Dead of Summer – Barney Rubble Eyes

By starrymag | July 7, 2016

By: Yana Grebenyuk

 

The new “Dead Of Summer” episode starts out with a flashback during 1977 in the Soviet Union. A Russian family is packing up to go to America and the parents tell their son to go say goodbye to his grandfather. The grandfather tells his son that they world doesn’t gift people with anything. He gives him a knife and tells him that if he wants something in this life, he has to take it himself.

 

This little Russian boy turns out to be Alex (Ronen Rubinstein), whose really name is actually Alexi. The story is back to present day where Alex is taking the tags off more clothes before he wears them. Jason and Alex talk about their time at camp when they were younger right before the new campers arrive. The piano man is seen watching the bus arrive at the campground. As the kids are getting settled, Alex and Jason (Zachary Gordon) strike a deal about their romantic love lives. Jason says that he will hook up with Cricket (Amber Coney) before Alex hooks up with Amy (Elizabeth Lail). They are interrupted by the campers picking on one of their own, an odd little boy named Anton. They make fun of him because he is Russian, which reminds Alex of his own past.

 

Flashback to Alex as a child in America, his father is struggling while working in a dry cleaning store. His boss makes fun of him in front of the customers for being Russian and then tells young Alex that if he lives in America he has to have a name that others can pronounce. Alex finds a tag with the name Powell and that is how he adopts his new last name.

 

In present time, Alex tries to flirt with Amy, but she gets distracted when she notices Anton talking to himself in the woods. She tells Alex that Anton probably just needs some friends and Alex responds that the little boy needs to change his name. He then calls Amy a communist sympathizer, ruining the chance he might have had with her. As she walks away, Alex notices Jason buying something from a guy in all black.

 

Meanwhile, the other campers call out Joel (Eli Goree) for his weird thing with Deb (Elizabeth Mitchell). Joel seems certain that Deb was flirting with him, but then flipped the switch once the camp officially opened.

 

As the kids are gathering for lunch, Alex notices that Anton isn’t with the rest of the campers. Jason is too distracted by his crush on Cricket to notice so Alex goes to find him alone. That’s when he sees Anton talking to himself again, but he says that he was talking to ”The Tall Man.” When Alex takes Anton back to camp, we finally get a glimpse at The Tall Man a/k/a/ the piano man. During the night, Anton has a nightmare with The Tall Man making an appearance.

 

Meanwhile, Deputy Sykes (Alberto Frezza) is at a bar pouring over the pictures they found at Dave’s cabin and the pictures of the mutilated deer. He talks about the case with his mother before a group of guys walk in, one of whom is the one who sold Jason something in the woods. Garrett talks to him, telling him that these crimes at Camp Stillwater could be the work of a Devil worshiper. Garrett also warns Damon (Andrew J. West) about being in the woods near Camp Stillwater, knowing that he sells drugs.

 

Alex sees Jason with the liquid acid that he bought from Damon, and he tells him that he wouldn’t be able to handle it. Alex says that he saw Damon selling him the acid and that he could very well be the Tall Man that Anton saw in the woods. Jason throws Alex’s secret right back at him, telling him that he saw Alex removing the tags from his clothes. Jason says he won’t tell anyone that Alex is a thief if Alex won’t tell anyone what he saw in the woods.

 

Jessie (Paulina Singer) offers to help get Amy out of the way so that Cricket can get her chance with Alex. After Amy decides that she would like to go on that date with Alex, Jessie tells her to be careful because Alex will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

 

Flashback to an older Alex coming into the dry cleaning store where his father worked to ask for a job. He compliments the owner on the picture of his family, pointing out that he really is living the American dream.

 

As Alex is walking back to his cabin, he hears Anton talking to someone in a dark cabin. Anton is sitting in the room, sketching The Tall Man (Tony Todd) and he tells Alex that he has to find him or else someone will die.

 

The next morning, Deb isn’t happy with Anton being out past curfew. She warns Jason and Alex that if this happens again, someone is getting fired. She then goes back to her cabin where she finds Joel with her super secret box. Joel explains that he was looking for the keys, but Deb doesn’t buy it.

 

Alex gets Jason to let him off kid duty for the night so he could take Amy out on a date. He tells Jason that with him not there, Cricket might actually notice him.

 

Flashback to Alex working at the dry cleaning store one night when he is told by the owner that he could leave early. He almost goes home, but walks back in and checks the cameras in the owner’s office. That’s when he sees the owner and the Russian woman who works for him together in his office. Alex records the footage.

 

Alex takes Amy to an abandoned cabin and plays the piano for her. When he starts to open up to Amy, he sees hallucinations of his grandfather and his past.

 

The scene cuts to the drycleaner owner telling Alex that someone has been stealing the clothes. He notices that the Russian woman, Nadia, isn’t at work today and decides that she must be the one who is taking his customers clothing. He goes back into his office, leaving Alex to call her and tell her in Russian to get ready to do what they had planned.

 

While Alex is on his date, Jason takes the young kids on a raid all by himself. He loses track of Anton right away, but he doesn’t notice at first because he shares a moment with Cricket that ends in rejection. Jason breaks up Amy and Alex’s date because he can’t find Anton, who saw the Tall Man again, and followed him into the woods.

 

Deb and Joel share another moment where she reveals that she is a private person, which is supposed to explain away the box in her cabin. They are interrupted by the campers looking for Anton and they hear the little boy screaming in the woods immediately.

 

The two deputies come to help look for Anton, with Alex finding him chanting that The Tall Man is there. Garrett thinks that The Tall Man is Damon from the bar as he was seen in the woods and he is tall enough to fit the description. Meanwhile, Deb says that either Jason or Alex is responsible for this and one of them will get fired for what happened with Anton.

 

Flashback to Alex coming into his boss’ office wearing the stolen clothes. He tells his boss that Nadia is outside of his house right now and is ready to tell his family everything about their little affair. This forces the owner to strike up a deal with Alex, letting him take clothes once in a while and letting Nadia keep her job. The owner asks why Alex is doing this and he mirrors back what his grandfather told him, ”If you want something in this life, you take it yourself.” In a moment of hallucination Alex remembers his grandfather’s words and decides to drug Jason. He puts some of the liquid acid in his drink when Jason is out of the room.

 

Garrett finds Damon and his friends in the woods, taking him in for questioning in the child abduction case. Back in the cabin, Jason is freaking out from the acid. He imagines that his face is melting and that some monster came out of Alex. This terrifies him enough to run out into the woods, digging up The Tall Man’s skeleton once he finds the spot where Anton was hiding.

 

Alex shows Deb that Jason is freaking out in the woods, who claims that he found The Tall Man but can’t find the skeleton that he dug up. He ends up looking crazy and Deb notices that his behavior is caused by some drugs. Jason looks to Alex for help, who just watches Jason get fired.

 

The other Deputy tells Garrett that they can’t arrest Damon for anything. He suggests though that he could keep an eye on him in case there was anything suspicious about him down the line.

 

Meanwhile Damon and his friends seem to have the remains of the Tall Man which Anton lead them to and Jason unburied. Blair (Mark Indelicato) and Drew (Zelda Williams) share an interesting moment in the cabin before they go send Jason off.

 

Jason says goodbye to everyone, but when he gets to Alex he says he drugged him because he would do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He announces this in front of Amy, who realizes that she was part of a bet and walks away. Jessie tells Cricket that now that Alex is available for her, Cricket should help get Amy away from Garrett.

 

Alex and Anton share a moment, with Alex telling him to change his name to something American. They work together to pull a prank on the other campers and Anton confides in Alex that The Tall Man told him it’s all just beginning.

 

As Jason is leaving the camp grounds, he sees The Tall Man who points behind him. Jason looks off camera and sees something that has him terrified just as the episode ends.