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What started as an exploration of the devil in their show, The Exorcist Minute, has grown into something much greater. Find all the original episodes of the show and more right here in The Devil's Details with Lester Ryan Clark and Kynan Dias.
Coming up on the Devil's Details, Phorkyas damn near killed her. Goethe's Faust part two act three. Good morning, Star, and welcome to another episode of the Devil's Details, a show where we dig up, decipher, dissect, and deconstruct the many forms of the devil. One of my names is Phorkyas.
Kynan Dias:And I sometimes go by Euphorion.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, you've Euphorion, my wayward son.
Lester Ryan Clark:And we're just two lost souls hitchhiking down the highway to hell. Last time folks you'll remember we had ourselves a classic Vulpurgis Nacht, as in not Vulpurgis Nacht because there was no Saint Vulperga or anything like that, and it was in ancient Greece. Greece is
Kynan Dias:the word.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Have you have you heard?
Lester Ryan Clark:Everybody's heard. But, but, it it it featured heavily our, our our our little homunculus friend Mhmm. Even though he's not very heavy. Mhmm. And, and it ended with him, becoming one with the sea In a I I not very satisfying way.
Lester Ryan Clark:He kind of died. Mhmm. I think. I'm I'm pretty sure he's dead. This reminds me of when I first heard the the Hans Christian Andersen version of Little Mermaid Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Where, like, she just becomes, like, seafoam or something like that. Mhmm. Right? So that's that's what happened to homunculus, folks. He's he's not a character anymore.
Lester Ryan Clark:We don't see him anymore.
Kynan Dias:Well, if they missed last last episode, it doesn't matter. They they didn't know homunculus before that.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, There we go. Yeah. Yeah. So they He's Schrodinger's homunculus.
Kynan Dias:Our boys met a bunch of new characters and had a bunch of flirty banter and Mhmm. And then we'll never see them again, I imagine.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. We got Chiron Mhmm. The the centaur for disease control. No. Because he's like a doctor and a teacher and all that stuff.
Lester Ryan Clark:Other people did that joke. I'm stealing it. It's just, you know, I'm just I'm just it's filler. I'm just packing it in. You know?
Lester Ryan Clark:Very good. Yeah. And but yeah. And then Mephisto started hitting on all of these, like, half lady, half creatures, the sphinxes and the and some sirens, I remember there were Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Who were who were very,
Lester Ryan Clark:very seductive. They were like, oh come over and tell us about your podcast. Right? And eventually he decided to to get with the the Phorkyas. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Who were if you you might remember them as the the the three witches who shared one eye and one tooth between them and helped Perseus gave Perseus the information, I guess, needed to murder Medusa is what I'm gonna say, hashtag justice for Medusa. Mhmm. Mhmm. Freaking Perseus.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Stab her a bunch.
Lester Ryan Clark:Says says the person says the three people with one eye between them. Yeah. But but, yeah, he gets with them and kind of like becomes one with so we got Homunculus becoming one with a c and dying. Mhmm. And Mephisto becoming one with these three ladies.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:And becoming, I think we just we said it in the last, episode Mhmm. This this other creature called Phorkyas. Mhmm. Yeah. Phorkyas, and that's the and that's the title of this, of this episode.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. So we're in act three. Right? So now we're in this timeless moment that Faust and Manto have somehow created by getting Helen released from the underworld. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:We're at the Palace Of Sparta Mhmm. Right after the Trojan War has ended. So Helen has just returned to her husband Menelius' palace along with these Trojan women who have been taken captive or or who were taken captive. Helen's uncertain about why she's been summoned back. She she doesn't know if Menelius wants her to take her place as queen again, or if she's here to face judgment for being taken by Paris.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Hey, Menelaus, fuck you. That's not her fault.
Kynan Dias:Right. I think that's a big question in the different depictions of the Iliad. Right? Like, does Helen love Paris back? Is it what's the word?
Kynan Dias:Stockholm syndrome? Before they invented Stockholm syndrome? Before they invented Stockholm, the city?
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Right. Mhmm. Yeah. Or or but either way, I think, yeah, even if she had not fallen in love with Paris and chosen the side of the of the Greeks. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:I'm sorry. Chosen the side of the Trojans. Mhmm. Right? She would be damaged goods to her husband at the time.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. And and it would somehow be her fault. Mhmm. Yeah. So yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So that's one thing that she's worried about. She might be returning queen or she might be just another prisoner of war.
Kynan Dias:Probably if she's lucky. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Alright. And yeah, as she walks up to the palace, the Trojan women are lamenting their fate as captives. Right?
Kynan Dias:Do you know the play of the Trojan women?
Lester Ryan Clark:I don't know.
Kynan Dias:So it is about some of the I imagine that it's some of these characters, if they're not literally, then yeah. So it's it's Euripides, so it's, you know, old as well. Sure. Sure. But it's sort of a retelling of the of the Trojan War from the point of view of of the women.
Kynan Dias:Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, okay. That might be worth checking out. Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Alright. Yeah. Because it's always told by by the by the pillagers and the Right. Mhmm. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Okay. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:And do you know and do you know Lysistrata? No. That one is super interesting. That is Aristophanes. So this is a Greek comedy Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:From the point of view of the of the Greek women during the Peloponnesian War. Okay. So again, it's like, you know, taking the stories of Peloponnesian War, but seeing it through the point of view of the women there. Uh-huh. But the the thesis of this is that the the Athenians and the Spartan women get together and they say the way to end the war is to withhold sex from the their husbands and the other men.
Kynan Dias:Uh-huh. Okay. So that that that would be the fastest way to end the war is is a a sex strike.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Does it work?
Kynan Dias:Yes. Oh, there we go. Yes. But but I guess I guess it only worked for that one war because we kept having wars for thousands of years after that, I suppose.
Lester Ryan Clark:See, it's just like the you know, it's just like Wile E. Coyote. It's just like Pinky and the Brain. It's like you have, like, a thing, a device, a tactic, a a strategy that that, like, works or it almost works or something like that, and then you never use it again.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. There's not all there's mostly women, which is great about Lace Estrada, but there is at least like one character who is like he comes and he's like the messenger between the the kings, if I'm remembering correctly. Okay. And then he he shows up and like he's got this huge like erection, like this unsatisfied And he's like, come on, please.
Lester Ryan Clark:And it's not like it's not a cod piece. It's not like part of
Kynan Dias:his No. No. No. I don't know how they would stage it, you know, on the Right. I mean, no, they wouldn't have the guy.
Kynan Dias:I do an actual erection on the stage, yeah. But yeah, but he comes in and they're like, look at the state of this poor guy. We have to end this war.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's the Right.
Kynan Dias:Right. That's the sympathy they have. Not for the women who are tearing their hair out and like, rending their gnashing their teeth with grief. This poor young young guy who comes in. Look at him.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. And then the camera pans out, and Sally Struthers is there, she's like, call now. Just one donation. Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:For less than the price of a cup of coffee.
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God. When when will when will men finally get what they deserve?
Lester Ryan Clark:No. That that actually that actually works.
Kynan Dias:Sally Struthers' voice.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Just just do it. Just call.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Just call. Let them do it.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. It's it's all you need to do. Just one phone call. That's it. Just and you just go about your day after that.
Lester Ryan Clark:And you can go and buy that coffee. You can splurge. It can be like a it can be a you day. You know? You can do two things.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But you'll be drinking that coffee, you'll be like, I could have donated more. But you didn't because you're a bad person. No. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:But, yeah, so so when Helen enters the palace, she finds it eerily empty at first, just vacant corridor corridors and and all that. And then she encounters this horrifying figure. Now we maybe remember, I think we're supposed to remember that this is Mephistopheles.
Kynan Dias:I didn't.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Well, this is Mephistopheles. He's transformed himself into Phorkyas. I think we were calling him Maforesto in the last one. This is when he melds with the four cities.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? Those three Yeah. Witches with the one eye and the one tooth. Right?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Maybe if I was watching it all in one play or reading this well, mean, it's it's about 50 pages an axe. Don't if I could read it all in one sitting. But, yeah, if I maybe maybe that's my problem because, yeah, the force now that you pointed out the four cities and then he turns into Phorkyas, that makes a lot of So, yeah, I alright. So, yeah, you knew this was Mephistopheles.
Kynan Dias:I was caught by surprise because it's a big reveal at the end.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Okay. So we're gonna get to that when when Phorkyas reveals Mhmm. Themselves to be Mephistopheles, and and I I guess we're all supposed to be like I was. I was and mister Hyde are the same person?
Lester Ryan Clark:Because that was the thing. I I remember you told me that in Yeah. Mhmm. In our other show. Listeners, I I guess I guess it's been ruined,
Kynan Dias:but Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:That was the big reveal at the end of Doctor. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was that they were the same person. Yeah. We were not supposed to know that.
Kynan Dias:Right. It's it's sort of been the surprise has been ruined by the success of the piece. Right? Yeah. Right.
Kynan Dias:That you just know the ending. Like, you don't know the end of the Hound of the Baskervilles until you read it, but, you know, or something
Lester Ryan Clark:like I still don't know that one. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Exactly. But, yeah. Doctor. Jekyll and Mr.
Kynan Dias:Hyde is a murder mystery, essentially. And so you read it and it's it's the strange case of doctor Jacqueline, mister Hyde. What is the connection? And the the the narrator's trying to figure that out. And then it's the end.
Kynan Dias:It's one of those, kinda like Christie would do later with like and then there were none. Like, it's an epilogue at the end. Right. The story is completed and people are like, I couldn't possibly solve that fucking thing. What the hell was this about?
Kynan Dias:And then you go a couple more pages like, oh, it turns out they were the same person.
Lester Ryan Clark:Interesting. I think to a lesser extent that's how Dracula is supposed to be too because I don't think we're supposed to like know exactly what vampires are. They're kind of like obscure at this point.
Kynan Dias:Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:But yeah, I guess I guess Phorkyas is is pulling a Jekyll and Hyde thing or here like we're a Dracula like we're not supposed to know.
Kynan Dias:Guess so. Well, I I didn't so I I felt stupid when when you told me I'm supposed to have done that.
Lester Ryan Clark:Well, no. Like, because we had a scene where it happened. He turned into he turned into Phorkyas.
Kynan Dias:I guess we did. I guess I was distracted by the tiny man in the jar
Lester Ryan Clark:Right.
Kynan Dias:Who rides a dolphin into the sea and becomes the foam. Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Like and and not, like, in an elegant way, like, in in a big explosion, like, pieces of dolphin raining down type of way.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. So I I didn't catch it, but that that makes a lot of sense. Because one thing the as I'm reading this act, which feels entirely like a play of its own, like it feels very removed from the rest of it. Yeah. I was like, where is Faust?
Kynan Dias:Oh god. Okay. Faust comes in like halfway through. Where is Mhmm. Mephistopheles?
Kynan Dias:And so I just stopped asking where is Mephistopheles? Like, just by the end of it. Then he was there the whole time.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm so glad Mhmm. That that you got to have that surprise. That is really cool.
Kynan Dias:I'm happy.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But yeah. So, yeah. So so Helen enters the palace. She finds it empty, and and but then she meets, Phorkyas.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right? You know, it's Mephistopheles, but he's transformed into, Phorkyas. And, the the Trojan women, like, break into song about how ugly Yeah. Phorkyas is and they and they're and just, like, like, how monstrous Phorkyas is. And then, Maforstow starts tormenting Helen, first by, like, cruelly, like, listing off all of her, like, past lovers, and then by suggesting something much darker that Menelaus is planning to murder her with an axe and hang all the Trojan women from the palace rafters.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Naturally, this terrifies everybody present.
Kynan Dias:Sure. And it's in the song too, which is Yeah. Garish. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Danny Elfman style.
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh. Right.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. So they they kinda go back and forth.
Lester Ryan Clark:The Trojan women are doing, you know, the background's like, until they hear the part about themselves, and then
Lester Ryan Clark:it's like, Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Exactly. Yeah. They kinda go back and forth about Helen's beauty and then Phorkyas' ugliness, etcetera. And it's kind of like a it's interesting how much, like, Phorkyas feels sometimes like like she's trying to put down the idea of beauty and uphold, like, idea of ugliness.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Mhmm. Like, like, I'm celebrating ugliness.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I've been so ugly, I'm great. And I'm like, you, you're so beautiful, and you're you're the worst.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. It's an epic rap battle between, I guess I guess, the epitome of of beauty and the epitome of ugliness. Yeah. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:But, yeah, that's what we go got going on there. And then, Morpheus tells them there's only one way out. Uh-huh. Right? In the hills, North of Sparta, there's this powerful and generous lord named prince Ali.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. We know it's actually Faust. Right? He's built this, supposedly
Kynan Dias:but okay. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Anytime anytime somebody, participates in a rap battle Uh-huh. In this story, I'm gonna assume that it's Mephisto. And anytime and anytime this person then says, I know a guy who can help you, I know that's Faust.
Kynan Dias:Well, I guess I guess I'm learning that now and I've got two acts left in our fifteen week journey of Faust. Yeah. So maybe I'll figure that out by by next time. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm lucky there's not a real Devil because I would be very susceptible to any of his nonsense.
Lester Ryan Clark:You would
Lester Ryan Clark:just be fooled left and right.
Kynan Dias:Left and right, constantly, right. Yeah. Like Amy Wong says Mhmm. Fool me seven or eight times. Shame on you.
Kynan Dias:Uh-huh. Fool me nine or more times. Shame on me.
Lester Ryan Clark:There you go. Right. Yeah. And, yeah, you know, they're like, he's he's he's a clever one, that Devil.
Kynan Dias:But I think most of the people in these stories learn the lesson once. Yeah. They figured it Yeah. The hard way. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. So he's talking about yeah. Phorkyas is saying that that they need help from this this lord who is actually Faust. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. And he's built this supposedly impregnable fortress with his Germanic warriors. Phorkyas offers to transport all the women there instantly if Helen gives permission. Mhmm. Now even though Helen can sense that Phorkyas is a hostile spirit Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Who turns good things into bad, she agrees. It seems better than certain death. Right. So Phorkyas transports them all to Faust's fortress.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:But when the mists clear and they can see where they are, they find themselves in what looks like a prison courtyard. Mhmm. The women are starting to wonder if they've just traded one form of captivity for another.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. It's called marriage or Yeah. The gorilla.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right.
Kynan Dias:Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. So, yeah. So Helen and the Trojan women find themselves in this courtyard surrounded by elaborate medieval buildings, a complete change from the classical Greek architecture that they're used to. Mephorkyas has has disappeared, it's gone, And in comes Faust dressed up as a medieval lord with pages and squires leading the way. He's got this chained up watchman Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:With him who apparently failed to spot Helen's arrival.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Because because they teleported? I
Kynan Dias:But if he's in on the whole thing, then that that's just for show, I guess.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, you're saying you're saying the the chained up Watchman?
Kynan Dias:Well, yeah. If I mean, not not to the Watchman's point of view. The Watchman doesn't know why he's being enslaved or whatever. Yeah. But if Faust is is like, hey, I'm I'm just figuring this out now, so excuse But if he's like, hey, Mephistopheles, you're gonna go trick Helen into seeing me as your savior, and you're gonna transport them in there, then, yeah, he didn't he wasn't upset at this watchman for missing it.
Lester Ryan Clark:So you're assuming
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:That Phorkyas and Faust got together Mhmm. And said, hey, we're gonna teleport Helen over here, and then I'm going to pretend to have her, dissuade me of executing this guy. Mhmm. And and and this guy will also be in on it, and and it'll all be like a a thing.
Kynan Dias:I don't see why the guy needs to be in on
Lester Ryan Clark:Well, that's what was saying. I was like I was like, I'm I'm pretty sure that that Faust was ready to kill a guy Sure. For for this stunt, if this stunt went wrong. Like, I think I think he just he grabbed this guy. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:And he's like, why didn't you see Helen of Troy come in here? Mhmm. And this this poor guy is like, oh, I don't know. And then, like, pulling him by the ear, yeah, up to Helen of Troy. And it's like, if you say to kill him, I will kill him.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. And and if she had, I think he would have.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I think so. I think it's fair. Pull him by the ear if he's lucky, I tell you.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. I think so. I think yeah. I think I think he's, like, heavily chained and and and with, like you know, he's doing that perp walk. You know?
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. And and but Faust is is petty enough to where he's like, and I get to hold his ear.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I because I think Faust is trying to show off his power. Right? He's trying to show he's got slaves. He's got servants and flunkies.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Mhmm. Right. Lots of
Lester Ryan Clark:pains and panics and and
Kynan Dias:What's the other oh, wait. Wait. He's got slaves. He's got servants and flunkies.
Lester Ryan Clark:And goons and and oh, no. You're doing the the the song. It's Ali. Yeah. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:I didn't I didn't realize that slaves and servants and flunkies was part of I make
Kynan Dias:this up?
Lester Ryan Clark:He's got slaves. He's got servants and flunkies.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. He's got 95 white Persian monkeys. He's got the monkeys. Let's see the monkeys. He's right.
Kynan Dias:Them. He charges no fee. He's generous. So generous. He's servants and flunkies.
Kynan Dias:Proud to work for him. They bow to his whim. Love serving him. Just lousy with loyalty.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Well, there you go. Yeah. That that snuck by me.
Kynan Dias:They say real fast at the end of
Lester Ryan Clark:the song. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go, I guess.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. The the remake Aladdin doesn't have slaves, I think.
Lester Ryan Clark:I I don't imagine. Yeah. But but you know who does? Faust. Faust.
Lester Ryan Clark:Or whoever whoever he's calling himself these days. But, yeah, he's he's so he's ready to have this guy who who was a bad watchman and didn't catch, Helen of Troy and her entire entourage, sneaking in here. Right. But he decides to let Helen choose this watchman's fate. And when Helen learns that it was actually her beauty that distracted the Watchman from his duty, she asks for him to be freed.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. So he had so he must be in on it then, the Watchman.
Kynan Dias:I think he would have been killed no matter what.
Lester Ryan Clark:But no. But he's the one who's he's like, you you you're beauty, man. It was the one yes. I imagine, you know, it's like he he, like, Faust elbows him. It's like, say it's her beauty.
Kynan Dias:You're right. Or I'll kill you. Yes. And if she says to kill you, then I'll kill you. Yes.
Kynan Dias:And if she says not to, I'll just kill you some other time.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Or
Kynan Dias:some other arbitrary You're not off the hook.
Lester Ryan Clark:But Faust agrees and lets this guy go.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Alright. He then starts going on about Helen's beauty and how it has overwhelmed him as well and declares that she's now his lady. I just I just in case you didn't know that just by showing up, he's she has earned herself both a kingdom and a throne. Mhmm. They start bringing out these treasure chests to her and Faust offers her everything this castle contains.
Lester Ryan Clark:Helen asks Faust to come and stand beside her, telling him how amazed she is by everything that she has seen and heard. Then something interesting happens, they start finishing each other's sandwiches. No. And they're clearly feeling falling deeply in love. Helen gives Faust her hand, and they're both just overcome with happiness.
Lester Ryan Clark:I've seen this before. It's in the same movie. Jasmine's like, I've never realized how incredibly handsome you are. That's exactly what's going on, Faust. Sick, twisted, like, yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Suddenly, she's like totally okay with everything that you're you're doing, and and she's like, oh my gosh. I do love you. Uh-huh. You know? Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Of course.
Kynan Dias:It's it's interesting. Before that, before he comes into the picture, again, like, we're so used to seeing Helen of Troy from the point of view of the man, and then it becomes that, you know, halfway through this act when Faust shows up. But Right. There's a big portion before where she's talking about, like, her feelings of being kidnapped, abducted Mhmm. Like, the worry about her husband, what people think of her.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. And also given orders and
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's true.
Kynan Dias:Again, like, standing up to this other woman who turns out to be Mephistopheles in disguise. And Right. Yeah. So so it is very interesting. I don't know if feminist is the word for it because then, you know, all of it is is at the service of then showing how Faust
Lester Ryan Clark:Can
Kynan Dias:seduces her and then loses her, and it's all about Faust being sad for Helen. But the the first part of of this is strangely maybe proto feminist, like from at least from like, it's such a big leap because it's like actually cares about her feelings.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Progressive for its time.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I know, like, you know, Shakespeare had has feminist characters, women who are women for their own sake, etcetera. But Mhmm. I don't that might be it. Right?
