TagSwamp thing season 1 episode 1

Posted July 18, 20191 Comment Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E07: Brilliant Disguise (review)

Watching this show is so confusing at times. Especially in regards to Lucille’s relationship with Avery Sunderland. Avery doesn’t even like his wife, Maria. So how does Lucille think that he has feelings for her even though they hook up now and then?

Last week, Lucille found out about Avery blackmailing Matt (her son) over dirty dealings that she has been doing over the years. Apparently, she thought that she and Avery had a connection the transcended him being married because she was quite surprised when Matt told her what was going on.

Fast forward to the end of the episode and Matt found out that his efforts to kill Alec Holland failed. My major concern was that Matt would tell Avery even though the only reason he attempted to kill Alec in the first place was due to Avery blackmailing him.

Spoilers ahead

Surprise! Matt definitely told his mom. At first, I didn’t think he did, but he freely gave Liz a bunch of information about Alec in the swamp and Abby’s involvement.

What if Liz didn’t know anything? Matt just put her in danger all because he wanted to sulk in the bar and contemplate his transfer out of Marai.

Anyway, Matt expresses that he’s worried all of the supernatural happenings are just coincidence, which they aren’t. He’s probably more worried about the consequences of his part in Alec’s demise more than anything.

Back in the swamp, Abby and Alec are having a date with Alec looking like his human self courtesy of The Green. In the previous episode, Alec spawned a flower out of his hand that released a hallucinogen. Now Abby can see Alec in his true form versus the plant monster he’s become.

The Green vs. The Darkness

Alec has become one with The Green at this point and shows Abby some of his abilities. She’s still set on curing him so they go to an area described as The Rot. It’s where the darkness has thrived the most.

Abby believes getting a sample of The Rot could lead to a breakthrough in the cure development, so they take a field trip to the area.

I was honestly hoping for more Tree Zombies. They didn’t show up, but The Darkness tried to amputate Abby’s arm while she’s taking a sample, so I was satisfied. The Darkness left her arm mangled and Alec had to save her.

Meanwhile, Lucille went to Avery’s house while he was preparing for a dinner meeting with his Conclave Group investor Nathan Ellery.

I knew! I knew that the Conclave had to be holding Avery’s debt over his head. He was way too frazzled and eager to use Dr. Woodrue’s scientific discovery without proper testing.

Lucille confronts Avery about blackmailing Matt but also tells him that Alec is still alive. Matt did tell his mom about seeing Alec in the swamp because he was freaked out and didn’t want to get in trouble for attempted murder.

Moving on, Avery goes with Lucille to the swamp under the pretenses that they are going to get rid of Alec once and for all, but really Lucille is just trying to kill him. Things are going according to plan until Avery gets suspicious and almost blows Lucille away.

She tries to play the “I thought we loved each other” card and honestly I think he was still going to shoot. Luckily, Matt showed up in time to knock him over the head.

Here’s my thing, why didn’t they just finish the job right then? Why would you put him back on the boat and then dump him overboard?

Anyway, Avery ends up waking up and everything turns to crap. There’s a shouting match between Avery and Lucille. Avery distracts Matt “I am your father” style.

I KNEW IT!

Matt ends up being stabbed by Avery and then Lucille puts three shotgun shells in Avery’s body before he jumps into the swamp.

I’m pretty sure The Darkness is going to absorb him just like The Green absorbed Alec. It’s inevitable.

“All we have is right here, right now” – Abby Arcane

Abby is very injured and sick due to The Darkness poison, but Alec saves her and then they share a kiss because – love. Alec ends up telling Abby to leave Marai because it’s dangerous and there is nothing else she can do for him.

Now, it’s obvious that somehow Alec and Abby are in love. I don’t really know when that happened because they only knew each other for a day or two before he got blown up. But who am I to say that Abby couldn’t be completely interested in a plant/animal hybrid man, I guess.

Abby tells Liz that she’s driving back to Atlanta because that’s where she’ll have the most resources to form a cure.

Full Funding

Matt and Lucille stumble up the docks next to the Sunderland home. Remember he’s been stabbed. A doctor meets them and Maria lets them in the kitchen to stitch him up.

