Interface Episode 20

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"Unlike him, I'm still here. You can change that!" ― The Ghost, to Mischief

Interface - Episode 20 - All That Perish

All That Perish
Mischief and The Ghost meet on the riverbank
Episode number	20
Episode title	All That Perish
Date released	May 10th, 2020
Episode type	Main storyline

Description

The twentieth episode of the Interface series was published by 'u m a m i' on May 10th, 2020. It reveals parts of Henryk's backstory, as well as clues to Mischief's motivations in the overlying plot. It also explicitly reveals that The Ghost is a reincarnation of Henryk's daughter.

Official Synopsis

We see what it was that put Henryk over the edge and Mischief's true motivations become a bit more clear. Is he as harmless as he seems? Is Greetings Robotics doing the world a favour?

Summary

The episode appears to be set prior to the rest of the events of Interface. It opens with a shot of a cattail bush in a river reflecting a red sky. Henryk's daughter (The Ghost) begins to narrate Henryk's descent into silence over the years. She states that "under his skin, he couldn't be more different", showing the pain, fear, and confusion she feels over his immortality. Various shots show Henryk standing over his elderly daughter's bed as she nears death mixed in with a flashback to her youth.

Henryk sheds a tear before leaving the house, with The Lighthouse seen in the background. His daughter's corpse releases cerebral electricity through her eyes, nose, and mouth before exiting the house and coalescing into the form of a giant hand. Mischief is shown snaking through the trees near the river before the shot changes to Henryk standing on a bridge over the water. Cattail fluff with cerebral electricity attached to the base floats through the air as Mischief reaches the riverbank. The giant hand formed from the cerebral electricity previously contained in Henryk's daughter's corpse floats down and reveals itself to be The Ghost.

The Ghost demands to know why Mischief is there, to which he responds, "To witness a mortal sin and the consequences of bloodguilt. But also... it's suppertime!". In the closeups of Mischief's face, his eyes lack the usual buzz of static/cerebral electricity seen in other episodes.

Cars pass as Henryk stares at the river below him, before stepping back into the path of the oncoming vehicles. Mischief's sinister grin grows as a car approaches Henryk on the bridge. The individuals in the front of the car are shown to be Henryk's granddaughter and grandson-in-law, who is driving. As Henryk comes into view, his grandson-in-law slams on the brakes. Henryk faces the car open-armed, accepting his demise, but the car veers into the river after making an impact. The Ghost's hand lifts something out of the water (which is now known to be the body of Henryk's still-living great-granddaughter).

After a brief pause, Henryk is shown on his stomach, looking down into the water where the car disappeared. He plunges himself into the river as it is revealed that The Ghost's earlier narration was directed towards Mischief. She tells him to "Bring [Henryk] back. Let him know [his great-granddaughter]'s still here too!" In exchange, she offers Mischief "all that perish". The episode closes with Henryk sitting on the riverbank with his head in his hands.

Notes

"All that perish"

Some fans have interpreted his line to mean that The Ghost is offering Mischief the soul or cerebral electricity of anything that dies. Some evidence for this can be found in Episode 11, where Mischief can be seen absorbing the cerebral electricity from the corpses of Henryk's granddaughter and grandson-in-law, which presumably happens shortly after The Ghost and Mischief have this conversation. Later, in Episode 16, Mischief can be seen absorbing the cerebral electricity from the body of a frog. It is unclear whether The Ghost even has jurisdiction over the cerebral electricity over every living being, but it would seem that she has bequeathed this control to Mischief. According to one fan theory, the fact that she is a cerebral electricity being herself may make it possible for her to speak on behalf of the substance as a whole.

Absorbing cerebral electricity: KAMI vs Mischief

In Interface so far, Mischief has only been seen absorbing the cerebral electricity from dead humans and animals, whereas KAMI has absorbed beings that were still alive (see Episode 12). KAMI is able to access the memories of those she has absorbed (see Episode 18), and it seems that Mischief may posses this ability as well. Mischief confirms in Episode 19 that he knows much more than he lets on to Henryk. This knowledge may come from the memories he attained from the cerebral electricity that was once part of Henryk's granddaughter and grandson-in-law.

Mischief's Deceit

In Episode 11, Mischief claims to have not realized that the souls he absorbed were from Henryk's granddaughter and grandson-in-law and that the girl who survived was his great-granddaughter, and he only made the connection upon seeing Henryk's photo of them. In this episode, he seems fully aware of what is about to occur before it happens, and is in fact tasked with telling Henryk about his sole surviving relative (as well as the aforementioned likelihood that he would have access to the memories of the people whose cerebral electricity he absorbs). In the Patreon-only channel on Discord, u m a m i confirmed that Mischief is in fact manipulating Henryk for his own ends, and what his true intentions are remains to be seen.

Gallery

Top-down shot of Henryk's daughter's room

Cerebral electricity escapes the corpse of Henryk's daughter

The cerebral electricity coalesces into a hand

Henryk standing on the bridge

Mischief lacking the usual buzz of cerebral electricity behind his eyes

Henryk reaches out his arms before impact

Henryk gazes at the scene of the crash

Henryk's granddaughter and grandson-in-law before impact

Henryk, distraught