Dead of Summer
Season 1, Episode 10: “She Talks to Angels”
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
**** This post contains spoilers for ‘Dead of Summer’ through Episode 1o “She Talks to Angels” ****
If you told me that I would be emotionally invested in Dead of Summer after watching the pilot ten weeks ago, I would have laughed in your face. I walked away from the pilot being like “Well I committed to reviewing the show so I guess I’ll keep watching.” And I am so happy that I did because I enjoyed this season immensely. “She Talks to Angels” was the perfect way to end the first season of Dead of Summer. I didn’t even care that only two of the sixteen questions I had entering this finale were answered.
Onto the Episode:
The episode starts out moments after the previous one ended. Actually I have no idea how long is has been because Amy had the time to clean all the blood off her body, clean the blood from the floor, hide the two bodies she just butchered and change her clothes before heading outside to meet Garrett, Jessie and Alex. What I know for certain is that the episode starts off the same night as the previous one.
Amy emerges from the cabin and they pile into Garrett’s car to drive the hell away from Lake Stillwater. Only Garrett’s car breaks down a few minutes into their escape when they are stopped by the Storybrook town line that now surrounds the camp.
Amy turns around with jet black eyes and tells Jessie that Holyoke hid the last piece of his soul inside of her. Now the only way for Amy to leave is for her to destroy the horcrux.
Alex Dumb Comment #1
Alex: “No no no. We killed the demon, remember? We saved you Amy.”
Amy drops the facade that she was evil just because she was possessed and reveals her true nature to the others. Jessie and Amy are both locked inside this Camp Stillwater cage and the only way out is for one of them to die. Amy has even recruited all of the counselors she killed over the summer to create a Zombie Army. It is here that the trio decide to run away.
They run straight into Amy’s cabin and try to regroup but get distracted when blood starts to drip onto Alex’s face. The three of them look up to see a bloody body hanging from the rafters and then find Deb’s body hanging off a hook.
Alex dumb comment #2
Alex: (upon seeing Deb’s dead body) “She’s dead. They’re all dead”
Alex you are so useless I can’t even handle it.
Garrett tries to reassure the group that they are fine, but as he does, Amy jumps in through the window like a bat out of hell. Just like an episode of Scooby Doo, the crew skiddadles away from the villain.
Once they get to the woods, Garrett has to stop because a shard of glass embedded itself into his abdomen due to Amy’s grand entrance. He takes a seat on a bench, the Braces and Townie bench. Jessie doesn’t want to leave him but Garrett insists:
Garrett: “Jessie, you don’t have a choice. If you die, everyone dies. This is bigger than us. We’re a team remember. I’ll meet up with you, I promise.”
Nooooo! Garrett I used to think you were annoying but now I love you and don’t want you to die! And, at the the same exact place the pair had their first kiss seven years prior, Jessie kisses Garrett goodbye and runs off with Alex to save the world. Oh man, I didn’t think that this finale would make me cry. I really didn’t. But it is starting guys.
After running around the woods and avoiding all the bear traps the pair stops to catch their breath. Alex says his first useful thing of the night by suggesting they come up with a plan. He is not smart enough to create said plan though. Jessie, the brains, brawn, and beauty of this duo, decides that they need to go back to Holyokes cabin. As they head out she sees a tetherball pole in the distance. Except instead of a ball hanging from the pole it is Blotters head!!!! He blurts out “you’re going to die” and follows it up with a maniacal laugh.
They zoinks off again and finally arrive at Holyoke’s cabin to get them some pure lake water. They realize that the basin of water is no longer pure when they see it boiling up with red hot Malphas blood.
Alex Dumb Comment #3
Alex: “No, no, no, no. This water was pure!”
The water became tainted as soon as Jessie made the mistake of opening the cabin door earlier that evening. Amy was humoring them into thinking they killed Malphas by having Jessie “sacrifice” herself. (The answer to one of the questions I had going into the finale).
Over at the Bus Station
Drew and Blair have unloaded the campers. They hug and rejoice that the horror of the summer is now over, but Anton interrupts their celebration. (HI ANTON I MISSED YOU)
He tells them that it is not over and they need to go back and help the others. Anton then gets into the passenger seat of a car that drives off. Who is he driving off with? Better question, where did all of the other campers go? How did they get home? Did they just hitch a ride with random people at the bus station? Do the parents of these kids even know that they are coming home? These are mysteries that I have accepted will never be answered.
