Summary
Talamasca: The Secret Order creates a more pressing sense of danger in Episode 2, with Guy getting a change of scenery that opens a few more doors into Anne Rice’s weird world.
Talamasca: The Secret Order kind of relies on Guy Anatole being smart, which is a bit of a problem, since Episode 2 reveals him to be a total idiot. “A Wilderness of Mirrors” is enjoyable enough, don’t get me wrong, and it creates a more pressing sense of danger with a setting change to London’s seedier corners and a couple of messy uses of practical gore. But the plot moves almost exclusively on the back of Guy making the worst possible decision every time he’s called upon. It’d almost be impressive if it wasn’t, you know, the opposite of impressive.
Remember the premiere’s cold open? Well, we get to see the aftermath of that here — and it isn’t pretty. Soledad wasn’t just smashed to bits by the train she threw herself in front of, but the remains were gnawed on by creatures unknown. A slightly disinterested local copper suspects stray dogs, but we know better. The case seems open-and-shut as far as the police are concerned, though, which is good news for Mr. Owen, the head of Talamasca’s London Mother House, who is working with Jasper. But Jasper is less convinced, since he knows that Helen will send a replacement.
And she does indeed send a replacement. A good chunk of “A Wilderness of Mirrors” is devoted to Guy getting a crash course in being a supernatural spy. He agrees to join Talamasca under certain conditions — not being lied to, for instance, which seems incredibly naive considering I don’t think anyone has told him the truth yet — and allows the organization to help him devise a “legend” that explains why he’s suddenly leaving his promising new job and jetting off to the other side of the world. He’s given so much information in such a short space of time, about codenames and decoders and dead drops, that it’s hard to imagine how he’ll remember it all. As soon as he arrives in London, it becomes obvious that his memory is going to be the least of his problems.
He’s not even sure what the mission is. All he knows is that it’s totally off-books, even from the main Talamasca Organization. Helen has handled everything and gives him some vague spiel about how the London Mother House has gone rogue and it needs sorting out for some mysterious reasons that can’t be shared with the higher-ups. They’ve hired a new operative, who’ll be arriving in London shortly, and it’ll be Guy’s job to keep an eye on him and figure out what he’s up to. As he departs, Helen cautions Guy that this will probably be the last time they meet, and at no point does he ask what I would consider to be the most salient question here, which is that, if the main Talamasca organization has no idea he exists, what is he going to do if he completes the mission and never runs into Helen again? Just be stuck in London?
Anyway, Guy arrives in London and immediately finds himself working as a barker for a strip joint, which is a bit of a step down from working for a prestigious law firm. I do like the little windows that Episode 2 of Talamasca: The Secret Order cracks into the way the organization works technologically, though. Guy’s laptop is unlocked with a 54-character code, and even then, the screen can only be viewed through a pair of special glasses. To a bystander, it just looks like a screensaver full of bees. This stuff helps to reinforce the feeling of a proper espionage agency, which is nice.
But Guy doesn’t give the impression of a proper spy — not by a long shot. One of the first things he does in London is go to a bar, where he meets a woman named Keves who invites him to an after-hours party in Hackney. It’s deeply suspicious, but he goes anyway, has a bit of a dance and a weird three-way smooch with Keves and another woman who whispers in his ear that he’s going to be in big trouble, then takes Keves home and sleeps with her. Everything about this is dumb. It’s like Guy’s actively trying to get himself killed. When he wakes up, Keves has already gone. He doesn’t see her again until he’s staring at her dead body. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Through a dead drop, Guy learns that the new employee brought in by the London Mother House is Matej Vagna, aka Archie, and he’s tasked with following him from the airport and seeing who he meets with. One of those people is Mr Owens, and they’re both joined by Jasper, who seems to detect Guy’s presence immediately. Guy keeps following Archie to a rickety building where, by the time Guy gets inside, Archie has had his throat cut and Keves has been hanged in an adjoining room. Archie’s final words pertain to a book that we earlier saw Keves carrying in her bag, but it’s a lot for Guy to deal with, and he leaves in a hurry.
How is all this connected? And can Guy find out before he gets himself killed through his own stupidity? We’ll have to wait and see.
RELATED:
