Episode 86: Bit Like Jesus

An unexpected arrival in Te Irirangi changes the calculus entirely. Someone who was only ever a voice on the phone, a photograph, a letter, stands in Claybourne in the flesh. The prophecy reconfigures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The title is not a metaphor. Claybourne faces its darkest hour as the prophecy, the conspiracy, and the Taniwha converge. Not everyone will make it through the night. The DJ plays one more song. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Desperation makes people reckless. Shots are fired at targets both literal and figurative. The last pretences of civility in Claybourne fall away. What remains is raw, frightened, and dangerous. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Truths pour out in the hotel, the shop, the marae, and the station. Long-held secrets are surrendered under the pressure of events that no longer permit evasion. Not every confession brings relief. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reality becomes unreliable. What people see in Te Irirangi no longer matches what is there. Delilah's reach into perception itself raises a terrifying question: how long has she been shaping what they believe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every crisis in Claybourne intensifies simultaneously. The station, the Taniwha, the conspiracy, the body count: all of it accelerates. Thompson looks for an exit and finds only deeper involvement. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Queenie's time approaches. The iwi gathers. Mata prepares for a responsibility he has spent his life dreading. The sea is very still. When the matriarch passes, the last restraint on the prophecy will lift. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bush around Claybourne becomes a theatre of conflict. Someone is being hunted, or something is. The forest, the cave, and the creatures within them do not observe the rules of engagement that Troy was trained for. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The dreams are back, more vivid and more specific. Multiple people in Claybourne are dreaming the same scenes, and the scenes are yet to happen. Delilah is fascinated. The Taniwha is patient. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thompson's role in the prophecy takes on dimensions he is profoundly uncomfortable with. Resurrection, sacrifice, and the expectations of a community press down on a man who came here to fix a satellite dish. Mata offers no reassurance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.