Turns out she was completely aware that Matt and Lucille wanted to kill Avery. In fact, she was in on it because she wanted to take over his company. Which she successfully showed that she could by winning over the Conclave investor at dinner regarding Woodrue’s breakthrough. Even though technically Daniel Cassidy is still in the hospital sedated because he’ll turn into a blue devil monster if he’s not.

Details, details.

As I assumed, Avery is still alive and makes his way to land in the swamp.

A serious question though for Lucille. How do you plot to kill the man you’ve been hooking up with on the side for years and have a son by with his wife? But then again he was going to kill Lucille first he was just too slow.

Either way, Avery is still alive and I’m betting that he’ll absorb some mystical powers too.

Swamp Thing S01 E06: The Price You Pay (review)

Posted July 11, 20191 Comment Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E06: The Price You Pay (review)

Blackmail, tricks, and half-cocked explained bargains. That’s what this Swamp Thing series is made up of. That doesn’t make it any less interesting.

Spoilers ahead

Do you remember the friendly stranger that helped Holland become one with the green last week?

I’m beginning to think he’s not so friendly after all. We meet him again this week in a flashback with Daniel Cassidy. Last week he was knocked over the head during an attack on Liz. This left him in a coma with little brain activity.

In the flashback, we’re finally somewhat exposed to his life as a stunt double in Hollywood. He’s in the middle of a gig when a “friendly stranger” that Daniel believes is a part of the directing crew starts to chat him up.

While talking to the stranger, Daniel says that he’d give anything to play Blue Devil.

Be careful how you word things, people!

The stranger takes him seriously and tells him he needs a person to make themselves available for a new job staying in Marai. He gives no specifics or time frame. They just shake hands and BOOM, “miraculously” Daniel is recast as the lead Blue Devil.

Be careful what you wish for, people!

Fast forward to now, Daniel is in a coma and a nurse walks in to administer some blue liquid into his IV line.

Apparently, Liz is a very heavy sleeper because she was right there in the room. Either she didn’t hear the nurse or she wasn’t curious enough to squint her eyes open and say, “What’s that?”

“What did they do?” – Daniel Cassidy

The blue liquid jump-starts Daniels brain activity, he wakes up, jumps up all frantic and starts burning up.

Turns out that Dr. Woodrue is behind the blue liquid with his human experimentation. That concoction was synthesized from Hollands swamp DNA and now Daniel is 3 seconds away from turning physically into Blue Devil.

Daniel runs away to find Woodrue, but he’s challenged by Avery who thinks Woodrue has figured out a brain healing cure. Not that Avery really cares. He just wants to please his investors.

The Conclave maybe?

Caroline Woodrue ends up stabbing Daniel with a tranquilizer to keep him from transforming. He ends up sedated back at the hospital where Ms. X tells him that she can’t relieve him from his destiny, but she can ease his pain.

So, him turning into a Blue Devil is inevitable. Poor guy.

“I’ll always care about you, but if you accuse me of something like this again, I won’t be so forgiving”. – Avery Sunderland

Liz ends up telling Abby about the intimidation tactics of Avery that caused Daniel to be in a coma in the first place. Abby straight up confronts Avery and tells him to stop trying to hurt people and to leave her friends alone.

That was very brave of her, but it won’t stop the wheels that are already in motion.

Abby goes to meet Holland in the woods at the same time that Matt Cable is investigating animal attacks. It’s actually not animal attacks, it’s Holland trying to ward off bounty hunters from Avery.

He’s attacked four hunters by this point which prompted Lucilia to send Matt to the sight.

Abby is too trusting! She’s suspicious of all of the right people, but still too trusting of the wrong people. We’ve seen that with her letting Woodrue see her research data and now she’s revealed Holland’s true identity to Matt! And poor Holland, he’s lost all of his important memories so all he knows is that Matt is a friend to Abby.

But honestly, Matt is being blackmailed by Avery and that blackmail is the reason that Matt attempted to kill Holland in episode one. But, the only reason he was able to be blackmailed in the first place is because of Lucilia.

YUP!

His mother is a dirty cop and even though she’s literally in bed with Avery, he threatened to out Lucilia of all of her wrongdoings if Matt didn’t do his bidding.

Yikes.

