RUBIK Something in Common (Solution)
by Dan Gulotta and Tanya Khovanova
Each piece represents two stories from two different TV show episodes fused together (see details below):
- 'THE PRICE', ('Angel', 3, 19), ('Star Trek: The Next Generation', 3, 8)
- 'DO NO HARM', ('Lie to Me', 1, 6), ('Lost', 1, 20)
- 'BLINK', ('Doctor Who', 3, 10), ('The 4400', 3, 8)
- 'THE TARGET', ('Dollhouse', 1, 2), ('The Wire', 1, 1)
- 'HUSH', ('Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 4, 10, 1838), ('Tales from the Darkside', 4, 18)
- 'PREMIERE', ('Farscape', 1, 1), ('Queer as Folk', 1, 1)
- 'LIVING THE DREAM', ('Dexter', 4, 1), ('House M.D.', 4, 14)
- 'HARVEST', ('Numb3rs', 2, 14), ('Roswell', 2, 6)
- 'UNFINISHED BUSINESS', ('Battlestar Galactica', 3, 9), ('Murder, She Wrote', 3, 3)
After discovering the episodes you can notice that they have the same title and the same season number. The puzzle title hints that only the common properties are relevant. So you need to index the season number into the title.
The answer is EDITH PIAF.
Here is the de-merging of the stories:
The Price
Angel
Everyone was discussing which color to paint the room. A walk-in walked in. The client just wanted to find his dog; instead, he found something else.
The lawyer used a spider to type the password. They discovered that the creatures glow in the dark, so they turned the lights off to hunt them. The bird-like sounds were coming from under the floor. They used alcohol to save the woman's life. She used her new untapped power of light to save the world.
(Here the spider is a strong clue for the show and the power of light is a strong clue for the episode.)
Star Trek TNG
The counselor was dreaming about a real chocolate sundae. There was a reception in honor of a regular phenomenon visible every 4 hours or so, to provide a permanent shortcut to another part of space.
The Federation didn't want to buy a lemon. The perceptive negotiator won the bid while they were waiting for the results of the shuttle trip, which was a big mistake. She refused to be his conscience; she already had a job as a counselor.
(The words 'counselor' and 'shortcut to another space' (wormhole) are hints for Star Trek. The negotiation for the wormhole is a clue for the episode. The fact the she already has a job as a counselor is a famous punchline.)
Do No Harm
Lost
They needed to keep the wounded survivor steady. Some people were building a boat on the beach. They needed to perform a blood transfusion, but they didn't have the proper instruments. He needed to write vows. The unexpected labor in the woods.
The doctor losing his own blood to help the wounded survivor. The doctor could't go and deliver the baby. But he gave the instructions.
The crushed leg made blood transfusion impractical. His vows were self-referential. He talked about how he couldn't write the vows. One man died and another was born. At the end the doctor suspected murder.
(The words 'beach', 'survivor', 'doctor' and 'no proper instruments' clue Lost. Baby delivery, death and the crushed leg identify the episode.)
Lie to Me
The daughter disappeared two month ago. The African activist was kidnapped by rebels when she was a teenager. She escaped from her kidnappers. He said that the reward had been withdrawn to eliminate the financial incentive to lie. By his false statement, he removed over-claimers - people lying to get attention. They read surprise in the boy's face. It was clear that the boy had never looked into the backpack.
She described horrors she had seen: rape, torture, massacres carried out by child soldiers. There was no deception leakage, but she seemed anxious.
They needed to find the other girl before noon. The doctor played 20 questions. The girls wasn't answering, but the doctor read her micro-expressions. The writer touched her ear and exposed her lies. At the end the book was withdrawn.
(The words 'lie', 'micro-expressions', 'deception leakage' clue the show. The disappeared girl and the African activist clue the episode.)
Blink
Doctor Who
She took pictures in an abandoned house. Two girls came back to investigate. A statue was in the wrong place. Old pictures of a woman who looked exactly like her friend. When people die in the past, they produce energy in the present.
She got a list of 17 DVDs. People do not understand time. The box left them behind. As a consequence, they were stuck looking at each other forever. She gave him the shorthand transcripts to complete the cycle.
(time and past discussion clues time-travel, the box clues doctor who. The statue and 17 DVDs clue the episode)
The 4400
She jumped off the roof. He was surprised by a basket of cookies. A new drug hit the streets making people see things. He started seeing his dead father.
They were the two most powerful people on the planet. She started wedding preparations. His partner starting hallucinating about her ex. Naomi's ability caused all this mess. The only place where she didn't use gloves was her garden. The dinner guests tried her chicken. The drugged cookies were a gift to help resolve their issues.
(abilities and two most powerful people clue the show - not very strong clue. )
The Target
Dollhouse
Did she fall asleep? The price tag was exorbitant. The woman would be everything he wanted and needed. They went to the woods and were water-rafting, rock-climbing, and arrow-shooting. She was not the first girl he brought to the woods.
She needed to stop talking and start running. Poisoned water made her see things she was not supposed to remember. In spite of the background check the client was a psychopath. Shoulder to the wheel.
