The Viewing story
In 1979, novelist Guy Landon, astrophysicist Charlotte Xie, musician Randall Roth, and psychic Targ Reinhard receive invitations from enigmatic billionaire Lionel Lassiter, for a viewing at his mansion, The Sandpiper House. The group is escorted to the house by Lassiter's assistant, Hector, and are received by Lassiter's personal physician, Doctor Zahra. Lassiter soon joins them, sharing a unique bottle of whiskey. As the group drinks and takes drugs, prepared for them by Zahra, Lassiter expresses his admiration for each guest's talents and accomplishments. When asked for information regarding himself or his past Lassiter remains vague, instead choosing to point out the uniqueness and singularity of his possessions, including his house, his music, and Zahra herself. Lassiter soon takes them to a room he dubs "The Obelisk Chamber", in which Lassiter displays a strange, rock-like object. Charlotte remarks on its similarities to meteorites, though the object appears to have none of the damage that meteorites would have. Targ claims to sense a psychic energy within the object, while Landon is unimpressed. Lassiter claims that the object is impervious to X-Rays and carbon dating. Despite Lassiter's wishes, Randall repeatedly smokes near the object. The object appears to absorb the smoke, and soon crumbles away, revealing a horned, slime-like creature within. The creature kills Targ, Guy, and Zahra before absorbing Lassiter's body and electrocuting Hector after he shoots it with an AK-47. Randall and Charlotte successfully escape the mansion, and confirm to each other that the events they witnessed were, in fact, real. The creature wanders from the mansion and into a culvert, later emerging from a storm drain in a crowded, urban area. Cast: Peter Weller, Eric André, Sofia Boutella, Charlyne Yi, Steve Agee, Michael Therriault, Saad Siddiqui Directed by: Panos Cosmatos. Story by: Panos Cosmatos & Aaron Stewart-Ahn.
15 total · 5 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| extraterrestrial being | major | An alien life form emerged from the meteorite, killed several high-as-a-kite human observers and all but proved its hostile intentions towards the inhabitants of our planet. |
| monster | major | A grotesque alien creature emerged from the meteorite, killed several high-as-a-kite human observers and all but proved its hostile intentions towards the inhabitants of our planet. |
| psychoactive drug experience | major | A lengthy portion of the conversation concerned the various mind altering substances that the main characters imbued, and that colored their perception of the peculiar events that then followed. They had whiskey, weed, and cocaine laced with some unnamed new chemical concocted by General Gaddafi's former personal physician. |
| threat from extraterrestrial life | major | An alien life form emerged from the meteorite, killed several human bystanders and all but proved its hostile intentions towards the inhabitants of our planet. It is unclear precisely what its plans were, but it acted with informed precision and at the end of the story it was interfering with the power-grid of a nearby city. |
| what if I was super rich | major | Much of the conversation concerned Lionel Lassiter's ostentatious wealth and what he was doing with it. It seemed Lassiter's main objective that evening was to persuade Randall to do some sort of work for him, although he also wanted to inspire the other visitors in various ways. |
| clairvoyance | minor | Targ was a psychic, whose abilities was otherwise not precisely defined. |
| creative writing | minor | Guy Landon was an acclaimed novelist, maybe the best in the land. |
| master and servant | minor | Lassiter was tended to by his personal physician, Zahra, and assistant, Hector. |
| medical occupation | minor | Zahra served as Lassiter's personal physician. |
| music | minor | Randall was an acclaimed musician. |