Previously on Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger: Everyone Someone wants Rick Arlen dead. Also, 1999 was a harsh year for computer graphics. Not much really happens on Day 1. But things pick up on Day 2, and from here on out, it’s a thrilling rollercoaster of attempts on Rick’s life, attempts on Nancy’s life, phone calls, and New York accents. Here we go!
So Mattie hooked us up with her agent, Dwayne Powers, who can get us a job as an extra so we can snoop around the set with impunity. It is now Day 2, so let’s go visit him!
Dwayne Powers, everyone! Check the fabulous ’90s hair. Blah blah he is a very busy man blah. You have the option of telling him that you can just meet with his assistant, if he’s too ~busy~, and he’ll tell you that he had to “terminate” his previous secretary. I think he just means fired, but you never know. After all, it is New York. I’ve seen Goodfellas! Anyway, he claims that Worldwide uses him almost exclusively for hiring their actors — including Rick Arlen! We didn’t know that! When you ask about him, though, Dwayne says, “I was his agent, but I must confess the man has NO TALENT!” You can watch a video here (the line is at 7:35), which I recommend because his voice really must be heard to be believed. He snarls that Rick is only so successful because of his good looks, and Rick believes that acting is a status symbol and not an ART, and he’s a LADDER CLIMBER who is sure to fall off said ladder SOME DAY. So…someone’s not bitter at all. Then Dwayne calms down and tells us that he’ll call WWB right now and have our pass at the front desk. Thanks, Dwayne!
So we go back to WWB and now that we’re officially allowed in the studio, let’s go get permitted to hang out in the prop room:
In order to get access to the prop room, Millie makes us…answer riddles. A foolproof security system, to be sure. They’re really easy, so whatever. (Although I remember being stumped by them as a kid. And yet, embarrassingly, I was probably smarter for my age then than I am now.) She goes…somewhere and leaves us alone in the prop room. Oh, Millie. Never leave Nancy Drew alone anywhere. Naturally, we start looking for clues. We find bagpipes! A diary! (This is, perhaps, the only game in which there is a diary that is of no significance whatsoever.) A harp! Caution tape! So many things to look at, so little to do with the plot.
Oh, wait. There’s also a chest with a puzzle inside! We do love the puzzles.
Don’t ask how managing to move the rings over opens this chest. I have no idea. Anyway, as you can tell, it’s a Tower of Hanoi puzzle, and I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that the reason I’m so good at those puzzles is because they show up so often in Nancy Drew games. I KNOW. But whatever, you move all the rings over and the ~secret compartment~ pops open and…gasp! It’s the missing clock hand! Because…whoever was using it decided that a junior detective puzzle was better security than just taking it home with them? I don’t know.
Other stuff you need to grab from the prop room: a doorknob (I think? You never use it, but I’ve also taken it every time, so I don’t know what happens if you don’t have it), a tin of oil (there’s a Wizard of Oz joke in here somewhere, but I’m not sure where), and a pair of wire cutters (which are hidden under a map near the chest. The map is also a huge pain in the ass to get to; I kept clicking on it and ending up at the chest. GAH.)
So we’ve stolen what we need to steal, but we haven’t really gotten all up in Millie’s personal business yet, so let’s do that. On Millie’s desk, there’s the prop room log book and a little note detailing that there are items missing! HMMMM. Could someone be ~stealing~ from the prop room? (Which is actually what we just did. But we did it for great justice, not for crime, so it’s cool.)
In the interest of not spoiling the game any further (although given that it was released 13 years ago, I think most people know who the culprit is), I won’t say which of the following items are relevant to the plot. You will recall that there was a pair of 3D glasses in Rick’s room (which we stole, making this a cycle of thievery). Oh, Rick, stealing from crazy Millie? That’s low.
In the corner of the log book, Millie, like all old people, has written down her username and password. Remember it, because we’ll need to use it later.
AND THEN. We discover that the prop room typewriter drops its “y”s! Millie is the culprit! Case closed, let’s go eat cake.
