The Big Door Prize season 2 is finally here and starts off right where season 1 left us. I always find it quite fascinating when TV shows take off a year later at the same moment they left off and nobody bats an eye. Anyway, The Big Door Prize season 2 starts at the heart of the new problem—how to get the machine to start working again. I’m not sure that this is the direction I was hoping the show would take, but I suppose it’s still as existential as before, so I don’t have much to complain about. The feel-good show tells the journey of a small town trying to achieve its potential thanks to a mysterious machine that plopped down in the city out of the blue. Season 1 is all about people figuring out their potential and how to achieve it, but in the end, the MORPHO transforms, giving the town something new to look forward to. Or possibly fear. Let’s figure it out in season 2 of The Big Door Prize.
Spoiler Alert
Does the machine need a key?
Episode 1 of season 2 of The Big Door Prize begins with a flashback to when Kolton was alive. He visits the bar that Hana works at. The small interaction is adorable, and Hana actually thinks Kolton’s a decent kid who’s just lost his way for a bit. Kolton asks for some beer, but Hana gives him ginger ale and sends him off after learning that he’s stolen his father’s truck as well as his ID, but he plans on returning to his town soon enough. He claims he’s tired of the place and the people and just wants some change. They say their goodbyes, but to Hana’s shock, Kolton has the blue dots on his neck too, and she wants to follow him, but she doesn’t at first. However, she notices the boy’s left the ID behind, and that leads her to Deerfield.
In Deerfield, Hana’s first interaction is with Jacob, and she’s confused by his confusion because Kolton’s dead by this time and Hana doesn’t know he had a twin. We then fast forward to when Dusty and Cass read the message from the machine that says, “Are you ready for the next stage?” Hana tells the gathered crowd that the machine’s never done that before, and then everyone notices her back, which makes Dusty and Cass reveal that they have blue dots as well. The gang gathers up in the bar for Hana to answer some questions for the lot. However, she doesn’t know much more than the rest of the crowd as well. All she knows is that she came to the town with Beau’s ID, and suddenly the machine was there too. Hana tells the gang that in her previous bar, she never knew what the people who used the machine did with the cards. They never interacted or anything, because it was simply a bar in passing. However, something phenomenal started happening in Deerfield when everyone started showing each other their cards, so she didn’t dare say anything about the machine. Interestingly, though, she’s had the dots for years.
It’s like this machine turns children into adults and adults into children because Trina points out that the machine could possibly just be telling the residents that its purpose is fulfilled and it’s time to move on, but her parents are desperate to find out what the next stage is. In the meantime, Beau and Izzy find their way to Mr. Johnson in the hospital. Izzy tells Beau that he can be sheriff, so he’d stay back with Mr. Johnson instead of her. On the other hand, Hana visits the store and meets Jacob. It’s time for yet another revelation, and she tells Jacob the story about Kolton. He, too, like Rueben, gets mad at her for hiding something like that. But they have more important things at hand, so together they try to figure out how to unlock the next stage. They realize the MORPHO sounds like the theremin, so they try to play the tune of the MORPHO on the theremin. Back in the Hubbard household, Dusty and Cass figure they need some time apart to figure out their own paths. They decide to spend six weeks apart independently to eventually come back together with their findings. During their discussion in the middle of the night, they also realized that the MORPHO sounded like the theremin and decided to rush to the store. To their surprise, Jacob and Hana are already on it, and with the four of them there, Hana is able to turn on the MORPHO through the sound of the theremin. The next stage requires you to insert your card back in, and Dusty has his card on him. He watches a video animation of himself that plays out like a game and ends in a way that leaves him surprised, but we don’t get to see what’s happened. That’s where episode 1 of season 2 of The Big Door Prize ends.
What does Dusty see in his vision?
