This episode is quite the doozy. We land with Sookie in fairy land where we ended at season three. Claudine identifies herself as Sookie’s fairy godmother. Sookie sees Barry and her grandfather here. As they catch up, fairies walk around and hand out light fruits – a glowing fruit that everyone digs into. Sookie is uncertain about eating the fruit, as everything doesn’t seem quite right.
Mab’s Crew
Sookie tries to warn her grandfather telepathically that this is a trap. However, everyone here can communicate telepathically. The queen fairy, Mab, steps forward and declares that she wants to shut fairies off from humans and demands that Sookie eat the fruit. When Sookie uses her light powers to release herself from Mab’s grasp, it reveals a grey wasteland version of the fairy land she is in. The fairies appear as goblins, and Sookie has seen the true nature of this place.
Sookie and her grandfather run to get away, being followed and attacked by the fairy/goblins. Sookie is helped by Claudine’s brother who opposes her views and Sookie and her grandfather drop back down to Earth. We see Bill and Eric become aware of her presence. Sookie and her grandfather land in the cemetery and Sookie shows him her grandmother and parents’ graves. Sookie’s grandfather dies at their graves, but not before giving her a pocketwatch to give to Jason. Before he disintegrates, Sookie’s grandfather tells her he loves her.
Time Warp
Sookie returns to her home to find a crew working on renovations. The crew calls the police and Jason – as a cop – shows up. Jason is relieved to see her and reveals that she has been missing for twelve and a half months. We have jumped in time tremendously. Jason, in his grief over Sookie’s disappearance, sold the house. Sookie explains where she has been and when Jason doesn’t believe her, she produces the watch. She tells him that Grandaddy Earl gave it to her before he died and that he felt like he’d only been gone a few hours. Sookie herself felt as if she was only gone ten minutes while in fairy land. All of this gets Jason to believe that she is telling the truth, if somewhat reluctantly.
Cover Story
Bill arrives at the house and tells Sookie he has hasn’t felt her presence for a year. He suspected she was with Claudine. Eric shows up as well and asserts that he never gave up on Sookie. Just then, Andy shows up and is very upset when Sookie says she wasn’t kidnapped. Bill covers for her, saying she was on “secret vampire business.”
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Back in the cruiser, we see Andy battling a V addiction and later on Jason scolds him for still using.
We see Eric and Bill trying to rebuild vampire-human relations post Russell Edgington and his outburst. Eric gives a television announcement as a local business owner and Bill presents a town ribbon cutting ceremony.
Witchy Ways
Jesus takes Lafayette reluctantly to a witch gathering. The head witch communicates as Eddie through herself. Lafayette is angry with Jesus, thinking he told her about his experiences with Eddie in order to convince him the witchy powers are real. Jesus insists he told no one, but Lafayette won’t hear it.
When he goes back again with Jesus, he is forced to participate in a ritual that brings a bird back to life for a minute. One woman from the coven is a plant and arrives back at Bill’s house. It seems Bill may now be the king of Louisiana.
Dark Tendencies
Arlene comes home to find Terry in the bathroom and her new baby, Mikey, in the living room floor with headless Barbie dolls. Terry assures Arlene that Mikey is a good boy and will be fine.
Jason takes food to Hotshot to the kids that he is looking after for Crystal. They tell him that the freezer isn’t working and that it isn’t cold. Jason goes to investigate, but the kids lock him inside the freezer.
Mixed Martial Arts
In New Orleans, we see Tara as a successful mixed martial artist. Tara is in a romantic relationship with another female mixed martial artist named Naomi. Tara is also going by a different name.
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Trouble in Paradise
We flash to Jessica and Hoyt living in the house he bought for them at the end of last season. They seem to be okay, but it is clear that the human dating a vampire dynamic is getting to them. The pair go to Fangtasia for date night where a human hits on Jessica. It seems she has a moment of enjoyment of this, but then decides she loves Hoyt and walks away from it.
Sookie catches up with everyone at Merlotte’s. When she asks Lafayette about Tara, he says he doesn’t know where she is because she’s moved a lot since Sookie went missing. However, we see Lafayette text Tara and tell her that Sookie is alive and back in Bon Temps. Tara ignores the text message and makes up a story about the text being her father saying her grandmother has died to Naomi.
We see Tommy come into Merlotte’s with Hoyt’s mother. He is in a leg brace and we learn that Sam has been paying for his physical therapy since shooting him. It seems Hoyt’s mother replaced Hoyt with Tommy when he left. Weird situation.
Sam gathers with other shapeshifters after work. He seems to have found a place to belong.
You’re Mine
We end the episode with Sookie changing in her old bedroom. She doesn’t own this house, but alright. Eric shows up in her room and Sookie quickly covers herself up. He tells her that he can be inside the home because she doesn’t own it anymore: he does. He tells her that he bought the house because if he owned the home, he owned her. Eric tells Sookie, “you are mine.”
