First off, sorry for not getting a review up for last week’s episode, “The End Of The World As We Knew It”. With everything else going on, unfortunately something had to give, so I did figure I would make a couple comments on that one right up front.
Last week’s episode was very aptly named. Josh found out that Ray was his “weredad” and Sally found out that she didn’t just die! Evidently Danny has a jealous, abusive streak and shoved her so hard that she fell down the stairs, cracked open her skull and broke some floor tiles in the process. We also found out that Bishop was seriously testing Aidan’s “no hospital” rule by bringing in a vampire priest with a new recruitment plan. Yes, I just gave a lot away, but it is needed because of how it shades this past week’s episode. “The End Of The World As We Knew It” was written by Nancy Won, who was a producer and writer for Brothers and Sisters and Everwood. I danced with glee a little when I saw Jericho in her credits. The director, Charles Biname, has done a lot of work on the other side of the pond, but here his big credit was with Flashpoint. Biname directed this week’s episode too, with the dynamic married duo of Jeremy Carver and Anna Fricke writing.
Josh’s fascination with Nora continues and he actually starts “dressing up” for work. Aidan gets a snuff film of Rebecca’s which horrifies Josh and Sally, and upsets Aidan. Emily and Jackie just broke up so Emily comes to Josh for a place to stay while she gets on her feet. Sally is becoming consumed by the fact that Danny killed her, and is trying to seek out ways to get her revenge.
On to the analysis!
First off, that revenge thing. Danny throws the ring into the harbor at the beginning of the episode…and it winds up bouncing down the steps in the house ending up on the landing where Sally died. Sally is now furious and cannot stop obsessing about the way she died and Danny getting away with it…which means the house has done a lot of violent shaking. Aidan doesn’t understand how Sally is able to hold the ring. She cannot pick up other objects but she can pick up that. Sally thought that it was the house that wanted her to have the ring. It does almost seem like it could be the house itself that was doing it…you remember what Shirley Jackson wrote in The Haunting Of Hill House—some houses are born bad. But she was able to go nutty on Danny’s apartment in the last episode, so it does really seem to be her. This is interesting because it shows that Sally has the ability to have some real POWER if she were to learn how to harness it. We see more of this in the character of Lindsay, a ghost haunting an ex lover named Bill at the club Sally goes to with Aidan and Emily.
Lindsay is the epitome of the angry poltergeist. She has the power to make Bill imagine that horrible things are happening to him. Unlike Tony, who had some constructive information for Sally about a door and moving on, Lindsay doesn’t seem to know anything about a door, or care about anything beyond tormenting Bill. She has totally dedicated herself to this singular purpose. I would also like to note the cool Lindsay wear. Since she died in 1991, her clothes were reminiscent of the early 1990s. There was the actual yellow gold, and big earrings. The hair was just starting to come down from the big fountain hair of the late 80s. I am having a lot of fun seeing the ghosts from different decades. Since Sally’s clothes are so “now”, her style could become very dated very fast. Sally, better hurry and find that door, girl!
But on a serious note, this idea of becoming focused on one thing, and making it the sum and total of your existence seems to be exactly what Aidan is worried about for Sally. He says to her that he doesn’t want her to do anything that would hurt her karma. Sally seems to be walking--or, well, she's a ghost...hovering-- that dangerous line where she could do something horrible to Danny that would change her from the person she was. Lindsay had an aneurism and died, but how would that be Bill’s fault? Yet she is obsessed with ruining his life because she doesn’t want him to go on living without her. Sally had gotten over that hurdle. She realized that she wanted Brig and Danny to be happy. She made her peace with him moving on, and then found out the horrible truth of what had happened to her. Sally has a real reason for wanting to hurt Danny herself, and now she knows that Danny may be getting abusive toward Brig too. Sally saw the bruises from where Danny grabbed Brig. There is a real fear here that Sally could do something bad that might ruin her chances of going through that door…
As dark and broody as that aspect of Sally is, I did like the light way Meaghan played the “porn before breakfast” scene with the Rebecca home video, and the introduction to Nora, where she was so excited for Josh. Just thought I’d throw that in there…
And now, on to Josh. After dealing with Ray, who tried to make a real werewolf out of him, Josh has seemed to realize that he wants to dwell on the human things. We know Josh likes to cook, and at the end of “The End Of the World As We Knew It”, Josh makes food and has Sally and Aidan sit with him to eat it just so that they have that normalcy going on. Here, he is trying his own way, instead of the random way that Ray was teaching him that really wasn’t working, to get Nora interested in him. I have to say that Josh is really growing on me. I found his scenes with Nora adorable. Nora too is a very interesting character with that way of joking that is difficult to read. She finds herself pleasantly surprised with Josh, and I have to say that is where I am coming in with him too. Of course his werewolf side is still there, even though we don’t see it in this episode. The vampire bashing he and Ray did has had consequences. We don’t know how watchful Bishop’s vampire nest was of Josh’s activities before that night, but now he is definitely on their radar. Not only does Josh have a vampire tail now, but it appears that Marcus messed with Emily…when she was supposed to be under the watchful eye of Aidan. I imagine that between Emily getting hurt, and that snuff film that showed just what vampires do to get their rocks off, Josh is going to have some serious issues with Aidan. I can’t help but think this is going to cause some real problems in their friendship.
And what can I say about Rebecca? Where are her allegiances? She comes clean to Aidan at the club, but then it just seems like more of the same. Tell the guy the truth and he falls into the trap willingly, evidently. She did exactly what she was supposed to do—she was supposed to keep his attention averted and she did. Aidan was not there to protect Emily and Emily is hurt. So was it all a scheme or does Rebecca really care about Aidan and really want help? Aidan brings up that he saw fear in Rebecca in the beginning of that video. Aidan, even though he is saying he has given up on her, obviously hasn't. He told Sally that he felt responsible for Rebecca. He doesn't confirm that he is in love with Rebecca, but he doesn't deny it either. Personally, I think that Aidan should stay as far away from her as he can. Or kill her…
But one thing that really shone in this episode is that it was really all about relationships, and the need for other people. Sometimes those people we love only bring out the worst in us, like what is happening with Sally as far as her past with Danny is concerned. Sometimes the people we love make us forget everything else, sometimes in a positive way, like with Josh and Nora, and sometimes in a negative way, like with Aidan and Rebecca. Again we come down to trying to find the right relationships that play to our strengths, and help us overcome our weaknesses, like we saw with Aidan talking to Sally, and Aidan talking to Josh…
Couple of side comments. Did everyone catch that Brig said that Josh was “The Boyfriend”? Evidently Danny and Brig think that Josh and Aidan are “together”. Did y’all hear the word “asshat”? Josh used it to describe himself…or what he is trying not to be…All in all, I would say that all three of them are growing on me. I was upset when the episode ended so up in the air! So anyway, Monday’s coming…buckle up!
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