Some last fun facts about the show: Initially, it was renewed for six more episodes, before FOX abruptly changed its mind. Ideas had been submitted (a episode where a reporter sees a soul taken out and traces it back – through an episode running backward; the Devil insists on tagging along on one of Stone’s trackdowns – a meek clerk-type whom the Devil could never break in Hell; an episode about a rogue angel who wants to experience the worst elements of humanity – like murder; one where Zeke has to hunt down a beloved uncle – who insists he was innocent, and Stone tries to clear him; and the season finale where Stone’s birthday party gets a surprise guest – Rosalyn! The first of those episodes, “Rivals”, where the Devil brings up a female soul from Hell to compete against Stone for the right to hunt down the remaining souls, had a full script and had started shooting. But only one scene was finished before the suits busted in and announced the show was closed down. The script is available at the “Virtual Brimstone” website if anyone wants to read it. Fuller descriptions of the last six episodes are also there, or at my website, or at John Glover’s website (it’s the same set of descriptions on all of them).
One bad piece of news especially for wicebtg, who said that Maxine was his favorite character. Even if the show had continued, they couldn’t offer Lori Petty enough money to stay around. She had been written out of “Rivals” and was to be have been replaced by Helen Slater as the new desk clerk later on. That was a bummer for me as well, as Maxine had a big part in my own stories on Zeke completing his quest. And using that as a segue:
Zeke’s Stone’s Quest
So, did Zeke Stone ultimately succeed in his quest to send back the 113 souls? On my website, yes he did. It happened over five seasons of 13 episodes each (including the ones we watched), the finale being a two-hour episode making 66 hours episodes in all – appropriate!
I probably wouldn’t have attempted my own little quest if not for the fact there had been a set number of escaped souls – 113 – and what the heck, 12 were already gone. I used a lot of partnerships, groups and gangs knocking off as many as 4 souls in one episode. Some of the souls were redshirts, someone Zeke could polish off while the main criminal escapes. Maxine took out two souls, a few others were taken out by other people, and occasionally a damned soul took out another damned soul. One voluntarily turned herself in and simply rode with the Devil in the elevator back to Hell rather than having her eyes taken out. But the lion’s share of soul send-backs were by good old Stone.
In the second season, he returned to New York to protect Roz. He was escorting Maxine who was going there to live near her sister, Amy, who was a cop and almost her polar opposite. Martin Benedict and Brian Reed were both given a second chance at life by God, and were sent to help Zeke in secret. Maxine stumbled across them, learned all, and also joined in to help.
As the third season opened, Stone revealed the truth about himself to Maxine, making her able to help him openly now. (Martin & Brian still had to remain secret). We also found out she was a secret computer geek, which gave Stone even more ammo against the damned souls brigade. At the end of season four through pure happenstance Maggie, the desk clerk at the NY hotel, ended up reuniting Rosalyn and Zeke.
The fifth season gave Zeke and Roz a few days of passion. But when a damned soul nearly burned down a huge building which would have killed dozens, Roz knew she had to step back and let Zeke finish his quest. When he got the count down to 13, the Devil tried to double-cross him. It seems that only 100 souls escaped in the mass escape. 13 had been secretly released by the Devil over a period of years to reek havoc on society. Having no desire to send them back, the Devil has one of his henchmen try to kill Zeke, but he is saved by Maxine’s sister, at the cost of her life. He and Maxine track down the remaining souls with the Devil trying to hinder instead of help and with Martin and Brian finally able to reveal themselves. Eventually, he gets all of them – the last one being Ash, after she blows up St. Peter’s Basilica and kidnaps the Pope. But along the way Roz dies of cancer, Maxine in a death trap set by Ash and even Maggie ends up brain dead after a car accident.
Just when all seems lost, the Angel arrives. It seems that God always knew about the Devil’s release of the damned souls from day one and had created an alternate Earth where the world continued as it should have without the damned soul interference. After the last of the damned souls were sent back, all the good people of Earth were deposited into the alternate world, while the baddies were left behind here. Further, all the damned souls were released from Hell where they and the baddies would wander the Earth for 1,000 years having one last chance at redemption. Stone and Maxine were sent to the alternate world. Brian was told he would be reborn as someone in that new universe. Martin volunteered to stay on Earth to try to win as many souls as he could to God. A glimpse into the future showed he would succeed and incredibly he would even save Ash’s soul.
The final scenes show Zeke and Roz celebrating their anniversary by having Amy introduce Roz to her favorite author – Maxine (pen name: T Max), who has written a series of novels about a cop from Heaven who returns to Earth to hunt down escaped damned souls and also reunite with his daughter, whom he died protecting. Zeke and Roz have three kids – Sarah, Max and Brian (yes, that Brian!). All of Stone’s other friends are happy too, and we see some of the people who lost family to the damned souls now instead happy in a world where the damned souls never visited. THE END.
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