This episode was quite the journey. The beginning of the episode in fairy land felt like I was watching Lord of the Rings and the time jump was disorienting. This season isn’t off to the best start in my eyes and it was a lot of character changes that will take time to get used to. But hey, I’m rooting for Sookie and Eric.
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Sarah Moon is a stone-cold sorceress from Tennessee whose interests include serial killers, horror fiction, and the newest dystopian blockbuster. Sarah holds an M.A. in English Literature and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing. She works as an English professor as well as a cemeterian. Sarah is most likely to cover horror in print including prose, poetry, and graphic forms. You can find her on Instagram @crystalsnovelnook.
Episode two of Dexter, Original Sin, was just as wonderful as the first. As a long-time Dexter fan, I find it added so much to the background of the story. And if you’re a new fan, I promise you won’t feel left behind.
The story
At the start of our episode, Dexter is learning the ropes of his new internship at Miami Metro. He’s getting a little hazing but is learning how to fit in.
Especially when he starts digging into the old files and finding new playmates for his Dark Passenger.
Meanwhile, Deb is struggling. She feels underappreciated and ignored at home. So, she decides to steal some jewelry from around the house for some quick spending money. Having little in the house in the way of jewelry, she happens upon a pair of earrings in Dexter’s room.
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Nurse Mary’s earrings, to be specific.
And finally, in what will probably be the storyline for the series, a little boy is kidnapped. While he looks like a victim from the first episode of Dexter, or at least dressed in the same school uniforms, we soon find out that he’s the son of a judge. And his kidnapping might have something to do with the death of Dexter’s biological mother.
What worked
I’ve often complained about slow episodes in a TV season or mini-series. The episodes that just don’t have anything going for them. The episodes that are needed to set up the story, but otherwise are kind of dull.
This is an example of that sort of episode done well. It is true that there were no murders in this episode. There was only one dead body, and it was already dead when we got there.
But that didn’t mean the episode was uninteresting. There was character development. There was comedy. And most importantly, it had a storyline that had a satisfying conclusion. Specifically, Deb stealing Dexter’s trophy earrings and trying to sell them.
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This little storyline worked on so many levels. One, it heightens tension because we know those earrings can lead the police to Dexter for the murder of Nurse Mary. Two, it shows how frustrated Deb is with her life and how far she will go to have a little fun. Three, it shows how far she won’t go when she refuses to sell her mother’s pearls. And four, it gives us a satisfying beginning, middle, and end of a story while we’re doing the necessary work of laying a foundation for the rest of the series. This was a masterclass in subplots.
I also want to point out that, so far, this series works by itself as much as it works as a prequel. I would watch Dexter Original Sin if I’d never heard the name Dexter Morgan before. And while it certainly benefits from its predecessors, it isn’t only relying on that.
What didn’t work
All that being said, I’m afraid there is still one glaring issue with this series. I hate Gellar’s character.
Yes, I am biased. But hear me out.
Tanya is supposed to be Dexter’s mentor. She got him the job as a paid intern. It would stand to reason that she did that because she wanted to take him under her wing. And yes, I am aware that a certain kind of teacher likes to knock their students down a peg or two. But she seems more interested in proving what a Strong Female she is to this college student than actually teaching him.
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And frankly, this is some of the most sexist stuff I’ve ever seen on Dexter. This show has a long history of being pretty good about gender relations. It passes the Bechdel test. All of the female characters have flaws, strengths, and personalities. It’s almost like they’re, gasp, real people. None of them have been the girl hero with no personality other than being the Strong Female until Tanya was introduced. And given how similar she is to Buffy, and how unlike the rest of the cast this character is, I sense some meddling from Gellar herself.
Do better.
I am so pumped for the rest of this mini series. It is clear that everyone working on this series, except Gellar, are huge fans of the original show. Everyone is going a great job, the story is great, and I cannot wait to see what happens next.
A24‘s chilling religious horror film, Heretic, arrived in theatres this November, forcing viewers to confront the unsettling line between faith and doubt. Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, this edge-of-your-seat thriller will leave audiences deeply disturbed as Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) pass over the threshold of Mr. Reed’s (Hugh Grant) home where they undergo a terrifying experience that shatters their beliefs.
The Plot.
Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are Mormon missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As the opening scenes roll they are visiting houses in an unnamed, rural Colorado town. These houses are from a list of people who have shown interest in joining the church. After being rejected and ignored several times, they arrive at the door on Mr. Reed, a pleasant gentleman who invites them in the discuss the church, promising his wife is home in the kitchen to put the Sister’s minds at ease.
Welcoming the women to sit in his living room, Mr. Reed initiates what amounts to be an awkward conversation, questioning the faith of the missionaries. Sensing that something is amiss, with Mr. Reed’s wife still not coming to meet them and a storm brewing outside, the women decide it is time to leave. Sneaking to the front door when Mr. Reed leaves the room they find the front door locked, and the only way out is to go deeper into the strange house.
