"A Whisper, Not a Shout" is the fourth episode of the Disney+ streaming television series The Mysterious Benedict Society, and the fourth episode of the series overall. It was released on July 9, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Reynie and Sticky pursue the coveted Messenger status while the girls try to stay afloat in class.
Plot[]
Number Two spots Rhonda entering the cabin late at night. Later in the morning, Number Two begins acting suspicious around Rhonda who is perplexed by her behavior, though Mr. Benedict and Milligan do not seem to mind. Meanwhile at the L.I.V.E. Institute, the children try to figure out how to get Kate and Constance's grades to go up, but decide to instead focus on Dr. Curtain, who is constantly reading and writing in his journal. Reynie approaches him and distracts him with an amusing anecdote while Kate uses a mirror to reflect the journal, Constance gives her direction and Sticky uses a spyglass to see what is on the page. He manages to get a clear look at it and recreates it by memory, but it is in code and they need to decipher it.
Number Two finally follows Rhonda and learns that she has been graffitiing over signs with positive messages. She scolds her for risking getting caught, but she tells her that that is her way of keeping her sanity and that at least she is doing something. In the morning, Mr. Benedict and Milligan decide to go and see what the barge off the coast of the island is bringing in. The kids must take their tests. Reynie tries to help Constance, but she refuses it; insisting that they help themselves. Sticky tries to use his pencil to send Morse code to Kate so that she can pass, but the teacher seemingly catches him and has him sent to the Waiting Room, which has an oddly disorienting architecture to it that harassers him.
Sticky is called in by Dr. Curtain where he inadvertently tells him that he cheated. Dr. Curtain was only told that he was fidgeting, but is somewhat intrigued as to why he would do so. When he asks to give up whom he was helping, Sticky refuses and he is told to go back in the Waiting Room where it is apparent that his sense of time is also messed with. Number Two has an epiphany when she realizes that Rhonda's habits are similar to her own and she begins to support her graffiti habit. Mr. Benedict and Milligan find the barge bringing the equipment into the Institute, but the former insists that they stay in the hopes of seeing Dr. Curtain reveal himself somehow.
Sticky returns to his dorm with Reynie, Kate, and Constance and warns them of the Waiting Room. He further tells them that he did not break and therefore realized that he was stronger than he thought. Constance reveals that she finally looked through the page and discovered that Dr. Curtain writes in ROT-13 with a Caesar cipher. However, being paranoid, he switches every other word to ROT-14 and so on and so forth. Sticky reads it and sees that Dr. Curtain is working on something called "The Improvement", which they deduce is bad, and also finds a list of names that he supposedly wants revenge on; the last three being Rhonda, Number Two and Mr. Benedict.
In the morning, Mr. Benedict and Milligan spot Dr. Curtain entering a hidden passageway in a giant boulder. The test scores of the children are shown. Reynie, Sticky, and Constance are all in the green, but Kate is down in the red; meaning that she will be barged away. As she solemnly leaves, Martina spots her and beckons her to be her tetherball partner after injuring her previous one. Kate ends up beating her which impresses Martina enough to ask her to be on her team and even begs Dr. Curtain to have her stay to join them as a "probationary scholarship". Constance finally reveals that she can hear voices telepathically, though she does not know why.
In class the following day, Dr. Curtain comes in to announce that Reynie and Sticky are officially Messengers. Mr. Benedict and Milligan tell Number Two and Rhonda what they have discovered and they all reluctantly agree that the children will be sent to see about the passageway.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Tony Hale as Nicholas Benedict/L.D. Curtain
- Kristen Schaal as Number Two
- MaameYaa Boafo as Rhonda Kazembe
- Ryan Hurst as Milligan
- Mystic Inscho as Reynie Muldoon
- Seth Carr as Sticky Washington
- Emmy DeOliveira as Kate Wetherall
- Marta Kessler as Constance Contraire
Guest starring[]
- Saara Chaudry as Martina Crowe
- Katherine Evans as Jillson
- Ben Cockell as Jackson
- Shannon Kook as Mr. Oshiro
Co-starring[]
- Sean Amsing as Morris (Stenographer)
- Dan Bates as Stonetown Man
- Veenu Sandhu as Stonetown Woman
- Meghan Hemingway as Female Opponent
- Sossina Shenkute as Ms. De La Torre
- X-Man as Landon
- Asia Au-Yeung as Student #1
- Tysae Grewal as Student #2
- Remi-Gael Panon as Student #3
- Gelareh Ghodrati as Student #4
Song[]
- "Boombox" by Mosquitos
- "Let's Go" by The Cars
Book comparisons[]
- The Waiting Room is introduced in this episode. In the book, it was mentioned prior by Jackson and a Messenger named Corliss Danton. In the series, there is no set up and it is simply introduced when Sticky is told to wait there.
