Bizarro!Alisha
The next morning Pete the Police Officer’s in the community center looking for Sally. Curtis recognizes him from the night of his arrest, but they don’t have time to wonder why a police officer is looking for Sally because just then Alisha comes in. Only she’s all chirpy, something she never is, and dressed just like the kids from the day before. Curtis asks her about it, and she just spouts off lines like the type they overheard yesterday (“I was a slut, I’m so much happier now,” etc.). It doesn’t take long for him to figure out that something unnatural is going on.
Lucky for them, Nathan’s just accidentally discovered the key to resisting Sybil’s thrall-powers. He’s outside rolling himself a joint as Sybil walks by; she tries to tell him off for using drugs and even attempts to use her powers on him, but he’s completely unresponsive. He turns around and she sees he’s listening to music on an mp3 player.
In the locker room Curtis tells the others what happened to Alisha. Nathan, of course, doesn’t take him seriously at first, but everyone else does. It’s the storm, Simon says. Whenever something weird happens, it’s always the storm. Nathan can’t argue against that sound logic, so everyone agrees to try to find out more about what’s happened.
That night Curtis is walking somewhere, when he sees Alisha looming atop a set of stairs. He jogs up to her, but once he’s close she’s surrounded by others like her and they tackle him, and throw a bag over his head.
So what, exactly, is Sybil’s power? I thought at first she just made others like her, but now it seems that she’s basically hypnotizing everyone. If all they did was act and dress more conservatively, but were otherwise the same people, they wouldn’t go around ambushing and kidnapping people. So if Sybil chose, could she make them do anything? That’s quite powerful. Too bad she’s not actually Sybil Crawley, she’d be a much better recipient for such a power.
Simon’s at his computer, staring at a stalker video of Sally he made. We see he has a folder full of them. Seriously, creeper? I mean it’s in character, but still. There’s even one titled “Sally Shopping,” so he really must have been following her around all of the time. Bad Creeper Duckling! At least he deletes them, but you know he’s only doing that to get rid of the evidence, not because he’s reformed or anything.
Kelly’s brought some pizza over to the community center, to have dinner with Nathan. She’s clearly into him, but, like I said, I don’t care if they actually get together or not. They chat about leaving Simon alone, about Nathan’s masturbatory habits (which Kelly only brings up because she finds his wank sock in his bed, where they’re sitting), about Nathan’s powers, and finally about how he’s ever able to get girls. Nathan says he gets them really, really drunk, and I knew you deserved to be on a sex offender list, Nathan. Though, I bet you’re getting really drunk yourself as well.
They go to raid Sally’s desk for keys to the kitchen (and thus the booze), and they’re lucky they’re in her office because just then Alisha, Sybil, and the others come in dragging Curtis with them. “Is this just me, or does this look really suspicious?” Nathan asks. Thanks for that super insightful contribution, Legolas. Curtis isn’t the only one snatched by Sybil and her gang; Sybil converts a few that night, as Kelly and Nathan look on from the office. They see Curtis get up and give Sybil a hug: “Did she just virginize him?”
Sybil appears on TV and puts the country under her thrall. So, business as usual for her, then?
In the morning Sybil’s group’s having another meeting. They’re burning symbols of their old lives: drugs, dildos (“Burn the dildo!” someone shouts), as a camera crew films the proceedings. Are the police O.K. with people publicly disposing of possible evidence? And wouldn’t the fumes from a burnt dildo just be rank? Whatever. In her interview with the film crew Sybil turns on her thrall voice. Uh-oh, does her hypnotism work over airwaves?
With no one else to turn to for advice Nathan and Kelly go looking for Sally, but, of course, she’s not there, and Simon isn’t talking. Nathan comments that he doesn’t think Sally or any authority figure would help anyway: “’Help! Everyone has stopped taking drugs and urinating in the street!’ Who are we going to tell? This is every policeman and parent’s wet dream.”