The Penal Zone

“The Penal Zone”
Telltale episode
Episode #	301
Release date	April 2, 2010
Sam & Max Season Three ← Previous Next → – "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak"

The Penal Zone is the first episode of The Devil's Playhouse, the third season of Telltale's Sam and Max series.

Synopsis

The episode opens inside General Skun-ka'pe's ship as he is in the middle of wrecking New York. By his side is Stinky, his "shaven queen", and in a cage are Sam and Max. Using his new psychic powers, Max teleports them out of the cage. Sam recovers his gun and shoots Skun-ka'pe, but he is unharmed by it. Sam and Max's new friend Gordon the Brain aid them by giving them access to more Toys of Power on display in the ship. Sam manages to place the homing beacon on Skun-ka'pe and uses the remote control given to them by Momma Bosco earlier and opens up a gate to the Penal Zone. Unfortunately, Skun-ka'pe grabs the control panel and manages to hold on. After Sam and Max still manage to knock him into the gateway, the whole scene is revealed to have been a future vision seen by Max, who found the Toy of Power that, combined with his new psychic powers, allows him to see the future.

Moments afterwards, Skun-ka'pe's ship lands right next to Bosco's Inconvinience and he steps out, claiming to come with a message of peace and love and promising to share alien technology with the Earth in exchange for help in finding an artifact (the toy Max just used to see his true intentions). As Skun-ka'pe's true intentions become increasingly obvious, Sam and Max manage to track him down. When they do, they are ambushed and abducted and wake up in a cell in Skun-ka'pe's ship, where and when the episode began. As they get out and ask the disembodied alien brain for help, just like earlier(?), only to discover that the toys aren't in their display cases; Skun-ka'pe, using the future vision, knew what they would do and removed the toys, preventing them from sending him to the Penal Zone. Instead, Skun-ka'pe, using the remote control, opens a gate to the Penal Zone, sucking Sam and Max into it.

After escaping from the Penal Zone, leaving behind an anti-matter bomb placed on Max while they were unconscious, Sam and Max return to Bosco-Tech. Momma Bosco gives them a rift generator, which will create a whole new Penal Zone, since the old one was destroyed by Skun-ka'pe's bomb. They bring it to the best location in which to activate it, (through a convenient coincidence) the tunnel below Sam and Max's office building, after placing the homing beacon on Skun-ka'pe (again?). Down there, they find two moleman Boxists, who are guarding the Devil's Toybox. As they activate the rift generator, Skun-ka'pe is sucked down there, but grabs on to a ledge. Tricking him, Sam and Max get him to let go. As he is sucked into the Penal Zone, Skun-ka'pe briefly sees Max's head as being surrounded by fire. With the case closed, Sam and Max are about to leave when the Molemen see something on behind a wall that was torn down when Skun-ka'pe was sucked into the gate: a pair of skeletons creepily similar to Sam and Max...