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Meanwhile, deep in the Cluster, the Divine Clerics are freaking out, rushing a gross looking old guy to a weird inner sanctum.
I’m sure, in retrospect, the Ostral B heretics coming up later had no clue they’d be timing their incursion with His Shadow’s direst setback in many decades. I know, I’m hashing up future past tense like crazy, but it works, so just go with it and notice that this inner sanctum is rife with symbolism. Please also note the upper ceiling stories above them and remember that when you see the fourth movie. Anything and everything that looks circular and segmented is important.
“Faster, we’re losing him!”
Inside the sanctum, a prisoner is waiting. He’s been made comfortable and the atmosphere is pleasant and jolly. Not!The guy is tied so thoroughly that you wonder what in the world could he possibly do or has done, and what is the tube in his mouth for??? Yeah, you can see he’s wondering the same thing himself, his eyes are bugging like he’s seeing ghosts, but what he sees are some tools you haven’t seen yet. It’s not helping his mood one bit that he’s being prepped for a lobotomy. He struggles with all his might when he sees the Clerics rush in, to no avail. “The sedative!” ”No time!”
You’re having a *really* bad day when you get a lobotomy with no sedative. That looks like it hurts, and the prisoner thrashes so hard that one of his arms rips free and knocks a Cleric off balance, giving him a dose of his own electrocution. That Cleric is quickly replaced with another.
This time it works.
Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn’t mean the Clerics properly finish.
Ok, what just happened?! And why??? We’ll get to that in a minute. Right now I’m intrigued by these priest looking guys.The Divine Clerics all wear hooded robes of purple and netting on their faces to look shadowy, in keeping with the theme of His Divine Shadow. I’ve noticed the only vibrant red you ever see is on His Shadow’s robe in the linings, so I wonder how far we can carry the symbolism, like fresh blood is red, old blood in a bruise is purple, the Clerics wear purple… Death overshadows the human race, basically. Note the Cluster symbols on their robes, you’ll see those all over the place as the movie progresses. In all these scenes, especially if you are watching live, you notice a LOT of shadows lying across everything. There is no clear lighting source, and shadows move around from every direction almost like they’re alive as light flickers or gets blocked. If YOU were tied up in there like that prisoner, you’d be terrified enough, but now it’s time to see what that prisoner was able to see…
Ok, unpausing- This time it works, cool pix, yada yada, ah, here we are. Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn’t mean the Clerics properly finish.
“He fought well.” “A truly vicious human being.” “He will prove to be a good host.” Wo, wait a minute. Host? Human being? The Clerics say it as though they represent something apart from humans.
It’s hard not to notice throughout I Worship His Shadow how much societal structure revolves around the constant moving around and processing of prisoners. It seems there is an endless supply of humans to make nearly pointless examples of or use in a variety of ways, and in the end, all wind up as useful additions to the protein bay. But how about the prisoner that His Shadow uses as a host body? We never find out who he is or was, what his story was about. We only see the horrible end for him, after obviously being mishandled and abused. Why was he chosen? Later on we see he’s not even as tall as Kai, and he winds up being completely enrobed, so he wasn’t chosen for any particular physical features that we can tell. I think he is chosen because he’s fighting fit, and his body will be able to withstand a long occupation of whatever wear and tear His Shadow puts it through. I would also add that he chose it for irony, but His Shadow doesn’t appear to care about making the point of mocking, as some evil villains would (at least not very well), as much as simply just efficiently using. His mindset is very different.
“The second vac!” “We do not have time, one will have to do.” “But he may not be fully cleansed!” “We will have to risk it.”
I think priests probably argue like that everywhere you find them, but in this case, they really don’t have time (don’t let the still fool you, they were constantly moving), and they do have to risk it. Risk what? Protocol is a hard rule with them, procedure was set up millennia ago to ensure the continuity of His Divine Shadow’s societal rule over the League of 20,000 Planets. Surely they don’t mean…
The prisoner’s frame is tipped forward while the crusty old gross guy is moved underneath him. More like, their faces are kind of lined up, and now we see what that tube was all about.
“Divine Shadow, you must perform the Kiss. Divine Shadow, the Kiss.”
And then the old crust goes into a spasm and wheezes out this purple… essence?
And then the old body lets go and presumably dies. Suddenly all is calm, the Clerics wheel the body over and raise the new host up, and as this new host slowly regains consciousness and looks blandly on, the Clerics prep the old body for a new procedure. It isn’t pretty. Cover your eyes…
Oh, and cover your ears. After the old host’s head is reverentially exposed, the next sound you hear is like a nightmare from a dentist’s chair.
An odd little pedestal with tubes in a little case is rolled forward, a tool is handed over, and a nasty whining sound begins…. Then another tool is handed over and you get an icky sucking sound.
These are teaser scenes, you really don’t see what he’s doing until in a minute.
This guy can see everything the Cleric is doing.
Yep, *gag*, it’s the old guy’s brain…
For those of you who get the creeps watching this kind of stuff and might suddenly feel your brain has a precarious hold on existence, don’t worry, they really don’t just pop out that easily. I do like that sucking noise, though, that was real cute. But the rest is realistic enough, especially the steam. As soon as I saw the steam coming off the brain, I felt like the room they are in must be a little bit cold.
Why in the world did the Cleric take the old brain out? It seems they’ve got quite a collection going, and this is how they collect them over a very long period of time. Every brain they save has once been a host to His Divine Shadow, who never really dies. It’s a mystery how simply plugging it into that little case is going to preserve it, but we find out how preservation is done later.
This next part fascinated me. If you watch closely, the Clerics make the Cluster symbol with their hands as they are saluting the brain before they send it up to the others on its pedestal.
Taking a big risk at the very last minute just in the nick of time… I wonder why they waited so long in the first place. Surely they didn’t get caught by surprise, but alas, that is one thing we just never find out. Can’t wait to see what His Shadow does with his new brain. 
~~~~~~~~~~~
The guy playing the prisoner (the Bound Man) is Lex Gigeroff. He wrote some of the shows and guested in several of them, as well. If you would like to leave a message, there is a Lex Gigeroff Memorial on facebook.
This is part 4.
Go back to part 3.
Go on to part 5. (Continue to part 5 on this blog.)
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.
Go back to part 3.
Go on to part 5. (Continue to part 5 on this blog.)
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.
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