Part Six, or "Contend in VEIN"
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OK, the quote this time around is about the "Weakenesses of Voluntary Bodies", whatever that means. Turns out they're "hard to launch" and "liable to disintigrate." I have no idea what this has to do with anything.
Last time, Robbie Weedon... died. Howard Mollison... had a heart attack. So he could die. Ironically, the heart attack might have saved his life, because his wife Shirley was planning to murder him otherwise.
I. The cops show up at the Wall household. Colin's paranoia leads him to assume they've come for him, but they're actually looking for his son, Stuart "Fats" Wall, who was getting his dick wet when Robbie drowned in the river. Apparently he ran off when the cops responded to the emergency call. Tessa is shaken by all of this, but Colin is actually pretty copacetic. Turns out his OCD-spawned fears have been preparing him for dealing with actual crises all along. The moral is that mental illness gives you super powers. It made Natalie Portman a better dancer in "Black Swan", and it helps the Joker stymie Batman even though he doesn't have any fighting skills.
Fats doesn't answer his phone, so Colin prepares to search for him on foot, while Tessa contacts his best (only) friend, Andrew Price. Andrew does answer, and he hasn't heard about Robbie's death. Nope, he's just sitting in the kitchen, eating.... toast. Mmm-hmm. It's great with orange juice.
What Tessa doesn't know is that Andrew and Fats aren't very friendly anymore. I guess it started with Andrew's family planning to move out of town, which Fats seems to have taken personally for some reason. Also, Andrew took a job working alongside Sukhvinder Jawanda, whom Fats had been bullying relentlessly. Andrew had tried to stay neutral, but he invariably formed a professional bond, and also with Gaia Bawden, who openly despises Fats' cruelty. Fats has never expressed any jealousy over this, but I assume on some level he feels the girls turned Andrew against him.
When Tessa asks if there's anywhere Fats might have gone, Andrew immediately thinks of the Cubby Hole, a secret place only the two of them knew about on the river. Even estranged from Fats, he doesn't want to divulge the secret, but when Tessa tells him about Robbie's death and Fats' role in it, he decides it's not worth it. They meet up and he takes her to the Cubby Hole's approximate location. I've never understood the exact topography of the Cubby Hole, but it's near the river and difficult to get at, so Andrew decides Tessa will have to wait while he goes alone.
While she waits, Tessa calls Kay Bawden to fill her in, since she had handled the Weedon family's social service case. "But I'm not her social worker anymore," is Kay's reaction to the story. Okay... that seems oddly indifferent. I can see Kay uttering those words in any number of contexts--it is a true statement--but Rowling doesn't provide any context to shed light on her emotions. Does Kay no longer care? Or is she merely explaining why she hadn't been informed sooner?
At the Cubby Hole, Andrew calls for Fats' who replies in an "unrecognizable" voice and asks for a light. Seriously, he's been smoking nonstop for like the last twenty-four hours straight. He smoked at Howard's party, he smoked when he got home from the party, he smoked with Krystal, he smoked while they searched for Robbie, and he'd be smoking now if he hadn't dropped his matches. And sure enough Andrew obliges and hands him his lighter.
Fats asks if Robbie died, and Andrew has to break the news to him. Fats squeals, "piglet-like" says Rowling. I'd say that's an appropriate response. Andrew crawls out of the Hole and lets Tessa know he's found him.
MEANWHILE, AT THE HOSPITAL
VEGETA: I can't believe that jackass shaved my mustache. Now I have to start all over again.
SGT. SLAUGHTER: Rest easy, soldier. You'll grow it back even bigger and better than ever. And thaaaat's and orrrrderrrrrr.
DR. MINDBENDER: Yes, this is truly a dark day for the Mustache Club. But at least Harry avenged us.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT: Yes, how did you defeat him, Mr. Potter?
HARRY: High school physics, Luthor! I'm kidding, actually. I never took physics in school. Also I have no idea what stopped him. I just kept beating the crap out of him until it was over. Also, a dog stabbed Vegeta with an EpiPen, and that may have had something to do with it.