No, just kidding. Like Manuel on Rebelde Way, Nancy also knows what circumstantial evidence is. This does mean that whoever the culprit is must be someone with access to the prop room — but then, that’s everyone in the studio, which we already figured out waaaay back in the beginning. But whatever.
Now that we’re done in the prop room, let’s go rub our newfound acting career in Lillian’s face. She immediately shuts us down all, “Please, all Dwayne Powers provides is extras and set gophers. We use Commercial Artists or Edison when we need real talent.” Damn, Lillian goes in. Also, didn’t Dwayne say WWB used him for all their hiring needs? Suspicious! Anyway, Nancy tells her about the broken clamp and points out that someone is trying to kill Rick and Lillian’s like, “Excuse me, we didn’t hire you to play ~junior detective.~” Is that a dig at us? Hey, fuck you, Lillian, senior detective mode is hard! You try playing without a walkthrough! Anyway, Lillian is completely unaffected by the news that someone is trying to murder her show’s lead actor, and also tells us not to stick our nose where it doesn’t belong. That’s a very villainous thing to say, tbh. The only way she could be more suspicious is if she tried to convince us that we’re ~making things up.~ And yet, I don’t want to suspect her because she is the most attractive person in this game. Look at those cheekbones!
Bitchface reduces the uncanny valley effect by 30%.
Lillian slams the door in our face (again). That…was kind of insulting. Now I’m sad. 🙁 Well, let’s go poke around the set some more. I find it therapeutic. We go over to the clock and set the hand in place (at 11:00) and the clock does a fun animation and then reveals…a key! Indeed. I too hide my keys in elaborate prop traps. A key to where, though?
While we’re at it, we might as well put the oil tin to use. You can oil the wheel attached to the wall (which, if you tried to click on it earlier, caused Nancy to muse that it was “stuck”), which causes a ladder leading to the catwalk to come down. I’m confused. How were they getting up to the catwalk during filming if the wheel was stuck this whole time? Well, whatever. Up on the catwalk, we find the spot where the fallen klieg light was, whereupon we also find…
Plaid fabric! Nothing good ever came from anyone wearing plaid.
As always, now that we’ve found some clues, it’s time to wheedle information from our suspects. And then once we do that, we’ll go back and look for more clues, rinse and repeat, etc. First up is Mattie!
She’s glad to see we’ve extra-ed our way onto set and teases us about being the next Serena Livingstone, which…no. We tell her it was nice of Dwayne to get us the job, and she tells us that Dwayne’s a great dude, he gave her a chance when she was a struggling actor, she was young and no one in New York would give her the time of day, etc etc etc. We ~subtly~ mention that Dwayne doesn’t seem to dig Rick very much, and Mattie says the feeling is mutual: Rick ditched Dwayne to go with a bigger agency. Ouch. Apparently Rick went with the bigger agency to try and get out of his LOOL (just writing that acronym makes me feel stupid tbh) contract. Except, wait, I don’t get how Rick doesn’t like him though? Leaving the agency over something that doesn’t have anything to do with Dwayne doesn’t mean that Rick hates the guy. I think Mattie skipped a sentence.
Rick’s not here, so let’s go home. Back at Casa Mattie, Bess is back from wherever the hell she was, and wants us to call her. The days before texting! Let’s go ahead and do that, then. Blah blah Bess wants Rick Arlen’s sexy, white-ribbed-turtleneck-clad body blah. She’s all scandalized that someone would try to kill Rick, because she’s never met him and knows not of his creepy ways. We can talk about pretty much all of our suspects, so let’s do that. Bess is weirdly and inappropriately excited over the thought that Mattie has a ~secret agenda~ to get rid of Rick (“Like Marlena on Crimson Cove last year!”). Nancy muses that Mattie does seem evasive (although I would chalk that up to her not being particularly astute) to which Bess suggests that perhaps that’s just her New York attitude? Anyway, why would Mattie try to scare Rick off (or kill him, Bess)? “What good is Serena Livingston without Rory Danner, you know?” Indeed. Although this does bring up the interesting point that all the suspects actually have something to lose from Rick’s untimely death/unemployment: Bill Pappas, Millie, Lillian, and Mattie (check those double consonants) all work on LOOL, so if that gets canceled, they’re out of a job. If Mattie loses her job, Dwayne Powers loses his cut of whatever she makes — and if what Lillian says about his agency is true, then Mattie is probably his biggest client. I’m ready to start suspecting Ralph the security guard, tbh.
