Wonderfalls (TV Series)

Totem Mole (2004)

Caroline Dhavernas: Jaye Tyler

Quotes 

• Gentlefeather : You've come with many questions.

  Jaye Tyler : But very little money. So, if you're, like, the local fortune-teller or something...

  Gentlefeather : They speak to you in many voices. And many forms. You have been sought out for a great purpose. For this, you have been chosen.

  Jaye Tyler : No. I don't want to be chosen. In this instance, I'm anti-choice. Also, chosen by what? Who are "they"? Do you know?

  Gentlefeather : Yes. Many questions.

  Jaye Tyler : Yeah, if you're just gonna be all cryptic, it will affect your tip.

  Gentlefeather : You entered this place only to silence the voices. You wish to silence them forever?

  Jaye Tyler : Can I? Is there some way? Can you tell me how?

  Gentlefeather : Why do you think you're here?

  Jaye Tyler : Okay, cryptic. And yet, I think I like where you're going.

• Jaye Tyler : We're sort of in the middle of something. So would you mind waiting outside until we're through?

  Bill Hooton : Uh, what are you in the middle of?

  Jaye Tyler : We're having a conversation.

  Bill Hooton : You're having a conversation with my dead grandmother?

  Jaye Tyler : [seeing the woman she was talking to is actually dead, her eyes widen]  Okay, that's just odd.

• Jaye Tyler : [the Muse speaks to her through the face on a Native American totem pole]  An authentic Satsuman totem should not be speaking English.

  Muse : I'm not authentic. They put me here for the tourists.

• Jaye Tyler : Sure, it can be nice on occasion. In a triumph-of-the-human-spirit sort of way, but most of the time, it feels like the universe doing this.

  [taking Bill's hand and softly punching him] 

  Jaye Tyler : "Why are you hitting yourself, Jaye? Why are you hitting yourself?"

  Bill Hooton : Ow! Stop it.

  Jaye Tyler : Well, that's what being special really feels like. At least, that's been my experience.

  Bill Hooton : Maybe you're doing it wrong.

  Jaye Tyler : I don't think there's a right way to do it.

• Bill Hooton : You don't realize how lucky you are.

  Jaye Tyler : You're the lucky one. I'd love to be just an accountant. Well, maybe not an accountant, but something a little more interesti...

  [seeing his look] 

  Jaye Tyler : To me. And yet, equally not special.

  Bill Hooton : Like a retail clerk?

  Jaye Tyler : Preferably more interesting than that. You'd really wanna be me?

  Bill Hooton : Yeah. Pathetic, isn't it?

  Jaye Tyler : We're both pathetic.

  Bill Hooton : But at least you're pathetic with great purpose. I'm pathetic with no purpose. The saddest part is, when I leave here, there's no reason to ever come back.

  Jaye Tyler : You could come back to buy cigarettes.

  Bill Hooton : I don't smoke.

  Jaye Tyler : You could start.

• Bill Hooton : Oh, look. It's the special one. You come to tell me about how special you are?

  [sarcastic] 

  Bill Hooton : 'Cause I'd love to hear more about that. Did my grandma tell you how special you are?

  Jaye Tyler : Sort of.

  Bill Hooton : Did you really talk to her?

  Jaye Tyler : Yeah. Didn't you?

  Bill Hooton : I don't know. It's all kinda hazy.

  Jaye Tyler : It was probably the peyote.

  [seeing his look] 

  Jaye Tyler : Or, maybe you actually talked to her. I don't know.

  Bill Hooton : Why would she talk to me when she has you to talk to?

  Jaye Tyler : It was just one conversation. Okay, so she said I had "great purpose" or whatever. She was vague, at best. Then I talked about me for a while, and... that was it, really.

  Bill Hooton : I wish I had great purpose.

  Jaye Tyler : [wry chuckle]  No, you don't.

  Bill Hooton : Yes, I do.

  Jaye Tyler : [firmly]  No, you don't. You really don't. Having great purpose isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've had great purpose, and I've had no purpose, and I have to say, no purpose is a lot easier. Expectations are low. Nobody asks you for anything. Count your blessings.

• Jaye Tyler : So, what happens after you hand that thing in?

  Mahandra McGinty : They verify my claim, and then I'm embraced by my people as a part of the Satsuma Indian Nation.

  Jaye Tyler : That's awesome.

  Sharon Tyler : It's also fraud. You're not Indian. You're Black.

  Mahandra McGinty : Uh, 1/8th Satsuman on my grandmother's side. But even a fraction of my fraction makes me eligible for full tribal citizenship.

  Jaye Tyler : And a cut of the gambling money.

  Mahandra McGinty : Uh, uh, uh, uh, no. This is not about money. This is about tribe pride. However, if a Title IV federal grant will pay off my student loans, then justice is served.

• Mahandra McGinty : You know, this sudden impulse of yours to visit my ancestral lands is great, but aren't you supposed to be at work?

  Jaye Tyler : I couldn't stand the thought of spending another day looking at those faces with their stupid little mouths constantly running and making all sorts of unreasonable demands on me.

  Mahandra McGinty : Are you sure you should be in a customer service industry?

• Jaye Tyler : You know, I'm not so sure if my burden's a burden or not. I mean, other people seem to want it. And that should always make you pause before you give something up.

  Jerry : A lesson my people have learned time and time again.