One mystery that is solved (somewhat) was my question of if we would get a Blair backstory:
Blair’s backstory:
One day after school Cricket stopped by Blair’s house to find him scrubbing off the word “HOMO” off his car. Being the amazing friend that she is, she pulls out the “Emergency Blair Peanut Butter Cup” that she keeps in her bag for whenever Blair needs a pick me up.She tells Blair that he will never be alone because he will always have her and they are going on a road trip to see Bowie after camp:
Blair: “It’s gonna be me and you forever isn’t it”
Cricket: “Pretty much. I hate to break it to you, but you’re stuck with me.”
No I am not crying, these tears in my eyes are from an onion OKAY!
Back to the present, Blair tries to call the camp to see if anyone is still alive, but the line is busy. They decide that if Anton says the others need help they probably do. So the pair call the State Police to let them know there is probably an axe murder on the loose at Camp Stillwater and then head back to save their friends.
Back at Camp Stillwater
Jessie and Alex hear the police sirens as a cop comes on the loudspeaker saying it is safe to come out. But this is just a trick. Amy has already killed all the cops. So when the pair emerge they are greeted yet again by Amy. And yet again, they run away into the woods.
Alex suggests they hide but Jessie knows that is a stupid idea. Before she knows it though they are surrounded by Amy and her Stillwater Zombies, including a handless headless Blotter. (Did we ever learn why they chopped off Blotter’s hand?)
Alex tells Jessie to run and save herself while he holds the Zombies off with his grandfather’s pocket knife. While I appreciate Alex’s gesture, this highlights his utter stupidity. He is about to fight a demonic psychopath wielding an axe with a measly pocket knife. It would have been more helpful if he ran in the opposite direction to lead them away from Jessie because he ends up getting killed in less than 10 seconds.
Jessie runs to the showers and Amy follows suit. Amy asks Jessie to play a rendition of Marco Polo, called Jessie Tyler. She kicks and axes down all of the stall doors while calling out Jessie, but hears no Tyler in return. Amy is getting annoyed and frustrated that Jessie isn’t playing along.
Amy: “It’s no fun if you don’t play Jessie. Where’s your camp spirit.”
Next she accuses Jessie of cheating. Wait, I’m sorry Amy, were there actual rules to this game? After hearing the door of the bathroom close, Amy heads outside. Turns out, Jessie somehow found her way up to the rafters of the bathroom and hid there during this joyful game of “Jessie Tyler.”
Once she is sure Amy is gone she bolts out of the bathroom and runs into Garrett, Blair and Drew. Jessie has had enough of Amy’s nonsense and decides it is time for her to take control
Jessie: “Amy wants to play games? Let’s play games.”
And that game is to lure Amy into the staff lounge and surround her with purified water Jessie had saved in her canteen. I cannot think of a more apt location for this battle royale to occur.
Jessie: “Who’s in the cage now.”
Every time I watched this scene I mentally inserted a “bitch” at the end.
Amy laughs saying that she has desecrated everything that could destroy her. And when Sykes tries to play the wax music they realize she tainted that too. That is when Garrett remembers that Joel’s camcorder was on when the music was playing at some point. When he plays the recording over the walkie Amy and her Stillwater Zombie Army fall to the ground in pain.
Jessie then grabs Amy’s axe and drives it straight into Amy’s head to end this whole nightmare.
Amy’s blood gets sucked backed into the canteen and the spirits inside of Jessie go back into the lake and turn it back to not blood red.
It is over. Jessie has saved the world.
The next morning, Jessie et al walk down to the lake and see the dead counselors descend into the water. It is peaceful. It is calm. It is like a perfect send off for the fallen counselors (and Deb).
A Few Months Later
Jessie is attending Northwestern. Blair took Drew with him to see that Bowie concert in Seattle. Camp Stillwater is for sale.
Final Thoughts:
One of my favorite things about this season was the role reversal between Jessie and Amy. Amy started out as the innocent one. The one who wanted to keep the peace, who wanted to be everyone’s friend. The one who liked being with the campers and wanted to help whenever she could. Jessie on the other hand only cared about boys and protecting herself. She lied about her grandmother’s death just so she could keep Amy away from Garrett. She threatened to out Drew to the entire camp. But then slowly something happened. Jessie started connecting with people. Caring about people and Amy, she was still just going with the flow. And by the end the roles were completely reversed. It was Jessie who had the light. It was Jessie who was destined to be the savior.
