Under the Yum-Yum Tree is the third episode of the Apple TV+ adaption of Lisey's Story. It aired on June 11, 2021.
Synopsis
The bool hunt leads Lisey to a moment from her past, when Scott shared a confession about his family and traumatic childhood.
Plot
Jim Dooley stands staring at his cardboard cutout of Scott Landon. Meanwhile, Lisey drives with the shovel in her trunk and with a police patrol tailing her car. Darla calls and demands to know when Lisey is going to see Amanda. Lisey promises to come soon and asks about the cedar box but Darla says Amanda still isn’t speaking.
Darla hugs Amanda and tells her her body feels different. In the “other” place, Amanda steps into the lake.
Officer Dan Boeckman shows Lisey a photo of Jim Dooley and a video recording of him attacking an author who was denouncing Scott Landon. In the video, Jim pushes a pie into the man’s face. Upon seeing this, Lisey laughs, knowing it’s a reference to one of Scott’s books- the “pie of death”. She continues to watch a video of Dooley showing off his Scott Landon fan wall and she looks unnerved. Jim signs off his video by saying “No wife, stay single.”
Lisey opens her cupboards at home to see a stockpile of Oreos- Amanda’s favorite. In the stacks of Oreos, Lisey finds the cedar box she’s been searching for. Inside the box are photos and postcards from the past.
Lisey looks at a postcard and recalls a memory of her and Scott going to a lodge in the snow, The Antlers Inn, where they were the only guests. They explored the surrounding paths and found a beautiful tree. They sat under the tree trunk and Scott started to confess to Lisey about his visions. He also told her that his childhood was “pretty damn bad”.
In Scott’s flashback, his father abuses his brother and tells Scott he has to jump down from a high window sill. Scott watches his father slice open Paul, his brother’s, face. Paul tells Scott he doesn’t have to come down. His father continues to cut Paul, telling Scott he’ll keep going unless he jumps down. Scott jumps down finally and his father hugs him.
Scott’s father explains what a blood bool is - cutting someone to “let out the bad”. Scott’s father tells his sons that he sees the bad in Paul and “the gone” in Scott. He quizzes them about a demon infestation and tells them it comes from “the other place”. He tells them he doesn’t like cutting Paul but he has to because he sees the bad. He then hugs his sons and tells them he loves them. He tells them to go to “Boolie Moon” (meaning Boo’ya Moon) to get themselves cleaned up but Paul tells his dad he can’t go back. Scott offers to take him and they go.
Back under the tree, Scott tells Lisey that these events happened often enough. Lisey asks if his father cut him and Scott admits once or twice but that it wasn’t to let out the bad. He tells Lisey that Paul would make “bool hunts” for him. The prizes would be candy bars or soda. He tells her about the “best bool hunt ever” that led to a soda pop. Paul confesses he wishes his dad would get electrocuted and die. Scott tears up telling Lisey about Paul. She asks how old he was when he died.
In the flashback, the water around the tree starts to rise and Scott takes Lisey to the other place, Boo’ya Moon. There, they go to Sweetheart Hill. Eventually, they come back to the real world and Lisey tells Scott she doesn’t want to tell anyone what happened.
In the medical facility, Amanda starts to rip off her bandages. Scott watches her in Boo’ya Moon and whispers “Amanda”. In the hospital, Amanda starts walking around and grabs a pair of surgical scissors when the nurses aren’t looking. She cuts herself and starts sobbing.
Lisey holds a yellow knit piece of fabric that she found in the cedar box. It’s the next bool clue. The note says “Babyluv! Bunny will help you. Bool!” Lisey smells the fabric.
Jim starts a kitchen timer, which seems to be attached to electric cables inside a barn. He then leaves a voicemail for Lisey- telling her he thought they had an agreement.
Darla walks into the hospital facility and sees Amanda with her hands and wrists cut open and she screams. On the wall in blood, Amanda wrote “Help me Lisey”. Lisey comforts Amanda and shows her the yellow knit fabric she found in the cedar box. She calls it a “delight”. She tells Amanda “you’e my bunny, aren’t you”. Amanda whispers, “I want to come back”.
In Boo'ya Moon, Amanda screams “I want to go home” and the veiled woman tells her to be quiet because the “long boy” is here. Amanda sees Scott and yells his name. In the medical facility, Lisey tells Amanda she may think she’s in Boo'ya Moon but she’s not and that she can’t bring her back - only Amanda can come back herself.
The kitchen timer in the barn goes off and sparks start to fly- starting a fire. Officer Boeckman gets the page that a fire in the barn is burning so he drives away from his post at Lisey’s home.
Lisey comes home and Darla comes over to apologize to Lisey for being mean and asks why the cop is no longer in the driveway. In the distance of Lisey’s house, Jim stands staring at the door. Jim enters Lisey’s garage and sees the box of unpublished manuscripts. Lisey admits to Darla that Amanda is sick because of Scott- she is living in his world that he and Paul created. Darla struggles to understand what Lisey is talking about.
Darla eventually says “Banella” - what Boo’ya Moon was called in Scott’s books. Darla calls it the “home of the healing water”, where Captain Black hid out in the book, ‘’Empty Devils’’. Darla admits she read all of Scott’s books. She and Lisey mention a monster guardian who lived in Banella.
Lisey thinks back to all the times she found the water running and Scott missing. Lisey asks Darla if she took Amanda’s gun but Darla says she forgot.
Jim stands outside of Lisey’s house throwing a yo-yo back and forth. He goes back in and starts to snoop around Scott and Lisey’s things. He finds the lighthouse statue and turns it off. Lisey walks towards the garage and Darla drives away in her car. Jim watches Lisey out the window before she enters the garage, where he is waiting.
Cast
Starring
Main
- Julianne Moore as Lisey Landon
- Clive Owen as Scott Landon
- Joan Allen as Amanda Debusher
- Dane DeHaan as Jim Dooley
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Darla Debusher
Recurring
- Sung Kang as Officer Dan Boeckman
- Omar Metwally as Dr. Hugh Alberness
- Clark Furlong as Paul Landon
- Sebastian Eugene Hansen as Young Scott Landon
Quotes
- "He taught me to read. He taught me to think. He taught me to feel."
- ―Jim Dooley
- "I never loved anyone that much until I met you"
- ―Scott to Lisey, talking about Paul