Part 1 of Part 2: Black Friday
Ok, so my last blog was a review/non-sensical babble about the first part of Team Starkid’s Hatchetfield Trilogy, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals. So, it’s only natural that I cover the second part. I’ll try to make this one not so long.
Black Friday, the second part of the Hatchetfield Trilogy created by Team Starkid, opens up with a bunch of people, not named, adorned in green costumes singing a song about the new toy that’s all the rage and will be hitting the shelves at the Hatchetfield Mall this Black Friday, the Tiggle-Me-Wiggly. The song ends opening credits roll and then boom, Emma and Paul(yes from the last show, I know they died but…moving on) Paul makes his disdain for the musical commercial known Emma hushes him, while dropping to the audience that she’s heading to Tom Houston’s the widowed husband of her deceased sister Jane, where she imagines they’ll be having family time.
Once they arrive, Tom “greets” them at the door and drops that he just needs them to watch Tim, Jane and Tom’s son, her nephew. While he goes to the hardware store. Much to Tim’s dismay, this news causes him to storm off once he’s out of earshot. Tom reveals to an irate Emma that he’s actually going to the mall to get Tim a Tiggle Me Wiggly Doll. He is then struck with the harsh reality that given the high demand of those dolls it’s unlikely that he’ll get that doll after only getting there an hour before opening, but regardless of Emma and Paul’s logic, he’s determined to get this for Tim.
Once he arrives at the mall, he sees an old student of his, Lex Foster, out back smoking. He expresses his disappointment towards her quitting high school, to which she responds by doing the same, as Tom quit teaching after Jane’s passing. Their conversation is halted when he runs to get into the lengthy line in front of the toy store.
We then follow Lex, meeting her cranky, greedy boss Frank as she enters her job, the very toy store Tom was rushing to. Frank is just getting a new shipment of the dolls,, and is ecstatic it is here We see the delivery guy for the first time, identical to the main guy from the commercial, Uncle Wiley. After he leaves, Frank degrades Lex, giving the audience some information about her: she lives in a trailer with her drunk mom and her little sister, who is referred to as “crazy” in the musical. Once Frank leaves, Lex opens the box to begin shelfing but quickly shoves one in her bag, We learn here that she intends to steal and sell the Wiggly-Doll to run away to California with her boyfriend Ethan and her little sister Hannah. Ethan was mentioned far before cluing us in on the fact that he’s a troublemaker, henceforth not really allowed around the mall. He’s watching over Hannah, who is in a tizzy saying a whole bunch of things about “Good-Blood and Bad-Blood” and “The black and white.” We learn a lot of what Hannah can see is shown to her by Webby, an “imaginary” spider who lives in her head. Ethan manages to calm her down and get her to wear Lex’s backpack by giving her a hat, swearing that it could protect her from anything.
After this, we are taken to the toy store line, where citizens are currently waiting to purchase a Wiggly-Doll. A blonde woman, who reveals herself to be Linda Monroe, is a highly wealthy Hatchetfield Boating Society member and wife to the most well-renowned plastic surgeon in Hatchetfield. She doesn’t wait in lines, so she writes a check to a man to get him to trade with her. Catching the attention of Becky Barnes, a nurse at the Hatchetfield Hospital’s pediatric wing. She catches the attention of the rest of the line, who mutter to themselves in annoyance, but no one takes a stance. It is here that we are revealed the truly sadistic, evil personality of Linda Monroe. Not only does she tear down Becky’s hunger for justice, but she twists the knife about the situation surrounding her abusive husband, Stanley, and his recent disappearance, which has been believed by many as him leaving Becky for a younger woman in Clivesdale.
All of a sudden, Tom Houston comes rushing in front of the people behind him, about to ask Becky for her spot before he notices who she is. The two of them were high school sweethearts back in the day, before Becky met Stanley and before Tom got enlisted. We can tell by the interaction that they are far from over each other.
The doors finally open at the toy store, and Sherman Young, the first man in line, immediately requests to buy every Wiggly they have in stock. The line groans and whines about the price; the idea of limiting the purchase amount to one is not on board for Linda as her four little perfect blonde boys all deserve their own Wiggly. This crowd soon gets violent, physical altercations take place. We move on over to the CineaPlex, where Ethan and Hannah are trying to see a movie. We get a true peek into how much Ethan cares for Lex, and Hannah expresses her fear about an upcoming disaster that’s emerging. The sweet moment is soon cut short when shoppers, deluded by the idea that Ethan has a doll, beat him to death. Leaving Hannah to fend for herself.
Tom and Becky come across Ethan, but it’s too late. Ethan is dead, and the brief act of kindness gets Tom stabbed by another crazed shopper. Becky takes him away to bandage his wound.
Cut again, we are now following Linda, distressed on the phone with Gerald. Soon, she is approached by Wilbur Cross, who we have seen as Uncle Wiley. He reveals that though Linda doesn’t know him, he knows her; he knows enough about her to know that only two of her four children actually belong to her husband. He preys on her only want in life, which is to be adored. He tells her that she needs to help bring about the birth of a “god”.
