60.21-I will be watching silently in the shadows

 

Last time on the Smole, Francisca, Virginia, Mariana and Bert had to create puzzles that Kearney and Maru hopefully could not solve so that they would be awarded exemptions. A twist was in store for the four and Mariana gracefully gave up her chance for the exemption to be placed in the obituary. Francisca and Bert received an exemption each, but it was Mariana, the one predicted to be executed next, who needed it most even despite her clue. 40/120 points were added to the pot but 50 points were taken out courtesy of Maru to make it 539/1058 points. Will another shadow be executed or is the Mole a shadow?

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Bert: "Red tennis balls...what could that mean?"

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Bert: "Mariana shared her clue with me. She said she saw red tennis balls in Trenton's coffin. What could that mean? I knew where her head was and who she suspected so I'm confident that she was wrong about the interpretation. But if so, what else could the clue refer to? And why tennis in Trenton's coffin?"

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Kearney: "I think the women are out of their minds to forgive Maru so easily. Did Francisca forget how he made her tremble? But it is their decision and I must respect that. But I will be watching silently in the shadows."

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Francisca: "Finally it's my turn."

Francisca: "Phew, what I want is still here."

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Francisca: "I made it to the final five and got my first bingo line. I was excited to see what I could get but nervous that all of the prizes had been claimed. Fortunately there were still some so I took a clue. I think that's really useful in confirming my suspicions."

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Francisca: "I was hoping for more outdoor activities in Riverview rather than going to a movie theatre."

Bert: "Green for hidden exemption."

Maru: "Red is vibing with me today."

Virginia: "This is needlessly complicated."

Kearney: "Such efficiency."

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"Contestants, welcome to Le Cinema Plumbob. There are lots to do here, but access is restricted by ticket. If you complete all the tasks in time, you can earn a total of 82 points...or more."

"How much time do you have? The total runtime of the Smole movie. However, there is a fault with the projection."

"The projection room is upstairs only accessible by the one with the green ticket. If at any time the Smole movie stops showing, you earn nothing for the mission."

 "You are allowed to exchange tickets with one another. Good luck and your time starts now."

Virginia: "I need to make 340g of buttered popcorn, then 30g of pink cotton candy, finally followed by a 92g blizzard snow cone."

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Kearney: "One of us must sketch unique movie posters for the other to print and hang up around the cinema. Every poster must be replaced."

Francisca: "I'm more artistic. I'll sketch."

Kearney: "I will search for the printer."

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Maru: "I never watched the Smole movie before."

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Virginia: "I estimate 5 scoops."

Virginia: "Now for the butter."

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Francisca: "Each poster must be a different movie."

Kearney: "I found the printing room."

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Francisca: "I needed to sketch the essence of a movie poster, which will then be fed into a computer in another room and touched up for Kearney to print. The software would automatically guess the closest movie it think I drew."

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Maru: "I'm bored already. Is there something else for me to do?"

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Bert: "I found the projection room. Let me just press the button to make sure it keeps going."

Bert: "I have a good vantage point here."

Bert: "Ah, I see my task. I need to identify which movies these soundtracks came from. Each correct answer earns 1 point."

Bert: "Oh, this is familiar. This is from Goldfinger."

Bert: "Is that it? I only get 1 point?"

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Bert: "I was sitting there so confused. What I didn't realise was that the soundtracks were spread out to fill the whole duration of the mission. I wasted so much time fiddling with it and thinking it was broken."

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Virginia: "I hope this is enough."

Virginia: "It looks terribly large. I hope it does not exceed the weight."

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Maru: "I have to watch a series of short films and answer questions based on it."

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Francisca: "Done. The Lion King should be easy to identify."

Kearney: "Finally, a new file. Now I have to send it to the printer."

Kearney: "Is modern technology so slow and boring?"

Kearney: "Finally."

Kearney: "That is one poster down....I should count the number of posters needed."

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Virginia: "What flavour did I need?"

Virginia: "Blizzard, I recall."

Virginia: "I did it. It is within tolerable thresholds, so I earn 10 points."

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Kearney: "Francisca was very slow and overly detailed in her sketches. So much time was spent waiting."

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Francisca: "The iconic scene from The Notebook."

Kearney: "We need to hurry."

