Miss May Dusa
Medusa (Sofia Landon), suffering from amnesia, finds herself inside a New York City department store after being mistaken for a mannequin. After fending off a robber with her petrifying ability, she makes her way to the subway, wearing a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes in the process. It's there that the gorgon meets saxophone player Jimmy James (Gary Majchrazak), who offers her a seat on the bench he's performing on. Taking on the pseudonym "May Dusa", she introduces herself to Jimmy and shares what little she remembers about her past with him, gradually falling for him as he notes that the pair are both wandering souls with no place to go. Medusa slowly remembers her past and uncovers the truth behind all the death she's caused, and though Jimmy is blind and therefore immune to her powers of petrification, that doesn't stop her story from becoming a Greek tragedy.
Tropes:
- Amnesiac Hero: Medusa is more of an anti-hero or anti-villain, but she clearly has trouble establishing where she is and why so many people around her have died. She even notes to Jimmy that she has what is basically a routine of "waking up in strange places" like attics, cellars, warehouses, and trash piles.
- Blind Musician: Jimmy, who plays a mean saxophone.
- Bookends: The episode begins and ends with a petrified Medusa locked in the department store.
- Bury Your Disabled: The robber callously shoots the blind Jimmy when he tries finding "May", and exits the store while he bleeds out.
- Commonality Connection: Jimmy notes that he and Medusa are two people aimlessly lost in the big city who are ashamed of their eyes, likely being why he falls in love with her.
- Darker and Edgier: The low-lighting, grimy atmosphere, and tragic romance between Medusa and Jimmy make this episode one of the more depressing outings of the series.
- Downer Ending: It's exceptionally cruel this time, as Medusa re-petrifies herself and Jimmy is shot by the robber, pleading for "May" not to leave him as he bleeds out.
- Dying Declaration of Love: When he's shot at the end, Jimmy pleads for "May" not to leave him and confesses his feelings to her as he dies, unfortunately unaware that she turned herself back into a mannequin.
- Gorgeous Gorgon: Medusa looks vastly different from most depictions of her. She has no snake hair or snake-like traits, and her gaze turns people (including herself) into mannequins instead of traditional stone statues.
- Heel Face Doorslam: Medusa wants to stop traveling and unknowingly petrifying people, but she accidentally petrifies herself by looking into a mirror back in the department store.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In a tragic variation, Medusa's petrifying gaze ends up turning her into a mannequin when she looks in a mirror in the department store. She had originally thought that Jimmy not turning into a mannequin after her glasses fell off meant she was cured, so she broke them and threw them onto the subway tracks beforehand.
- Interspecies Romance: A tragic one forms between Jimmy and Medusa, ending with the both of them either dead or in a fate worse than death.
- Karma Houdini: The robber gets away with murdering Jimmy and escaping the department store without punishment.
- Louis Cypher: Medusa decides to call herself "May Dusa", after one of Jimmy's guesses to help her remember her name.
- Medusa: She's the main character, and she looks just like a regular woman instead of a snake monster. Her gaze also turns people into mannequins instead of traditional statues. She herself isn't immune to the effect, but it can be passed from her to another victim if they look into her mannequin self's eyes.
- Nice Guy: Jimmy is nothing but comforting to Medusa when she's confused and lost in the subway, even paying on her behalf when she runs past the clerk upstairs. It's little wonder she starts falling for him.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Medusa is said to have traveled the world again and again both as a mannequin and a sentient being, "always visiting" to try and stop herself from petrifying tons of hapless victims, to little avail.
- Really 700 Years Old: It's no secret that Medusa's from Ancient Greece, as she tells Jimmy that the earliest thing she can remember is the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which she implies she had an unwitting hand in.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jimmy can tell in the second act that Medusa is ashamed of her eyes, but because she doesn't reveal the whole truth to him, he thinks that they're just crossed instead of cursed to turn people to mannequins.
- Sinister Shades: Medusa swipes a pair from the department store she wakes up in to hide her petrifying eyes from Jimmy.
- Spanner in the Works: The robber who breaks into the department store and stares at Medusa's solidified form, transferring the effect to himself and letting Medusa escape. When she returns to the store in the ending, gazing into a mirror solidifies herself and reverses the effect on him, leaving him free to shoot the helpless Jimmy and make his escape.
- Street Musician: Jimmy spends his days busking in the New York City Subway, playing his saxophone for the paltry bills and coins of commuters.
- Taken for Granite: Medusa's gaze can turn nearly anyone she shares direct eye contact with into a mannequin, including herself.
- Tragically Disabled Love Interest: Jimmy takes off his sunglasses to reveal that he's blind, and therefore immune to Medusa's power. She tries keeping him safe because he's the first person who's genuinely cared about her and hasn't been solidified by her accursed ability.
- Tragic Monster: As she regains her memories, Medusa starts seeing herself as a horrific beast who's killed millions over the years, despising herself for what she's done.
- Trauma Button:
- Jimmy comparing "May's" name to that of the "weird goddess" Medusa leaves the poor Gorgon looking like she's about to have a panic attack.
- She has another brief attack before the above-scene, where she stares at a poster of a fashion model with X'd out eyes.
- Wham Shot: Medusa's sunglasses fall off as she kisses Jimmy, but she finds that he isn't a mannequin under her gaze. After throwing her sunglasses away thinking she's cured, Medusa tries to do the same with Jimmy's, only to reveal his blind, non-functioning eyes, depressing her again.
