Dodgeball, Tuna Salad, and a Raging She-Devil
ASTRID & LILLY SAVE THE WORLD – Season 1 Episode 3 – SPOILERS
Brutus
Brutus (Olivier Renaud) decides to help Astrid and Lilly conquer their fears with tactics likely borrowed from THE PINK PANTHER‘s Cato (but instead of randomly attacking, he just pops up unexpectedly with the notion of startling them). The next monster the duo must face is The Timoring, which feasts on fear and confronts its victims with that which they fear most. Astrid and Lilly are suspicious of Brutus’ motives for helping them and ask several times for clarification of that. Late in the episode, he produces identification saying that he is “from a long line of inter-dimensional monster hunter mentors as part of an organization called The Portal Protectorate“. He goes on to say that Portal Protectorate agents are trained from hatchlings to monitor the borders between worlds, and to step in if there’s a breach. (In his dimension, humanoids are oviparous.) One wonders why he didn’t show them that ID in the first place.
Christine, mother of Candace
The scariest monster on the show right now is Candace’s mother Christine (Jeri Hall), who is becoming increasingly maniacal in her quest for godliness, and is actively and forcibly recruiting young people to further what she believes is a religious crusade. A creature called The Guardian, which Christine erroneously believes is heaven-sent, is behind all of that. (It is strange that Brutus has not mentioned this monster at all.)
The Guardian instructs Christine to find even more recruits, and tells her: “We are going to create a brave new world to our liking, together, you and I.” Candace (Julia Doyle) refers to her mother as a “raging she-devil” and that is quite close to the truth.
Michelle expressing her delight.
Michelle (Megan Hutchings) referees a dodgeball game, and we learn that Lilly had a traumatic experience in grade two that turned that sport into her greatest fear. Michelle turns down Lilly’s request to go to the nurse’s office, and seems to take great pleasure in Lilly’s discomfort during the game. Michelle is afraid of getting old (she recently found a grey hair), so the fear demon appears to her in clown makeup with a 30th birthday cake.
Valerie (Christina Orjalo) is most afraid of being booed off stage, so as she is rehearsing lines from CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, The Timoring assumes the form of a critic and does exactly that. Later in the episode, a third incarnation of the beast unwisely tries to exploit Lilly’s difficulties with dodgeball, and is vanquished.
Val
Astrid (Jana Morrison) gains the power to see through floors (and probably other things). Lilly (Samantha Aucoin), whose leg previously twitched in the presence of monsters, now has one very strong leg, which enables her to pedal a bike much faster (but probably does not increase her running speed). In a bit of foreshadowing, we find out that Lilly sometimes binges XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.
Soon after Astrid rescues Sparrow (Spencer Macpherson) from Christine, Lilly arrives on her bike (Brutus has disabled her car) to rescue Astrid, and runs into Candace.
CANDACE: “You come here to rescue your other half?”
LILLY: “Yes.”
CANDACE: “Well, you’re just in time. They haven’t started on her yet. [pauses] You’re a good friend.”
Fabian O’Keefe as the janitor who inadvertently scares away The Timoring
The Timoring can be killed only by that which it fears the most, and that turns out to be mayonnaise. Brutus also has a mayo-related food experience. At the end of the episode, Brutus samples a tuna salad sandwich (one component of which is mayo), is very impressed by it, and asks what it is. Since mayo contains eggs, and humanoids are hatched (not born) in the alternate dimension, eggs might not be considered food there. Brutus pretends to be Astrid’s boyfriend to stop others from teasing her about not having one. Sparrow misinterprets this, and sadly walks away. The only way for Astrid to effectively explain might be to tell Sparrow what’s going on.
Miscellaneous Info
Alexis Koetting
Alexis Koetting, who plays Lilly’s very supportive mom, is also the author of three Bella James Mysteries. (In “Encore”, the first book in the series, television actress Bella James relocates to the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake to perform at the Shaw Festival theatre, and finds long buried human remains in the yard of her seasonal rental.)
Three versions of The Timoring (Creepy Clown, Critic, and Dodgeball) are played, respectively, by Chris Adams, Charlie Tomlinson, and Bob Winsor, all of whom also appeared in the SyFy series SURREALESTATE.
The 2022 World Dodgeball Championships were held in Edmonton, Alberta. The 2024 Championships will be held in Graz, Austria from 11-17 August. There will be six divisions – three cloth and three foam – Men, Women and Mixed. (Foam is popular in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Cloth is preferred in Europe and in some Asian locations.)