In one of the most subtle and brilliant writing moments of the series, the White Room was the one episode that didn’t really focus on the murder at all. It was an episode that almost entirely featured a secondary story. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that those who witnessed Charles’ white-room-breakdown aren’t the major suspects in the murder investigation. Since the Easter egg doesn’t actually relate to the murderer, could the killer be someone who missed the White Room entirely?
Episode 5: The Puffs of Smoke
Love is in the air, almost literally, as two smokestacks puff out the shape of little hearts into the New York sky. Once again, it’s interesting to note that there are two chimneys releasing the smoke, not just one. This thematic use of two images, much like the two flames, is so purposeful it has to pertain to a pair of characters being the major motivation behind the murder.
And who is to say that the heart clouds automatically mean romantic love? It could represent the love between two brothers. Or the love between two friends. Or even… the love between a mother and her son?
Episode 6: The Sandbag
This Easter egg drops down like a ton of bricks, almost literally. Right at the end of the title sequence, as the three animated versions of Mabel, Oliver, and Charles stand outside the Arconia, a sandbag plummets from the sky inches from Charles, creating a thump. While this exact event occurs in episode 6, entitled “Ghost Light” – the cast and crew of “Death Rattle Dazzle” easily blame the event on the ghost of Gideon Goosebury, the unofficial keeper of the theater whose energy needs to be swept away every night.
But the way in which Charles is almost severely injured is a mini-mystery of its own within the season. What caused the sandbags to drop? It couldn’t have simply been the ghost of Goosebury, perhaps it was the murderer trying to stop the investigation? Perhaps it was the murderer ensuring the show does not go on. Charles could easily be simply another piece of insurance that if he is tragically lost, the show has lost its two biggest stars, and couldn’t possibly recover.
The method seems to have a subtextual meaning as well. It wasn’t a fire on ground level, or a slip off the stage, it was death from above, perhaps hinting at the fact that the murderer is someone close to the theater, but up on the catwalk. Someone important. Someone virtually untouchable.
