Sapphire tells Steel that the Shape has burned them alive. Steel tells Sapphire to rewind time and bring them back, and the Shape freezes her in a photo and then disappears. He appears briefly at Liz's door and then fades away. When Steel goes in, there's no one there. The photo is on the wall, and the Shape is standing in front of it. Steel throws the photo on the wall and when it lands, the Shape has disappeared.
When Steel comes back out on the stairs, Sapphire turns to normal. She says that the Shape creates a kind of barrier, and Steel wonders what Williamson discovered. The agents go back to the darkroom where Liz is waiting, and she says that Ruth disappeared screaming. Liz asks Sapphire if Ruth is in danger, and Sapphire says that they're all in danger and Liz must leave. She asks for the photo from her room, and Steel tells her that they haven't finished with it. Liz admits that Ruth is the only friend that she's ever had, and goes to pack her case. She asks Sapphire to tell her when they get Ruth back, and Sapphire agrees.
Liz goes up to her apartment and Steel looks through Williamson's mail and wonders what they've discovered. Sapphire spot-analyzes the letter while Steel finds more old photos in the darkroom. He finally locates an old case with a hole the same size as the triangular filter that Steel found earlier.
In her flat, Steel sees the image of the various faces of the Shape in her mirror but there's no one behind her.
Steel finds slides and sets up a slide projector. He calls Sapphire into the darkroom and says that Williamson just did cheap tricks to impress the ladies like Ruth. Williamson combined pictures taken at different times, mixing the old and the new. Steel brings up a slide of Victorian people on a modern-day city street, and tells Sapphire to sit on the sofa.
The Shape walks through the junk shop carrying a photo.
Once Sapphire sits down, Steel sets up the case on a table and puts together a triangular kaleidoscope that Williamson created. He puts the kaleidoscope into the triangular hole in the case, then puts the photo of the Victorians on the city street in the case. The image shows on the kaleidoscope, and Steel sets up Williamson's camera on a tripod in front of the kaleidoscope. Sapphire has Steel remove the photo from the case, and once he does so Steel figures that Williamson created a filter that released the Shape from two hundred years of imprisonment since photography was created.
The Shape walks up the stairs to Williamson's flat.
Steel explains that inside of the kaleidoscope were mirrors that trapped and held everyone imprisoned. There are seventeen mirrors in the house, and Steel figures the Shape is hiding them. Sapphire warns that it's not enough, but Steel figures that it's enough. The agents leave the flat, and the Shape imprisons them in the photo that he's holding.
The Shape goes to the cellar and says that there are two more people in the photo that "they" have been looking for, for a long time.
Liz finishes packing and prepares to go.
The Parasol Girl has the Shape put the photo on a shelf and asks if they can play games. The Shape says that there'll be time for games later and leads them out.
Liz gets her purse.
Sapphire manages to contact Steel and he figures that Liz is the only one left to help them. They're unable to move and work out where they are. Steel remembers that the Shape has access to any photograph, including the one they're in, and the Shape can move around inside of photographs. He tells Sapphire to contact Liz telepathically.
Liz is going down the stairs when she hears Sapphire's mental voice but dismisses it as her imagination. Sapphire continues trying to make contact. Meanwhile, the Shape confronts Liz wearing the face that it showed hear earlier. She says that she found someone better and he can keep the extra rent, and goes to the front door. As she leaves, the Shape reverts to the face he showed Sapphire.
Sapphire tells Steel that Liz has left. The Shape comes down to the cellar, and Steel suggests that they concentrate and make a mirror from the glass in the photo. The Shape looks in on them and waves a lit cigarette lighter in front of the photo. The agents transform it into a mirror, and Liz picks up on Sapphire's distress and comes down to the cellar. The Shape sees her photo on the floor, steps onto it, and disappears so Liz doesn't see him.
The mirror reverts to a photo, and Sapphire tells Steel that the Shape has escaped into a photo. Steel realizes that the Shape is coming to their photo, and Sapphire contacts Liz and tells her to bring some framed photos there. Liz does so and turns to find the children blocking her path. Sapphire tells her not to look at them, and Liz walks past them and follows Sapphire's instructions to angle the photos toward the photo they're trapped in.
The Shape steps into the photo, and Liz creates the triangle of photos. They shake, and Steel appears and closes the triangle, trapping the Shape. Sapphire tells Liz that Ruth is dead. Steel takes the crude photo box upstairs and uses heavy objects to prop the frames in place. The agents search for a bottle to contain the shape
In the darkroom, the image of the children appears on a blank piece of paper. The Shape promises Liz that in the years to come, it will find her photograph and return. Meanwhile, Sapphire realizes that they need a kaleidoscope like the one Williamson created. She finds one on the shelves and they insert it into the box.
The Parasol Girl returns to the photo she was brought from.
Steel removes the framing photos and warns that the prison won't last forever. Sapphire says that a ship is going to sink in the Arctic Circle in twelve minutes and will be immersed in ice for 75 years. When the Shape is freed, they'll be waiting. Steel tells Liz to find every photograph of her and burn it, and never have another one taken. He holds the kaleidoscope up, and when Liz looks inside she sees the Shape trapped, endlessly screaming.
Written by Gadfly on Feb 13, 2019