Episode Thirty-Two: Temporal Snake

In which they all fall down. Featuring: a very disappointed cult leader, a very strange meeting, girl and god and sacrifice.

Episode description: Mabel Martin, Anna Limon, Veratrine, Luna Thorne, the king in the labyrinth - all on a carousel, spinning round and round and round.

Episode Overview
The Gutting Tyrants arc comes to a close.

Trigger Warnings

 * Screaming, choking, distortion, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, crying, unreality, captivity, references to eating disorders, death, misophonia triggering noises, suicide, gunshots.

Episode Summary
Anna chokes as the King stops possessing her body, the two girls reuniting.

Aurora Silver berates Jonathan for losing the King's voice, and tells Brandon, the youngest cultist, to come with her to complete a task she has for him.

Veratrine comes back to Anna and Mabel and the three of them discuss the meeting with the King that they're headed to. Vera explains that Luna created her rather than the King. Vera starts crying and the girls do their best to comfort her. Then they head off to challenge the King.

Anna and Mabel explain how they defeated the King by telling it as a (really beautiful and incredible) faery tale-- Anna nominates Mabel as her champion, and the King throws down an acorn, which he tells Mabel to defeat. We later find out that when he gives her the acorn, Mabel is sent into another world (?) where she can see the King's entire being laid out in front of her before he allows her to win. Anna and Mabel win the fight before Anna tells her younger self to be big and undiminished and brave in one of the most well-loved monologues in the entire series, while Luna and Veratrine decide to run away together. Anna frees Mabel from her need to listen to anything Anna says and they say that they love each other.

As Anna and Mabel are traveling back to the House, they run into Brandon. He tells Mabel he's going into the ground for her before he shoots himself in the head.

Continuity
''' Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk. '''


 * The King again references his unknown lover by quoting a famous ballad.
 * Mabel getting shot in the final scene of this episode sets off the main conflict of season six.
 * This is Veratrine's last appearance in the show as of 2021. She'll hopefully be back for season seven.

Trivia
'''Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk.'''


 * This episode is the wiki curator's favorite episode of Mabel, and in general one of the wiki curator's favorite pieces of media of all time. They are only a little biased.
 * Brandon is added to the small gaggle of characters who have said they're going into the ground for someone else-- also including Sally, Anna, and Vera.
 * After the outro, Mabel Martin can be heard asking Becca De La Rosa "Anna? What are you doing?" 'Becca' responds that it's nothing and the recording cuts off. This is the first teaser we get for Infinity Mirror's metanarrative.
 * temporal snake i love you SO BAD