Whirlwind Tour

This post contains spoilers for AGENT STOKER Episode 404, “Old Cuban” —

One of the greatest pleasures for us of Season Three was the AGENT STOKER Holiday Special. Our star Chris Conner, our writer Brian Nelson, and our genius of sound Patrick Hogan met with master bartender Lou Bustamante about cocktail culture in general and also in our podcast. We asked Lou to recommend drinks that we’d consider for future episodes —

That’s what led to this season’s episode titles bearing the same name as the drinks featured inside the stories. If only we’d had that idea from the beginning. But better late than never.

And delightfully, the names of many cocktails suggested stories all by themselves. The tie-in for Episode 401, “Corpse Reviver #2,” is obvious — DID Agent Stoker die and what would revive him? Episodes 402 and 403 also were titled after drinks that sounded pretty deathly, as appropriate to the vampiric themes therein.

But this episode is the first of several where the name of the drink suggested the setting for the story. How could we refuse doing an episode titled “Old Cuban,” after all, and why wouldn’t we set it in Havana?

Wondering how we’d get there brought us back to the resident sorceress in Agent Stoker’s circle, Liz Rangihau — wonderfully voiced by Tamara Taylor whom we haven’t heard from since Season Two. This isn’t the first unexpected voice to return from the past, stay tuned!

If only we’d been able to actually film this in Cuba — sigh, world political tensions won’t allow that anytime soon. But the imagery of Havana is a storyteller’s dream, so keep it in mind as best you can, as Agent Stoker goes on (no kidding) a whirlwind tour of the city!