“I’m not going to give up on you. You’re still Alex Holland.” – Abby Arcane

Matt ends up leaving the woods because Abby asks him to keep Holland’s secret until she figures out how to cure him. However, I think he’s going to report back to Avery.

I really hope not. I’m rooting for you to not be a total scumbag, Matt!

This leaves Holland and Abby alone. I think pheromones surround them or something because a flower blooms in Hollands plant hand and then Abby can see Holland as his former human form.

Aww, love.

But seriously, I have some questions.

Will Matt tell Avery about Holland’s identity even though he’s technically working for him by force?

Will Lucilia stop sleeping and watching out for Avery now that he has blackmailed Matt?

Are the Conclave, Avery’s investors, and the swamp stranger related?

Previous Episode: Swamp Thing S01 E05: Drive All Night (review)

Posted July 3, 20191 Comment Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E05: Drive All Night (review)

Why did this show get canceled?

It just keeps getting better and better each week. It’s explosive, creepy, mysterious, suspenseful and slightly predictable all at the same time.

A lot of information was given to the viewer this week, including the fact that Avery Sunderland is a scumbag on purpose and he’s been bending the town to his will for far longer than we’ve been led to believe.

Spoilers ahead

During my recap of episode 3, I assumed that Sheriff Lucilia Cable was covering up for Avery Sunderland in some capacity. I was wrong, but now I’m right.

Let me explain.

In episode 4, Avery tried to feel Lucilia up in his dining room while Maria was upstairs drowning in her grief. Lucilia said no, leading me to believe that they once had a thing. Well, it turns out they still have a thing. And they meet up to do that thing at a hotel in Marais. We find that out right away during this episode (Drive All Night).

However, what surprised me the most is what happens when Lucilia gets a lead about who blew up Holland in the swamp. She visits Remy Debois and he reveals that Matt, her son, actually pulled the trigger while standing in Avery’s boat. This was his attempt at blackmail, but she immediately shoots him down.

So we find out that Matt did Avery’s bidding in killing Holland. My previous theory pegged Avery as the type to do his own dirty work, which he is, but apparently just not that time. Since my theory that Avery did it himself is debunked now, I have another one.

Matt is being black mailed by his father! His father is Avery!

I wouldn’t put it past Avery. He’s sinister. Just because he likes Lucilia doesn’t mean he’s above it. Who cares if he did give her a ring once. Plus, he has stock in a lot of the real estate in Marai’s. We find that out when he threatens Liz at the town bar because she’s now investigating the disappearance of Haas (the banker). He also has goons try to intimidate her while leaving the bar, but Daniel (the Blue Devil) comes to her aide.

“What’s in here, nobody can take away but you.” – Friendly Swamp Stranger

The supernatural aspect of the Swamp Thing is ramping up. The “green” appears in the form of a friendly stranger to Holland and helps him calm down long enough to hear the warning coming from the swamp.

Through Holland, we find out how Shawna Sunderland drowned. Something drug her down until she drowned in the swamp. Abby couldn’t save her. As a result, Abby was spared by the darkness in the swamp but pushed out of the town due to guilt.

Shawna is the representation of the darkness. She possesses Susie Coyle and draws her mother and Abby to the swamp. Maria is actually trying to drown herself to be with her daughter, but Abby tries to save her. However, Maria has a V for Vendetta so she turns and tries to drown Abby. Eventually, Holland comes to Abby’s rescue and disappears when Matt Cable shows up.

Ms. X (or Ms. Xanadu) tells Abby that there is a supernatural door open, Shawna’s soul has been corrupted by the darkness of the swamp, and she’s come to kill her. Abby is hesitant to believe her because when she was 8, Ms. X told her how to take care of her mom, but her mom still died. That’s actually Abby’s motivation for becoming a doctor.

Lastly, Dr. Woodrue’s curiosity about the specimen Abby showed him made him go investigate Hollands old lab. As you know, Abby gave him access to information in order to use science to figure out what is causing the mutation of Holland. But now that Woodrue figured out that there is something special going on and he’s been instructed to capture whatever being the specimen came from to do more research.

I’m wondering if Daniel (the Blue Devil) is going to aid Holland against Avery and the darkness or if he will act as another foe during the show. Remember, he’s bound to the town but forces we haven’t been introduced to yet. Could they instruct him further?