In Dusty’s vision (what Father Reuben calls the little videos), he sees that he’s in Whistler, skiing, but when it comes to a turning point, he stops and doesn’t venture onwards because he always takes the easy way out. On the other hand, in Cass’ vision, she sees herself killing her mother with a knife, dancing on her body, and then doing the same to Dusty (yikes). Additionally, Dusty discovers that the people who have the blue dots have all played the theremin. Dusty and Cass title their six weeks apart as the “self-ploration” weeks and decide to tell Trina about it. Trina takes some time to get adjusted to the idea, but we’ll get to that in a bit. From the outside, she shows her parents only love and support. Dusty is going to stay in the basement because they can’t afford to get another house, of course, but they’re going to spend some time apart.
Nat and Giorgio invite the Hubbards and Reuben and Hana for a special “announcement about the machine” dinner at Giorgio’s humble abode (it’s a massive mansion, so). But the announcement is just that they are dating. Cass and Dusty use the opportunity to tell them about their self-ploration situation too, but somehow this translates to they’re separating, and suddenly the whole town knows about it. In the meantime, Trina hosts a party at their house as the daughter of the “self-ploration” parents (that’s how they allow it). Jacob finds it hard to be in this situation because his brother was always the life of the party, whereas Trina tries to deal with her parents’ new idea. Ultimately, they console each other, with Jacob reminding Trina that she told him that she was not going to be with him for the rest of her life, so it’s only fair that her parents, who’ve been together for 20 years, would want some time apart. Somehow, the night ends with Giorgio asking Natalie to marry him and her saying yes. Back at home, Cass and Dusty decide to continue drinking in Dusty’s new chambers, and there they discover that they’ve both sacrificed some part of themselves for the other, so these 6 weeks will help them find out if it was worth it, so to speak. At the end of episode 2, Jacob and Trina decide to check what their visions are.
Is Deerfield okay?
The Big Door Prize episode 3 begins with Trina’s vision, which shows her destroying a sign called “Liar,” basically showing her a sign that she can now be whatever she likes. For Jacob, it’s a vision of him and Kolton playing tennis together and then Kolton disappearing. Jacob takes it as a sign telling him to get over his brother’s death. Obviously, that’s easier said than done, but Jacob uses it to push himself to do the things he is holding back from. For example, cleaning out Kolton’s locker. Trina offers to help him, but Jacob rejects her offer. What he doesn’t know is that she wants something that reminds her of Kolton as a keepsake. Trina takes a talking toad toy from the bag of things Jacob plans on throwing away. He gets mad because Trina wants to keep the toad, which says “I love you, Kolton,” in her voice. But Trina reminds Jacob that she can love him still and differently while still keeping the toad with her to remind her of Kolton.
On the other hand, since everyone knows about Dusty and Cass, a fellow teacher named Alice asks Dusty to hang out alone for dinner. He thinks it’s time to discuss the new curriculum for students because they’re now obsessed with the MORPHO machine, and Dusty is brimming with ideas. However, it’s because Alice’s vision was for her to float freely in the air. I guess that means a different kind of “self-ploration” too. In the meantime, Cass goes to Martha’s hotel to spend the night—her first night alone in years—and she meets Hana there. They get talking, and Cass is desperate for Hana to stay with her because she’s terrified of being alone. On the other hand, Giorgio makes Dusty’s “meeting” perfectly date-like by offering the most expensive food and the most date-like table in the restaurant. At the end of the night, Alice tells Dusty that it was because of his idea of the cards being “arrows” pointing you in the right direction that she decided to go with the flow, and her vision simply made her more resolute. I suppose you could say romance is brewing between Dusty and Alice, but as they hug at the end of the night and don’t let go, it’s almost like a hug of comfort shared with someone who understands the other person, you know? Apparently, Alice was also in Whistler back in the day, so maybe that’s a different kind of arrow.
At the end of The Big Door Prize episode 3, an excited Beau, who is patrolling the town, finds Mr. Johnson staring at a wall. When he approaches him, Mr. Johnson tells Beau that he doesn’t want to be alone. I suppose we’ll understand what Mr. Johnson means next week on The Big Door Prize.
