The Phantom Menthe

"The Phantom Menthe" is the first episode of the first prequel trilogy of Viola's Videos, and is part of the series' first season. Chronologically, it is the third released episode of the first season and third episode of the series.

In November 1999, a younger (and much different) Viola Indigo is visited by an evil CD salesman and swindled into a Mafia-funded loan to purchase a Frank Sinatra collection. This, along with the subsequent mental and physical traumas from the event, lead Viola down a path that changes her into the woman she is in the present.

Teaser
On November 7th, 1999, Viola Indigo (Douglas Harvey) is preparing a batch of fudge mint bars for her 11 year old son Anthony. That evening, Anthony is acting in his school's production of the play The Crucibile. After drenching the batter in Creme de Menthe, there is a knock on the door that Viola promptly investigates. On her porch is a strange man posing as a CD salesman. He offers her several hits of the time period, to which Viola is amused. But when he offers her a complete compilation of Frank Sinatra's music, Viola becomes enamored. She willingly signs away for the collection using a Mafia-funded loan (a payment method she heard through the grapevine from her neighbor Soozzay) and proceeds to seduce the man, who reveals himself to be Buffalo Chicken Bill. When Bill nearly vomits at the prospect of sexual favors from the woman, Viola ramps up the sensuality and begins caressing herself and screaming in ecstasy. This turns Bill on, and he produces one of his many handguns with which he skullfucks Viola. After a brief tryst that takes them inside, Viola shrieks and sits bolt upright, having forgotten that she is, in fact, a Christian woman.

Summary
During a prolonged conversation on the couch, Bill reveals that he is an Italian who received his guns from Al Capone himself (although Viola seems skeptical). Viola hasn't been loved by her husband Vlad (a German Russian sailor) in a very long time, leading her to become quite unhinged at times. She is a powerful member of the theater crew that Anthony is performing with, and although Viola is aware that Anthony may be a "fag", she is unwilling to let that stand in her way. Bill warns Viola that the payment for her new loan will come very soon, but Viola attempts once again to parlay with the salesman using her sex appeal.

Inside Anthony's backpack, Viola finds some condoms. She wraps a large female condom around her fist and implies that she will pleasure Bill if he helps her back out of her loan. He refuses, and with further digging into the bag, they find a baggie of jelly beans marked "Molly". Viola assumes that Molly X (MDMA) is the pseudonym and initials of a young girl in Anthony's class, but Bill knows that the beans are in fact cleverly-disguised ecstasy tablets. Knowing Viola is unaware of this, he goes along with the woman's idiocy and force-feeds one to her. In the resulting high, Viola is subdued and Bill issues one final warning before escaping the house.

Now quite high, Viola pulls a screwdriver from Anthony's bag and gives chase. She finds Bill attempting to enter his vehicle (a Blue Subaru), but she manages to corner him and stab him to death with the screwdriver. She steals his sack of guns, his glasses, and a leather jacket from his car. A little girl in a window of the house next door witnesses the whole thing, and Viola attempts to placate the girl before hearing the police sirens in the distance.

Viola returns home and consumes the rest of the ecstasy which causes her to convulse. Incredibly thirsty, she crawls to her kitchen and chugs most of the Creme de Menthe. The mix of drugs, alcohol, and the stress/excitement from the murder she just committed begins to change Viola entirely. She tears off her tight pink Christian clothing and finds a pair of khakis and an argyle sweater in her closet. Now dressed as the Viola of the present, Viola returns to the living room and dons the final pieces of her new attire - Bill's thick glasses and leather coat. Viola likes what she sees in the mirror, spinning around and proclaiming, with a smile, that she "LOVES the new me!"

Main Cast

 * Douglas Harvey as Viola Indigo
 * Andrew Shaul as Buffalo Chicken Bill
 * Aurora Ficarro as Little Girl

Crew

 * Directed by Andrew Shaul
 * Cinematography by Andrew Shaul
 * Edited by Douglas Harvey
 * Produced by Andrew Shaul and Douglas Harvey
 * Released by Harvey Studios

The film does not credit any writers because the dialogue and story was heavily improvised by all actors involved - Douglas Harvey and Andrew Shaul. The basic story (Viola is a completely different woman in 1999 and slowly becomes the present Viola by the hand of Buffalo Chicken Bill) was generated by Harvey and Shaul.

Production
This episode, as with the rest of the series, was heavily improvised by the actors based on a simple outline. It was shot over the course of one day - November 7th, 2014 - along with the remaining two episodes in the first prequel trilogy.

Trivia

 * As of it's air date, The Phantom Menthe is the longest-running Viola episode at 26 minutes.

Videos
Full Episode:

Gag Reel: