Well, here we are at the halfway point. I think it is fair to say whether or not I have an opinion on this show by now. Short answer? Eh, not really. The whole thing is decidedly “meh”. You’d think a show that regularly features demonic possession might be, I dunno, a bit more spooky or suspenseful. Mostly it has to do with Daimon and Ana arguing over what to do with their mother, various supporting characters doing their own thing, and Elizabeth Marvel having a grand ol’ time as a possessed woman.
The last one isn’t quite enough to endear me to a show where the closest I have to a running comment is that Ana Helstrom is a really…angular-looking woman. Make of that what you will. I’m just left feeling rather noncommittal.
Now, being noncommittal isn’t necessarily a horrible thing. Look at my current Tuesday show, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, to see what happens when I don’t much like what’s going on. Or when a show I was liking goes dumb and I can’t help but deride it like I did with Voltron: Legendary Defender. Or look at something like The OA or Runaways where I decided one season was enough for me. The former lost me for feeling like the whole thing was too far up its own posterior and the latter was just not my sort of show.  Helstrom is, well, Helstrom. It seems to be going somewhere, and I just can’t seem to feel too invested in the journey.
But I did mention how much I am generally digging Elizabeth Marvel’s portrayal of Victoria Helstrom and her demonic ride-along Mother. That actually should be a good sign for this episode since the plot more or less revolves around that character. Then again, much of it is Victoria trapped in an eternal loop for the night Daimon as a boy had her committed when she wouldn’t give up on the idea of the missing Ana coming back only for Ana to…come back? Oh, it’s really Mother trying to get Victoria’s help with something because Ana’s business partner Chris, driven mad by the one-eyed demon skull of the Keeper Demon, has wandered onto the grounds, and while one normal guy, no matter how cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs he is, should be no issue for Daimon, Ana, and Caretaker, it can become one when Ana and Daimon are once again fighting.
At least this time there’s a reason. Ana wants to help Chris since he’s her friend, arguably her only one, but Daimon thinks he might be too far gone. And Daimon wants to help their mother because he was the one who got Victoria locked up in the first place while Ana thinks Victoria might be too far gone. The big issue is Chris and the skull’s presence might lead to Victoria’s death, and while Ana seems to think Victoria has been dead for a while anyway, Daimon isn’t ready to give up.
But then Victoria lets the Keeper have Mother and wakes up, seemingly fine. Daimon is relieved, Ana is suspicious, and that would be that. So, maybe we’re getting much less Crazy Elizabeth Marvel, and that doesn’t work too well for me.
Then again, Gabriella takes Daimon to see that hotel the Blood uses to keep the possessed in permanent comas only to find the staff there are all dead. So, this might get uglier before it gets less ugly. The only real issue is whether or not I actually care about that or not.
Right now, I’m leaning towards “not”.
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