We are halfway through the season, and it seems like Woodrue and Holland are the only characters getting important information. Everyone else is still clueless. Unless you count Sheriff Lucilia, who probably already knew her son was involved in treacherous deeds.

We’ll see.

Review: Swamp Thing S01 E04: Curse of the TREE ZOMBIE!

Posted June 20, 20192 Comments Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E03 |Financial ruin & new powers (review)

Every episode of Swamp Thing is an information dump. This has been a good experience so far and I’m enjoying it. However, the conspiracy is proving to be very complex. So every time I think I’ve figured out exactly what is going on, something else weird happens and it throws me off.

As a result, I am bent discovering the major conspiracy before the show reveals it in episode 10. I don’t know if I will be successful, but it will be exciting to try.

Also, Swamp Thing continues to succeed in creeping me out without fail.

In this most recent episode, I have come up with another theory. You may remember in the last entry about Swamp Thing, my theory about Avery Sunderland being the mastermind behind the swamp contamination was proven correct.

Now, in episode three, I have decided that he did not hire anyone to kill Holland as I once suggested. I think committed the murder himself.

Spoilers ahead

We need to remember two things. First, Avery Sunderland took a financial hit when his swamp experiments caused people to get sick. Second, Avery Sunderland fired Holland when he got to close to the truth about what caused the swamp to mutate.

In episode three, Liz, the journalist in Marais confronts Gordon Haas, a bank supervisor, for giving loans to Sunderland off the record. So Sunderland has been funding his research but falling into debt as well.

As a result of Liz bringing this up to him, Haas decides to visit Avery’s home unannounced an threaten to expose him if he does not pay back the money in 24 hours. This causes Avery to visit Haas’ house unannounced later in the episode and try to intimidate him into giving him more money.

The intimidation tactic goes wrong and Avery ends up killing Haas with a golf club. So my theory is Avery Sunderland blew Holland up in the swamp himself. He didn’t need to hire anyone because he’s already a psychopath and is more than willing to get his own hands dirty and then wash them in the sink.

I also think the sheriff, Lucilia Cable, is in on the conspiracy in some way. In this episode, she keeps urging her son, Matt, to stay away from Abby. Remember, Abby and Matt saved Susie Coyle when she ran away to the swamp to save Swamp Thing/Holland.

She keeps saying that Abby is bad news. Sure Matt has a crush on her, but Abby is doing legitimate work in trying to cure the infected patients in Marais. So why would the sheriff have an issue with her?

It’s because she had a fling with Avery in the past (or present, I can’t tell yet) and she doesn’t want Abby to get to close to the ultimate truth to cover for Avery. She even tells Matt that they will close the cases as accidents if 24 hours pass and there is no further evidence.

There is a moment in the episode where Sheriff Lucilia is interviewing Avery for the investigation into Hollands death. They almost get intimate, but Maria makes a bump sound and that sends Lucilia running out of the door.

Abby and the Swamp Thing

Meanwhile, Swamp Thing is having flashbacks and hallucinations about one of the men he tore apart in the last episode. As a result, the swamp bugs bring him back to life and he goes on a vendetta to find Swamp Thing and avenge his death.

He crosses paths with Abby, who in the middle of searching through Hollands research for a path to a cure for the infected patients. She’s being undermined by the CDC who sent in another doctor, Eli Troost, and she wants to find a breakthrough.

Not to mention, Avery has his biologist, Jason Woodrue, at the hospital as well doing autopsies and researching the plants on Eddie Coyle’s body.

During this time, the bug swamp zombie attacks her and asks her where Swamp Thing is. Swamp Thing appears to be tracking Abby somehow because he appears out of nowhere and uses his powers to release the man’s soul from the swamp bondage and makes him rest in peace.

We find out that Swamp Thing doesn’t remember who he is or anything that happened before the explosion. He does manage to give Abby some useful information.

The swamp is not attacking, it’s fighting back. Which makes sense because Avery is the one who put a foreign body in the swamp in the first place.

This prompts Abby to change the treatment course for infected patients. They stabilize and she earns the trust of Dr. Troost in the process.

She also inadvertently gains the affections of Swamp Thing who is clearly stalking her as of the end of the episode. Abby goes to the town bar to decompress and meets Matt Cable there. They end up dancing and of course, Swamp Thing sees this. So Matt is probably going to end up dead or injured at some point due to this love triangle.

