Begin your time together by sharing what you consider one of your biggest accomplishments. How did you achieve what you set out to do?
The General calls upon an obscure clause in the “contract” with Administration, sending Estrella, supposedly an attorney from the “Office of Displaced Persons,” on a surprise inspection of Raina’s office. Arguing every point of legality, she tries to secretly record the conversation and steal the records, which are to remain sealed until “the appointed time.” Raina, who has spent her whole life “looking into the eyes of truth,” can easily spot Estrella for the lie she is. In truth, the General suspects Larus of leaking information to Administration during his interviews with Raina, as their last two “initiatives” (attacks), have been thwarted. Raina counters that the General was using the aboriginals to build a portal back into the kingdom in another attempt to escape justice and death. She accuses the General of using the same lie he has always used: “Surely you will not die.” The truth about Estrella comes out, and we learn that jealousy is alive in more than just the General. By the end of the episode, when the last phrase in this leaning tower of Babel is not translated, we, too, experience the barriers that we often use to try to keep ourselves “safe.”
1. Where does the opening quote—“Nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them”—come from, and how does it relate to this episode?
2. Why do the characters constantly switch languages in this episode?
3. So far, what “two initiatives” have been thwarted by Administration?
4. Why do you think Raina calls the “tower” a “portal”? How does this “portal” refer back to the General’s “original lie”?
5. Explain the title “Office of Displaced Persons.” Why does Estrella say she is inspecting Raina’s office, and what is the implied accusation against Administration? Why is she really there?
6. Why did Estrella choose to follow the General?
7. Where is Raina from? Why does she eventually reveal this to Estrella?
8. How can Raina tell when someone is lying?
1. Can you usually tell when someone is lying? How?
2. What kind of towers or portals do we try to build today to escape our human condition?
3. Do you think we “will not certainly die”? What do you think happens after death?
Consider the little towers or portals in your own life, which you try and construct to prove your own self-su ciency. Are they helping you or hurting you? Take some time to pray for each other, that together you might grow to understand the beauty and grace in completely relying on God.