Moving on to the other suspects. We find out that Lillian and Rick used to date! Is it bad that I kind of ship that? Lillian’s anger problems + Rick’s smarmy douchebaggery just goes straight to my When a Jerk Loves a Tsundere trope-loving heart. Oh, and apparently Lillian dumped a whole pitcher of water on Rick’s head when he broke up with her in some restaurant. Hee! ILU Lillian. I forgive your rude comment about my inability to play this game on senior detective mode.
Bess tells us that Millie is a crazy old cat lady. Is anyone surprised? Of course not. We bring up that Rick might be sending threats to himself as a publicity stunt, although I don’t think he’d try to drop a stage light on his own head, Nancy. Instead of pointing this out, Bess just says that Rick doesn’t need extra publicity — he gets enough just by being so ~cute! Oh, Bess. Also: no. Also-also, Bill Pappas was hired to improve the WWB’s ratings, which is…working out so well. Jesus, how does Bess all know this? Let’s all remember that this game occurs in the Internet’s infancy, which means that Bess probably owns a million back issues of Soap Digest. Finally, we bring up Dwayne Powers. Bess says she’s never heard of him: “I’m not much of a fan [LIES!], but I know most of the major agencies soap operas use, and I’ve never heard of any ‘Dwayne Powers.’” Aw, Dwayne, you lied to us! I feel cheated. Anyway, Bess has to go now, and I lost the rest of my screencaps for these phone calls, so I’m not sure what happens next. I think I called Ned, as I have one cap that mentions “my girlfriend, the soap star.” He suggests talking to Dwayne’s other employees to see if they have information. Except for the part where none of his other clients work on LOOL? I can kind of see why Nancy cheats on Ned with Frank Hardy now. (Kidding! Kidding! I don’t actually approve of Frank and Nancy’s shenanigans. I nearly threw Secrets of the Nile across the room the first time I read it, being 12 years old and a die-hard Frank/Callie shipper. Anyway.)
We also have a package from Hannah Gruen, who doesn’t appear in the grand majority of the games, so let’s take a moment to say hi. She taped(!) an interview with Rick Arlen and sent it to us, as it might be ~of use. “You know, for a young lad, he’s quite fetching!” ILU Hannah.
~sew fetching~
The interview is pretty much the best thing ever. Some lady with an incredibly fake New Yawk accent interviews Rick, who smarms his way through the whole thing. The reporter asks him whether or not he and Mattie are having a torrid affair, to which he responds “Only my hairdresser knows for sure!” Wait, what? Does he tell his hairdresser about his love life? I don’t even know. He also gets asked about a relationship he may or may not be having with “Greta von Kamloops” (I love this game so hard). Oh, and there’s also a question about Rick having a stalker. Clearly this is less important, though, in light of this new information about Greta von Kamloops. I am disappoint that she isn’t a character in this game. Rick blows it off by saying that he does indeed feel like he’s always being watched — from 2 to 3, weekdays on Channel 13! Boo, Rick. Your sense of self-preservation sucks.
I believe at this point you have to go upstairs and switch to a new day, but I don’t remember. Well, anyway. Let’s go talk to Mattie about Lillian and Rick’s sordid love affair. Apparently Rick broke up with Mattie for Lillian. I like Mattie, but I too would break up with her weird 3D curly hair for Lillian and her flawless cheekbones. Nancy’s like, “What a dick,” and Mattie insists that no, no, it was mutual! Rick’s a great guy! He was just under a lot of pressure! (Hilariously, when you ask Lillian, she basically says that that’s a total line and Mattie is as dumb as rocks to believe it.) Well, that cleared up absolutely nothing. Moving on, let’s go see if Rick is in his room.
Uh…Rick? You there, dude?
(Note: if you did not grab the screwdriver and the wire cutters before entering this room, you are screwed.)
