Welcome to Night Vale Recap: Episode 38, “Orange Grove”
They say apples keep doctors away. It seems oranges will do the same thing to you.
We can always stand to start a show with an update from our local farmers! John Peters has apparently recently decided to branch out from growing imaginary corn to also include all kinds of oranges. This is a nice change as the oranges are at least tangible. It’s also good to know that John has finally reappeared from that mysterious room full of pictures Dana found him in weeks ago.
The only downside is, when John tosses some of his oranges to the reporters covering the story, the reporters begin to blink in and out of existence before disappearing altogether. Well that’s…concerning. We’ll get back to it later.
In more alarming news, the City Council has announced that they’re leaving Night Vale because of some mysterious mistakes involving bears. They don’t allude to Strex at all, but I can’t help being suspicious that they have something to do with getting the local power structure out of town.
Cecil then reads an e-mail he got from Carlos, who says just a few weeks ago there was only empty desert on John Peters’ farm. This orange grove must have grown very quickly. However Carlos can’t really comment on that because, as he specifies, he is not a botanist. He is a scientist. He studies science. There’s also an adorable peek into his and Cecil’s personal lives as he mentions dinner plans and what movie they might want to watch that night.
After a brief commercial explaining that stamps.com wants to steal your family from you, we learn that the local supermarket, the Ralphs, is filled to bursting with oranges in all of its aisles. Even the manager is overwhelmed as he pulls seemingly endless oranges out of his pockets before he blinks out of existence. Soon the trouble with the oranges reaches the radio station. Intern Maureen brings Cecil a glass of orange juice, which Cecil refuses. It’s too late for Maureen though. Within seconds she disappears as well.
Cecil mourns her for a moment but is soon interrupted by another e-mail from Carlos. His team of scientists just peeked into the window of the house that doesn’t exist but looks like it should and saw John Peters standing there, staring at a picture. It was the same as when Dana encountered him, suggesting that he still hadn’t moved. That also means that the John selling all the deadly oranges is an imposter! Unfortunately, Cecil may have worked it all out too late. “John” is in the studio now. He makes a leap for Cecil and we go to the weather.
This episode’s weather is “Black White and Red” by Emrys Cronin.
When we get back Cecil is breathless from the battle that went on while the weather played. He’s now certain that the John who came in was an impostor. He attacked Cecil with his oranges, obviously trying to make our favorite radio host disappear. For a moment it looked like the fake John would succeed, so Cecil reached for his cell phone. He wanted to send Carlos one last text telling him how much he loved him and their relationship and that it didn’t matter if they ate out or stayed in or what movies they watched together and so on. Then Cecil decided that was too long to text so he just hit John with the phone instead.
Once the fake John was unconscious the Secret Police arrived to take him away, only to have their power undermined by a group of Strex employees who took John instead. We then learn that Strex was behind “John’s” new orange grove all along. They are now recalling all of the orange products, but they are clearly not happy about it.
Cecil is probably alarmed, for the moment though he’s just happy that he can still have dinner with Carlos and enjoy another night with the man he loves.
Little does he know that soon someone a lot more sinister is coming to town. She’s a woman…from Italy.
Finally, let’s not forget the Conspiracy Tracker!
1. The angels have disappeared and the City Council still denies they exist.
2. There’s a house that doesn’t exist, but connects to a desert world and the Dog Park.
3. The Apache Tracker died to save Carlos’ life.
4. Time isn’t real in Night Vale.
5. Cecil may have died as a teen. It involved a mirror.
6. There’s a city of tiny people underneath the Desert Flower preparing for war.
7. Literal five-headed dragon Hiram McDaniels wants to be the next mayor.
8. Russian=Weirdness
9. Cecil hates Steve Carlsberg for unknown reasons.
10. Night Vale has a surprising fixation on actor Lee Marvin.
11. Night Vale is prone to duplication and Desert Bluffs is one of the duplicates.
12. A dark planet is calling to people. It may be the radio station.
13. People are shipping crates with tiny houses inside.
14. Old oak doors are appearing around Night Vale
15. A blinking red light is coming from somewhere unknown.
16. Simone Rigadeau thinks the world ended decades ago.
17. Cecil can’t remember his past.
18. Earl Harlan thinks he and Cecil could have had something.
19. Mayor Winchell is retiring, possibly not by her own choice.
20. The Faceless Old Woman is running for mayor.
21. Something big and bad is coming from a desert other-world.
22. Desert Bluffs/StrexCorp have a smiling god.
23. Tamika Flynn is leading an army against Strex.
24. Someone bought Cecil at an auction.
Alex Townsend is freelance writer, a cool person, and really into gender studies and superheroes. It’s a magical day when all these things come together. You can follow her on her tumblr and see her comments on silver age comics. Happy reading!
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