Pirjo’s attempt to eliminate Wanda

Pirjo’s attempt to eliminate Wanda Phinn grows from a threatened claim on Atu Abanshamash Dumuzi and the world they have built at the Nature Absorption Academy. When Wanda insists on arriving despite Pirjo’s refusal to admit her to a course, Pirjo first weighs the danger, then improvises a welcoming pretext. The episode’s threat lies in that reversal: a journey presented as hospitality is arranged to keep Wanda unsuspecting while Pirjo decides how to get rid of her.

Origins and Stakes

In September 2013, Pirjo rereads Wanda’s message about her imminent arrival for the tenth time. Her teachings of nature absorption do not treat gut instinct as a valid guide, but Pirjo’s background makes her unwilling to dismiss it. Each reading produces further imagined consequences, yet her conclusion stays fixed: Wanda’s message signals a catastrophe. Wanda has ignored Pirjo’s rejection of her application and is coming anyway, apparently to enter the life Pirjo shares with Atu.

The threat is personal as well as institutional. Pirjo thinks Atu’s curiosity and libido would be stirred if he saw Wanda’s request, and she believes she understands his weaknesses better than anyone. She also measures the danger against her own desire for a future with him: her biological clock is ticking, while she has spent twenty years dedicating herself to Atu and his world in the hope of winning his heart. In that context, Wanda’s arrival appears to Pirjo not as an inconvenient visit but as a rival’s bid to displace her.

Pirjo considers what Wanda’s arrival will mean, checks the time, and knows the woman will soon be at Kalmar Central Station expecting Pirjo to yield. Instead, Pirjo decides to improvise, a capacity she regards as one of her strengths. Her confidence is sharpened by memory: she recalls that a boundary was crossed in an earlier confrontation and that its outcome, although strictly accidental, had proved advantageous. The account gives no detailed reconstruction of that earlier incident here, but Pirjo’s recollection establishes that drastic action is not wholly new to her.

Concealment and Escalation

Pirjo plans not only to confront Wanda but also to control what others will know about her movements. She chooses a secluded gravel path around the academy buildings and through the plantation rather than the direct road to the highway. If anyone asks, she can say she drove north to clear her head and organize new ideas for her telephone line. The explanation is designed to make her absence plausible; avoiding Wanda’s name would, she reasons, keep the visitor outside everyone else’s awareness.

Her private plan extends beyond Wanda. Pirjo intends to neutralize and eliminate Wanda first, then turn to Malena, whose place in the academy’s life may create another problem. She has not yet worked out how to settle matters with Malena without Atu finding out, and she recognizes that delay could make the situation ugly. The sequence reveals a widening pattern of intended removals, not a single impulsive outburst: Pirjo is trying to preserve her position while managing each perceived rival without alerting Atu.

The plan is interrupted, or at least brought into direct contact with its target, when a woman on a scooter comes around a corner at speed, dressed in white and clenching her teeth. The encounter is defined by recognition and bodily response: the woman recognizes Pirjo from her expression and clenches her own fists. The scene gives the hostility an immediate physical form before either woman explains it. Pirjo’s later efforts to appear genial therefore unfold against an already established atmosphere of mutual suspicion.

A Welcome Used as a Pretext

By October 2013, Wanda stands with her suitcase in the square before the large yellow building. Pirjo watches from her scooter and trembles inwardly, considering whether to turn back. She quickly rejects retreat as impractical: Wanda has come too far and could find her own way. Pirjo tells herself she must try other methods before resorting to extremes, though she now recognizes that extremes may be necessary.

Crossing the square, Pirjo introduces herself as the person with whom Wanda has been corresponding and repeats that Wanda has come in vain. Wanda does not accept this as the end of the matter. She says she can wait at Frimurare Hotellet, only two minutes away, for a few days if necessary, and points out that Pirjo already has her mobile number. Her determination makes plain that a flat refusal will not make her leave.

Pirjo reads Wanda’s calm concentration as the composure of a predator waiting to strike. In her interpretation, Wanda understands the resistance she faces, knows Atu’s susceptibility, and recognizes how weak Pirjo’s position is. The narration presents this as Pirjo’s reading of Wanda rather than verified knowledge of Wanda’s thoughts. Pirjo’s response is to recast the refusal as an offer: she says it would be a shame for Wanda to spend her own money at a hotel and proposes trying to arrange a brief audience with Atu before Wanda returns to the station.

The proposed destination supplies the cover. Pirjo says Atu may be at the southern end of the island or out on Stora Alvaret, where he goes to meditate and get in touch with his soul. She adds that he dislikes being disturbed, but Wanda’s insistence means they will have to try. Pirjo smiles, and the narration indicates that Wanda appears to believe her. Pirjo also sets a limit in advance, promising no more than this brief audience and a drive back to the station; Wanda’s flight from Copenhagen is not until the following afternoon, so Pirjo claims they have time. The offer sounds accommodating while keeping the meeting on Pirjo’s terms.

The Journey and Its Double Meaning

Before they set off, Pirjo asks whether Wanda has ridden a scooter before. Wanda answers that people where she comes from do nothing else. Pirjo tells her to hitch up her skirt and hold on to Pirjo’s jacket, adding that she does not like people holding her around the waist. The practical instruction also fixes the physical arrangement of the ride: Wanda is to follow Pirjo’s lead and keep her distance in precisely the way Pirjo specifies.

Pirjo deliberately turns on her charm so Wanda will suspect nothing untoward and will enjoy the ride and the landscape. In Wanda’s apparent understanding, this journey is the first step toward winning Atu’s undivided attention. For Pirjo, however, the friendliness is a means of keeping Wanda compliant and unsuspecting. The gap between those purposes gives the scene its menace: the same ride carries Wanda’s hope and Pirjo’s concealed intent.

Pirjo calls Öland a fantastic place and offers to show Wanda its attractions, promising a better tour on another visit. Wanda rides behind her with a light grip on Pirjo’s jacket, looking across the sea toward the island. On both sides of the Öland Bridge, the waves break into foam, while the wind has shifted from the mainland to the east and turned cooler. These concrete details accompany a passage outward that Pirjo has framed as a pleasant introduction. The episode establishes her intention and deceptive approach, while leaving the eventual outcome of the attempt to the story that follows.