zwolanerd

SUMMARY

Jaye, Sharon, and Mahandra arrive at a reservation for the Satsuma nation so that Mahandra can hand in an application to become a tribal member. As Jaye refuels their car, the Totem Mole calls over to her and tells her to go inside a tipi*. She does and talks to the woman inside, who knows about the voices that talk to her. She is interrupted by a man who wants to know why she was talking to his dead grandmother. This attracts the attention of Deanna Littlefoot, who is the tribal lawyer. Because of this and a former rivalry with Sharon at law school, she denies Mahandra’s application.

The Totem Mole tells Jaye just before they leave that she needs to “show him who’s special”, which she understands to refer to the grandson from earlier. She tries to convince him that he is the successor to his grandmother, who was the tribal seer. All the tests seem to fail, although Jaye helps him cheat so that he can say he has “the gift”.

Sharon feels dejected over losing the appeal for Mahandra’s application, and the Totem Mole tells Jaye to “comfort her”. As she does, her bracelet gets caught in Sharon’s hair. Later, Sharon and Deanna end up in the same sauna. After an argument, Sharon leaves and accidentally gets the bracelet caught in the door. Deanna is stuck inside, and due to heat and dehydration, she has a vision of Gentlefeather, the dead grandmother. This changes Deanna’s perception, and she begins to chart a new course for the Satsuma nation.

With this episode, we are back in full force to our Client story. It is a bit of a let down after the action-packed Cocktail Bunny. Here, we have Bill Hooten and his displacement from his tribe, and how he feels like he is a disappointment because he doesn’t have “the gift”. This parallels to Jaye because she does have “the gift” and feels like she doesn’t fit into her own social environment because of it. She does seem to be swayed by Bill’s assertion that she has a purpose, and having that is better than no purpose, although I’m not sure exactly what he said that changed her mind.

Since the fallout with Eric, it’s obvious that it would be another episode of pining and heartbreak if it had taken place in Niagara, so to fit another episode in between this and the finale they needed to go to a new location. I’m just not sure it was needed. This is an example of a “filler” episode. All of the things that took place in this episode could have happened alongside a more compelling plot. Having Jaye not be able to actually talk to a seer about the voices and the implications of that really makes this episode feel like a waste of time.

I realize that I am being quite negative about this episode, but after the build-up that has been coming since Lovesick Ass, this is horribly disappointing. The dialogue and acting are fine, but this isn’t really a story that I can care about.

TRIVIA & REFERENCES:

• In Muffin Buffalo, Mahandra says that she is 3% Seneca. The Satsuma nation does not exist.
• Jaye references The Matrix when she says that Neo was just a geek until he swallowed the red pill, as she is trying to convince him to follow in his grandmother’s footsteps.

*I looked this up, according to wikipedia this is the accurate spelling.

Written by: Meags