That is not to say that the show as a whole was perfect. Throughout the season I have been clear about the issues I have had with the show. There are certain plot points, which are crucial to the story, that do not make sense. Amy being able to clean herself up and hide the bodies while Garrett and the others are waiting…. Makes no sense. Amy being able to get away and kill Cricket… makes no sense. I also feel like there were many plot points that were just never followed up on. I still do not understand the deal with Malphas. While those things irked me to no end, I walked away from this season feeling satisfied and happy to be a part of it. And at the end of the day, that is really what matters.
FINAL FINAL THOUGHT:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HEAR N’ SPEAK GIRL?!?!?!
Well, we have come to the end of Dead of Summer and I am sad. Sad that the season is over, sad that the series itself may be over, and sad that this may be the last review I ever read from my favorite reviewer who likes girls who wear glasses and long walks on the beach. But as a bonus, as I started to read this review, I had to look up a word I did not know, horcrux (I have never watched any of the Harry Potter movies.) Now I know! On to my thoughts…
Without going through some of the problems I had throughout the series (many of which I have already noted previously) I will just say that I mostly forgive the logic problems that existed in this show. For a low budget show on a channel that I had never heard of, this show did not really have any more problems than most shows do. Some of the greatest tv shows of all time had multiple logic problems, so it would be unfair of me to hold this show to a higher standard than those. (Show that has the least logic problems? The Wire, which therefore gets my vote for greatest tv show ever, but I digress.)
It was funny that a couple of weeks ago, as I was discussing this show with a friend of mine who isn’t/wasn’t watching it, even though its right up his alley, I told him that the deaths were more implied than shown, that they didn’t show someone getting an axe to the chest or anything. Guess I have to take that comment back!
But Dead of Summer had a few swerves that I didn’t see coming, had characters that were more fleshed out than a lot of shows, especially in this genre, and I also enjoyed how my views and thoughts of Amy and Jesse changed so much in only 10 episodes. I repeat that I still wish Jesse’s mom suffered a worse fate than what we know (did Jesse turn her in to the cops as Garrett suggested?) and judging from the flashbacks, it seems that Jesse being bitchy was not a lifelong defect, but only in response to what her mom had just done to her. She was a great little girl, befriending an out of sorts townie, and was a great young adult right before coming to camp. I was disappointed that Tony Todd didn’t have a bigger role, but he is probably the highest paid actor there, so it makes sense his scenes were limited from a production standpoint. He was cool to me when i met him a few years ago.
One thing I liked about the finale in particular was the way Amy moved the dead bodies in the cabin. Yes, it does make one wonder how the heck she got the one girl up in the rafters, and hung Amy’s body up, and got cleaned up, all without anyone coming in checking on her. But, that was one of the cool things about the Friday the 13th movies, the way Jason moved the bodies around, apparently for no particular reason, and how he had a weird forethought about where to put them in the best location to be gruesomely discovered by the last survivor. (Did you ever watch Friday the 13th part 6? If not, but still wanted to watch one of them, perhaps you should watch part 4 instead. I think it is the best one, has a bunch of cool death scenes, including the aforementioned Jason moving the bodies around excellence!)
I give the makers of this show kudos for creating something that I liked very much, and give Alyssa kudos for entertaining recaps/reviews. Oh, one more thing, in the finale when the Black Crows song started, I was upset they didn’t play the whole song like they did the previous week with Motley Crue, but that’s ok I guess.
And be of good cheer, if this show makes it to a season 3, the speak n spell girl might be a counselor at the camp!
Hi Evan!
Thank you for the compliment, I really appreciate it.
Basically, I agree with everything that you said. In an interview Adam Horowitz did say if he was to go back the one thing he would probably change is introducing so many things in the beginning and not following up on them. And just like you I forgive them on that. And I agree with you about the character development. They really developed the characters so well. I think the best example of this for me is Garrett. At first I though he was a waste of a character taking away time for everyone else and was just annoying. But I ended up loving him and more importantly understanding him.
Thank you again for reading my and commenting on my recap/reviews all season! It was fun to have a discussion about the show. But don’t worry, I will be covering some new shows in the future, so if you miss my amazing prose too much you can check those out ;).
Last two things
1) I consider The Wire the best made show ever. I don’t think any other show can match it episode to episode, season to season or as a series as a whole. They really had no missteps!
2) I will try and watch the Friday the 13th movies over the long weekend. But in return, you have GOT to pick up Harry Potter!
Wow, you also think that The Wire is the best show ever…we have a lot in common! Yeah, ever since Universal took out the Jaws ride (@#%@#^) and put in some kind of Harry Potter village there instead, I figured that I need to watch some of those Harry Potter movies before I go back.