Season 1 episode 5 “Haunted by the ghost of her childhood friend who re-emerges from the swamp, Abby is forced to confront both her past with the Sunderlands and the dark forces at play in Marais.”
What Was Good?
1.This week begins with pure intensity. Avery is having an affair, just further proving how dark of a person he actually is. As Susie is staying with Maria, she see’s Shawna and explains it’s the girl in the pictures. As Maria tries to comfort her, she disappears from the bedroom. Maria tries to find her, she goes to the bathroom and finds the bath filled with swamp water, with Shawna inside. As “Shawna” explains Maria tried to replace her, it hits home with Maria who hugs her and explains otherwise. As the two hug, Shawna switches to Susie. A solid start. The supernatural elements of the show bring more horror to it, especially with the gore we’re used to seeing. Excellent!
2. The high intensity follows immediately after… We see Alec still continuing to cope until the Swamp grabs and holds him, several bodies float up from the water to the surface, while Alec struggles uncontrollably to see it happening. After screaming in mental agony, it switches to a man on a boat singing. Alec tries to hide but the man opens up to Swamp Thing, and he opens up back. The episode progresses further with the two of them, Alec realizes quickly he’s a “ghost”, warning Alec of the dangers from the past.
3. Daniel made a deal with the devil. We find out he made it to get a break into Hollywood. We finally got a glimpse of the Blue Devil. Every scene so far has just been incredibly fantastic of a start.
4. Judging by the way Liz is building evidence against Avery, it seems she is getting awfully close. Avery tears a turtle apart to make some soup, and seems to give a gentle subtle warning to her father. The two of them get into a heated exchange, prompting Avery to lose his temper a bit. She also mentions the banker, and also Alec’s death. Was it Avery who paid for the death of Alec? Safe to say, I’m curious, and this is just so damn interesting.
5. Shawna (Susie) takes Maria to the swamp where “alive Shawna” is waiting. The alive version of Shawna is deep in the swamp with her hand out for Maria. Maria seems willing to go into the swamp, I’m assuming to end her life to be with Shawna as per her request. Abby shows up to try and stop her, when the camera flips back there’s nothing there. A swift argument follows, then Maria tries to drown Abby. This is just pure brutal.
6. Abby escapes and tries to swim back to land, but Shawna grabs Maria anyway and pulls her underwater. It was about to be RIP Maria until Alec shows up, saving her in the process. Alec has discovered a new ability, he puts his hand on the tree, and the other on Abby. We now finally get to see how Shawna died…
It wasn’t Abby who killed Shawna. Abby pushed her off the bridge, but they were both alive after. Shawna was dragged under the water by something unknown to both Abby and Alec. Maybe this is the main villain of the series we’ve been waiting to see?
What Was Bad?
There’s a slight confusion in the air in regards to the story. Five episodes in and I’m just filled with questions. How is Susie connected to Alec? How is Shawna all of a sudden back? Who is the main villain? (Glimpses but nothing solid yet). It’s a bad thing that brings any of the episodes down whatsoever, it’s just a slight irritation of not having a clue what’s happening in certain aspects of the show.
Holy Shit Moment
1. The supernatual aspect continues after the warnings from Alec’s “ghost”, his vision sway elsewhere with Abby in the river trying to save Shawna. Fast forward, Abby shows up at Maria’s mansion to see Susie. We know how this went at the beginning…
Abby performs a quick medical examination on “Susie”, while she throws hints down she’s actually Shawna. Abby continues in disbelief, until “Susie” switches back to deathly version of herself. Abby is still in disbelief, which brought a kind of, really? moment. Like, if that was me I’d be running back to my house to change my underpants, and I’d be screaming with such a high pitch on my way there.
2. Near the end of the episode, Liz has a conversation with Daniel in the bar. As Liz leaves she’s approached by two masked men, threatening her. She takes one of them down until Daniel attempts a rescue. He’s then smashed over the head with a crowbar, looking like he’s dead. Blue Devil is getting closer, and I am so ready for it.
The Verdict
The strongest episode of the series thus far. Bringing a solid element of supernatural aspects to the entire episode brought the horror genre into a whole new light with the series. We got answered questions, with a solid, curious, and beyond interesting episode.
Rating: 9.8/10
