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Split Personality

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Land of the Lost
Season 2, Episode 12
Air date November 22, 1975
Episode Guide
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Split Personality was the Twelfth Episode of the Second Season of the Land of the Lost.

Summary[]

After a series of earthquakes, the Marshalls encounter forms of themselves needing help.

Plot[]

The Marshalls are sleeping in their cave in High Bluff when a violent earthquake strikes. As Holly panics, Rick grabs her and orders everyone under the beds. Outside, a fissure opens up in the ground which consumes Grumpy, though he is later seen unharmed as he did not fall far. After the initial tremor subsides, the Marshalls go outside to survey the damage. As Rick and Will attempt to repair their small aqueduct, Will notices an image of a face in a nearby bush, which he describes as "in pieces . . . up and down." Another ghost-like image appears which all three Marshalls can see. The image approaches Holly, then vanishes. As Holly retreats to the cave, Rick describes it as looking "like someone got pushed through an egg slicer."

From the cave, Holly screams. Will and Rick quickly rush to her aid and see Holly cornered by another ethereal image. As Holly runs to her father, the image merges with Holly and Holly's voice is heard, pleading for help, then the apparition vanishes once more, but quickly reappears.

This time, the Marshalls recognize the ethereal being as Holly herself, but wearing different clothing, which Holly recognizes as a shirt that was contained in a bag the Marshalls lost when they went over the falls and descended into the Land of the Lost. As the apparition makes pleading gestures at the Marshalls, Will theorizes that this is some trick from the Sleestak. But Holly, having merged with the apparition, is thoroughly convinced it is no trick. At Rick's suggestion, Holly allows the apparition to merge with her once more, which apparently is necessary for the apparition to communicate. But the apparition seems unable to maintain the connection for long, and speaks only in vague terms. When Rick asks where she is, the apparition, speaking through Holly reveals that she's "halfway through," then begs the Marshalls to "help Will and Daddy."

The apparition then separates from Holly, who immediately faints.

Rick then seats Holly on the foot of her bed as the apparition hovers nearby. Merging with Holly once more, the apparition then speaks of a "black Sleestak," and "we're going home" then warns, "Don't trust him!" Rick deduces that the apparition is speaking to someone else. When Rick asks where she is, the apparition says that she's in the mountain, and can see cars on the road in a valley below her. She also speaks of a green stone, then warns repeatedly "Don't touch them!" as she breaks the merging with Holly then fades from view.

Holly is unable to consciously remember anything the apparition said, so Rick coaxes her to rely upon intuition. When asked about what the apparition meant by "Help Will and Daddy!" Holly is convinced that the apparition (which the Marshalls surmise is Holly in an alternate universe) meant to help her alternate universe's version of Will and Rick. When Rick asks her for the first thing she thinks of, Holly replies "Rocks," and leads them outside. Trusting Holly's intuition to lead them, Holly reveals that in the apparition's universe, Rick Marshall's wife (Will and Holly's mother) is still alive. Trusting her subconscious memories of the apparition, Holly guides them to a cave, the entrance of which has been nearly completely buried in loose soil. Holly then reveals that what the apparition wants them to find is inside the cave. Then Holly realizes that the subconscious memories she's retained from the apparition are fading and is unable to lead them any further. This also causes her extreme emotional distress, but through tears she insists she will be fine as she waits outside while Rick and Will investigate the cave.

Inside the cave, Rick and Will first uncover an opening that is walled by green glowing crystal. But the repeated sound of a car horn convinces Rick they're in the wrong area, and the two of them venture further. In the next opening, they find motionless versions of themselves, the lower half of their bodies actually merged with the wall of the cave. Rick notes that the alternate version of himself, like Holly, is wearing clothing that they lost when they went over the falls that precipitated their arrival in the Land of the Lost. There is also a matrix table, similar to the ones seen in the pylons, but mounted on the wall.

Rick notes that these alternate universe versions of themselves are also reversed. A ring that he wears on his right hand is on his doppelganger's left hand. Also, unlike most right-handed people, Rick's doppelganger wears his wristwatch on his right hand.

Observing two green crystals on the floor and another in his doppelganger's right hand, and that the matrix panel is missing three crystals, Rick concludes that the best course of action is to place the three green crystals into the empty spots on the matrix panel. Will, being carried on his father's shoulders, first places the two crystals on the floor into the matrix table. Rick then tells Will to take the third crystal from the Rick Marshall doppelganger's hand, advising him not to touch the doppelganger itself, because Rick believes that the doppelgangers are made of antimatter; therefore any physical contact with material substances would result in a devastating explosion. Will is able to retrieve the final crystal and place it into the matrix table.

There is a sudden flash of light, and the doppelgangers of Rick and Will have vanished. The matrix table is now on the floor instead of the wall. While Rick and Will have both been knocked to the floor of the cave, neither is at all harmed. Will wonders if their doppelgangers made it, and Rick points out that they may never know.

Back at the cave at High Bluff, Will theorizes that the alternate versions of the Marshall family were about to open a time portal, but then an earthquake struck as they were passing through, causing them to be stuck in the walls of the cave. Rick, again underscoring that they have no way of knowing, suggests that that's as good a theory as any that they could come up with.

Message[]

  • Coming up

Cast[]

Dinosaurs[]

Quotes[]

  • Coming Up

Trivia[]

  • This episode reveals a lot about the past residences of the Marshalls. Although their residence is typically placed in California, Holly mentions a time when they lived in a house in Harrisville. However, in another episode, she mentions having lived in Wyoming. Although there is no Harrisville in either Wyoming or California, there are twelves states in the U.S. that include a Harrisville, two of which also include a Harrisville Township. It may be any one of those states that Holly is referring to, although it is not usual for TV writers to invent fictional towns within the mythology of their TV shows.
  • This episode is unusual in that it has no antagonist, whether human, Sleestak, dinosaur or any other indigenous creature. While Emily and Grumpy are both seen, the Marshalls have no interaction with either.
  • The footage of the earthquake, including Grumpy falling into an opening fissure, would be used again, two episodes later, in After-Shock.
  • This episode is Spencer Milligan's penultimate appearance in the series. The next episode, Blackout, would be his last.
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