"Final episode" challenge

[robgairey]

This is prompted by reading all the disappointed and negative comments about the very last episode of Hex, which killed off poor Roxanne, let the bad guys apparently win, denied us the anticipated Ella / Malachi showdown and left things completely in the air.

So my question is - how would you like the last episode to have played out?

Answers please in the form of alternative episode scene breakdowns, or, if you are particularly creative, alternative scripts. Submissions should aim to "tie up" Hex as a series (but perhaps allowing just enough loose threads to make another season viable).

I'm currently putting together a scene breakdown myself (not being clever enough to handle the dialogue of a script), and aim to post it soon. I just wanted to see everyone else's ideas first!

Let's assume everything up to and including episode 12 played out the same - with Leon corrupted, Ella tortured, and finally Ella and Thelma realising that they were the "only ones left".

What happens next?

[robgairey]

Hello there

Apologies for the delay in coming back to this - work got very busy. However, I present my ideas for the alternative episode. I apologise for the corniness as derivative nature of some of it (a bit too "Buffy" I suppose rather than "Hex"). I've aimed though to give it a rather more "final" conclusion than the mystifying final scenes we did get. I'm also a bit forgetful about the correct names for things - like that power stick thingy that Ella carries. Happy for any comments, or for your own alternative last episode ideas!

Final episode opening

Ella and Thelma are sitting on the bed in Ella’s room, looking at the prone Leon. They discuss the futility of their situation, and Malachi’s seeming invincibility. When Thelma mentions zapping Malachi with Ella’s staff however, Ella deduces that his hold over his succubae had been temporarily interrupted, allowing her to subdue Leon. This sparks further frantic study of the Book of Orakiah.

Malachi is making final preparations for his end of term party, with Alex in tow. Jo reminds him about the importance of the coming ceremony, and the danger that Ella still poses. Malachi is more interested however in turning Roxanne, whose guile he thinks will be an asset to them once she has been corrupted. He spies Roxanne outside, sitting on Thelma’s bench, and goes to intercept her.

Part one

Shaking and shivering, Malachi gives the impression of intense shock, prompting a concerned Roxanne to take him in hand and back to his room.

Leon has been tethered to the bed while Ella and Thelma research means of breaking Malachi’s hold over him and others. Ella has in fact discovered a window of opportunity. A big gathering is foretold, whereby Malachi will impart his powers to his succubae, giving them the ability to go out into the world and corrupt more souls on their own account (as Thelma observes, this makes sense as it would take Malachi rather a long time to do it all himself). Once this has been done, Malachi’s power will grow exponentially, but – during the ceremony itself, he will be temporarily weakened. In the time before the ceremony Ella intends to even the odds a bit, by going after Jo and others in Malachi’s thrall. She sends Thelma to spy on Malachi himself. Unwatched, Leon begins to loosen his restraints.

In his room, Malachi continues to weave his spell, feeding on Roxanne’s concern. Roxanne pours Malachi a drink to calm his nerves, and draws closer to him, soothing him in his supposed anguish. It seems for a moment that she is about to be completely seduced, being offered the chance to give herself over to “pure love”. Thelma, entering the room, is powerless to prevent what she sees taking place. But then, suddenly, Malachi doubles up in real pain, losing his powers and leaving his succubae writhing. Roxanne draws back and it emerges she has planned for this moment – in her hand is a vial of St John’s Wort. Enraged, he dives for Roxanne, and a fight develops. Malachi is weakened however, and after a struggle Roxanne, with Thelma cheering her on, is able to make her escape. She flees down the stairs and into the grounds, and makes for the school gate. Taking out her mobile, she speaks to somebody, saying that the whole school’s gone mad; Malachi has taken over and seems set to win. It’s now, or no one can be saved, she screams.

Somewhere else, at the other end of the phone line, David Tyrol tells her to flee the area as quickly as possible. He will take things from there.

Jo watches as all hell breaks loose amongst the students, and sees Roxanne making her escape across the grounds. She is about to call for aid in pursuing Roxanne but is intercepted by Ella. Taunts and threats turn into a full blown fight, with Jo having gained unnatural strength through her dark experiences. The fight proceeds through the school corridors and into one of the classrooms, Ella fighting of any succubae who tries to intervene and all sorts of school equipment – rulers, pens, compasses, even computer screens – being used as weapons. Then, when finally Ella is about to get the upper hand, someone else grabs her from behind. It’s Leon. In shock, Ella loses her concentration and Jo escapes. Ella is able to subdue Leon but is mortified at what has become of him. With the succubae now back to full strength, she also has no option but to flee the school.

