Discussing Ep. 1.4
Damn! This was an INTENSE episode! It's been a while since I've had to pause a show to get my bearings and this show made me do that! Fucking impressive.
So much to unpack here.
First off, my props to the actor who played Eric, the kid who was either possessed or just went crazy.
He played the role very well. His mannerisms, his dead eyes, his speech....they all played towards a character that you didn't know what was wrong with him. Was it psychological? Was is demonic possession? He teetered so well between both answers that it was really difficult to peg him either way. I loved that and I loved that David and his team didn't have the answers. The family had tried EVERYTHING and David and his team were their last hope, and even THEY couldn't figure it out.
I think my biggest gripe with this aspect of the show was how they labelled Eric as a newly-formed psychopath. With Kristen, who is a forensic psychologist, she should know the terminology better. From what I've heard and read from psychologists, a "psychopath" is not made, he/she is born. They are like that since birth. A "sociopath" is someone who becomes like a psychopath through years of trauma and other psychological factors. So the fact that they kept labelling Eric as a psychopath was incorrect.
Having said that, it was interesting how Kristen broached the subject of whether or not God could make someone a psychopath/sociopath. I wasn't a fan of David's answer as it seemed to shy away from a potential truth. And I say "potential" because I know people have various answers and opinions on the subject. My take on it is this: if God is sovereign over everything, then everything that occurs does so with His approval. Now, approval does not equal praise. How I view it is that there is a plan and everything that occurs, both good and bad, is a part of that plan. The Bible even states that God creates vessels of honour and dishonour (Rom 9:21). So as difficult as it is to swallow...yes, God may indeed create psychopaths/sociopaths for specific purposes. That is where our faith and trust is challenged in trying to understand WHY God does what He does.
Which leads me into my other issue, and that was when David told Eric that he need only ask of God and have faith when doing so, and God would grant whatever he asked for. I was seriously shaking my head at that. This is not Peter Pan! It does not work on faith, trust and pixie dust! So many people have had their faith challenged, if not lost, because they asked God for something specific and He didn't grant it, be it to save a loved one or prevent a tragedy from happening. I've experienced that as I know many others have as well. Those people had faith. They had trust. And God STILL didn't fulfil their requests. God is not a genie. And I suppose I should leave this discussion for my other blog that I will be developing soon but the fact is, it was misleading the way David proposed that "relationship," for lack of a better term, to Eric. And it seemed like they went about showing how wrong David was. It was interesting because I knew that all the good progress Eric was making, with him mowing the lawn and attending to his studies and praying at night....it was all leading up to a tragedy.
That near-tragedy is what made me take a pause. Him dumping his baby sister into the pool and just sitting there, watching her drown because he wanted to get rid of her was just jaw-dropping. I seriously thought they were going to have it that he killed her. Thankfully, David arrived in time and was able to save her. A bit convenient but there was, by no means, a happy ending for this family. I liked how the family went through every avenue and exhausted every option to try and save their son. But there was no saving him. At first, I was confused by the ending when the mom said that Eric had gone missing. But when she explained that she loved all her children but she had to make a choice and David surmised that they had killed Eric.....fuck! That was really unexpected. They did such an amazing job building it up that Eric was going to undergo an exorcism and that everything might have been alright. But that ending really hit you out of nowhere. Seeing Kristen break down in her kitchen, feeling empathetic towards that family as she wondered how difficult it was for them to kill their son in order to save their other two children while David prayed to God to forgive them....it was very emotional. And of course, the mystery remains: why did he change? Was it demonic possession? Was it environmental? Was it psychological? Now they will never know!
Then, of course, you have the other storyline, the fucking Shining 2.0! This is was a nice contrast with what was going on with Eric as this added the supernatural creepy element to the episode. I also liked how they incorporated the other sisters into the show. Though I still don't know all their names, it was cool to see the older sisters involved in the storyline. They sort of started where they left off, focusing on the youngest daughter, Mara. First off, I don't know why the older sisters thought it was a a good idea to let the younger sisters play that haunted game. Surely they knew that the little sister couldn't handle it! That was dumb. But then again, they let her watch that horror movie and so I suppose they figured she could handle this game.
I knew that Mara was going to see something unusual that the other sisters couldn't see, and sure enough she did. The monster in the game was not the same monster that she saw at the end when she was looking up at the stairs. I LOVED how they introduced this new monster...
...who looked similar to the monster in the game but he wasn't the same monster. He wasn't George either. But when she removed the VR and she could still see the red eyes fading away...
...that was eerie. Then you had the two older sisters playing with the VR and it automatically connected to the Internet where Rose390 suddenly joined them.
She was all kinds of creepy as well. The MINUTE they introduced the Ouija board in the game, I knew these girls were done. When they started chanting "hail, hail, hail...here he comes," it just sounded so haunting, like they were in a seance or Satanic ritual or something. You just don't mess with Ouija boards. I've heard people say that they don't mean anything and they're harmless and what not....I'm a believer and I think they are a gateway into something you don't want to mess with because you can't control it at all.
Where they really threw my expectations for a loop was when Rose390 invaded their VR and asked them if they knew where their father was. This is where the mystery develops like it did with Ben because how did this user know about their father? Granted, it could be an elite hacker that figured out who they are and somehow did his research...but that's so far fetched to the point of being impossible. While it was rather comforting that Rose390 said that their father was in heaven, nonetheless it now throws a wrench in my expectations that the husband may, in fact, return to screw up whatever romance is developing between Kristen and David. Because he could, in fact, be dead! They never did confirm that either way. They just had Kristen reassure the girls that she has been tweeting with him on a regular basis. But even the eldest daughter kind of threw doubt on that by asking if she still loved him and if he still loved her. Kristen's answer was hardly convincing, given the fact that she accepted David's offer, with a certain degree of gaiety on her part, to essentially go out on a date with him. So now the question is....is Kristen's husband still alive?
The other question is.....are Kristen's children in danger? I'm probably wrong but it would be amazing foreshadowing if they did to one of the girls what they did to Eric. Kristen breaking down at the end was emotional, not only because she perhaps felt a mother's empathy for what the family is going through (Eric's mother in particular), but also a potential fear about making the same kind of decision. There was no clear answer as to why Eric changed. And with this diabolical force preying on Kristen and her children, could Kristen be forced to make the same decision? Could any parent? How do you make that choice?
The episode was notable for Townsend not being there, which didn't take anything away from the quality of the episode. Having said that though, I think one criticism that I have of the show thus far is that they don't seem to be revisiting past mysteries that they left behind from previous episodes. They didn't revisit George. They still don't know who or what hacked into Ben's father's Alexa device and started talking to his sister in Punjabi. They never answered the mystery about the ghost in that video footage. They've mentioned nothing about David's dabbling with hallucinogenics. I really hope they go back and tie up at least some of these loose ends because it doesn't feel as satisfying leaving so many questions unanswered.
Beyond that, I loved this episode. My favourite one thus far!