Kynan Dias:Am I crazy?
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm saying, oh, so so not progressive for its time, but, like, like, it's trying?
Kynan Dias:No. I think it is I think I think Shakespeare is such an outlier that we that we, like, might assume that other other people were more progressive.
Lester Ryan Clark:We're like that. Okay. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Because, like, Helen of Troy in the previous act is just a thing to be stolen.
Lester Ryan Clark:Is is literally an object. Yeah. Right. Mhmm. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But yeah. So so that's that's where we are, folks. It's now now the curtain closes. They live happily ever nope.
Lester Ryan Clark:Nope. Nope.
Kynan Dias:That's nice.
Lester Ryan Clark:Nope. No. Because then Mhmm. Mephorkyas shows up with some bad news. Menelaus and his army are coming to attack the castle.
Lester Ryan Clark:That was very fast,
Kynan Dias:I think. They're they're in Germany or wherever
Lester Ryan Clark:they are? Alright. Right? They they teleport, you know, and then yeah. Faust gets angry at Mephisto and insists it's nothing to worry about, and Faust orders his troops to march out and push Menelaus back to the sea Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Where that humunk homunculus is.
Kynan Dias:Yes. In my regards, Homunculus. Although, obviously, Faust has completely forgotten that character.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. He doesn't even yeah. No. No. No.
Lester Ryan Clark:But then Faust gathers his princes around him, gives them their orders, and rewards their loyalty by giving them lands to rule. Finally, he takes his place next to Helen and promises that she'll have paradise on earth and and complete freedom. Mhmm. Wink. So
Kynan Dias:do you think this Menelaus thing is
Lester Ryan Clark:real? It happened so fast. Yeah. It's like like they ran up to to Faust Mhmm. And they were just, know, they still had the scripts in their hands, they were
Lester Ryan Clark:like, my liege, Menelaus and and about a 100 mean, a thousand 10,000 men with 10,000 bad guys with swords are are are are right on our our heels. They're they're right outside the gates. What shall we do, o leader?
Kynan Dias:You shall send those goons to their lords.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. I I mean, yes, my liege. And then they run off. And and you just hear, like, obviously, just this one guy doing all the
Kynan Dias:voices behind it. Like, oh, oh, oh, no. Oh, no. You have slain me. Me?
Kynan Dias:Menelaus. En garde. Cling. Clang. Cling.
Lester Ryan Clark:He's got two swords.
Kynan Dias:I need to stay in them together.
Lester Ryan Clark:Faust is like, it's like, cover your ears, my love. Because then it's harder to to tell that this is fake.
Kynan Dias:Right. So I I'm not entirely sure what's going on in this
Lester Ryan Clark:So you don't think Menelaus actually showed up, like, ten minutes after Helen got teleported here.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Who trans so so Mephistopheles or Phorkyas transports them from ancient ancient Sparta back
Lester Ryan Clark:into
Kynan Dias:the future. Right? It's a medieval period, and it's in Germany, I'm assuming. Yeah. So how did Menelaus get there?
Kynan Dias:Probably not. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:I don't yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it harder, yeah, I don't think Menelaus was actually The
Kynan Dias:gods? Maybe the gods? Poseidon or something? Could be. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:He helped them before.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. Yeah. Proteus was there. Well, no. Proteus is with with homunculus.
Lester Ryan Clark:I don't think he was a god anyway, but But, you know. But, yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Now that now that, you know, right before we started recording, you told me that this is all the Devil's. I'm like, oh, no. Yeah. The Devil would probably pretend that Menelaez was there.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. That makes sense. Right? Mhmm. This is I love I love this Mephisto's kind of like he isn't, you know, the Jafar genie.
Lester Ryan Clark:I can I
Lester Ryan Clark:can do anything? I can give you,
Lester Ryan Clark:you know, cosmic power. You know? Like, he's he's like he's like, yeah. I'll I'll make you, a prince. And and he does kind of like what the Robin Williams genie does is like it's all fake.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's all kind of like, you know, he hires a bunch of people Right. And and and gets like, know, he's like, let me change your monkey into an elephant, you know, all that.
Kynan Dias:And he plays most of the people in the crowd going, oh, we love Prince Ali.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. So I think I like I like this mephisto. Yeah. But yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So okay. So now we're in this secluded grove surrounded by cliffs where Faust and Helen have gone for privacy. Morpheus is telling the chorus about how Faust and Helen have had this extraordinary child named Euphorion. But but Euphorion is no ordinary baby. No.
Lester Ryan Clark:Duh. I mean, he's just listening. He can he can already walk Yeah. And talk, and he's jumping from mountain peak to mountain peak with his head glowing with light. Right?
Lester Ryan Clark:He's got that halo. The chorus isn't really impressed by all his talk of ancient gods and miracles though. They say they, they only care about things that, touch their hearts directly. So it sounds to me like he's got, like, the physical powers of the gods and the chorus is like, nah. You know, it's it's it's more about what's in here.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right?
Kynan Dias:Where are they pointing? We're on a radio show.