Jo flees to Malachi’s room, where he is being nursed by a devoted Alex. It’s time to get rid of Ella once and for all, it is agreed; and Malachi has a score to settle with Roxanne. Malachi utters a summoning spell and, all around the school and in the grounds, Nephilim begin their hunt.

Part two

At a meeting of the School Governors David Tyrol attempts to convince the assembled crowd of the situation at the school, of Malachi’s malign influence and growing “cult” of students, and what now appears to be Jo’s complicity (and botched attempt to implicate him in fraud). He refers to the number of unexplained deaths and disappearances at the school, and is all in favour of sending an armed police unit to the school to arrest Malachi. The Chair of Governors and several others are however against taking action. David leaves in disgust.

Ella is attacked by two Nephilim on her way through the school grounds. A fight develops, during which one is despatched cleanly with her staff. The other looks set to overpower her, but eventually Ella’s mental powers cause it to be impaled on a tree branch - still alive and writhing, but unable to free itself. Meeting up with Thelma Ella declares that they will wait until nightfall and the time of Malachi’s ceremony – they need to time their disruption to the right moment.

Roxanne finds her way to David Tyrol’s lodge and the two discuss the situation at the school. It emerges that over the last month David has asked Roxanne to keep an eye on things at the school and report back to him; he has even suspected Ella, whom he is sure is responsible for some of the deaths. The two are interrupted however by the arrival of a Nephilim, which chases them upstairs. Fleeing out of the bedroom window, they make their way across the garage roof. The Nephilim gives chase and falls through the garage roof. David is able to trap it, and, with petrol, burn the garage down with the Nephilim in it.

Night falls and the school hall is being prepared for Malachi’s ceremony, with the students beginning to assemble, and Jo supervising. Even now, Malachi’s attention is diverted, this time making a fool of Leon in front of a laughing Alex – and Leon taking all of the jibes and insults willingly. Jo eventually intervenes, telling Leon to leave the hall, and telling Malachi to concentrate his mind for the imparting.

Ella and Thelma prepare for their mission. The first objective will be to get past the Nephilim who are patrolling the school grounds. The next will be to scout out the school building, reducing the numbers of succubae where possible, and, if at all possible, isolate Leon. With Leon incapacitated, a way must be found to free him from Malachi’s control – the others, in Ella’s view, are expendable.

As it happens only one Nephilim impedes Ella on the way to the school. While she takes on the monster, armed with a dagger, Thelma scouts ahead. Making her way carefully into the school, she spots Leon standing inside the main entrance. Shortly afterwards, Ella joins her – and the two manage to lure Leon outside – Ella jumping him as he is about to give the alarm. Rendering him unconscious, Ella ventures through the corridors on the way to the main hall.

Inside the school hall the ceremony has commenced – the chanting gradually increases in volume and gathers in intensity, Malachi kneeling in the centre of a circle of students, with a wider circle behind. Whilst Alex kneels in the central circle, Jo remains apart, watching the room for any intrusions. Finally, Malachi collapses in agony as sparks of energy gather around him. But as the energy begins to snake out to the members of the inner circle, Ella strikes.

Part three

The doors burst open, and Ella stands in the doorway – a number of bodies strewn behind her. Jo immediately screams at the students in the room and to move towards her, but Ella continues to cut a swathe through the students making straight for Malachi – who looks blearily up at her. As she comes close however she is grabbed round the neck by Alex, who with her increased strength begins to throttle her as Malachi rises to his feet, energy sparks still gathered around him. As it seems that Ella is weakening though, the pressure suddenly slackens, as Alex is caught off-guard by another arrival. It is Roxanne, who has arrived with David Tyrol, even now fighting down the students around him and providing Ella with the diversion she needs.

Whilst Alex is strong, it is actually Roxanne who prevails, her time as the queen of Medenham High giving her the edge over the “wanabee” – Roxanne taking her months of humiliation and frustration out on the other girl. Thelma cheers Roxanne on, although of course it is only Alex who can see her – something that puts her even further off-guard.

Roxanne’s and Alex’s fight is unnoticed by Ella, who keeps her eyes fixed on Malachi, whose strength is gradually returning. She draws a sword, intent on wounding Malachi before dispatching him with the dagger. As Malachi steps back, Jo shouts to him from across the room, and tosses over another sword. A duel commences – but with Ella dominating, at least initially.

Jo meanwhile confronts David, who is full of revulsion for Jo’s behaviour and her framing of him to keep in out of the way. Jo retorts that it would have been safer for him to have stayed away, and launches herself at David.

