Noah Reid (left) and Clark Backo appear in Crave's YAGA as private investigator Charlie Rapp and Sergeant Carson.
Photo credit: Crave / Christopher Lawrence
Spoilers for “The Burning Man,” Episode 1 of Crave’s YAGA.
Baba Yaga has heard what people say about her: she's old and wicked, lives in a hut on chicken feet and eats children. She's apparently ready to correct the record. The opening monologue gives way to the rocky coast of Whittock, where private investigator Charlie Rapp (Noah Reid, Schitt’s Creek) has arrived to find Henry Park (Hudson Williams, Heated Rivalry), the missing son of a wealthy fishery family.
Henry hasn't called his mother in three days, and he withdrew $15,000 shortly before disappearing. Sergeant Carson (Clark Backo, Letterkenny), assigned to work with Charlie, suspects he's taken another unannounced trip to Europe. Charlie, who has worked for the Parks for years, thinks there's more to it. Their disagreement is immediate and frequently entertaining.
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Two faces, one missing watch
At Henry's enormous house, they meet his roommate Logan Casey, also played by Williams. Logan says the two met at university and became friends because they looked so alike. On scholarship, Logan was living at home until Henry invited him to move in and help with his podcasts and elaborate costume parties.
The resemblance is startling, and Logan's nervousness doesn't help. He says he last saw Henry after an argument with his girlfriend at Sandeson's diner. Charlie notices that another watch is missing from Henry's collection and asks for a photograph of Henry wearing it. When Charlie picks up a dried animal part resembling a chicken foot, Logan calls it a private joke. A moment later he demands that they leave, saying Henry has told him all about Charlie.
Carson later explains that she helped Logan's mother during trouble with an abusive uncle. As far as she knows, Logan's father was never around. That absence makes the resemblance even harder to ignore, although we don't yet know what to make of it.
Charlie and Carson are already getting on each other's nerves
Over coffee at Sandeson's, Charlie insists that artificial sweetener causes multiple sclerosis. Carson calls it a conspiracy theory and explains why she uses sweetener:
Carson: “And diabetes runs in my family, so.”
Charlie: “So you wanna add MS?”
I had heard that same joke just hours earlier at Shadow Theatre's YAGA in Edmonton and was delighted Sandler kept it in the adaptation. Charlie also buys beadwork from Lily (Georgia Acken), brings Carson the wrong coffee and offers her a friendship bracelet she refuses to wear.
They find Henry's former girlfriend, Pam Russell (Ezra Franky, Untamed), training on a track. Pam says she ended the relationship because Henry slept with too many other people, including a professor she calls the “Boner Beast,” whom he met while recording his podcast. Charlie's flirting irritates Carson, and their argument grows nastier as he belittles her police work. Reid's Charlie feels cockier and less sympathetic than the character I watched onstage that afternoon.
Their argument ends when the car strikes a chicken. It's still alive, so Charlie breaks its neck and throws it into the woods. Given Baba Yaga's association with chickens, the encounter is unsettling.
Katherine's watch and the chicken at the door
Checking into his oceanfront hotel, Charlie flirts with receptionist Angel (Emilija Baranac, Fakes). In his room he glimpses what looks like a flaming chicken on the bed, then looks again and sees a towel folded into a swan. I found that hilarious: even when the frightening image disappears, the perfectly innocent explanation is another bird.
Later, while drinking with Carson, Charlie sends a drink to Katherine (Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix). Katherine finds his questions boring and challenges him to ask something interesting. He finally asks what excites her. Her answer involves sex and bones, which leads to an increasingly suggestive anatomy lesson.
Charlie notices her distinctive André Millëre watch and says Henry owns one like it. Katherine doubts him: hers is vintage, special and a gift. It's a possible connection worth watching, although the episode hasn't established whether the watches are identical.
Charlie's phone keeps buzzing, and Katherine loses patience with his distraction. The next shot, of Charlie kissing a woman's midriff, suggests their flirtation worked. Instead, he's in bed with Angel, and a hammering noise interrupts them. He opens the door to find a burning chicken nailed to it.
Charlie puts out the fire and immediately runs toward the elevator. He tries to pry open its closing doors, then races downstairs, only to find the elevator empty. He runs outside, shirtless but with his pants back on, and finds no one. For someone who has spent the episode being so irritating, he's surprisingly ready to run straight toward possible danger.
Then a message arrives from Henry's phone: “STOP LOOKING FOR ME.” Whether Henry sent it himself is another question.
