While Gary calculates the age in days of the others, Eric wonders where Kiki is. With a succession of camera flashes, as Kiki arrives, and hands everyone their respective Polaroid shot. Kiki ponders the unexpected revelations to be found in a photograph. Some tribes, she says, believed photography to ensnare one's soul. Could they have been right? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, she calls this story "The Tale of the Captured Souls."
At a secluded lakeside hotel, Doug and Sally Sellman arrive with daughter Danni.
The door is opened by solemnly courteous young Peter Kirllian III. Inside, Danni notices the walls to be covered with more mirrors, from one of which comes a faint buzzing. She touches one, and gets a mild shock. With no other guests, and Peter's family off on a cruise, they have the place to themselves.
On the huge lawn, Doug and Danni play catch. From the hotel steps, Peter watches. Invited by Doug, Peter reluctantly joins in. He flings the ball, which lands limply at Danni's feet.
Sally suddenly emerges from the door with a camera. With a yell, Peter falls into a horrified crouch. He stands, reassures them, and takes a picture of them all.
On the upstairs landing, Danni climbs a flight of stairs to an expansive attic bedroom. Inside, she examines a framed photograph. Nearby, a door abruptly opens, admitting Peter. Danni examines a framed monochrome photo. It shows an elderly man, and a youth who seems to be Peter - although the photo is dated at 1920.
By the window is a display of flowers - a light experiment designed by Peter's grandfather, it transfers energy from roses to geraniums.
With Danni downstairs, Peter presses a hidden switch, which lowers several pulley-mounted worktops, set with control panels. On one appears four camera displays, each connected to a mirror in the bedroom of each guest. At the press of another switch descends a cylindrical tank, into which Peter steps. He laughs...
Next day, while Doug finds his softball arm to flounder. Peter is unusually energetic. Doug suddenly finds himself exhausted, and goes for a rest.
Danni touches the cabinet mirror and gets another small electric shock. Annoyed, she bangs the cabinet door shut - and the glass shatters. Built into the wood beneath is what appears to be a camera lens. At the lens, Dannii flings a glass of tap water. It fizzes and sparks.
In the attic laboratory, the tank's door swings open, belching steam. Peter, gasping, coughing, and sporting a shock-ruffled head of hair, exits.
Outside, Danni peers through the nearby trees. In a clearing, she finds several headstones. One reads:
By the hotel wall, on disturbed earth, stand three flat outlines of a man, woman, child and dog, each set with count marks...
Back inside, Danni dons a pair of gloves, and takes down a mirror.
Doug and Sally, now grey-haired, collapse onto their double bed...
In the attic, Danni presses a switch, discovers Peter’s pulley-concealed machinery, and finds the several screens to show the respective view of each mirror-concealed camera. The camera view of the hotel lounge shows an unknown elderly man. Danni presses
In the lounge, Danni finds her prematurely aged parents having tea with someone in an armchair whose back faces the door. From around the back of the armchair leans... Peter, bearing a teacup and a singularly sinister Psychotic Smirk.
Aghast, Danni hurries to the miniature garden cemetery, and examines the respectively man, woman, child and dog shaped plaques. Peter confronts her, and invites her a share in his indefinite youth - although her parents, he says, will be checking out tonight. Danni pulls out a camera, disorientates Peter with a flash, and runs.
In the attic laboratory, Peter stands in his cylindrical tank. With a mirror, Danni hurries in; presses some buttons, and the tank door swings open. Peter emerges. Before the proffered mirror, he backs into the tank. Behind a hinged canopy, Danni reveals a dial, which she turns to minus.
From the open, steaming tank staggers Peter, now grey-haired; face in hands. The phial representing his own vitality drains.
Back in their bedroom, Doug and Sally have reverted to their natural ages.
As the family board the car, an elderly Peter calls to Danni with a weary farewell.
On her camera, Kiki sets the timer and the Midnight Society huddle for a group photo, which they leave on the stone chair of storytelling.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: After Danni reverses his youth-stealing machine, Peter turns into the decrepit old man that he truly is, something which he takes surprisingly well, going by how the story ends with him peacefully seeing Danni off while implying that he has come to accept that he will soon be dead, wistfully stating, "Goodbye, Danni.note I'm going out back now. To join my family. It's been far too long. Enjoy your youth, while you can." When her parents proceed to ask her about him, Danni tells them that Peter is just "some sad old man" as the narrator notes that Peter never hurt anyone again.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Peter's list of victims includes ten dogs, just to hammer in that he's a bad guy.
- Berserk Button: Don't call Danni "Danielle". She hates that.
- Big Brother Is Watching You: Peter keeps hidden cameras throughout his guest house.
- Death Equals Redemption: Peter, implicitly dying due to his age having caught up with him, spends what are probably his last few minutes peacefully waving Danni off while imploring her to "enjoy your youth."
- Faux Affably Evil: Peter’s reserved courtesy is a front.
- Foreshadowing: Early in the episode, Danni notices that Peter is conducting an experiment on roses and geraniums, transferring life forces. Danni remarks that although the experiment is giving long life to the short-lived roses, it's also killing the geraniums (a long-lived plant). If anything, this clues in the audience on Peter's intentions with the Sellmans.
- Mad Scientist: As noted by Danni, Peter’s unscrupulous absorption of holidaying guests’ life force is beyond the realm of reason.
- Never Say "Die": Peter just tells Danni her parents will be "checking out tonight".
- Ontological Inertia: Once Danni restores her parents' life forces, Peter's own youth significantly drains. The next time she sees Peter, he's reduced to the old man he really is.
- Plucky Girl: Danni is very spunky and proactive, saving the day with minimal help from her parents. Peter even seems attracted by her plucky attitude.
- Psychotic Smirk: Peter’s reserved smile grows increasingly insidious.
- Really 700 Years Old: Peter artificially retains a bodily age reached naturally in the 1900s.
- Scenery Porn: Some lovely shots of the lakeside location.
- Shout-Out: As noted by an online comment, a hatstand in Peter's attic lab bears a hat and coat strikingly similar to those of the Seventh Doctor in the recently cancelled original run of Doctor Who.
- Skewed Priorities: Danni smashes a mirror to reveal some kind of hidden camera and machinery behind it. Her father is more concerned about the mess she made rather than the fact that someone might be spying on his daughter (of course he's also probably thinking of potential things he might have to pay for if his daughter broke someone else's property).
- Sympathy for the Devil: After everything Peter has done, it's not likely that Danni will ever be his friend. But later, when her dad asks about a photo showing Peter's true self, she casually remarks "just looks like a sad old man".
- Vampiric Draining: Use of camera-based machinery to drain the life force of visitors to the guest house.
- Would Hurt a Child: Peter’s garden display of flat figurines represent the demographics of his drainage targets. They include children.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Peter's usually in the habit of calling Danni "Danielle", even though she doesn't like being called by her full name. Towards the end, when she lasts sees him as the old man he truly is, he addresses her as "Danni" for the first, last and only time. This not only tells the audience she's earned his respect, but also lends a certain gravity to his claims he'll be "rejoining [his] family".