Thelma watches the fight, clutching Ella’s staff, and looking for an opening to use it. She takes a sly shot at Jo, turning the fight in David’s favour – and giving David the opportunity to knock Jo to the ground. Thelma watches appalled though as Malachi begins again to gain the upper hand, backing Ella away and raining blows on her that she is barely able to parry with her sword. In anguish, Thelma continues to watch as, in seeming slow motion, Ella’s sword snaps, and Malachi prepares to deliver a killing blow. Thelma screams, calling on the one person who could possibly help her now…

And then, suddenly, a new presence materialises in the room – one that Thelma regards with awe, and Malachi with initial bewilderment, and then stunned realisation – it is his mother, Cassie. Cassie regards Malachi with absolute sorrow, and expresses her heartfelt disappointment – Malachi, although her son, and the person whom she died for, cannot be allowed to win. Malachi finds his power draining once again and, with him off-balance, Ella pursues her sudden advantage. Taking the knife, she stabs him upward through his sternum and, when he falls in shock to his knees, rises up to take the final blow, removing his head from his shoulders.

Waves of energy emanate from Malachi’s body, and Ella is thrown across the room. The succubae closest to the corpse are vaporised, and as Alex runs in anguish towards him, her skin sears away before she collapses into dust. Thelma can only stare, tearfully, at Cassie, and the two finally embrace. Cassie tells Thelma how much she has missed her, and as they speak a door of light opens behind her. As she enters the doorway, Cassie throws her arms back towards Thelma and implores her to come with her – so that they can make the next journey forever. Thelma swallows – this is the end of her time on Earth, and she can finally travel onwards to the next stage. Gradually she steps towards the doorway and takes Cassie’s hands in hers. Tearfully she looks back at the school hall, only to see Jo plunging a knife into Ella’s shoulder as she is trying to pull herself to her feet. As Ella collapses again in pain, Jo raises her knife for a killing blow… and Thelma flings herself across the room, powering the staff against Jo and flinging her away from the struggling Ella. As David then rushes to Ella’s aid, Thelma looks back and is heartbroken to see that the doorway has vanished, and no sign of Cassie. She is stuck on Earth forever.

As Ella gradually comes to, she is astonished to see another person cradling her head – Leon, who is now free from Malachi’s influence. Others of the surviving students are also starting to pull themselves to their feet, and David and Roxanne check on everyone, whilst also surveying the remains of the room and of the school as a whole.

Unnoticed, Jo slips away, through the wreckage of the school corridors and out into the darkness of the grounds. There she is met by a tall figure, and pours forth the news of Malachi’s death and Ella’s survival. Facing her is the ashen faced Azazael.

“So, Ella”, Azazael mutters. “We begin again”.

[fenris]

I really enjoyed this. Loved the twist that Roxy was secretly working for Tyrell, and the fact that they both (quite understandably) suspected that Ella was responsible for all the deaths and strange events at Medenham.

The story is very comprehensive and even-handed, with all of the major characters being given a chance to shine, and there are some scenes I would have loved to have seen televised, especially Ella and Jo's school-wide confrontation, complete with large amounts of property damage.

Most importantly it just seems 'right', perfectly in keeping with the tone established in Hex's second season. I suspect that most fans of the show would have been both satisfied and very pleased if this had been the final episode, instead of what we were given. Full marks, rob.

Incidentally, I've got my own ideas for an alternate '2nd season final episode', but at the moment when I get time to write I'm concentrating almost exclusively on my Virtual Third Season. Maybe one day.

[robgairey]

Many thanks for your kind words fenris! Hgh praise indeed from one whose own fan fiction I am finding utterly rivetting!

My main concern was that I hadn't given Leon enough to do - I didn't want to copy the actual episode of him being rescued through his dreams. Plus I wondered for a while whether Thelma would cease to be once Malachi was destroyed - but then realised it wasn't Malachi who turned Thelma into a ghost in the first place - and that her continued existence would be an indication that Azazael was back.

I'd love to see your alternative last episode ideas - but please don't let it keep you from continuing from season three - which I have read right through, thoroughly enjoyed, and look forward to further instalments of!

[orokiah]

Right to the end of the final episode I was hoping David Tyrel was going to turn up and somehow save the day, so I really enjoyed this; especially the scenes where he outwits the Nephilim and starts smacking down his students.

Long shot I know, but maybe if they'd given him a bit more action Colin Salmon would be playing Bond right now instead of languishing way back in the betting to replace Daniel Craig .

robgairey said:

My main concern was that I hadn't given Leon enough to do

Not a concern from here - you did a great job tying everything up. Plus I very much like that you wrote it in act format.

[robgairey]

Many thanks orokiah!

I'm sure David would have been careful not to harm the students too much as he joined the fray, even despite their status as Malachi's succubae. Just enough to keep them at bay.

[orokiah]

Hehe, true, but it would have been so much fun seeing him doing it...

I really liked David Tyrel. Colin Salmon is such a fine actor - was a shame they didn't make more of him somehow.