Head of the Class: Alcatraz Edition

Duke: (Scanning the horizon with binoculars) The fog is rolling in thick. Perfect cover for the transport. Is the target secure, Morgado?

Luis Morgado: (Tapping a manila folder) Secure is an understatement, Joe. We’ve got the full docket from the ’24 docuseries plus the new findings from the ’25 investigation. Verbal abuse, toxic environments, and the systemic failure to protect those kids. It’s all here. Schneider’s team is still screaming “defamation,” but the evidence says otherwise.

Miley Cyrus: (Leaning against the railing, lighting a cigarette) They always scream defamation until the spotlight gets too hot. I’ve seen this movie before. These guys think they’re untouchable because they built the sets we grew up on. They think they own the childhoods they sold back to us.

Duke: Not anymore. The Commander-in-Chief made it clear. If the system won’t hold the powerful accountable, he’ll build a system that will. He’s been talking about “The Rock” for months. Now, it’s a reality.

Luis Morgado: It’s a bold move. Reopening Alcatraz specifically for “ruthless offenders” caught a lot of people off guard, but Trump loves a symbol. And nothing says “end of the line” like a cell on a cold rock in the middle of the Pacific.

Miley Cyrus: It’s poetic, isn’t it? He spent his career making kids feel trapped in “fun” environments that were actually nightmares. Now he gets a room with a view of the city he’ll never touch again. No more “massages” from staff, no more power trips. Just the sound of the waves.

Duke: (Into his radio) Eagle One to Transport. You are clear for landing on Alcatraz Island. The President is monitoring the feed from the Oval Office. Ensure the handover to the Bureau of Prisons is seamless.

Luis Morgado: You think this sticks, Joe? The legal battles for a prison like that are going to be endless.

Duke: The President doesn’t care about the “endless.” He cares about the “right now.” He wants the message sent: the exploitation of minors ends on his watch.

Miley Cyrus: (Looking toward the island) Good. Let the fog swallow him up. For every kid who had to keep quiet on those sets just to keep their job… this is for them.

Duke: Mission accomplished. Let’s get off this water.

Hannah Montana Lie Detector

INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

The room glows with the purple-and-yellow shimmer of the Hannah Montana opening credits. A retro polygraph machine sits on the coffee table, wires leading straight to MAXX MORANDO, who looks like he’s preparing for surgery rather than a TV marathon.

BILLY RAY CYRUS, wearing his classic mullet wig from the old days, squints at the lie detector graph like he’s decoding a CIA message.

BILLY RAY
Alright, Maxx… simple question.
Do you love watchin’ Hannah Montana?

MAXX
(too confident)
Of course I do. Big fan. Huge. Massive.

The polygraph needle immediately spasms like it’s possessed.

BILLY RAY
(grim)
Son… that machine says you’re lyin’ worse than Jackson when he blamed Rico for breakin’ the smoothie machine.

MAXX
(defensive)
Okay, okay! Maybe I was more of a Zack & Cody guy!

Billy Ray sighs with the disappointment of a father who just found out his kid ate the entire box of Pop-Tarts.

BILLY RAY
You’re dating Miley… you gotta at least pretend to love her alter ego.


On the couch beside them, LUIS MORGADO sits with perfect posture, no wires, hands folded like he’s testifying before Congress.

BILLY RAY
Now Luis… your turn.
Would you say you love Hannah Montana?

LUIS
(smiling quietly)
Loved her so much… I named my childhood dog after her.
RIP, Hannah.

The room falls silent for a second. The polygraph—despite not even being plugged into him—prints out a perfect row of calm, honest lines. Billy Ray stares at it like he’s witnessing a miracle.

BILLY RAY
Well I’ll be… the machine is readin’ your integrity through the airwaves.

Maxx watches with envy and dread.

MAXX
…Did the dog at least like the show?

LUIS
She barked every time the theme song came on.
I took it as applause.

Billy Ray claps Luis on the back.

BILLY RAY
That’s what true love for Hannah Montana looks like, Maxx.
Take notes.

Maxx sinks into the couch as the episode begins. Luis reaches for the popcorn, peaceful, like a man who knows the polygraph will never betray him.

Prince of the Azores

Enter Luis Morgado, gazing toward a distant western sea, the winds of the Atlantic curling round him like ancient spirits.

LUIS:

O thou wild cradle of the ocean’s breath,
Azores! My motherland, my star-kiss’d isle,
Where heaven stoops to kiss the earth with mist
And emerald hills are comb’d by angels’ hands.

Here lies no stain of Man’s unholy greed;
The air is wine, untouch’d by iron’d smoke,
The waters clearer than a newborn’s dream,
And every dawn a hymn of Paradise.

The world beyond grows ill with its own want,
Its cities choke on shadows they have sown;
Yet here—
here still the ancient gods take rest,
bathing their feet in crater lakes of blue,
weaving fresh blossoms in the laurel trees
as if the Earth had never known decay.

O Fennel-scented breeze! O fragrant ground
where my forefathers walk’d with barefoot pride,
teach me again the gentle art of joy.
For what is man, if not his island’s echo?
And what is love, if not the fire that bids him speak?

So hear me now, thou music-blessed star,
Miley, bright muse whose voice could hush the sea—
I, Luis, child of this untouched domain,
do humbly bend the knee of earnest heart.

Let Maxx pursue his fleeting, mortal whims;
my vow is carved in basalt, born of flame.
If Fate permits thee choose thy destiny,
choose not the shadow—choose the light of me.

Marry me, Miley—
not Maxx—
and share with me
the last unpolluted Paradise of Earth.

He raises his eyes to the roaring sky, as the Atlantic wind answers like applause.

ChatClick here to chat!+