- The entire subplot of Rhonda's need to spray paint and Number Two reprimanding her, as well as Mr. Benedict and Milligan finding the barge and hidden entrance are made up for the series.
- Reynie tries to help Constance cheat, but she refuses while Sticky tries to help Kate cheat only to be called out for his nervous tapping. In the book, Reynie helps Kate cheat by simply having her look at his answers while Constance willingly accepts Sticky's help by having him use Morse code and signals.
- The characters of Rosie Gardener, Eustace Crust and Bonnie Hendrickson are completely absent.
- The children learn of "The Improvement" by taking a peak at Dr. Curtain's journal. Constance even manages to decode the writing. In the book, Mr. Curtain directly tells Reynie about it when he visits him in his office, though he cleverly leaves out important details.
- The method of reading his journal is also different. While Reynie distracts Curtain in both versions, in the book, Constance, Kate and Sticky hide behind a cactus and use a telescope from afar to read his journal. They are nearly caught by Jackson. In the series, Sticky and Constance hide on an awning on the building and use a telescope aimed at a mirror Kate is holding over Curtain. Additionally, in the series they had to decode his writing and do not read it thoroughly until the end of the episode. In the book, there is no decoding involved.
- When Sticky is caught, the executives immediately figure out he was cheating. In the series, due to the executives not playing as large a role, Sticky is caught for twitching.
- Sticky getting caught happens in between the journal related events in the series. In the book, it happens afterwards.
- The entire event of Reynie and Kate looking into the gym and seeing the executives doing some sort of exercise is completely nixed from the show.
- In the book, Sticky is immediately sent to the Waiting Room and does not meet Mr. Curtain until the next day. The room is described as dark and muddy with bugs and other unknown creatures crawling around. In the series, the Waiting Room is exactly what it is, but everything is uneven and disorienting and makes time move slower.
- In the book, Sticky claims that he was cheating for Martina Crowe, which angers Mr. Curtain, but he nevertheless thanks him for being honest. In the series, Sticky meets Dr. Curtain who figures out that he was cheating for someone else and admires his determination to hide this from him.
- S.Q. interacts with Sticky before he goes to see Mr. Curtain. Due to the character interactions changing in the series, this does not occur and he is absent during these events.
- In the book, Sticky returns from the Waiting Room covered in mud and washes off. Afterwards, Jackson attempts to see if he and Reynie are hiding anyone in their room. In the series, a perfectly clean Sticky returns and immediately converses with the other kids. Additionally, Sticky discovers his own inner strength while in the book, Reynie has to point this out to him.
- Martina's promotion to executive is completely ignored in the series. Additionally, her subplot with befriending Kate is made up for the show; in stark contrast with the book where she was a straightforward antagonist.
- Reynie and Sticky are promoted to Messengers at 10:01 PM after SQ brings them straight to Mr. Curtain. In the series, they are promoted while they are in class after being informed by one of the teachers.
- The entire subplot involving Martina having Kate be part of a her tetherball team is completely invented for the series.
Trivia[]
- Ms. Perumal is absent in this episode.
- The title is said by Milligan after trying Number Two's freshly caught octopus.
- This episode covers parts of chapter 18 and chapter 21 to the first half of chapter 25 in the first book.
Gallery[]
External links[]
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