Director’s Notes: 240 – He Is Holding A Knife

Well, well, well. Guess who's back.

Every few months, Jeffrey and I sit down to discuss what we see happening in the coming Night Vale episodes. And at our last meeting, we discussed the idea that the boy found in Grove Park was Kevin. It made sense to us, and we started to talk about a plan for the reveal. We decided to do a Halloween special with Kevin, to remind everyone who he was and hint that he was going to become prominent in the plot again. And then the big reveal on December 15. 

When it came time to write that big reveal episode, I returned to a line from our Strexcorp arc, when Kevin had taken over the radio station and Cecil was banished from Night Vale. In that moment, Kevin sees Cecil approaching and says, "he is holding a cat". It's a funny moment because a cat is not a dramatic thing to hold, but it's also a dramatic moment because it succeeds in feeling triumphant despite itself.  I thought it would be fun to echo that moment with the repeating line in this episode.

The Mahallas are characters we haven't visited in a while. They were introduced in an episode by frequent Night Vale guest writer Brie Williams ("Rattlesnake Rest"), and then later expanded by me in the episode "U-View". As long as we were looking back into the history of Night Vale, I enjoyed also checking in with this family, burdened with the same tragedy as any of us: the movement of time, the loss of those we love. 

Also, it felt like a good time to call back to characters created by Brie, as we have a fairly big announcement:

We have been working with Brie for years now, both on Night Vale and on our Audible original Unlicensed. She is one of my favorite writers, and someone who gets our voice better than anyone we've ever worked with. Because of that, starting in 2024, we will be bringing Brie on as the third full time writer of Night Vale. She will be writing a third of the episodes, and helping us shape the overall plot.

I cannot say how much we enjoy writing with Brie, and I think that this will only make our show more interesting and exciting moving into the future. Please join me in welcoming her!

And also, back again, Kevin.

-Joseph Fink