#mark nocent

Wolves (2022) Date de sortie : 01/04/2023 Réalisateur : Danny Dunlop Scénario : Danny Dunlop Avec : Mark Nocent, Jake Raymond, Allan Dobrescu

"Grief is a blade in your guts. If you hold still you might avoid feeling it for a few minutes. Try to move and the blinding white flash of agony comes rushing up from the deepest parts of you."  -- Swerve

Ask and ye shall receive viewers because it is off to Vinyl Destination we go but first, let's tune into that Elise (Belle) opening narrative, in which she tries to wrap her head around what she's feelings after the news of her mother.

We cut to an outside shot of both Paris (Miu) and Elise leaving the the motel and coincidentally run into one another and are headed to the same place, Vinyl Destination. We quickly segue to the shop itself but with a focus on a group of employees playing spin the bottle but not for what you think! Winner picks what music gets played and I honestly can't think of a fairer way to decide that. 

You're instantly thrown into the shop's vibe as a customer Marvin (David John Phillips) argues with one of the employees, Coop (Tarick Glancy) over which Led Zeppelin album is the greatest. Shortly after, Elise and Paris show up, Marvin and Paris exchange pleasantries and then we're instantly swept into more Vinyl Destination crew members.

Out back we have Patton (Robert Homer) and Carly (Deanna Little) who while bantering about work, shift to talking about more personal aspects of their lives, like their sobriety. They quickly mention group therapy before they can go any further Laird (Nocent) joins in confirming that night's session which leads me to wonder the following:

Are these band of misfits Laird's personal project?

Has he been trying to save others the way he wasn't able to save Elise?

What kind of pizza is he bringing to group?

Was Vinyl Destination his saving grace too?

What kind of back stories do the Vinyl Destination employees have?

Now back to what you came here for. Inside Laird walks in and finds Elise already in discussion with Coop over Led Zeppelin and the episode ends shortly after that. Chapter 11 is short and not in a way that's satisfying but the episode gives you an idea of the newest cast members and their characters, who I'm sure are bound to get into some sort of trouble future, hopefully!

Similar to last season Swerve doesn't make their audience wait in terms of where things pick back up from episode to episode and to be honest, it's kind of a nice. Which is why we find ourselves in a ratty motel with Elise (Belle), as she goes through what we only assume is her diary.

I think this is the first time we hear about Elise's ambitions in life. Her and Laird (Nocent) had a plan that by 25, they'd be millionaires, him doing something brilliant and Elise being a best-selling author. Instead, she dropped out of high school at 16 and her plans suddenly ceased to exist. The irony in that she narrates the series isn't lost on me and it's quite sad if I'm being honest. She goes on to describe how she felt paralyzed, by the world around her, by the blank spaces in her journal, unable to do anything.

The episode does its magic and cuts to Elise hugging her stomach slightly as the title of episode nine appears on screen: Hunger. I will say that compared to other episode titles of the series thus far, this one intrigues me. It's left up for a lot of interpretation and if I know Jason (Armstrong) like I think I do, it's most definitely intentional. While the image of Elise holding her stomach most likely insinuates hunger for actual food (which segues to her looking for some next), I think it also subtly hints at her hunger for more in life. More than just ratty motels and hitchhiking. I think Elise is hungry for more than what she has and I'm hoping that she's actually going to do something about it. 

As I mentioned earlier, Elise is hangry, so she moseys down the hallway in search of something to eat but instead finds herself face-to-face with the lovely singer from the bar earlier that evening. Small world, huh? Elise is more or less disappointed that there are zero vending machines in the motel but Paris (Miu) is more than happy to deliver her some food from the kitchen. If Elise looks like she's blushing, it's because she is. Paris lets her know she'll swing by in a few ending the scene and cutting us back to creepy Mr. Nobody (Holtz).

Mr. Nobody's packing up his hummer, because of course he'd have a fucking hummer, with boxes of which I only assume are full of weird cult-ish things. He says goodbye to his daughter, played by Kat Inokai's daughter IRL, and then to his wife who once again speaks in another language (which we later find out is Greek thanks to Armstrong's latest Twitter thread!) 

Cool factoid: Callie, Mr. Nobody's daughter, is played by Veronica, Kat's daughter!

— JSn Armstrong 🎈 (@SkinlessJSn) September 10, 2017

Mr. Nobody's wife is played by Eleni Hotz, Kyle's actual wife. And she actually speaks Greek.

— JSn Armstrong 🎈 (@SkinlessJSn) September 10, 2017

Cut back to Elise and to a lovely little scene that reminds us all that Elise is very much human and very much still feels things. With Paris returning any second with food, Elise does her best to tidy up and PRIMP HERSELF. You read that correctly, primp herself because girl is coming over, but like, let's be real she's no Stevie (yes, I'm still bitter that we don't know where she is or what happened to her).

Last on Swerve our dear Elise has returned to her home of Dain City, where old wounds have been rehashed and feelings, lots and lots of feelings have emerged, more on that later though. Let's pick back up to the mystery man in a denim vest, Laird, played by Mark Nocent. Laird's the only person Elise reaches back out to when she returns home, she wasn't even sure he still lived there but there was something telling her he'd show up and he did.

It's hard to miss the instant chemistry Elise and Laird have dating back to their kindergarten days, maybe it's because they were born on the same day and maybe it's because he seems to have such a calming ability about him that keeps Elise afloat. A child prodigy, Laird left for college at the ripe age of 16 and after that, Elise lost whatever it was anchoring her to Dain and she's been on the go ever since. 

"Laird was the only person I reached out to about coming home. I didn't know if he'd gotten my message, or if he even still lived here. But somehow i was positive he'd show up."  -- Swerve

One thing's for sure though, Laird seems to be the one person that's been constant for Elise. He seems to ground her in a way that we saw Stevie and Jen ground her in the first season. Personally, I think there's a little bit more than just a friend feeling on Laird's side, but I could be wrong, but whatever his feelings are for her, I'm just glad he's around.

Now cut to a creepy ass basement where a chain hangs from a well, cue the heavy metal music because naturally Jason (Armstrong) just had to throw that in there. Enter bald man who looks like the assassin from season one AKA Mr. Nobody. He chants some weird ass words and someone chants back, creepy right? It gets creepier, Mr. Nobody starts doing pull ups using said chains because exercise apparently. You can tell he's ripped as hell and sporting some scars on his back (will this come into play later?), now get ready for the pièce de résistance. As our creepy villain (I'm assuming) gets his cardio in, he stares off to a wall covered in photos (hey Swerve backers!), photos on photos on photos are pasted to the wall, some with x's covering their faces and some with clear circles and oh yes, you better believe there's a photo of our precious Elise and Stevie. And end scene.

Yeah, I know...I don't...I don't really have any words for that either so let's just go back to Laird and Elise until we have more solid evidence because, I just...I can't.

We return to Laird chilling with Elise until her bus comes. Elise brings up the question of whether or not she made the right decision in coming back home but Laird points out, did she ever really have a plan? She's good at being impulsive and quite frankly, from everything we've seen so far, it suits her. While she doesn't know how much longer she's going to be in town, we learn this much: 

Elise apparently has been working on some novel on her life

Laird owns Vinyl Destination (call out to chapter 7), a hip business, in a hipster town

Her mother's name is Iris and for the first time in a long time, she's going to visit her

Here's a photoshoot done by Echo Visuals of Mark Nocent as Ash from the London, Ontario production of Evil Dead: The Musical that occurred last year.