Imagine being confined to a flashback-inducing box that forces you to relive your most traumatic memory on an infinite loop – this is the tragic fate of Memoragatu’s victims should they succumb to a compulsive desire to open a jack-in-the-box toy created by the demon. In Astrid & Lilly Saves the World, Episode “A-Borg” (written by Alix Markman and directed by Audrey Cummings), we are reminded that our memory can be a fickle friend. The key to escaping Memoragatu’s grip on our reality is within our memory’s erroneous narrative of past events. Can our monster-hunting baddies, Astrid and Lilly, see through their minds’ delusions and mash this mind-menacing monster?
Toy of Terror | Blood-curdling screams echoing down Pine Academy halls would make you think that there’s another Earth invader on the loose, but no. It’s just Valorie (Christina Orjalo) learning that she didn’t make the cut to play Juliet’s part in the high school’s modern rendition of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Distraught and confused by her failure, Val runs to the theater to be alone. In the room, she finds a personalized jack-in-the-box. Val’s curiosity gets the best of her and she cranks open the creepy, vintage toy. Low and behold, a memory-possessing monster pops out and sends her into a frightening memory of a play performance gone wrong! Unfortunately, Val will not be the last person to receive this toy of terror.
Romeo & Juliet | Candace’s (Julia Doyle) surprising monologue performance landed her the lead role of Juliet in Vice Principal Michelle’s (Megan Hutchings) Australian version of Romeo & Juliet. When Lilly (Samantha Aucoin) sees that Tate (Kolton Stewart) could care less to celebrate Candace’s accomplishment, she slides into congratulate the first-time actress. To Lilly’s surprise – and much delight – Candace asks Lilly to be her Romeo and run lines with her in preparation for her big role in the school play. Lilly gleefully accepts and the two make plans to meet at Lilly’s home that evening after school. Astrid (Jana Morrison) can be seen in the distance throwing suspicious dagger eyes their way.
Memoragatu | Astrid and Lilly receive their own personalized jack-in-the-box toys. A strange urge to open the toy leads both girls to crank the lever and find out what sort of surprise awaits inside. When the box opens, Lilly is sent into a dream-like flashback showing her and her moms standing in the front yard of Candace’s home. The daydream is over in a startling flash and Lilly is snapped back to reality with empty hands – the toy has disappeared in thin air!
Lilly’s gut tells her that there must be a new monster in Copper’s Cove, so she wrangles up her monster-slaying partner Astrid and heads to Brutus (Olivier Renaud). Their trusty guide informs the gal pals that in order to kill Memoragatu, she must be defeated twice – “once in your memory and once in the real world.” The organ to harvest from Memoragatu is an a-borg, aka an eyeball.
A Dad’s Sudden Death | A rift begins to form between our two heroes when Astrid learns that Lilly has invited Candace to her home – otherwise known as Headquarters – to practice lines for the play. Frustrated with Lilly’s change of heart for Candace, Astrid decides to hold off on investigating Memoragatu.
In the middle of a heated argument with her mom, Astrid is thrown into another flashback. Astrid’s haunting memory is of her dad’s sudden death. Just before moving to Copper’s Cove, Astrid’s dad was involved in an accident after leaving home to visit his office and also pick up Astrid’s necklace from the local public pool. Her faulty memory would cause Astrid to believe that her dad’s death was her fault and that her mom blamed her for him leaving their home that night.
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The Fallout | Back at Lilly’s, Candace and she are in the middle of running through lines as Romeo and Juliet when Lilly falls under another memory spell. For Lilly, her scarring past experience was the day that Candace refused to allow her to join her birthday party because she didn’t “fit in”. When Lilly comes to, she’s upset with how Candace treated her that day. Candace’s recollection of that day is very different, but Lilly has no interest in hearing her side of it. In a tearful exchange of words, the girls agree that maybe the damage of their past fallout is too great to repair.
The Catalyst | The window of lucidity between flashbacks is steadily becoming shorter and before you know it, Astrid, Lilly, Brutus, and many other townspeople are lost in a trance that takes them to a lot filled with large jack-in-the-box toys intended on imprisoning them for the rest of eternity. In the midst of Lilly’s trip down memory lane, she remembers Brutus instructing her to find the monster within her mind’s narrative. Lilly unveils the falsehood within her nightmarish recall of the event with Candance and identifies Christine (Geri Hall) as the catalyst that cleaved Lilly and Candace’s bond. After freeing herself from her delusion, Lilly is able to aid Astrid and Tate in escaping their delusions. Together, they’re able to defeat Memoragatu by impaling her eye with an exposed nail on a fence post and collect the a-borg for the orb vessel.
Okay, Monster Hunters. After kicking major monster ass per usual, this week’s episode of Astrid & Lilly Saves the World left our heroes’ love lives in a quandary of sorts! Will Astrid be able to make up with Sparrow after disappearing on him again? Is our girl Lilly falling for her longtime frenemy Candace?! Leave your comments below!
Astrid & Lilly Save the World airs Wednesdays at 10pm on SYFY.
Dani grew up on the West Coast in sunny California. With a passion for film and television, she’s always on the hunt for binge-worthy flicks with diversity and positive representation of Womxn, the LGBTQIAN+ community, and other marginalized groups. Favorite genres include supernatural dramas, sci-fi, fantasy, horror and magical realism. Dani’s current favorite shows are Motherland: Fort Salem, Killing Eve, Dickinson, and Euphoria.