Highlights.
I have never really understood the appeal of Hugh Grant. I found him lackluster in Love Actually and just plain annoying in Bridget Jones’s Diary. After watching Heretic though I think the problem is that his career focus has been on the wrong genre. Hugh Grant is terrifying, but not in the conventional sense, in the creepy religious uncle that you only see on Boxing Day sense. It might be in the jerky way Mr. Reed walks, or the near-whispered dialogue throughout the movie. Also, whoever put Mr. Reed in those glasses is a genius, they give chilling Jeffrey Dahmer vibes.
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I must also note the intense monologues that Hugh Grant delivers in Heretic. It is hard to take your eyes off him. The ideas and theories that are presented are not unknown and rather convincing. I was surprised to find myself nodding in agreement with an obviously deranged and hostile character.
Drawbacks.
It is hard to explain the main drawback of this movie without spoiling the ending, but let me try. The explanation and big reveal at the end of Heretic was a bit… on the nose. I just couldn’t hitch myself to that wagon. I understand what the writer was trying to say. That there are people who have such strong faith that they are willing to give up their lives to prove the belief true. It is the way this is presented in the plot however… I didn’t like it and wonder if there might have been another way to present this idea.
The Final Take.
Ahh, how I loved this movie. Never mind National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Krampus or Die Hard, Heretic is my new favorite Christmas film. There is nothing more to be said.
“The Demon of Death” is the season 3 premiere of the supernatural dramaEvil, created by Michelle King and Robert King. The central cast includes Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, Christine Lahti, and Andrea Martin. As of this review, it’s available through Netflix and Paramount+ and its add-ons.
The assessors investigate the weight of a soul. Father Frank Ignatius (Wallace Shawn) agrees to participate in this test despite his growing disillusionment. David (Mike Colter) and Kristen (Katja Herbers) deal with the ramifications of their confessions. Kristen’s girls go on the warpath with Leland (Michael Emerson). Andy (Patrick Brammall) signs his death warrant.
Evil Season 3 Cover
What I Like about “The Demon of Death”
As season 2 ended with a cliffhanger, “The Demon of Death” picks back up with an interesting addition. The episode provides a more obvious stopping point that Season 2 should have taken advantage of. It dumbfounds me because this addition makes for a more interesting and darker cliffhanger. The added context would have made the cliffhanger more palatable. However, it’s a nice twist for the episode.
Dr. Boggs (Kurt Fuller) and Sister Andrea (Andrea Martin) make an interesting pair that adds complexity to both. We even explore some of Sister Andrea’s character flaws, best displayed by her interaction with Kristen in the next scene. Few wise sage characters that display flaws, making this addition appreciated.
Father Ignatius’ introduction adds layers of interest for a character who will play a recurring role, tying into Monsignor Korecki directly. The yet-to-be-explored relationship between Father Ignatius and Monsignor Korecki (Boris McGiver) evokes an interest.
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While “The Demon of Death” isn’t a haunting episode, but explores the mysteries and terror of death through science to provide an interesting environment for an episode. It introduces a new character that adds to the cast.
Disclaimer Kimberley Web Design
Tired Tropes and Triggers
There’s not much to report here that particularly crosses the line and what teeters on the line holds a dark comedic tone.
Perhaps Sister Andrea’s flaw might rub some the wrong way, as it deals with her overwhelming faith. However, it’s a minor point at the moment. Again, I lean on liking some complexity for the wise sage archetype.
A Nun and a Therapist Discuss Certainty
What I Dislike about “The Demon of Death”
“The Demon of Death” still plays it safe with its supernatural elements, but that does seem to be Evil’s standard. At this point of the series, it seems a strange restraint. However, the new normal remains functionally paranormal.
While the premiere starts with an interesting procedural plot, it doesn’t direct the season like prior premieres. This episode doesn’t deliver a massive refocus as season 2’s premiere, but that’s because its conclusion doesn’t deliver as focused of a direction. Regardless, “The Demon of Death” is still an episode that slips away despite its premiere status.
Ben (Aasif Mandvi) seems needlessly hostile as they investigate a soul’s potential weight. The study delivers a thorough scientific process, which makes his resistance linger on the “angry atheist” archetype.
The demon shown on screen certainly isn’t the demon of death the title suggests. While the plot revolves around the mystery of death, there is a demon with a more carnal domain. As future episodes dive into their respective demons, it does seem to be an inaccurate title. However, the demon of the episode will get further focus in a different episode.
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Final Thoughts
“The Demon of Death” doesn’t stand out as a premiere but provides an interesting procedural episode. As Father Ignatius will become another key character in the series, giving him an entire episode to introduce him is a nice strategy. While it’s not a haunting episode, it still provides a level of camp with interesting characters to pull it off. (3 / 5)
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