The Case of the Very Long Stairway is the seventh episode of the first season of the Netflix original supernatural series, Dead Boy Detectives.
Synopsis[]
When Edwin gets caught in a frightening situation, Charles relies on his best mate’s meticulous notes to find him. A determined Crystal confronts her ex.
Plot[]
Cat King gets a visit from Esther
Esther pulls herself from the dirt and pays the Cat King a visit. She explains how the Dead Boys threw off her snake's feeding, disrespected her, and escaped her revenge plan in part due to him. Cat King finds it laughable that Esther thought mushrooms could take down the Dead Boys, as Edwin alone survived Hell. And when he escapes again, the Cat King will be waiting for him, leading Esther to come up with a new plan. Still, Esther is frustrated and threatens to take it out on the Cat King, but magic doesn't work on him due to him not being a normal being. However, she takes her cane and beats him over the head repeatedly, killing him and leaving him a bloody pulp, costing the Cat King his third of nine lives. A tortured ghost whose escaped Hell, that is fascinating to Esther, as Edwin can give him power.
Crystal and Niko join Charles and the Night Nurse to learn that Edwin has been taken back to Hell, though the Night Nurse insists that it wasn't her doing, perhaps it was something in her letter that alerted the demon to come and take Edwin. While it is her duty to save Edwin, assuming that him being in Hell is a mistake, doing so is very much out of her jurisdiction. It's easy enough to open a door to Hell, but no one wants to go there. Not to mention the sheer number of permits and approvals she'll have to push through. And so, Charles asks that she simply open up a door so that he can go get Edwin himself. In addition to Edwin telling him many stories about Hell, Charles also has his notebook where he's written most of it down. Hopefully, this will allow Charles to successfully navigate it.
Crystal asks to join Charles, leading to a private closet conversation, where he tries to explain that Hell is no place for mortals and that nothing ever comes back alive. He can't be worried about Crystal when he needs to be focused on finding Edwin. When crystal screwed up and lost her powers, they both helped her. And now that she has them back, she wants to help, insisting that Edwin is her friend too. Nevertheless, Charles says no, frustrating Crystal who storms out, catching Jenny's attention as she's on her way out of the shop. When she sarcastically remarks that she's just going to go get her demon to open a portal to Hell, Jenny asks if this is the same ex that was abusive. When Crystal says that it is, Jenny grabs her cleaver, her jacket, and follows behind crystal.
Charles and Edwin become friends
The Night Nurse is reluctant to even open the portal to Hell, not to mention there's no certainty that Charles will even keep his word and come back to the afterlife with her should he find Edwin. Niko insists that Charles wouldn't lie to her and suggests that Night Nurse look in his head and see if she can trust him. Inside his head, the Night Nurse sees Charles' first encounter with Edwin. He was freezing in an attic when Edwin approaches with a lantern. He explains that he went to the school a long time ago. They had bullies back then as well. Charles explains that his friends turned on him after he saved a kid from getting beat up simply because he was from Pakistan. Charles is half Indian. There's not much of a difference by his account. Edwin admits this is a fair point, as they were the same country when he was alive. Charles is still unaware that Edwin is a ghost at this point, though he then reveals he went to the school from 1913 to 1916. Charles and Edwin became close friends in such a short time, with Edwin reading him stories, but it is clear that Charles is growing weaker as time passes. It is then that Charles simply slips away and dies. Edwin wishes they could've been friends longer, but now that he's dead, Death will come for him, and so Edwin must leave, but Charles isn't ready to go to the afterlife. He'd rather stay with Edwin, who'd just escaped Hell and isn't necessarily good with other people. However, Charles refuses to leave Edwin's side, and when the blue light appears, the two of them flee together, which brings tears to Night Nurse's eyes at the notion that Charles gave up a potentially tranquil eternity for Edwin. That said, Charles insists that Edwin doesn't belong in Hell, and that they will keep their promise to go with her, should he return with Edwin.
Night Nurse opens a portal to Hell, first telling Charles that he'll need provisions. Once his bag is packed, Charles makes his passage into Hell. Meanwhile, Edwin, covered in blood, is trying his best to just survive it.
On a long staircase down to Hell, Charles crosses past with the random crying blonde woman. She grabs his arm and asks does he know why she's there, but he doesn't and continues on his path. Charles passes through what seems to be a hotel of some sort, approaching the front desk and ringing the bell, which results in loud screaming, suggesting that Charles is not alone in the room even though only he can be seen. He then looks at Edwin's guide, which indicates he's in limbo and specifically says do not ring the bell. Following the instructions, he makes his way behind a wall into a room labeled Lust, picks a door open and enters gluttony, where he pulls a claw machine out from behind a wall and enters through a secret passageway.