But the true story in this episode is Avery. He is out of money. He’s killed his bank connection. His wife has financially cut him off, and he’s tied up in his swamp adventures.

What does a man on this type of edge do next? And what is the Conclave? Haas mentioned telling the Conclave what Avery was doing before his skull was bashed in.

Might the Conclave have something to do with Daniel? He’s a new character that we were introduced to by the voodoo witch doctor. His tarot card reading hasn’t changed in 8 years.

Fool, hanged man, wheel of fortune.

But recently he met Abby and thinks she may be the key to change his destiny.

I guess we’ll see how they are all connected in episode four.

Episode 2: Review: Swamp Thing S01 E02 | My theory confirmed

Posted June 8, 20196 Comments Television Worth Watching

Swamp Thing S01 E01 | Is it worth saving? (review)

Before I even had the chance to watch Swamp Thing on DC Universe, the show was trending on Twitter confirming the cancellation of the show.

I don’t know the history of shows that have been canceled, but the decision to cancel Swamp Thing after only one episode had been aired felt rushed. So instead of automatically assuming that the first episode was complete garbage, I watched it for myself.

The pilot episode of Swamp Thing gave me serious sci-fi horror vibes. There is a lot of suspense in the first episode and the creators did a great job making the contaminated swamp graphics gross and unnerving. It’s a great presentation.

What about the story?

It’s a good story. However, I think the pilot episode may have given away the biggest part of the series too early in the season.

Spoilers ahead

We’re introduced to the swamp as a dark and mysterious place in Marais, Louisiana right away. A group of fishermen and a tech genius were hired to drop some sort of device in the swamp. They end up being attacked by the swamp and killed.

One fisherman, Eddie Coyle, makes it home somehow and infects his daughter. His daughter goes to school, passes out with a bloody nose and becomes patient zero.

Dr. Abby Arcane is ordered by the CDC to leave the Congo, where she is fighting an epidemic, to come back to Louisiana and cure the mysterious illness in Marais.

She ends up entrusting a somewhat awkward biologist named Alec Holland who has been commissioned by Will Sunderland, a wealthy member of the community, to run tests on the swamp. Initially, Holland is meant to help discover positive means to help the community flourish, but he discovers a fertilizer accelerate that is “jacking up” the mutagens in the swamp and causing the town to become sick.

There is also a side story line about Abby’s past where a childhood friend of hers died before they graduated high school. It turns out that friend was the daughter of Will and Avery Sunderland. Avery is not happy that Abby is back in town. At first, she attempts to intimidate her to leave the town, but then she asks her to save the town in the same breath.

Earlier, I stated that the pilot episode gave away too much information. What I am referring to is the end of the episode. Abby and Holland figure out some new information and plan to go study it more at the hospital. They are hoping that it will lead to a cure. However, Holland wants to go fish out the devices in the swamp first because they are causing the sickness.

A mysterious “I know what you did last summer” man somehow knows that Holland is going to do this and shoots him in the chest two times with a shotgun then blows him up.

While watching, I thought to myself, “Oh he’s definitely the Swamp Thing”. I didn’t realize that with 4 minutes left in the episode, this theory was going to be confirmed. That took a lot of the steam out of it. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t find out, but maybe not in the first episode.

Technically, there could have already been a Swamp Thing and Holland’s character could have been a bait to throw off the viewer. I guess he still could be, but I don’t think so.

At the end of the episode, Abby boats out to the area where Holland should be and finds fire, dead swamp bodies, and moving swamp branches. Then the branches subside and the Swamp Thing reveals himself.

Here’s a question. Why did the swamp bond with Holland and not with Coyle earlier in the episode?

I hope that we find out this season.

My Theory

There are 9 episodes left before the season ends. My ultimate theory involves Will Sunderland. I think that he is the anonymous financial backer to the fishermen boats that are poisoning that swamp in Marais. He’s already been cast as the rich member of the community. And maybe he has a “V for Vendetta” because his daughter died all those years ago.

Is this series worth saving? We’ll have to see. This coming from someone who has not read the comics and is going off of the show alone. I definitely think the episode was attention grabbing.