The Orpheus Syndrome
After her friend is found dead, Charlie uncovers a plot where the owner's son ordered her murder to protect a powerful client.
A week later, Laura visits their mutual friend Arthur Liptin (Nick Nolte), a reclusive visual effects artist and co-founder of their company, Lights and Motion (LAM).
She tried to kill him with poisoned tea and Max, knowing he would die anyway, jumped headfirst to the rocks below their house, smashing his face so that she could not use it to access his laptop.
Charlie notes that his personal project, the experimental stop-motion feature he calls The Orpheus Syndrome, is rife with allegories of the incident.
Charlie calls for help and leaves to avoid detection but notices the decorative gravel from Laura's driveway embedded in Arthur's tires.
The next day, Charlie sees Laura to inquire about Arthur's visit, and detects that she is lying when she denies involvement in his and Max's deaths.
Johnson stated that the series would delve into "the type of fun, character driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching.
[2] Johnson himself asked Lyonne to write and direct an episode of the series, saying "when you see her putting all that energy and focus into the creative act of controlling a set and getting what she wants, it's like a butterfly unfolding its wings.
"[3] The crew used Vertigo as an influence on the episode, with Lilla Zuckerman saying that Lyonne was chosen as "we knew that she could shoot the hell out of it, and come up with a really compelling story.
[6] The episode featured appearances by Nick Nolte, Cherry Jones, Luis Guzmán, and Rowan Blanchard, who were announced to guest star in August, September and October 2022, respectively.
"[10] While accepting to appear, Jones was concerned that the role was not suitable for her, although her fears were erased as Lyonne explained that her character would be similar to Kim Novak in Vertigo.
[11] Additionally, musicians and real-life couple Sean Ono Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl appear as cameos near the end of the episode.
Rian Johnson described the episode as a "love letter" to Phil Tippett, a film director and visual effects supervisor and producer.
She said, "to a certain extent, as we wrap out the back half, I can definitely see the track between how Nolte not being a final home changes her point of view of it.
[4] Besides creating Arthur's model creatures, he also coordinated with a team from Tippett Studio in the stop motion sequence at the end of the episode.
A woman kills the two men who threatened to reveal a secret from their shared past because it would ruin the career she spent 40 years building.
"[17] Amanda Whiting of Vulture gave the episode a 3 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Charlie crashing the party in a (Trojan) horse costume feels hokey compared to the psychological torture conjured in 'The Orpheus Syndrome', co-written and directed by Natasha Lyonne.
Long before Laura lied to her twitching face, she had violated the episode god's final command: She looked over her shoulder at all the mess she'd spent her whole life making.