Lantern in hand, Charles has now entered the Doll House, where Edwin is running for his life from a spider-like creature built of dolls. In the library, he finds Simon, one of his old schoolmates, ripping pages from a book. He suspects that it's a trick but Edwin insists that he's real and pleads with him to stop, but Simon explains that the headmaster said he can leave once he finishes tearing out the pages, but every time he finishes one book, another appears in his hand. Edwin realizes that this is Simon's punishment. He sacrificed Edwin to a demon, who traded Edwin to another demon who traded him to something worse. This is his punishment, an eternity of paper cuts, which frustrates Edwin, who then sees himself in a reflection despite being a ghost. He is then startled by a young blonde girl who appears in the mirror. Edwin attempts to touch the mirror and falls through it, landing in some type of mirror reality, questioning what exactly the woman is. The answers are Endless, she replies. She explains that he's in her realm now, where she can see it all. But he can only leave through the door he came in by.
She watches Simon, saying that he's been tearing pages from the books for almost 40,000 days and nights. She says this while taking the hook attacked to her ring and digging it through the palm of her hand. Every second is a tiny, forever ache, and blood and suffering. It's beautiful by her account. It's then that she's reveals that she's Despair of The Endless. She instructs Edwin to go back, as he was getting angry and about to gloat over Simon's torment, which she wants to see. After being sent back to Hell with Simon, Edwin assures him that he didn't come back to gloat and that he would never do that. Simon recalls the blue cap Edwin used to wear. Edwin recalls Simon snatching it off his head. Simon remarks that Edwin looked real smart in that cap, but when he tried to tell him, Edwin just walked away. Simon got so embarrassed thinking they were the same, in the sense that they are both gay, but Edwin didn't realize at the time and was also nervous around Simon, who wonders if it's torture being the way they are. Edwin insists that it isn't. And although it is difficult to believe, Edwin is sorry for the both of them, as is Simon. Edwin is going to get out again and invites Simon to come along. Simon apologizes for his role in all of this, as he didn't know, but he does think it's what he deserves. Edwin grabs Simon's face and says that if he punishes himself, then everywhere will become Hell, but Simon simply says the headmaster will become angry, refusing to join Edwin, who is startled when a gigantic creature walks past the door. After Edwin leaves, Simon no longer feels the need to tear the pages, at which point, Death arrives.
Niko is worried about her friends and has a lot of questions. Her dad died during the gibbous moon. She wonders where does that place him. However, the Night Nurse runs the Lost & Found Department, where they only deal with misplaced children in the afterlife. Niko deduces that Night Nurse has a really sad job, which she admits is true.
Jenny follows Crystal
Crystal goes to David's lair, unaware that she's been followed by Jenny, who cares about Crystal's well-being and says that she shouldn't be meeting up with her abusive and probably dangerous ex. It's then that David makes his presence known. Once Crystal approaches, he can sense that she got her powers back. She needs him to open a portal to Hell for her and threatens to make him do it, Should he not comply. David no longer scares Crystal, as she now has people that care about her, including Jenny, who David decides to possess. He hands Crystal the cleaver and offers to open a portal, but only if Crystal kills Jenny first. Crystal grabs David, who is inside Jenny’s body and brings him inside her mindscape. Crystal taps into the powers of her ancestors and freeze David in his place, where he finally admits that he can't open a door to Hell. She then grabs David and forcefully takes her memories back. David exclaims that he's an ancient demon who can't be killed, no matter how powerful Crystal thinks she is. He's never going to stop hunting her after this. Rather than kill him, Crystal decides to bury him by bringing him to Iris and her ancestors, where they literally put him in the ground. She has time to figure it out, but Iris tells Crystal she can't leave David buried there forever, as it's bad for the tree. Crystal then returns to her body just as Jenny is waking up on the ground. The man who David was possessing also wakes up.
Esther stops by Tragic Mick's shop, where she intends to build something horrifying. After learning that one of the Dead Boys has survived Hell, she intends to build a device that takes a ghost's pain and turns it into the most delicious, raw and magical power. His anguish will give her new power like a battery, and she's going to use that power to make the town worship her. As for Crystal, she will be fed to the snake. That said, Tragic Mick refuses to be compliant with her plans. Esther insists that she deserves this; she's done taking children in the middle of the night, she wants to take them in the broad daylight whenever she wants. With her cane in hand, she approaches Mick and threatens to kill him should he not comply.