Lester Ryan Clark:I see. That's I I realized that as I was doing it. But it's a moot point anyway because what they're trying to say is, right, they're pointing to their hearts. So it Mhmm. It's, you know, it's it's fine and and good that you have the powers of a Greek god.
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh. But it's but it's more about what's on the inside. Like, you have to be like a total asshole like Zeus and and sleep around with a bunch of like animals and and human women and and whatnot. Dolphins.
Kynan Dias:Yes. Right. But where can we find a dolphin?
Lester Ryan Clark:Proteus. Proteus.
Kynan Dias:What are you doing alive? Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So yeah. So when Faust, Helen, and Euphorion come into this grove. Euphorion starts this is they are like like Faust who has, like, you know, the powers of a god Uh-huh. You know, and and the devil, you know, at his fingertips. And, you know, the the famously most beautiful woman in the world, you can't tell them that their son's name is stupid.
Lester Ryan Clark:That's how powerful they are.
Kynan Dias:It means happy. Yes. We know it means happiness. Yes. Yes.
Lester Ryan Clark:You could have I don't know. You could have Joy Mhmm. Is a name.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Anyway. But, yeah, Euphorion starts dancing, talking about how he likes his suitcase.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:No. He he's talking about how happy it makes his parents to watch him. Yep. So his parents don't say that.
Kynan Dias:No. No. No. I am happiness embodied.
Lester Ryan Clark:I like how yeah. So he starts dancing Mhmm. And he starts saying how happy his parents are to watch him dance.
Kynan Dias:Right. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:His parents have no say in this. Either. But, yeah, so Faust and Helen are just, well, okay. I guess, yeah, they're they're just overwhelmed with love for their perfect child and for each other. And, I mean, in my notes, it's it's like this actually does move the chorus.
Lester Ryan Clark:Keenan, is this moving you?
Kynan Dias:Well, no. But now that I understand what's going on, I think I think I am moved by it more. Yes. Really? Yeah.
Kynan Dias:So This was such a quick, like
Lester Ryan Clark:he kidnaps her from being kidnapped. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:They Goethe's like, and then they really fall in love until they have a kid, and they and they name the kid a stupid name. And and but the kid loves to dance. And and
Kynan Dias:And and my name is Goethe Yeah. With an r even though there's no r.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes.
Kynan Dias:So I know from stupid names.
Lester Ryan Clark:Well, no. I think I think we're we're we're saying it wrong. Think you're like, the the the German o e is is supposed to sound like a British r.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Right.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Goethe. Goethe. Goethe.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Right. It's it's dumb.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. Alright. I'm gonna let you handle all those emails. Yeah. I know we're not gonna get any emails from anybody named Euphorion.
Lester Ryan Clark:Sounds like he's he's the emperor of a planet or something.
Kynan Dias:But okay. But again, we sat down to record this episode.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes.
Kynan Dias:And I told Lester I was surprised by the fact that Phorkyas is Mephistopheles, and he he very kindly and patiently explained to me that that's the stupidest fucking thing you'd ever heard.
Lester Ryan Clark:No, I I didn't say that.
Kynan Dias:No, no. You said it very kindly and patiently.
Lester Ryan Clark:I just reminded him that that we we saw Mephisto merge with the with the three sisters Right. And become Phorkyas in the in the last one.
Kynan Dias:And also, why why would it not be Mephistopheles? Which which makes a lot of sense. So I'm just figuring this out Mhmm. On the air But that this
Lester Ryan Clark:But so you're saying that that it being Mephistopheles makes this, like, sudden transition of Faust with Helen. I don't know. To me, it seems like they just met. I know it's supposed to be like, you know, and then they live happily ever after, but it's like it's so quick. It's like, well, you're gonna trust this guy?
Lester Ryan Clark:Like, you know?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. I think it is meant to feel quick like that. Like like, this is how Faust is potentially experiencing it because Mephistopheles is getting control of time and space in this little bubble.
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh. And, like, like,
Kynan Dias:skipping forward. Like, there are no scenes in between because they might not exist.
Lester Ryan Clark:So what you're saying? Okay. Anything. Yeah. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:So this is like they're like in a little snow globe that he's clutched
Kynan Dias:to.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Potentially. Yeah. Okay. Now I see.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay.
Kynan Dias:And that that's particularly sad because the the wager is that I mean, if the if the rules from part one still exist, which I'm not sure they really do. Right? But if they do, then it's your job is to prove to me that happiness can exist. Right. And then Mephistopheles has given him that right now.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yes. Uh-huh. And I think we should probably assume that they still do I think that's still kind of like the the bet that's going on Mhmm. Or the game that's that's being played. So yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So he is he's kinda making him happy. And and that was one of the like, specifically, it was like, oh, if I could just, like, live in this moment, like, stay. Like like, oh, if it like, if you ever hear me say, like, oh, stay. Time. Stop.
Lester Ryan Clark:You know? Right. Like, I want this moment forever. And that's yeah. Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:I guess I guess that's kinda happening here. Right. Yeah. I'm just worried about whether it was earned or not, but I guess when the Devil is doing it. Yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. I guess that kinda doesn't matter. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna get you there one way or another. Okay.
Kynan Dias:It's a hefty cost here.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. The wages of sin is death. That's hard.