(Dollhouse clues: Did I fall asleep? - Echo tells this each time after treatment. Exuberant price tag - direct quote. The rest are episode clues)
The Wire
They were discussing the dead boy's name. A witness identified the defendant. She was a security guard chewing gum. The witness changed her testimony. The jury gave a verdict of "Not Guilty."
The detective was in court, thought it wasn't his case. Shit always rolls downhill. A shitty orange couch outside. He was moved from uptown to the fucking low-rises. Dead witness, mother-fucker.
('The Wire' clues: obscenities and orange couch. The rest are episode clues.)
Hush
Buffy
A little girl was humming. The Wicca group was boring. A laryngitis epidemic took over the town. The princess's scream would kill the monsters. She and her future boyfriend discovered each other's secrets.
(A Wicca group is a strong clue into Buffy)
The Tales of the Darkside
The dark side. The new invention was making whooshing sounds. The noise-eater got turned on by accident. The monster machine killed its own remote control. The dark side is waiting.
(A 'dark side' is mentioned twice and it is a part of the beginning and ending quotes of each episode)
Premiere
Queer as Folk (US)
The gay club. He was a semi-cute boy-next-door type. There is more to a guy than cock size. He had a very nice butt. They offered you a discount if you bought the butt and the bulge together.
They were in Pennsylvania. They were standing on the roof of a hospital. The older man was running his tongue along the young man's spine. Fuck. He had a baby, two babies. They were painting his black car with a pink derogatory word.
(Clues for the show: 'gay', 'cock butt' and 'bulge' hint at Queer as folk. PA disambiguates into the US version.)
Farscape
The experiment was very important to him. His shuttle trip was supposed to be easy. He was being pulled. He was injected with something and started to understand everyone. They were a bald priestess and a warrior.
They were approaching a commerce planet. They escaped, and she was sending a transmission. The girl tried to protect him, believing his story, but was arrested for contamination. He distracted the guards with a puzzle ring. They escaped.
(Hints for the show: 'shuttle', 'priestess', 'warrior', 'commerce planet')
Living the dream
House
He was drinking before operating on his fiancée. Drinking was the only way for him to stop his hands from shaking. The limo driver kidnapped him. He conducted a test. Nothing was wrong. Unexpectedly, he couldn't feel his leg and couldn't walk anymore. The body wasn't filtering iodine. The actor was falling into a coma.
His girlfriend wanted to buy a firm mattress. He preferred to sleep on a water-bed. It was not an infection; it was an allergy. The case was solved because of the bubbles in the glass. The patient was indeed allergic.
(Medical terms clue House)
Dexter
What kind of a father kills people? Tonight was the night he would finally sleep. She watched herself die in the mirror. While being sleep deprived, he brought the wrong documents to court. The criminal walked. There was a lot of blood. He took a picture with his blood-spatter camera.
His wife wanted to have sex. He told the secret of his bloody hobby to his baby. He changed his plans of where to grab the victim. He was killing for his son now. He crash his car.
(The blood-spatter camera clues Dexter.)
Harvest
Roswell
The woman died two weeks ago, but her car accident was yesterday. They came to pay their respects. They brought personal effects to drop off. If the couple's daughter was like their mother, then they themselves were like their grandparents.
Their planet had been on the verge of a golden age, then everything fell apart. "Don't let the history repeat itself," the worshiper of the second in command said. The teen's sister told him stories about another galaxy, and the war.
They didn't expect to see the body, but there it was. She touched the body to reveal emptiness inside. He had to save Courtney's future body before everything blew up.
(Other planet, galaxy, the second in command and Courtney clue Roswell; the dead woman and an empty body clues the episode)
Numb3rs
There was so much blood and, for some reason, ice. Jane Doe wasn't the girl's sister. Melting speed and surface tension could help the calculation. The celebration was postponed. The idea to ask the grandmother resulted in a kiss.
She brought some clothes, a toothbrush, shampoo and some other things to the detention center. She didn't know what the red string was for. The algorithm might find the dead man's favorite coffee place and, consequently, solve the case.
The kidney operation was in a hotel. At the end they gathered in his house for dinner as usual. He put the red sticker on his license.
(Algorithms and science talks and dinner at the end clue Numb3rs. The red string and kidney clue the episode.)
Unfinished Business
Murder, She Wrote
After retirement, he came back to an unsolved murder case. He drove to the lake where the accidental drowning happened. He lured everyone involved to the lake. The doctor was one of the suspects. The couple was already in the cabin.
The young man was murdered, and everyone thought that the detective was the real target. The man went to look for sneakers. The nosy lady-writer dropped names to persuade the sheriff to look into the cabin. They didn't find the sneakers. The lady solved the murder, as usual.
(Clues for the show: 'nosy lady-writer', 'the lady solved the murder, as usual')
Battlestar Galactica
He remembered a kiss in flashbacks. After having sex, he told her that he wanted a real marriage. They wanted their child to be born on the new planet. He doubted that he was the one who she really wanted.
There was a boxing match. The admiral challenged the chief to join him in the ring. They shouted it to the skies. The boxing match became too personal and people started leaving.
(Clues for the show: 'new planet', 'admiral', 'chief'.)