DR. MINDBENDER: Of course. The sudden influx of adreniline upset Vegeta's biochemistry, and the parasitic life form was forced to abandon its host! And once it was out in the open, it was vulnerable! Brilliant!
VEGETA: Wait, so you didn't really save me? You're saying you just kind of stood there while the dog handled it for you?
HARRY: I'unno.
VEGETA: Well done, as usual, buddy.
HARRY: Well, it's not over yet. There's still one last thing I have to do....
II. Parminder and Vikram Jawanda collect Sukhvinder and take her to the hospital to treat the deep cut on her leg. There, Sukhvinder has to undress, and that's how her parents learn about the self-inflicted cuts on her arms. Vikram calms his wife down about this so they can focus on the immediate situation. Later, Sukhvinder recovers on a hospital bed with her parents on either side, stroking her hands. Parminder mentions Howard's heart attack to Vikram, and he's galled that they expected her to come to his aid.
On the other side of the same building, Howard Mollison's family is waiting for word on his condition. Miles is aghast that Parminder refused to help. Shirley says she's not surprised at all, but attacking targets like this is all she really has left to go on. She wants to go home, right the hell now, and shut down the Pagford Website so "The Ghost" can't post anymore dirt about Howard cheating on her. Also, she'd like to destroy that EpiPen she stole from Andrew Price, since the website and the EpiPen would implicate her motive and means to murder Howard.
She tells herself she never would have gone through with it. Then she considers that if Howard survives, he might tell people how she ran to the kitchen before she came back to call for help. So she plans to deny it, and claim that Howard got brain damage or something. Uh-huh...
She sees Samantha and Miles hugging and feels only envy. Shirley wants to be the center of attention, the way Mary Fairbrother was when her man died. "This was not how she had imagined it--" Fortunately, Ruth Price shows up to offer a taste of pity/attention that Shirley longs for, but it's not nearly enough.
Meanwhile, nineteen people work on Howard in the O.R. Down in the morgue, Robbie Weedon's cadaver lays in a metal drawer. No one went with him to the hospital. That's probably because he was dead before the trip. But we get it, Rowling. Howard's rich, Robbie's poor, death is the great equalizer, yadda yadda yadda.
III. Tessa drives Fats home from the Cubby Hole. She offers Andrew a lift, but he declines, probably because he's not in the mood to watch whatever happens to Fats next.
Basically, Fats has broken down to the same level he was at when he was a kid and Simon Price made him piss himself. I guess he hasn't actually pissed himself this time, but he's been missing for a while, so he's had time for that I guess.
Despite her relief at finding him unhurt, Tessa can't conceal her disgust that he ran away from the situation. She coldly recaps what he's done, and then hopes aloud that he did get her pregnant, because it would give her something to live for. She just drives around for a while, letting him simmer in his shame and regret, and then she abruptly pulls the car over. Then she reveals the Secret Origin of Fats Wall.
The Secret Origin of Fats Wall: He's adopted. Well, I think that was established earlier, but Tessa explains that his birth mother was only fourteen. She adamantly refused to divulge the identity of the father. No one knew if she was covering for an underage boyfriend or "something worse". They explained all this to the Walls when they adopted Fats, because they would need to be aware in case he had any mental or physical issues resulting from incest.
This is a huge blow to Fats, although I don't quite understand why. I have a theory, although I don't think it would have occured to Fats quite so quickly.
The theory goes like this: Fats and Krystal are brother and sister. I'm not just pulling this out of my ass. Here's the facts. Terri was sexually abused by her own father until she ran away at thirteen. She met someone soon after and had two children who were later taken away from her. Fats may have been one of those two kids, or he may have been born earlier. Even if Terri Weedon wasn't his mother, it might not matter. His birth mother was from the Fields, and it seems like every other person in the fields is related to the Weedons, the Tullys or both. Odds are pretty good that Fats is much more closely related to Krystal than either of them suspected. Being adopted, he should have considered that possibility before even thinking about having children. Maybe if he was a little more like his adoptive father, he would have.