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Maru: "The clip you just watched is from Steamboat Willie, released in 1928. When did it enter public domain? Hmm, I don't know. 2024?"

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Virginia: "I must devise a seating plan for eight movie-goers, each with their peculiar preferences for placement and company. To succeed and earn the ten points, all conditions must be perfectly met."

Virginia: "How does one even operate this contraption? It’s so unfamiliar. Do I simply press this button here?"

Francisca: "There should be a circular button for you to press to power it on."

Francisca: "I ran out of ideas for this but I hope the software can recognise this as Ocean's 11."

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Maru: "In Spiderman: No Way Home, one of the Spidermen was played by Tom Holland. Who are the other two Spiderman actors? Oh, that's Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield! I love Spiderman."

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Bert: "I need to be a man with a yellow ticket. There must be something good in here."

Kearney: "What are you looking for?"

Bert: "What are you looking for?"

Kearney: "I am waiting for Francisca to be done. This mission is so boring."

Kearney: "Do you want to exchange tickets? You just need to print posters."

Bert: "Have you seen Virginia?"

Kearney: "I think she went outside. You can access it with my ticket too."

Bert: "Why then. If you insist."

Bert: "You can head upstairs. The projection room is there."

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Maru: "In which year did that movie release? I think it was 1939. Ooh, correct once again. Maybe I don't really need Mitch."

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Maru: "Mitch is a lot smarter than me so I like to let him take over in missions, but after we argued he refused to come out. Luckily today is all about movies, something that I actually have a shot in."

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Bert: "Good day Ms. Supine. How are you doing?"

Virginia: "Not so well. This contraption is so foreign to me."

Bert: "Maybe we should swap tickets. I can help you out. I know how to use a laptop."

Virginia: "You do?"

Virginia: "What is the hidden catch, then?"

Bert: "There is no hidden catch."

Virginia: "You always have an ulterior motive."

Bert: "I'm just really bored. I say we spice things up a bit. It would be good to find out what everyone is up to, isn't it?"

Virginia: "That is true. Very well, you can have my ticket."

Bert: "Pleasure doing business with you. You may head that way. Don't worry about me."

Francisca: "You're up to something."

Bert: "I think I can find an advantage. If you keep it a secret, I'll share it with you."

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The movie is still playing, but will it stop soon?

Kearney: "I do not know what this soundtrack is."

Kearney: "I should not be distracted by music. I must ensure the movie still plays."

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Virginia: "More technology!"

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Bert: "Time to find out what's behind this...oh, is it just a staff toilet?"

Bert: "Well, look what we have here. I can bet up to 82 points to try and double it for bonus points, or risk losing 82 points. I just need to get three in a row."

Bert: "High risk high reward. I'll do 20 points."

Bert: "Damn it!"

Bert: "So close. There goes 20 points."

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Francisca: "Think, what other movies are there...oh, Disney!"

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Virginia: "Maru is here. If I remain silent, perhaps he won't even notice my presence."

Virginia: "Why, I wonder, must everything now depend on technology?"

Virginia: "I must write movie reviews for the fellow blue ticket holder, to be guessed by them. Each correct guess will earn two points."

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Bert: "Kearney! Where are you?"

Kearney: "Over here! I am guarding the projector."

Bert: "I want my ticket back!"

Kearney: "I don't want a blue ticket!"

Bert: "Mine's yellow now!"

Kearney: "Very well! We can change shifts! Hey, what is that?"

Kearney: "I can film a video to replace scenes if the Smole movie goes black to salvage it. This is incredibly useful."

Bert: "Why are you recording me and where did you get that?"

Kearney: "This is Plan B."

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Maru: "The movie was based on the Great Depression. When did the Great Depression end? 2010?"

Virginia: "1939."

Virginia: "I should have kept my mouth shut."

Maru: "Hey Virginia. Didn't realise you were here."

Virginia: "Are you Maru?"

Maru: "Yep. Come help me."

Virginia: "Shouldn't you be checking if the movie is still playing?"

Maru: "I'm sure it's fine. Come help me!"

Virginia: "Very well. I am tempted by such a large screen."

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Kearney: "This is a logic puzzle of seats."

Francisca: "Wait, if you're here, who's printing my posters?"

