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Heaven and Hell on Earth is the second episode of season 7, The Unsleeping City: Chapter II.
Recap[]
"Last we left them off, the champions of New York City, we're in the midst of a lovely October day. The day before Halloween wherein we saw Sofia Lee living with her mother above Spaghetti's Bakery, heading out to her psychic. A new character we're meeting for the first time. Ms. Iga Lisowski who runs a little illicit money laundering slash psychic operation out of the upper West side as Madam Anastasia. We also saw Pete the Plug working at a bookstore, looking for a new spot to live, get together for pupusas with the wonderful Kingston Brown, living with Liz back in their spot together, and also saw a little flashback to Kingston's earlier days back in the early nineties. We saw Ricky Matsui in a clock tower loft with the wonderful Esther Sinclair, living a wonderful life heading off to work at the homeless outreach shelter, and also met Cody AKA the "Night Angel" Walsh, mall lifer and now infernal paladin of "Lucifer" who is just going by Bazathrax."
"We saw a day in the life of our wonderful and familiar heroes, some emotional turmoil here and there, some engagements announced over Instagram, some fights over underwear, nothing too far. And an Islanders ticket that needed to go to a friend. We also saw the summoning of a devil into the slated for demolition Queens Center Mall soon to become a Gladiator shipping and fulfillment campus, bringing tons of jobs and new buildings and a wonderful state-of-the-art campus to Queens, New York, along with a strange relationship with an arcane chest in the bedroom of Ms. Iga Lisowski in Greenpoint and a changing of a chest that has been unchanged previously for some hundreds of years. We return now to the Unsleeping City where that same day, we see Ricky Matsui working his heart out at the Helping Hands Homeless Outreach Center."
Synopsis[]
On the same day as the events of episode 1, Ricky Matsui and Tasha Keane are working at the Helping Hands Homeless Outreach Center when Rusty, a frequent visitor and volunteer, comes in to say hello to Ricky and Ox. After talking a bit with Ricky, he vaguely mentions a rat that used to come by to help the homeless (an obvious reference to the late Kugrash). Ricky confirms Rusty's curiosity and says "I think the rat's gone now. But I think other people will help in his place."
Later that evening, Sofia Lee, shaken from her tarot reading from Iga Lisowski and struggling to stay sober, decides to pursue an adrenaline rush. She climbs a few skyscrapers and jumps from roof to roof before finding a couple in an intense argument outside of a bar. Sofia, while hiding in the shadows, listens to their fight before deciding to intervene. After convincing Steve's girlfriend to break up with him, Steve gets angry at Sofia and gets into a fight with her, resulting in Sofia breaking his wrist and his now ex-girlfriend expressing thanks. After this interaction, Sofia receives a text on her phone from Esther Sinclair, who notices through a Find-A-Friend smartphone app that Sofia is nearby and invites Sofia to catch up and get dinner.
After the interaction with Sofia, Esther immediately texts Ricky to check on Sofia, who she knows is roof-hopping in the area. Ricky agrees and takes off to find Sofia. When Ricky finds Sofia, he notices that she seems a off. Sofia confides in him that she's been finding it hard to go home lately, and the two agree to hang out and do some roof-jumping for a little while.
A bit later, at an Italian restaurant, Esther meets up with Ricky and Sofia. Sofia mentions that she's been going through books at her monastery and was curious if Esther or any member of the Gramercy Occult Society knew anything about monsters or beasts from "deep dreams". Esther tells her that not much is known about Nod, but would be open to put aside the Society's tensions the Order of the Concrete Fist and begin a partnership.
At the end of the meal, Ricky and Esther leave the restaurant together, worried about Sofia's wellbeing. Ricky also mentions that he misses The Questing Blade, and Esther remarks that maybe he'll find another one. She asks Ricky to help Sofia keep the city safe on Halloween, and Ricky agrees.
While Sofia drives back to Staten Island, she sees some animals appear on the empty lot that was once her married home. Upon investigation, the angel of her late husband, Dale Lee, appears to her. Sofia hooks up with him. He tells her that it's lonely in Heaven. She tells him that she's worried that he'll find another angel in Heaven, and he squashes that fear. The two say that they miss one another and spend the rest of the night together in each other's arms.
The next morning, Pete Conlan and Cody Walsh recall the events of the Cody's induction into the Unsleeping City. Pete tries to tell Cody that he got scammed by Bazathrax, but Cody won't accept it. Cody summons Bazathrax to the apartment. Bazathrax gets slammed into the wall by Pete and immediately surrenders. He admits to Pete that with the absence of Isabella Infierno's fiendish presence in the city, he chose to take advantage, and that the Umbral Arcana is leaking out of the city and heading underground and that it is forming something called the Antipopuli. Pete doesn't know what that means and chooses to contact Kingston.
The same morning, Iga Lisowski's box remains changed since the final events of the previous episode. She contacts Sofia (who is with Ricky) for help.
While Cody and Pete travel to St. Owen's Hospital (New York), Cody explains to Pete his attachment to the mall and his hatred for Gladiator. Kingston sees them at the mall and introduces himself to Cody, who mistakes him for a goth in his pirate Halloween costume. Kingston explains to them the dangers of Antipopuli and recommends that they get the old gang back together while Bazathrax offers to lead them to it. After Pete seals Bazathrax into Cody's body in the form of a "Redemption" tattoo, Bazathrax explains that they can find the confluence of Antipopuli in one of the city's subway stations, and all the members of the gang decide to meet there in a text chain, including Iga, the newest member.
When Iga meets up with Ricky and Sofia, she explains to them what's been happening with her family heirloom box and shows it to them. She also explains to them that she does not open the box, and that her children are instructed to never open it, but it has been passed down through her family to look after it for generations.
Eventually, at the subway platform, all members of the gang meet up. As the train approaches, the group's magic flickers and Kingston feels the cries of New Yorkers, as per his abilities as the Vox Populi. The train skips their stop, but not before all members of the group are able to jump onto the last car. Upon entering, the subway car is filled with Antipopuli, and people on the train are breaking the most basic rules of public transportation etiquette. The train car morphs into a graveyard, and the people inside turn to zombies.
Locations[]
- Helping Hands Homeless Outreach Center
- Clinton Hill
- Monastery of the Midnight Sun (mentioned)
- Queens Center Mall (mentioned)
- Staten Island
- Astoria
- St. Owen's Hospital (New York)
- Greenpoint
Characters[]
The Dream Team[]
- Kingston Brown
- Pete Conlan
- Sofia Lee
- Ricky Matsui
- Iga Lisowski
- Cody Walsh
- Kugrash (†) (mentioned)
New[]
- Tasha Keane
- Rusty
- Steve and his ex-girlfriend
Returning[]
Mentioned[]
- Nadia Chandrasekhar
- Cindy Wong
- Solomon Ojukwu
- Emma Lazarus (†)
- Robert Moses (†)
- Isabella Infierno (†)