Swamp Thing – Darkness on the Edge of Town

By starrymag | November 2, 2020

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

The episode opens with a flashback. A young Avery Sutherland (Eli Hannon) is at the swamp with his father (Steve Wilcox) who wants him to kill an alligator he has tied up. Avery isn’t so keen on this idea, but his father tells him to suck it up. When it becomes clear he won’t do it Avery’s father calls him useless, takes the knife from him and stabs the alligator covering the boy in blood and creating years of future therapy. In the present a grown-up Avery (Will Patton) is stashing Gordan’s body in the swamp.

 

Elsewhere in the swamp two men named Butler (Anderson Martin) and Todd (Andrew Yackle) are trying to chop down a few trees. While Butler is sawing away Todd gets sidetracked by finding human teeth on the ground. He tries to get Butler’s attention, but he keeps sawing until a corpse falls out of the tree and onto Todd. What’s left of the corpse’s teeth knick Todd’s arm and understandably he’s ready to leave. But after the pair run for the boat, Alec comes out of the darkness and examines the corpse.

 

Todd works at Liz (Maria Sten) and Delroy’s (Al Mitchell) restaurant. He apologizes for being late and explains he’s never going out on the water again. Liz notices he’s a little out of sorts. His cut from the previous night hasn’t started healing and he starts hallucinating. He starts seeing a snake wrapped around his arm. Liz tries to calm him down, but she and his father can’t convince him there’s nothing there. He starts cutting his arm with a knife and then sticks his hand in a garbage disposal. Liz’s father pulls him away and he passes out.

 

Abby (Crystal Reed) goes out on the swamp to talk to Alec (Derek Mears). She wants a sample to better understand what has happened to Alec. Alec gives him a small branch to study and asks her to share whatever she finds with him. She goes to the lab to start running tests and is interrupted by Dr. Woodrue (Kevin Durand). He looks over her shoulder and tells her that based on her findings she’s made a mistake. The results have to be either a plant or an animal, but her data indicates it’s both. He explains that it’s biologically impossible. Dr. Woodrue offers to help, but Abby wants him to promise to be discreet. She wants to know exactly what she’s doing before she lets the rest of the world know about it. He doesn’t know why he should care about the rest of the world.

 

Daniel (Ian Ziering) goes to the hospital searching for Abby. He thinks she might be the key to him being able to get out of Marais. He wonders if he’s meant to help her. When he finds Abby he asks if they’ve ever met before, but she’s sure they haven’t. He then goes to check in on Susie.

 

Susie (Elle Graham) is feeling better and drawing a picture of Alec in swamp creature form. She tells Abby that she’s scared for both Abby and Alec. Abby starts to reassure her and is interrupted by Avery and Maria (Virginia Madsen). They’re announcing that they’re throwing a party to celebrate the people who’ve recovered from the illness. Maria comes over and wants to spend time with Susie alone.

 

Abby runs into Avery. They talk a little about what’s going to happen to Susie. Apparently her next of kin is Lee (Benjamin Keepers), her father’s brother who drinks way too much. He is really late to a scheduled visit with Susie. Abby is paged by Liz. Liz fills Abby in on what happened to Todd and Delroy starts to get sick. He starts having some pretty intense flashbacks of a home invasion involving his mother. Delroy becomes so convinced it’s real that he goes for his gun and starts shooting inside the restaurant. Lucilia (Jennifer Beals) comes by and tries to disarm him. Unfortunately, he scratches her on the neck. But then Abby gives him a tranquilizer and he loses consciousness.

 

At home Maria and Avery talk about Susie. Maria feels for the now orphaned Susie. Avery says he can relate because he was a little older than Susie when the swamp took his father. He tells Maria that seeing Susie brought up some bad memories and says he’s sorry for the ugly memories Abby’s presence has brought up.

 

Back at the hospital Delroy is feeling a little better. He and Liz explain to Abby that when Delroy was twelve years old a group of men broke into his apartment. When his mother, Liz’s grandmother, stood up to them they killed her on the spot. Her death has been a recurring nightmare ever since then. So, it seems this disease forces people to live out or in Delroy’s case relive their greatest fear. With that in mind, Abby heads to the swamp. She says she’s going to stick to the science to get to the bottom of things.

 

Once at the swamp, Abby stumbles upon the corpse. She takes a few pictures on her phone and is interrupted by Alec who tells her she shouldn’t have come. Abby asks how he knew she was there and he replies that he felt her. They talk about what’s been happening in town and Alec explains that the man who is now a corpse died afraid. There was a darkness inside him and it’s now been released. Alec explains that the darkness always seeks a new host. She realizes that Lucilia could be infected. Before she goes Alec tells Abby that the darkness belongs in the swamp.

 

In town the Sutherland’s party is in full swing. When Avery asks Maria how she thinks it’s going she comments that Avery has a way of making sure people never forget how much he’s done for them. Avery responds that they could all do with a reminder of who butters their bread. Then, Maria notices Susie. Avery explains that her uncle is having a tough time and that he thought it’d be a good idea to take the little girl for a few nights, an  idea that delights Maria.

 

Daniel runs into Madame Xanadu (Jeryl Prescott) and asks more about his future. We learn that Daniel made some sort of deal and because of it he can’t leave the town. She says he has a mission and when things come to a head he’s meant to help Abby.

 

Abby and Liz race to the party to find Lucilia and Liz provides some background. In the 1920s there was a hotel in Marais. Strange things frequently happened there. Locals started infecting each other and living out their worst nightmares, until the final victim went to the swamp and killed himself so that he couldn’t infect anyone else.

 

Matt (Henderson Wade) and Lucilia swing by the party. Matt goes over to stop a man from being aggressive towards his dance partner, but Lucilia sees him stabbed to death. She’s hysterical and convinced her son is dead. Abby tries to help, but Lucilia scratches her. Luckily, Matt comes over and Daniel tackles Lucilia, which prevents her from firing into the crowd. Matt takes her to the hospital and Abby decides she needs to go to the swamp to prevent the infection from spreading.

 

Abby gets to the swamp and starts living her worst nightmare. A man chases her and taunts her about her dead mother. Fortunately, Alec comes along and asks Abby to let him take “this” from her. Using his vines he sucks the darkness from her. Then, he transfers the darkness back into the corpse. The corpse is then sucked into the ground. Alec explains that he died to protect the people he loved and the darkness was never meant to leave him. He took the darkness back and now the swamp has taken him. Abby wonders how Alec knows all of this. Apparently, the plants and trees talk to him.

 

At the Sutherland house it appears that Susie is in for an extended stay. Avery says that Lee and his wife already have four kids. Susie would stretch them too thin and asks Maria how she’d feel about taking her in. Maria enthusiastically agrees as it seems that Susie reminds her of her daughter. He also tells Maria that he’s keeping Dr. Woodrue on the payroll because he’s the only person who can ensure the little girl’s survival. Outside Avery gives Lee a check and instructs him to cash it in another town. Lee chides him about buying a child and comments that Avery doesn’t love her. It’s clear Avery sees Susie as means to an end and he tells Lee not to spend all the money drinking.

 

Abby asks Alec to try to explain the darkness. Alec tells her the swamp has been polluted and when the balance shifts the darkness finds release and brings death. Alec doesn’t know how he’s seeing and hearing these things. Furthermore, he admits he just doesn’t know who he is anymore. Abby firmly tells him he’s Alec Holland, her friend, and they’re gonna figure this out together. He smiles, but then admits he’s scared for Abby. This, he says, is only the beginning.