Secrets and Lies in a Town of Sinners (Miniseries)



Secrets and Lies in a Town of Sinners is a 2020 10 episode miniseries created by Jonni Phillips, and it borrows its character designs from the cancelled VR game of the same name.

Plot
The series follows a number of families all residing within the fictional town of Des Amato in Harvaland County, California. Much of the overarching story of the series is told through visual worldbuilding and sight-gags, and each episode focuses on a different home within the titular town. Central to the series is the character Barber Westchester. First appearing in Episode 5, Barber is the eldest child of town cult leader Mailman Westchester and the personal assistant to Mayor Winsconsin. The series concludes with Barber being offered an internship at NASA, a plotline which would be further explored in the 2022 film Barber Westchester.

Episode 1- Reginald's Tormenters
It starts off with Reginald petting his cat and watching Inchworms in Paradise. He asks his cat Smu if he wants any food and he takes that as a yes. He then stretches his back and pours some food in the bowl. Suddenly, the house shakes and the food falls down. His response is "What the heck?" and he goes out the door. He finds 4 nasty kids sawing off his stabilizer. He shouts "STOP SAWING OFF MY STABILIZER YOU FIENDS!" and they just laugh at him. His neighbor, Barcelona Newsweek, comes out and stops the toddlers from sawing it off. They have a conversation before it abruptly ends.

Episode 2- The Coming of The Coatman
The episode starts off with Scruff Boy, Zeus' dog, barking at a closet door. Zeus shows him that there's nothing in the closet but the dog continues barking. His son Jeremiah comes up to Zeus and tells him, "Dad, I got a cut, can you help me?" he then shows Zeus his thumping finger with a cut dripping out blood. Zeus puts a blue band-aid on it and he runs away giggling. We're then introduced to Zeus' wife, Debra, who has an office dedicated to searching alien conspiracy theories. Scruffy keeps barking at the door and Zeus shows him that there's nothing there only for the dog to bark viciously. Zeus looks at the door and finds there's a alien with three eyes and he runs from the closet, opens Debra's door, and abducts her. Zeus chases after her but it's too late and she's already abducted. Zeus lies to Jeremiah and tells him that Debra and him divorced.

Episode 3- The Escape
It starts with Countil driving from work and then going to his home to see his son, Farley (fair-lee). Farley asks how work is doing for him, and then he punches a punching bag until the back knocks him and he becomes exhausted. He says "Let's get delivery tonight Farley", and then he sits down with his son at the dining table. He then tells his father that he got an acceptance letter from Harveland University, which is the same university that his father and currently deceased mother went to. It then reminds him of the time he met his wife at the university, but then Fareley says he talks about it a lot. He then moves away from the town in a hot air balloon airplane before the episode ends.

Episode 4- White Flag
It starts with Charlie dribbling some basketball while annoying his sister Lucy whiles she's trying to write poems. He says that's shes a amino shrimp that belongs to Judge Shrimp's jurisdiction. While he is playing video games, Lucy tells him a poem that's basically ridiculing him. Charlie shoots a basketball in her face, and then she cries, but then he feels empathy for her and he decides to let her push him down the stairs. She pushes Charlie down the stairs, which makes them even. They watch Inchworms in Paradise, and then at the end, it reveals their parents have been replaced with clay people.

Background and Production
SaLiaToS developed as the consequence of two pre-existing projects which were in production around the same time. The first, Secrets and Lies in a Town of Sinners (VR Game) was planned as an exploration-based Virtual Reality/Simulation game before eventually being scrapped and having many of its characters and elements reworked into the miniseries. The second is an upcoming film centered around the character Barber Westchester. In a livestream in May 2020, Jonni Phillips described a need to establish settings, characters, and themes in preparation for the film, and the miniseries intends to introduce the world of Barber using characters and plot elements from the scrapped VR game.

Jonni Phillips announced the series with an Instagram post on December 9th, announcing the series will be coming out in January and she is getting funds through Patreon, along with a clip from the miniseries. She kept posting clips and pictures of the clips from the miniseries.

Recurring Cast

 * Jonni Phillips as Mayor Winsconsin
 * Chris Kim as Barber Westchester
 * Andy Rowell as Reginald
 * Alosha Robinson as Barcelona Newsweek
 * Dave Merson as Zeus
 * Victoria Vincent as Jeremiah
 * Janie Mars as Deborah
 * Jake Ryan as Fareley M. Fredrick
 * Harrison Wyrick as Countil M. Fredrick
 * Andrea Reyes as Lucy
 * Frankie Tamaru as Charlie