Night Nurse has become anxious and fears that she's made a mistake by risking her job to allow Charles to go to Hell. Niko reads in Night Nurse's book that the dead can come back to life, but Night Nurse corrects her and says that they're called the undead, commonly known as zombies.
Charles crosses paths with two misery wraiths but manages to avoid them in his search for Edwin, who he finds in the fetal position at the end of the hall. Charles, relieved, calls out to Edwin, who is attacked by the large spider like creature and taken away. Charles follows the trail to the end of another corridor, where he finds Edwin unharmed but cowering in a corner. Edwin tells Charles to be quiet and asks what he's doing there. Charles has come to rescue him. He then asks where did the blood go that Edwin was just covered in moments before. Edwin reveals that was the last version of him, which is still being eaten by the large demonic creature. Charles shines the light into the corner and sees a small mountain of Edwin's corpses, ripped apart and decaying. Whenever Edwin runs, it catches him, tears him apart, and gnaws on him. Then it all starts again. Over and over for decades. The moment he runs, it will chase after him.
Charles throws a bomb at the spider like creature composed of doll parts, which acts as a distraction for them to make a run for it. Charles then allows the creature to get close enough before throwing a Molotov cocktail on it, before making their way back into the gluttony hall, where people are stuffing their face with food until vomiting. After passing through without incident, they make it to the room of lust, which is filled with blood covered people on the floor together. Charles asks where all this is coming from, as these rooms were empty when he initially passed through them. Edwin explains that you have to experience Hell before you can see what's really there. They grab for Edwin, but Charles pulls him to safety, and they make it back to the hotel lobby, or limbo. Charles wants to help them, but Edwin insists there's nothing they can do for them. Edwin and Charles make their way back up the steps, where Edwin confesses to Charles that he's in love with him. It's alright if he doesn't feel the same, he just needed Charles to know. Charles says to Edwin that he's his best mate and that he's the most important person in the world to him. While he's not in love with him, there's no one else he would go to Hell for. The Night Nurse watches from the top of the steps as the doll creature continues its pursuit of them. Fortunately, Edwin and Charles make it through the portal and back to earth just in time, where they are greeted by Niko.
Edwin and Charles return to earth
Niko enters Crystal's room to tell her the boys are back from Hell, unaware that Jenny is also in the room. Crystal heads over to greet Edwin and Charles, though they don't have much time together, as the Night Nurse is trusting they will fulfill their end of their agreement and come with her back to the Lost & Found Department for processing. However, Niko cites Night Nurse's book, where there's a clause in place that states if the spirits to be collected are on earth after traveling to another plane, she hast to file something called a Schedule LS 53–9 to remove said spirits from the mortal plane for a second time, meaning that since the boys have been to Hell, the Night Nurse now must file that form before she can take them. Night Nurse agrees this is true but is also upset, feeling as though they've betrayed her, telling the boys not to go far.
Edwin and Charles spend the night on the rooftop, where Charles assure Edwin that his confession hasn't made things weird between them, though they should probably get out of town before the Night Nurse returns. It would be nice to get back to London. Crystal joins them, unsure of what she'll tell Jenny when she awakens, though Crystal doesn't regret trying everything in her power to get to Hell and save Edwin. She then reveals that she's recovered her memories, the physical representation being four marble-like spears in a bag. They question what she's going to do with them, but they are interrupted by a strange crow before she can respond. Meanwhile, Niko watches over a sleeping Jenny, toying with the magic 8-ball which still says "Outlook not so good."
Night Nurse has returned to the Lost & Found Department with plans to file the necessary forms and retrieve the Dead Boys. Back on earth, Crystal has her memories in hand and proceeds to consume one of the marbles.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne
- Jayden Revri as Charles Rowland
- Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace
- Briana Cuoco as Jenny Green
- Ruth Connell as Night Nurse
- Yuyu Kitamura as Niko Sasaki
- Jenn Lyon as Esther Finch
Guest Starring[]
- Lukas Gage as Cat King
- David Iacono as David the Demon
- Michael Beach as Tragic Mick
- Lindsey Gort as Maxine
- Miranda Edwards as Iris
- Donna Preston as Despair
Co-Starring[]
- Gabriel Drake as Simon
- Troy James as Misery Wraith
- Kailey Spear as Undead Woman the First
- Sam Spear as Undead Woman the Second
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
References[]