UTL S1E11: The Guy Who’s on Top

This week, Under the Library:

We open with Quentin alone in Gerald's basement, possessed by the voice in his head. His mind speeds backwards through time. He sees humans devolve into apes. Dinosaurs. Then just blackness. In the blackness, blue glowing figures on the horizon are at war with each other. Quentin realizes he can move his mind through space and time! He zooms forward in history to find himself sitting at a table across from his beloved Herman Melville, lit by a single candle.

Quentin converses with Melville, and soon pulls out a compact copy of Moby Dick from his pocket. He describes the book, sharing passages, and Melville seems entirely unfamiliar with it. As Quentin tells the story, Melville takes notes.   At the same time, Florence sees a flash of light as she peers down into the basement. Soon she sees that Quentin is shining his light up into her face. [At this point, Quentin is clearly possessed because the Keeper has inhabited his character.   Florence questions Quentin, expressing her doubt and discomfort after he knocked out Gerald and held a gun to her head, and asks "how can we trust you"? Quentin offers her his revolver (claimed from the shoot out between Andy and Pete the Poet) and promises to do no harm. When Harold asks for something more specific, Quentin says he will do no harm to us "with these two hands". They go back and forth, but eventually Florence realizes she doesn't have any grounds to leave him stranded in the basement and lowers the ladder (even though in her mind something doesn't feel right).   At the table with Melville, Quentin feels time stretch like silly putty. His actions affect the Melvilles of several different versions of history.  It messes with his head.    As Quentin climbs the ladder and passes through the trapdoor onto the first floor, he is ripped from his conversation with Melville, and his formerly rational speech devolves into babbling about Moby Dick and Melville. Florence recognizes his rantings since she's read the book. He passes out.   When Quentin comes to, they realize he doesn't remember anything about his time in the basement, although he recognizes his companions. Hearing no more whistling from the living room, the three enter to find a figure - Gerald - standing behind a desk, gagging, attempting to remove an object from his throat with giant forceps. Quentin has also forgotten Gerald, so he tries to help him with the removal while Harold and Florence search for the book in which Gerald took notes about us earlier.    Inside the house, Quentin helps Gerald remove the obstruction from his throat. In all his nursing experience he's never experienced a patient remain so limp and unresponsive during such a painful procedure. Harold and Florence have located the book and leave the house, calling for Quentin to follow. On his way out, Harold grabs the small box from the forceps in Quentin's hand.   Alone with Gerald, Quentin's memories come flooding back and he remembers all his previous actions - knocking Gerald out, stuffing the box down his throat, and then delivering another crack to his skull when Harold and Florence were in the basement. He remembers his time in the basement and the voice in his head, and sees again the writhing tentacles on the wall. He then makes the connection that while he was speaking with Melville, the voice in his head (and presumably the creature inhabiting Gerald) had possessed him. For Quentin, Gerald represents all the evil in this house and in the town - Gerald is Quentin's white whale. Quentin snaps Gerald's neck.    Quentin bursts out of the house to join Harold and Florence. He boasts that he killed his white whale, and they question him, learning that he murdered Gerald. Florence returns to the living room to find Gerald lying unnaturally slumped on the table surrounded by dark liquid. His spine unnaturally protrudes from his neck. Florence realized that Quentin lied to her when he swore to do no harm.    Harold tries to remove any signs of our presence from the house, and vows to return later to free the caged animals. They head back to town.   Beau and Jaker are still in town looking for information about the people who were snatched. They find a group surrounding a woman who cries "Sammy! Little Sammy...". Jaker realizes this is not the first time creatures have snatched people from the town. He remembers local legends from a few years ago that at the time he ignored. Jaker also takes a sample of a strange sticky substance from a woman's shoulder.   After determining there's no connection between the two lost townsfolk, Jaker and Beau head back to Seraphim Falls. Beau shares with Jaker the blank book he found in Jack Wilde's saddlebag. He examines the book by holding a candle behind a blank page. The evil in the pages shoots through Beau and he experiences a strange bout of dacnomania. Beau draws his pistol with clear intent to kill and storms out of Seraphim Falls. He's yelling, raving, and clearly taken by madness. He hears from the distance a drunken "I'm your huckleberry..."

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