Lester Ryan Clark:Right. That's hard. Yeah. Mhmm. Not as hard as that one guy in that play.
Lester Ryan Clark:Am I right?
Kynan Dias:Ladies? Come on, ladies. Come on. Yep. So
Lester Ryan Clark:yeah, okay, I guess the chorus is moved by this. Mhmm. You know, seeing this genuine family, you know, love touches them in a way the earlier tales didn't. But then Euphorion announces that he wants to fly up into the sky and his parents tried to discourage him, so instead he starts dancing with the chorus playing at being a hunter Mhmm. While they pretend to be his prey.
Lester Ryan Clark:Mhmm. Interesting. And then, then things get really dark because Euphorion catches, one of the girls Mhmm. In the chorus, but she bursts into flames and vanishes into the sky. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Euphorion, completely captivated, starts climbing the cliffs climbing the cliffs after her while everybody watches in fear. Right? He's he's talking about how he's he's not content to just dream. He wants to see more of the world, to to fight in wars, to achieve victory. He shouts that death is necessary, but he believes his wings will keep him safe.
Lester Ryan Clark:It's very accuracy type thing. What's going on here? And then comes the tragedy. Right? Euphorion jumps into the air, and for a moment, his clothes keep him floating, radiant in the sky, but but just like Icarus in the Greek myth Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:And just like Homunculus, he becomes one with the sky. No, he becomes one with the ground. But, yeah, no. No. His body lands at his parents' feet Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:And and vanishes. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:I love that.
Lester Ryan Clark:Leaving only his clothes behind. Right. His They're
Kynan Dias:rastard maybe.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. I guess. Right? And his devastated parents are struck by how their perfect joy has turned to such a terrible pain. From somewhere in the darkness below, they hear Euphorion calling for his mother not to leave him alone.
Lester Ryan Clark:Oh, Mephisopheles, that's just digging in the knife.
Kynan Dias:So he's gone to where the the mothers are, I guess. Right? Like the Greek hell or what what do think is going on?
Lester Ryan Clark:I mean, if if Mephistopheles is able to kind of like open the window or the speaker to to let, you know, them hear his voice, I think he's just in hell hell.
Kynan Dias:Right? Like the mothers I could handle, but no. But
Lester Ryan Clark:yeah. So while the chorus mourns this beautiful youth's death, Helen turns to Faust with this profound realization that beauty and happiness can never stay joined together forever. She gives Faust one last embrace and then goes down to the underworld to be with her son. Mhmm. So maybe it is with the mothers.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. With Greek hell. Right. Right. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Because she's kind of referencing like Persephone and that
Lester Ryan Clark:kind Right. Yeah. So it has to be yeah. Because like because otherwise, Faust would be okay with that. Because, like, oh, yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm going to hell too.
Kynan Dias:So Great. Wonderful.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'll see you
Kynan Dias:there. See you all there. Save me a seat at TGI Fridays.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. See he he's like that guy on New Year's Eve who's like, see you next year. He's like he's like, this is the one time he gets to you. He's like, see
Lester Ryan Clark:you in hell.
Lester Ryan Clark:And she's like, husband. And he's like, no. No. No. And and he makes that stupid face, and she's like, oh, I get it.
Kynan Dias:I get it. I get it.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But really don't do that anymore.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Sad stuff here. Mhmm. I know you were having trouble with how quick, you know, we we learn about these characters, etcetera.
Lester Ryan Clark:I'm I'm less sad. I'm just I'm just like, meh. You know?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. But you This boy was a little brat. I mean Oh. You know, my Sure. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:Yeah. They all are. They all are. Mhmm. But, yeah, when Euphoria is crying out from hell or Hades Mhmm.
Kynan Dias:Says, mother, must I remain here in the dark alone? Mhmm. That's pretty terrible. Sure. And then Don't leave me, Bimini.
Kynan Dias:Sure. Yeah. Helen and Faust have been reciting their words together or finishing each other's sentences, etcetera. Mhmm. And then Helen is able to speak on her own again, she's like separates from from this this being in in sync with him.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah.
Kynan Dias:And says these lines to himself because of the loss of their son.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So so she goes down to the underworld, and all Faust has left of her are her robes and veils. So she also, like, kinda disappeared leaving the clothes behind.
Kynan Dias:Right. But with her robe, he smells it really hard when no one's looking.
Lester Ryan Clark:Of course, he does. Right. And that's when like, he thinks he's alone, and he anyway, and he's, like, right in the middle of it. And that's when Meforcius puts a hand on his, you know, on his shoulder. He's like, oh, well,
Kynan Dias:I'm still here. Yeah. But yeah.
Lester Ryan Clark:So so Meforcius tells him to hold on to these garments tightly. Yeah. No worries
Kynan Dias:about that. Yeah. And
Lester Ryan Clark:they they transform into clouds that wrap around Faust and carry him away.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Now one of Helen's servants makes this dramatic choice to follow her queen down to the underworld, and she really lays into the others who won't join her basically saying like they're just shallow creatures of the physical world with no higher purpose. Now after she leaves, the remaining chorus women decide to celebrate nature instead joined by some seders. There's wine, there's, you know, women and well, yeah, because they're because they're there, and there's song, and then things get pretty passionate. Like a like a a Greek story does.