Kearney: "I don't know."

Francisca: "Darn it."

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Maru: "Oh this is so touching. I want to cry."

Virginia: "Silence."

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Bert: "This is from Jaws obviously."

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Kearney: "Complete."

Kearney: "I didn't see this poster here. I under-counted!"

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Maru: "Which Shakespeare play was 10 Things I Hate About You based on?"

Virginia: "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say there are striking similarities between this movie and The Taming of the Shrew."

Maru: "Then my answer is The Taming of the Shrew."

Francisca: "I wonder how much time is left and how many more posters I need to make."

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Kearney: "I should film some scenery."

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Virginia: "I refuse to watch such a gory film."

Maru: "But I need you."

Virginia: "I’ve already spent so much time in here assisting you. Now, I must find Francisca and ask her to guess my reviews."

Virginia: "You seem terribly free."

Bert: "That door's for a woman with a red ticket."

Virginia: "Maru is the sole holder of the red ticket."

Bert: "Why do we trust Maru with the most important role?"

Virginia: "Arguably, the most important role is with the green ticket."

Bert: "What ticket do you have?"

Virginia: "Blue. And you?"

Bert: "Green. I just came down from resetting the projector."

Bert: "Francisca has blue too, right?"

Virginia: "I believe so. Don't go getting funny ideas."

Bert: "You can't keep hogging her."

Virginia: "I am not."

Bert: "You already curried so much favour with your writing ability. Leave me some time to make friends with the princess too."

Kearney: "Francisca, say a few words for the camera."

Bert: "What?"

Francisca: "Did you guys already know I was a princess?"

Bert: "No, no, we meant figuratively. Like a form of endearment."

Francisca: "Is that why you guys have been so nice to me? Because you want to get something from me?"

Virginia: "Of course not."

Bert: "Don't lie to her. She already knows."

Virginia: "I am not lying."

Francisca: "I thought...I was a fool."

Bert: "Don't say that now. We can still be friends. Or at the very least, have a mutually beneficial relationship."

Francisca: "You guys are just like Maru."

Bert: "Don't compare me to him. I'm nothing like him."

Francisca: "I don't want to see both of you again."

Bert: "That's going to be hard."

Kearney: "It appears there are deeper threats I failed to recognise."

Maru: "Why are we all out here? Is the mission over?"

Francisca: "I have posters to design."

Virginia: "There are reviews for you inside."

Kearney: "Maru, go to the other auditorium and ensure the movie is still playing. If it doesn't, yell immediately for Bert to fix it. We have 30 seconds of grace. Francisca, I recommend you handle the reviews first as that is faster. Ms. Supine, you may help to design more posters. That does not require computers."

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Maru: "So far so good. Ooh, we're down to the final three already."

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Virginia: "I know of a movie Ms. Vanderburg surely does not."

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Bert: "I think this should be the last soundtrack. This sounds familiar..."

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Francisca: "What movie could this be referring to? There's a generation gap between us. Oh it's so hard to concentrate after that bomb."

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Maru: "End credits."

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Virginia: "There was a rule: the ticket holder had to complete their corresponding tasks. I could assist Mr. Mango with his trivia, provided he gave the final answer. But I couldn’t help Ms. Vanderburg put up posters unless I, too, held a blue ticket—or unless she removed them and put them back up herself."

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"Contestants, I hope you enjoyed yourself at the cinema. You had to perform various activities to earn points, while the main Smole movie was playing. The movie managed to play without interruptions, so good job."

"Virginia successfully made the right food in the right order and of the right weight, earning 10 points."

"Virginia had also left reviews, of which Francisca successfully guessed 4, so that earns 8 points."

"Maru answered 8 movie trivia questions correctly, bringing with him another 8 points. The correct seating arrangement planned also brings about 10 points."

"Not all posters were completely replaced, so 11 points are earned."

"Lastly, there were 6 soundtracks that were correctly identified, leading to 6 points."

"However, in two of the bathrooms were slot machines, giving the opportunity to gamble the potential earnings of this mission for double the money. Bert took on this gamble and failed, thus losing 20 points."

In total, 33/82 points have been earned, bringing the pot total to 572/1140 points. With no exemption to save him, will Bert be executed next or will he survive till the end?