Honestly, I’m kinda surprised Miranda even bothered giving the school a bunch of money, instead of just dropping out. Is she keeping her options open, thinking she really might go back at some point? Or is this just mollifying the admin so they don’t get in touch with her dad about it?
Fourth Mercury is the pentacle on the rug in Cohen’s office. And Miranda got a double dose of info out of this visit — now she also knows that Sparrow’s “I can totally do magic too” line was a bluff.
Miranda: No need. I gave them an ungodly amount of money to restore their fifth most historic building. They won’t kick me out even if I never attend a class again.
Of course, you could’ve gotten that for yourself if you’d used Fourth Mercury.
Sparrow: . . . Is he related to Freddie Mercury?
Miranda: This from a person who claims to know her Being hacks.
Sparrow: Hey! Maybe I’m just acting clueless to throw you off track! You don’t know!
Miranda: Mmhmm. It’s a good act.
Sparrow: You keep being snippy, and I’ll get Bee to stop letting Patrick see you. And you didn’t answer my question — what’s the deal with Bennett?
Miranda: Wouldn’t you like to know?
Sparrow: Yes! That’s why I asked!
Miranda (thinking): I don’t know either. But whatever he’s agreed to do for Dad, I hope a little scare will give him second thoughts. He’s one who can’t possibly be as clueless as he acts.
Backstage with Bennett.
Campaign staffer: Great closing argument, Congressman. The home audience will love it!
Bennett: You think the flag pin was big enough to show up properly on-camera?
If I recall how these things tended to go at my school, the big cash dump happens when the kid starts at the school. I mean, unless the kid really messes up, in which case there might be a second or even third. But the point is, if I’m not mistaken, the endowment she gave would’ve been when she didn’t know how much longer Poe’s master would live. She not only wanted to be treated well, but if he lived for an unexpectedly long time, she didn’t want to be forcibly graduated early. (Sure, one can get around that by taking other majors or going for higher degrees. But eventually most people run out of stuff they’re interested in, and once you have one or two PhDs they start expecting things. Also, Masters and PhDs are usually not dropped on a whim so that looks odd.)