I might need to jump into the nearest phone booth myself to get all this new information sorted out.  Highstriker is a complete wealth of information and quite a talker…but so much of what she says, we’ve yet to experience.  I believe they call that foreshadowing, do they not?  In the meantime, Roger and Blanca have found their way outside of the carnival and the endlessly watching cameras that were above them.  The perimeter seems entirely ominous – in fact, they run into a character that has “been voided” as they rummage around what sounds like the rubble and wreckage of old carnival rides.  The hole of the perimeter seems to get bigger and shifts around over time, according to what we learn from the character that used to be known as Thirty-Eight.  We seem to be slipping through a wormhole ourselves as we listen to this episode, shifting between the real-time adventures of Roger and Blanca, while revisiting the tales of Highstriker in between.  Incidentally, the dialog between her & Tunnel Of Love is freakin award-worthy.  We learn of “mustache guy” & hear about how Five stole Highstriker’s original job at the Hall Of Mirrors.  We also meet One for the very first time, who as far as numbers would have us assuming, would have to be ranked quite highly in this strange carnival they’re all trapped within.  At the very least, he outranks Highstriker and Tunnel Of Love, but for this very first meeting we get with him, One seems nice enough.

As Roger continues to remain at the carnival, the more memories he seems to be losing.  Right while he’s talking to Blanca, you can hear the details of his life quickly fading away from him, presumably forevermore.  Blanca continues to glitch out in front of him – which again, seems to bring us full circle back around to the foreword that Stuart Pearson added in, which specifically mentions how there were characters and threads that he continued to see, seizure after seizure, in his own life.  Maybe that’s what all these random strangers are in Purgatory, Missouri…representations of recurring characters we see in the dream state, and connect with for what little time we can.  Again, if that ain’t a metaphor for what life is like to live it, I don’t know what else could be.  Which side of the hall of mirrors are we on?

It’s funny.  You get to a point in a series that you’re listening to or watching, and you feel like there’s no possible way they could wrap everything up in the time that they have left.  Three more episodes to go here?  How about three more SEASONS Stuart?  I love where this is all going, but I’m starting to feel like each episode is introducing an endless string of questions that have us searching for the ending like it’s found within the hall of mirrors itself.  “Is this the real life?  Is this just fantasy?”  Maybe Freddie knew more than we all thought he did.  Maybe Mr. Mercury himself had visited Purgatory, Missouri, one day.

I continued to explore what else is out there through the interviews done by Hunter Lowry.  Maureen Davis, the producer, reveals that much of this is likely about the unconscious state of mind, and suggests there could theoretically be parallel existences for all of us.  I love that.  It’s absolutely comforting to me.  We also hear from the fabulous Mindy Sterling, who plays Five in the show, and she shares the wisdom of how you don’t have to really personally experience something to believe in it.  It was also awesome to hear Hunter explain to Mindy what Simulation Theory was all about, and how it kinda blew her mind in the same way that Five struggled to grasp what different pieces of technology were in the show.  There is ALSO, a mention of a SEASON TWO…so…just saying…maybe not everything will need to wrap up in the three episodes we have left.  We get a chance to hear Hunter talk with Dave (Roger) & Alina Foley (Highstriker), as well as Crissy Guerrero (Blanca) too – and they’re all plenty of fun.  Everyone’s all jokes and smiles outside of the murk & mystery of Purgatory, Missouri, I tell ya!  Spoiler alert, this is all one big happy family…they’ll go into that as they sort out their DNA for ya in their interview.  This interview is probably more entertaining than informative perhaps by comparison to the rest, but it was still great to hear all three of them together outside of the show.  Richard Malmos, who gives voice to the intro of the show and directs Purgatory, Missouri, is in fact, “pretty darn good” at all that he does and I’m glad he had the foresight to see he could play a role within the series instead of just behind the scenes.  He gives an insight into the budget, the temperament behind the actors, the challenges that Stuart faces in editing all this together, AND…Malmos seems to be a seriously charming guy.  Does he let something slip when he refers to an “ancient” entity in Purgatory, Missouri?  He gets quicky cut off by Hunter when he brings it up…so we might have just inadvertently & unintentionally gotten a fairly substantial clue there.  Does that tie-in with the whole bullet & telephone thing I was talking about earlier in discussing episode four?  It just might…it just might.  It’s certainly a piece of information that we can’t help but start to mull over.  Malmos is another wealth of information…technical information, more-so than spoilers to be clear – but such a welcome and inviting personality to listen to that has an endearing & insightful wisdom to him.  I also love how many of Hunter’s guests acknowledge what a role Stuart’s music plays in this entire process…how utterly interlaced the stories within his songs, the stories within his life, and the story that we hear in Purgatory, Missouri, are together.  I also felt very relieved that Richard confirmed it’s real damn tough to know where this is all going, and that being confused is a natural byproduct of tuning into this show.  So take THAT Pearson!  I was never supposed to have a clue in the first place!  Which is great, because I’m a guy that can barely tie my own damn shoes without an explicit set of step-by-step instructions.  Lastly, Hunter interviews Gary Lamb, who plays the villainous Tony that we meet in episode two of Purgatory, Missouri.  He’s got a couple of great stories on what it’s like to experience premonitions and see ghosts at night.  I also thought he had a lot of insightful things on what our dreams potentially help us with, and yes indeed, he does go into some fairly Buddhist-esque philosophies regarding the “spark of life” as well.  No real huge spoilers or nuggets of potential info on the show there…it’s a more personal/fun type of interview…but he too gets questioned by Hunter about whether he’d be interested in coming back for season two…so it’s starting to sound like it’s definitely going to be happening…fingers crossed!  There is a whole lot of great information out there beyond the show, and I’ll continue to keep tabs on what else I can find out there for ya.  I’m more than happy to continue down the rabbit hole with you all, and I promise that I will, in a couple weeks once again as we get set to find out what happens in Purgatory, Missouri, next time with the release of episode five.

For now, make sure you’re keeping up to-date on all-things-Purgatory, Missouri, by visiting the official site that contains it all, right here:  https://www.stuartpearsonmusic.com/purgatory-missouri-episodes

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