In any event, there's more Secret Origin stuff. Tessa wanted to adopt Fats, but Colin's OCD would make this impossible. He resisted the idea, wanting to get better before taking on the responsibility. See, what did I tell ya? But Tessa insisted, so he lied about his condition to the social workers, and they adopted. Five nights in, Colin tried to kill himself because he had become convinced that he had accidentally smothered the infant Fats.
I suppose the point of this is that Colin took responsibility, even for crimes and crises that only took place in his head. The thought of killing a baby made him suicidal. Fats actually got a kid killed, and he ran and hid.
In all of this, Tessa also recognizes her own accountability in this mess. She put Colin and Fats into this messed up family situation because she refused to take Colin's OCD seriously, and because she probably thought Fats would be some perfect little angel no matter how he was raised. She starts the car, and Fats says he doesn't want to go back to the Fields. Why would he think they're going there? No, Tessa's taking him home.
IV. Okay, so what happened to Krystal? Well, she kept running along the river, looking for Robbie well after all hope was lost. The police found her and tried to break it to her gently, but she still flipped out and they had to wrestle her into the squad car.
The cops take her home. For Fats, that's an unpleasant situation because it involves a lot of "tough love". For Krystal... well, she was trying to escape home in the first place. When the cops arrive, Terri assumes Krystal told them about the stash of hashish Obbo left in her house. Terri answers the door, but only after dragging the stuff upstairs.
Once she finds out this is about Robbie, she becomes confused, thinking Robbie is with Krystal. But Krystal gets out of the car and approaches the house, without Robbie, and Terri goes apeshit. A policewoman grabs her before she can claw at Krystal's face. This commotion allows Krystal to slip inside the house and lock the door behind her.
Meanwhile, at Kay's place, she and her daughter have it out, and they agree that moving here was a mistake, and they should try to get back to London. Tessa calls about Robbie's death, and Gaia becomes upset at the mere suggestion that Kay could do anything to help the situation. "What about me?" she whines. But Kay invites her to come along, and Gaia agrees. Buuuuuut it doesn't really matter. By the time they arrive Krystal has already found her mother's hype kit and Obbo's bag of heroin. Wracked with guilt, she gives herself a fatal overdose, committing suicide.
And on that cheery note, we'll call it a day.
NEXT: The End.
IN THE WOODS
BARRY'S GHOST: BooooOOOOoooo! Why doesn't it work? I did it just like the stories said! I can't believe I came all this way to find it and it doesn't even work! Why won't it bring me back to life? Answer me!!!!
HARRY: It doesn't work for ghosts, silly. You have to be alive to use the Resurrection Stone. And then you'd use it to summon other ghosts.
BARRY: Who... who are you?
HARRY: I'm Harry Potter.
BARRY: Nice mustache.
HARRY: Thanks. You know, I've been watching you, Barry, and I have to admit, you've become pretty strong.
BARRY: Thanks for saying that, but I'm actually really weak.
HARRY: What are you talking about?
BARRY: I'm dead. I was going to say and do all these things to fix my community, but now I'm gone and they have no idea how to carry on without me. Everyone hates everyone else, and now Krystal's dead. I thought the Resurrection Stone would let me go back and set things right, but it's too late...
HARRY: Are you kidding? I'm really impressed. It takes a real hero to stand by so impotently while other characters move the plot forward around you. I wouldn't say it if it weren't true.
BARRY: (snif) You mean it?
HARRY: Of course I do. Believe me, I know a thing or two about passively laying still while things happen around me. You're a natural at it.
BARRY: But... I didn't double-space my article for the newspaper, and CM Punk died trying to help me. Wait... is that a helicopter?
CM PUNK: Barry! Guess what? There was a helicopter at the bottom of that ravine I fell into! So I'm miraculously not dead!
BARRY: Wow! Really!? That's incredibly convenient! I guess the Stone worked after all, Harry. Harry? Where'd you go?
HARRY: It wasn't the Resurrection Stone, Barry. You did it all on your own. It was your inability to affect anything around you that opened the right doors. Everything just fell into place.
BARRY: Gosh...
HARRY: I'm proud of you, Barry Fairbrother. Stay useless. That's your armor.