Pärnu Shore, Episode One: A rullnokk’s work is never done

Jun

2011

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Pärnu Shore:

The roommates begin arriving at the Pärnu Shore house, a former toxic chemicals storage facility overlooking the beach that has been converted into a 3-bedroom mansion. Two of the bedrooms hold three beds, and the last bedroom holds one bed. The producers of Pärnu Shore named the one-bed bedroom the mitte-magamise magamistuba.

Jaanika arrives first and moves her bags into the bedroom nearest the sauna — after making sure that the distance between the two rooms is crawl-able. Priit arrives second and immediately investigates the refrigerator: the producers have stocked it with liquor and beer. Priit and Jaanika begin drinking and pass out on the kitchen floor.

Martin arrives third and is disappointed that the house doesn’t include a gym or a tanning bed, but he is happy to have fewer than 12 roommates for the first time in his life. He drops his bag onto his bed and starts to wake up Priit and Jaanika but is distracted by a bottle of vodka. He passes out next to the other two after taking nine shots.

Heleen and Riina arrive next, having both taken the same bus from Tallinn. Heleen becomes embarrassed when she sees the pile of passed-out bodies on the floor of the kitchen: she hooked up with Priit a few months ago while visiting friends in Tartu. She and Riina hatch a plan to hide her true identity from Priit – Heleen will dye her hair brown and call herself Piret. Heleen and Riina put their bags in the room with Martin’s things and leave the house to buy hair dye.

Kevin arrives last. He puts his bags in the room with Priit’s things and takes a tour of the house. He finds Jaanika, Priit, and Martin passed out in the kitchen. He considers waking them up but concludes that he’ll have more vodka to himself if they remain sleeping. He pours half of a bottle of Viru Valge into his energy drink and leaves the house to explore the city.

Heleen and Riina return to the house and begin dying Heleen’s hair. After finishing, they decide to celebrate with some drinks and finish an entire bottle of Viru Valge. They quickly pass out on top of the rullnokk pile in the kitchen.

Hours later, Kevin comes back to the house with a woman he met in a nightclub. They retire to the mitte-magamise magamistuba, and the woman leaves again after only ten minutes. Kevin goes to the kitchen and is able to wake up all of the roommates except Heleen and Priit. The four roommates leave for a nightclub — Klubi Suhkur. Heleen and Priit wake up at the same time an hour later, and Heleen introduces herself to Priit as Piret. The two start drinking, and, after an hour, retire to the mitte-magamise magamistuba together.

At the nightclub, Jaanika and Riina find themselves engaged in deep conversation about fake nail extensions and form a quick friendship. Kevin and Martin argue intensely at the bar after Martin orders a round of Saku, and the two have to be pulled apart by the nightclub’s security. The four roommates decide to leave, and the tension between Kevin and Martin is overwhelming on the walk home. Jaanika and Riina stay up until 6am drinking ciders, but Kevin and Martin both immediately go to sleep.

The next morning, Heleen (as Piret) and Priit sneak quietly from the mitte-magamise magamistuba into their own bedrooms. Heleen wakes Riina up and confides in her about the previous night. The pair agree that the embarrassment of having hooked up with Priit will make the summer awkward, so they hatch a new plan: they’ll dye Heleen’s hair back to blonde, call her Maris, and tell the roommates that Maris is replacing Piret, who decided to move to the suburbs of Helsinki to find a job. Riina and Heleen leave the house to buy a hair dying kit.

Kevin is awoken by a ringing phone in the living room: their new boss, Timo, wants to introduce them to their summer jobs in 15 minutes. The roommates will be working at a fast-food restaurant near the beach called Rullnokk’s. Kevin wakes the other roommates up, and they all leave for Rullnokk’s without Heleen and Riina.

The roommates arrive at Rullnokk’s and meet Timo. Jaanika is unenthusiastic about working in a fast-food restaurant for the summer and doesn’t pay attention as Timo instructs the roommates on the use of the equipment. When making a sample milkshake, Jaanika uses sour cream instead of milk. Martin drinks it but doesn’t notice the difference.

Heleen and Riina return to the house and dye Heleen’s hair. They once again celebrate a job well done with drinks and once again pass out on the kitchen floor. When the roommates return from their training at work, they wake up Heleen and Riina, and Heleen introduces herself to the roommates as Maris, explaining that Piret decided to leave the house. The roommates begin drinking together. Martin and Kevin once again fight and must be physically separated by Priit. Kevin goes outside to calm down, and Jaanika follows him. Martin goes to his room to do the same and is followed by Riina. Left alone in the kitchen, Priit and Maris begin talking and quickly relocate to the mitte-magamise magamistuba. Maris admits to Priit that she is actually Piret, who was actually Heleen. Priit admits that he doesn’t recognize either of those names, and the two become intimate.