There’s lots of ominous music and so you go a little closer and see…a bomb! Quelle shock! Also, wow, someone really doesn’t like Rick. There’s a tape recording too, although the voice is really distorted. What you can make out sounds like, “Hello, Rick. Don’t try leaving the room. The door’s lmsladslkga;lkabrrp,” or something like that. So you use the screwdriver to loosen the panel on the bomb, and then use the wire cutters to snip the wires in the correct order (yellow, red, orange, blue). Yay! Day saved!
Or not. Damn, I suck at these games.
What happened was I accidentally clicked on the blue wire before the orange one. Curse you, clumsy hands! Anyway, I click on the right wire, for real this time. Bomb disarmed! Everything fades to black, and then the longest phone conversation in the world begins.
First up is Ned. We fill him in on everything that happened, to which he says, “It sounds like things have gotten way out of control.” Thank you for the understatement of the year. Frank Hardy would never. Call waiting beeps and Nancy hangs up on Boy Band Member Ned to talk to Billiam Pappas! This is actually our first conversation with him all game. Hi, Bill! We get pretty much all the info that leads to solving the case from him during this phone call, but first, he asks us what the hell we were doing in Rick’s room, anyway. Fair enough. (Nancy should’ve been like, “I was ~staying beautiful~” tbh.) We reveal our true identity as a super sleuth to him. After a moment of being offended that we don’t think his security precautions (re: Ralph) are enough, he starts telling us everything about the studio and Rick. Way to go, Bill Pappas. What if Nancy was the villain, huh? What if she was helping Mattie in her insane revenge? You know not what you’re doing! But whatever. He also assures us that Ralph comes highly recommended: he’s Mrs. Pappas’s cousin. HEE!
Anyway, infodump time! Is there anyone on set who would know how to make a bomb? Nope, they bring in outside technicians for their pyrotechnics, and Bill Pappas can’t picture any of the techies using their powers for evil. Well, no, but isn’t the point of getting away with it that nobody suspects them? Whatever. Do you think someone from outside the studio could be doing this? Impossible! Not even Mama Pappas herself could’ve gotten in, the security is that tight! Well, does anyone have access to the studio at night, when there are less people around to witness their dastardly deeds? Nope, it’s “just” the key talent, floor managers, Pappas, Lillian, and post-production/set design workers. That…sounds like a lot of people to me. We also ask about the teleprompter, and Bill Pappas kind of mumbles before admitting that basically anyone can fuck with the teleprompter. Wow, we are not narrowing down the list of suspects at all. What about the staff offices? Janitors, Millie, Bill Pappas, etc, are all allowed in there. We finally get around to asking the question that will move the plot forward, which is whether or not the studio has audio mixing equipment. Perhaps we can un-distort the voice and figure out who the bomb-maker is! Pappas says that indeed they do have mixers, and then hangs up on us. Well, we know what we need to look for next! Obviously we can’t go poking around the booth while people are on duty, which means that it’s time for a Nancy Drew nighttime break in! Excitement!
Before we move on, though, can I just say that Ralph the security guard looks the most guilty right now? He’s the only one that has easy access to all the places that the culprit would need to be, is one of the few people in there around the clock, and is the only one who wouldn’t suffer from Rick’s ~retirement~ (I mean, as long as WWB is afloat, he can still work for them — shit, as long as there’s a business in the building, he can still work there).
Anyway.
There’s a couple of things to look at on the desk. Mattie apparently just leaves security information lying around, as you do. Well, this will certainly help us break in later! I mean, what? Oh, and George wants us to call her. We do so, and the least important conversation ever occurs. I didn’t even bother screencapping it, so I had to go watch a playthrough to figure out what happened. You call George and she asks what’s up and Nancy’s like, “Oh, nothing, talk to you later.” Wait, what? Are we not going to tell her about the bomb? Or about all the sordid love affairs? Did we even tell her about becoming an extra? Man, no love for George.
Up next: trespassing feels so good. We find the least cleverly concealed secret passageway of all times, insert some floppy disks, and catch our culprit. Stay tuned! For an update, not for danger. I’m no Rick Arlen, you know.
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