415: Night Drive

Synopsis

The Major comes to, tied to a chair in a fancy parlor, while voices argue in the next room. In the foyer, Billy stands holding Corbitt's lockbox before Ezekiel Dawkins, the former constable of New Jerusalem, and Erastus Goddard. Goddard sends Devon Black to check on "our guest." Goodman Gray's command still binds Billy, but it is weakening, and Billy's rage at being forced to betray his friends burns against it. He wins enough control to choose his own action: he hands the lockbox to Dawkins, and the hold of the compulsion breaks.

Devon Black, whom the Major stabbed and tortured the day before, interrogates him about the box. The Major insists it is a dead light box and tells him to open it, but fails to convince him. Black presses his switchblade into the Major's shoulder; the Major tries to bite his hand, and the knife is left stuck in the shoulder. When Goddard calls Black back, the Major shakes the knife loose into his lap, saws through the ropes and hides behind the door.

In the foyer, Dr. Simeon also breaks free of Goodman Gray's spell. Their memories of what they did under it are hazy: Simeon walked in with the jewelry-making supplies for the medallion still in his pocket and asked for Goodman Gray, and Billy dragged in the unconscious Major. Both decide to keep pretending to be entranced. Looking around, they notice a gaudy ring set with an Alexandrite stone on Goddard's otherwise unadorned hand. They also see a photograph on the wall of well-dressed men in front of Arkham City Hall that includes Goddard, Mayor Sidel and Goodman Gray. Simeon pushes his luck to give Billy "the look," and Billy answers with a wink.

Goddard sends Black back in to get answers but warns him not to go too far, and asks where Gray is. Billy and Simeon discover that their own weapons have been taken and left in a cardboard box by the door. As Black steps back into the Major's room, the episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Funny Moments

"They didn't call you Mr. Strong Eyelids in the war for nothing." "Yeah, well I'm down to one eyelid."
Black asks the Major "You ever netted a car?"
Asked what is in the box, the Major answers that it is a dead light, "a light that kills everybody. It's right there in the name."
The table riffs on "What's in the box?"
After the bite attempt, Black asks what they called him in the war, and the Major answers "Mr. Chomper's mouth."
When the Major cuts himself free, "your shirt pops open and shows how you're covered in hair."
Goddard's flashy ring gets dubbed "a Goddardy ring."

Notable Quotes

"It's a dead light. That is a dead light. It's a light that kills everybody." —The Major
"Oh, you're here to stab me now?" —The Major
"Man, you're a wild one Bakersfield." —Devon Black