Cheryl Andrews / The Hand of St Sebastian

[The Old Man]

I was thinking about Cheryl Andrews this morning. Aside from Morgan and Wong's desire that she should betray Frank Black in the Hand of SS, as I understand it, it wasn't revealed who she worked for. She was after the Hand and working with Millennium Group assassins (which reportedly gave the owner the knowledge to overcome the evils of the Millennium, although Frank later said he believed that knowledge was inside us), which in light of the differences between Owls and Roosters a few episodes later, would seem to indicate she believed in a religious nature, making her a Rooster; but Frank and the regular cast were Roosters!

Do you think her ties with a sub-faction were a one off piece of mythology to be taken as such, or more in line with the events and overall myth arc of Owls and Roosters where the Group were after another religious artefact, a piece of the crussifiction cross. Is more revealed in Skull and Bones?

[Guest SouthernCelt]

I was thinking about Cheryl Andrews this morning. Aside from Morgan and Wong's desire that she should betray Frank Black in the Hand of SS, as I understand it, it wasn't revealed who she worked for. She was after the Hand and working with Millennium Group assassins (which reportedly gave the owner the knowledge to overcome the evils of the Millennium, although Frank later said he believed that knowledge was inside us), which in light of the differences between Owls and Roosters a few episodes later, would seem to indicate she believed in a religious nature, making her a Rooster; but Frank and the regular cast were Roosters!

Do you think her ties with a sub-faction were a one off piece of mythology to be taken as such, or more in line with the events and overall myth arc of Owls and Roosters where the Group were after another religious artefact, a piece of the crussifiction cross. Is more revealed in Skull and Bones?

I presumed that Cheryl Andrews was wanting to keep the Hand of SS away from the Roosters faction fearing they would use it turn some of the Owls to their POV. As far as the assassins go, I don't know that we have ever known whether they were all part of a single faction; however, it looked like both factions revealed their own "muscle" after the Old Man's death.

I never presumed Frank to be definitely in either faction, especially since he began to distrust the group's purpose and methods. If he appeared to be leaning either way, I think it was because of Peter and his influence being clearly a Rooster.

The real reason for Cheryl Andrews' death was never clear to me in the 3rd season. By then the Group seemed to have become more violent and began to dispose of members they feared might reveal secrets about them. I always assumed that was the reason for her being killed. If you look at what they had set up in the farm house in Skull and Bones, the Group was obviously running a lot of disposed-of persons through their abattoir.

[Guest betweenthelines]

I didn't think Frank belonged to any particular faction either. The events of 'Owls' and 'Roosters' came at a time when he had doubts about the Millennium Group so I think Frank was mainly concerned about staying alive (as opposed to making either faction happy).

And I don't really think 'Skull and Bones' revealed anything new. If anything it made things more awkward because Cheryl's betrayal was never mentioned.

[The Old Man]

I think I could have phrased that a better way, I'm sure Frank was never aligned to any particular faction of the Group either. You're right Skull and Bones didn't really add any explanation about Cheryl Andrews and I wondered if the scenes that took place with her being detained by airport security were meant to have taken place after the events of THOSS or perhaps later if she had been deported after her arrest by German police. I wish it was better explained who she was working for in THOSS, I think a lot was left on the cutting room floor.

[Guest limebunneh]

I think I could have phrased that a better way, I'm sure Frank was never aligned to any particular faction of the Group either. You're right Skull and Bones didn't really add any explanation about Cheryl Andrews and I wondered if the scenes that took place with her being detained by airport security were meant to have taken place after the events of THOSS or perhaps later if she had been deported after her arrest by German police. I wish it was better explained who she was working for in THOSS, I think a lot was left on the cutting room floor.

I think it would have been much cooler if she had been killed by the Millennium Group because of what happened in THOSS. Instead we got something about her uncovering something in an autopsy. That sorta ignored what had happened and had her still working with the group. That was very frustrating. In year 3 they did seem to either neglect or plain contradict a lot of season 2. I think this is one of the worst cases. I like Cheryl Andrews, and her betrayal was interesting and could have been built upon.

[Raven Wolf]

I was a bit confused by this as well. Even more-so because it seemed, at some point, that the same actress was playing another part, and that person died, too. I need to go back and re-watch certain episodes, because I could swear the same actress played someone else...and so by the time the whole Cheral Andrews thing went down, and she seemed to be turning on Frank, and yet in Skull & Bones (which I just watched, so that's why this is fresh on my mind as well) he seemed so concerned about her....

Yeah, I'm gonna have to re-watch everything and take notes. (the same woman was also in an X Files episode)

[Guest betweenthelines]

and so by the time the whole Cheral Andrews thing went down, and she seemed to be turning on Frank, and yet in Skull & Bones (which I just watched, so that's why this is fresh on my mind as well) he seemed so concerned about her....

I think (although "guess" would probably be the correct word) despite Cheryl's betrayal Frank still had some sort of respect for her. With all that happened afterward he probably just put his feelings about the betrayal aside and forgave Cheryl. That's my explanation for why Frank didn't mention anything about it; the writers were probably thinking "What else to rewrite from the second season? Oh yeah, Cheryl Andrews and that whole Germany fiasco...".

[Guest colts45]

morgan and wong did do good things for the show.

[Guest colts45]

uh lets see january 1st.

[Guest JMunch]

uh lets see january 1st.

I think Skull and Bones took place at a time when Roosters and OWls were supposedly reconciled but both groups followed their clandestine agendas and were probably splintering into further sub-groups. This is somewhat borne out in X-Files 'Millennium' episode where we encounter a splinter cell working zombie magic. I agree that Andrews' true motives and allegiances remain a mystery.

Frank was involved for five years (1994-1999) with the group but it has a history of at least 2,000 years (which makes it as old as the first Shadow Government as revealed by CSM, come to think of it!). There must have been schisms, heresies and secret cabals by the dozens - the Family, for example, and Hoover´s FBI cabal come to mind.