Leap Day 1×05 Review: Episode 5

Another week, another crumb. While Ozone and Dream plan a surprise, Night and Day realize that there may be something hidden in Ozone’s drawings.

Day has an epiphany while in film class. Well, it isn’t so much an epiphany as it is his professor giving him advice without realizing it, saying that he needs to look at the story the way a member of the audience would. “You can’t see the loophole,” the professor says. This prompts Day to rush out of class, call Night, and immediately start looking for something that even he doesn’t know what.

I appreciate the continued use of film class as a way to frame the narrative. His professor does have a point, that when you’re too close to a story or too personally involved in a situation, the answers may not seem obvious, even if they’re staring you in the face. However, I couldn’t tell if his professor telling him that he couldn’t see the loophole was just generic advice, or if he’s already figured it out and is trying to gently lead him there.

Because otherwise, I honestly don’t see what was so groundbreaking about his comments that caused Day to run out of class like he figured out the solution. He even admitted to Ozone that he didn’t know what he was looking for, when he was examining his drawings. Night did the same thing with Dream, just started looking through all of his papers without any thought as to what he was trying to find.

As it is, they don’t find anything, because they still don’t know what they’re looking for. But also, I feel like Day fundamentally misunderstood what his professor was saying. His being too close to the situation means that he shouldn’t be looking for the loophole; he should have someone else look.

Eventually, they do seem to realize that they’re approaching it all wrong. Night starts looking at Ozone’s drawings while Day examines Night’s case board. (I’m very curious as to when Night started putting all of that together. He didn’t seem like he was all that concerned about looking into the curse before.) There was such an emphasis on the case board that I thought surely Day would spot something Night had missed. But what ended up happening was Night realizing something about Ozone’s drawings.

Day had asked Ozone about his drawings before – what the writing meant, why he drew what he did. Ozone’s only explanation was that he just drew what the stars told him to. It’s Night who realizes that the writing isn’t letters, they’re numbers. They’re dates – specifically, they’re Leap Years. Not only that, the images themselves correspond to times of day – night or day – and indicate when the deaths for that year would happen. It looks like it alternates as to when the tragedies occur.

I’m very curious as to how long Ozone has been making these drawings. I’m under the impression that the stars didn’t start talking to him until after he came to live with Day, which has only been four years. Day says something like, “So Ozone has always known?” But the answer to that would be yes, because all of these had already happened when the stars would have started talking to him.

The only thing I can think is that the stars are trying to tell Ozone a pattern – or perhaps the loophole they’re looking for. But, you know, they’re stars and they don’t speak a human language. 

We also still know very little about the creepy man, except that he’s indiscriminately following both pairs. I think he’s after either Ozone or Dream, though I’m still clueless as to why. However, in this week’s episode, we see that when he goes to Night’s house, he has an envelope of something. And then at some point, the envelope disappears. When they’re all watching the security footage, the video glitches, and the envelope he was holding is gone.

What’s in that envelope? Last week I speculated he might have had something to do with Ozone’s accident. He certainly seems to be guilty, given that he’s skulking about in the shadows and that he ran when Night spotted him. (Also, the way he pointed at Ozone was just so sinister.) But maybe he’s trying to warn them. Maybe he has some sort of evidence, something that will tell them how to solve the curse.

I am also curious as to whether or not Ozone recognized him. Only Night and Ozone have seen him at this point, and Ozone has spotted him twice before – once at the library and then once at Day’s job. I’m inclined to think that he did recognize him, just based on the way he reacted when they were watching the footage. But he didn’t say anything. He also seemingly hasn’t told Day that someone was staring at him in the library, which surprises me.

Basically, I just want to know, does Ozone know something? I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t do anything he could to help Day, but I can’t think of any other reason why he wouldn’t mention having seen the man.

I legitimately loved the whole birthday party scene. I loved that Dream and Ozone recognize that Night and Day have had a truly terrible 20 years and absolutely horrific birthdays, so I respect that they thought giving them a happy birthday memory would be worthwhile.

I also love both of these relationships. I’ve mentioned before how much I adore Day and Ozone’s relationship, but knowing that they have, like, a special goodbye? I can’t even handle how cute that is. For Night and Dream to also have a special goodbye? Y’all are killing me, here. My heart can’t take it.

I really like how Day and Night are starting to become friends. I totally understand why Night was so standoffish at first, but it’s nice to see that he’s coming around. I know that him caving for the birthday party was mostly about the effort Dream went to for him, but he ended up having a good time. These two have been so lonely for so long. I think they need each other for more than just figuring out the curse.

But really, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Ozone’s drawings. Those are clearly important, and I suspect there is still some information hidden in them that we haven’t yet figured out. (I was looking to see if maybe they were connected somehow, like if they were all one giant image, but I couldn’t see a connection.)

I also can’t help but wonder what caused Night’s security camera footage to glitch, and does it have anything to do with the mysterious missing envelope?

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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