The End Of The Tunnel

The End Of The Tunnel is the seventh episode of Chapters.' second season, subtitled Atrocity Exhibitions. Written and directed by Mike Barkhoff, it stars himself as a drug user who takes acid and then experiences a bad trip.

Opening Poetry
"just as appearances lie - so do deceptions,"

Plot
A drug user takes an acid tab and ends up feeling awry. Upon standing up, he collapses onto his back and begins to see things through a tunnel vision. In his effort to overcome this "bad trip", he stands up yet again, but the tunnel vision continues. Panicking, he suffers a heart attack and dies. In the afterlife, he sees a cigar, seated on a tabletop, and raises it to his lips to light it. With the lighter's ignite, a fiery hell makes its presence around him.

Production
This episode makes frequent use of a carpet roll around the camera to show "the end of the tunnel" that is referred to in the title. Barkhoff had the idea for the episode after gathering said prop.

Themes
This episode features nicotine and LSD as the central addiction. The theme is taking accountability for what you do wrong and not repeating what is bad for you (i.e. cigarettes).

Trivia
- The carpet roll that Barkhoff used to film would later become a hangout for one of the bats that wound up in Barkhoff's basement.

- Barkhoff had to visit his parents to obtain a monopod he had stored over there to film the scene where he fell. He offered to climb though a window to grab it to avoid unnecessary contact.

Reception
The episode received positive reviews for its double examination on acid - the one where it should be slightly more welcomed, but the one where people need to be safe and smart using it. The acting and camerawork were also highly regarded, but the flames at the end were criticized for their "cartoonish" appearance. It is considered one of the weaker episodes of Chapters.' second season.