Lester Ryan Clark:And then as the curtain starts to fall, we get this final dramatic moment. Phorkyas suddenly grows to this enormous height right at the front of the stage, pearl pulls off the mask and veil, and reveals himself as mister Hyde. No. Mephistopheles. Mhmm.
Lester Ryan Clark:And I can't remember I don't have actually my copy in front of me. Does he? Does he have, like, a final monologue?
Kynan Dias:It's weird here. So this is the Williams translation. Mhmm. In the proscenium, the huge figure of Phorkyas rises, but she steps down from her buskins. I don't know what a buskin is.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Removes her mask and veil, and reveals herself as Mephistopheles, who in an epilogue delivers such commentary on the play as may be necessary.
Lester Ryan Clark:Okay. That's why I don't remember it because it's not so there aren't any lines. It's like
Kynan Dias:Yeah. Goethe's like, you figure it out. What do you want me to do about it?
Lester Ryan Clark:So if anybody was confused, you know, just just depending on tonight, if if you if you heard a lot of, like, in the audience, then then Mephistopheles, you you come out and you you just kind of mingle with the crowd, and you you do kind of like a Robin Williams thing, you know. Mhmm. And then the you and you and you tell everybody you get everybody up to speed. Okay? Oh,
Kynan Dias:where where are you folks from? Yes. Yes. The thing about people over there is they do things very differently than they do here. That I can tell you.
Kynan Dias:This guy this guy here knows what I'm talking about.
Lester Ryan Clark:So the current administration, am I right? Sheesh, take it easy. Right?
Kynan Dias:Yeah. So I get to just insert crowd work there. Yeah. Yeah. But so You know,
Lester Ryan Clark:I went to the church and, you know, there's a priest. He was he was not messing around. Mhmm. Know, I was like, okay. Turn it down a bit.
Kynan Dias:He wasn't messing around because the altar boys were off that day. Oh. Oh.
Lester Ryan Clark:Too soon? Actually a joke. Yeah. Oh.
Kynan Dias:Too soon? No. It's happened for centuries. Yeah. Not too soon?
Lester Ryan Clark:It's not too soon because it's not even revealed until the future. How about that Martin Luther?
Kynan Dias:Am I right?
Lester Ryan Clark:Does anybody else thinks those plague doctors look really stupid? Like
Kynan Dias:You know, back in my day, we didn't have such masks. We just died and we liked it.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Yeah. I think I think we're we're figuring out why they don't stage this.
Kynan Dias:My wife is always complaining that I leave the seat to the vomit bucket up. I say, why don't you put the lid to the vomit bucket down?
Lester Ryan Clark:Guys? Guys?
Kynan Dias:Women take so long to get ready for the plague.
Lester Ryan Clark:What's with them fainting
Lester Ryan Clark:all the time?
Kynan Dias:Alright. Well, so so it's it's revealed to you Mephisopheles.
Lester Ryan Clark:Uh-huh.
Kynan Dias:You say I was supposed to have known that the whole time. I don't know how take his mask off and stuff.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. That doesn't yeah. That that.
Kynan Dias:But I I was I was I was pretty shocked. Metisopheles, no.
Lester Ryan Clark:Maybe it was okay. Maybe maybe because listening to it, it's like, that's Toby Jones.
Kynan Dias:That's that. Sure. Sure. Well Yeah. Don't I don't know I don't know what you're supposed to think, but but yeah.
Kynan Dias:So I don't know what's gonna happen in the next act Yeah. At all. Because this act, I couldn't have predicted this act based on the second act and the second act or the first act. But I don't know. Is this the, you know, five act structure?
Kynan Dias:Is this the climax? Did did Mephistopheles give Faust a glimpse of what happiness was and prove to him he could make it happen and then and then yank it away?
Lester Ryan Clark:From what I remember Mhmm. There's going to be at least one other moment
Kynan Dias:Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:Where we see that Faust hasn't learned anything.
Kynan Dias:Okay.
Lester Ryan Clark:And this isn't just like Lester saying he hasn't learned anything. Mhmm. But like I think like objectively, the audience is gonna be like, boo, Faust.
Kynan Dias:Oh, no.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Alright. So so yeah. So we got that to look forward to.
Kynan Dias:Mhmm. Okay. Great.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. But but, yeah, folks, this has been another episode of the Devil's Details. I've been Lester Ryan Clark. You can summon me in or on all the socials as Lester Ryan Clark.
Kynan Dias:And I've been Keenan Diaz. You could invoke me on Instagram and Letterbox as Howdy Keenan.
Lester Ryan Clark:Yeah. Find more of our shows and other really cool podcasts at truestory.fm, or drop us a message at bananaforscalemail,mail,@Gmail..com. We got our Facebook listener group, banana for scale. That's community for all of our shows, including this one. It's a private group, but just request to join, and we'll let you in.
Lester Ryan Clark:If you want more, consider joining us at truestory.fm/join, and look for banana for scale. That's us. You get bonus episodes of all of our shows, access to our Discord, and you get your episodes a week early. Pretty cool. Just $5.
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Lester Ryan Clark:Until next week. Love and hisses.