Swamp Thing – The Anatomy Lesson

By starrymag | December 22, 2020

By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell

 

 

Jason Woodrue (Kevin Durand) returns home from the swamp and startles Caroline (Selena Anduze). She’s forgotten about his plans and wants to know why he’s all muddy. He wants to know what’s got her so scared and she tells him about a nightmare that parallels Alec’s (Derek Mears) plight at Jason and Avery’s (Will Patton) hands. But Jason just opts to tell his wife to forget all about it and remember to take her meds. He has to go to work again, but he’ll be back. He tells her thanks to his discovery he’ll be able to make her pain go away.

 

Abby (Crystal Reed) arrives back in Marais and tracks down Liz (Maria Sten). She tells Liz that she just came back from the swamp. Alec is nowhere to be found and the place looks like a warzone. Liz wonders if whatever happened is the CDC’s doing, but Abby says she thinks this goes way beyond them. Abby wants Liz’s help, but feels bad about further complicating her life. Liz reminds Abby of the time she helped her investigate a pickup driver who harassed her in middle school and says she’s always been there for her so she’s glad to help.

 

Alec is still frozen in the lab with Avery’s people preparing to dissect him when Woodrue arrives. Avery wonders if Alec is still alive. Woodrue says that plants have been known to survive extreme temperatures. Also, the cold will slow Alec’s accelerated healing. It’s clear that Woodrue isn’t really thinking of him as a person though.

 

The Stranger (Macon Blair) goes to visit Daniel (Ian Ziering) in the hospital. He’s in less rough shape, but still in restraints. Daniel blames the stranger for everything that’s happened to him, so he’s not too happy to see him. The Stranger is sorry that Daniel has had such a rough time of it lately, but tells him there’s something he needs to see. He gives him a vision of Abby and Liz. They’re inside a facility, but are stopped by a group of armed men. They try to make a run for it, but they’re ultimately cut down by a hail of bullets. After the gruesome scene Daniel asks what that was. The Stranger says it was a possible future that only he can change.

 

In the present Abby and Liz go to the Woodrue residence hoping to find Jason, but it’s just Caroline there. She’s a little confused. She doesn’t remember that she met Abby a few days ago and she keeps forgetting that she was making tea. Abby notices the bottles on the counter asks if she’s been taking her medication, to which Caroline says yes. After this exchange Abby tries to see if Caroline knows her husband’s whereabouts, but just gets a spiel on how much she hates the swamp. Luckily, Liz gets some info from all the paper spread out on the table. Abby figures it’s time to leave, but not before Caroline pleads with her to try and understand that Jason means well when she finds him. Everything he’s done, she tells Abby, has been for her. Once out of the house Abby tells Liz that Caroline has Alzheimer’s and Jason is doing his wife no favors by leaving her alone in her condition.

 

Speaking of Jason, he’s slicing into Alec’s chest. Unfortunately for Alec, the cold doesn’t keep him from waking up. He demands to know what Jason is doing to him. Jason says she’s finishing Alec Holland’s work. Then, Jason clinically removes Alec’s lungs and heart which are apparently just there for decoration now. Jason states that Alec wanted to be a man, so the swamp helped him convince himself he is one.

 

Abby and Liz go to Jason’s lab at the hospital to figure out that if someone has taken Alec. They’d need to keep him somewhere secluded. Liz figures out that it’d have to be a Sunderland owned property. She does some digging and finds an old Cement plant that was meant to be abandoned. Abby thinks that’s where Alec is being kept.

 

Daniel doesn’t understand why the stranger showed him such a horrific vision. The stranger says there are infinite futures. Daniel wants to know if he’s supposed to do something about that possible future. Instead of giving a straightforward answer, the Stranger asks if he really thought he was just supposed to play the Blue Devil in a movie. Quick refresher: a few years back Daniel made a deal to stay in Marais in exchange for playing the Blue Devil in a movie. He throws the costume on Daniel’s bed. Daniel is annoyed and says the Blue Devil is just a character who gets demonic powers from a costume. The stranger says he’s more than that and so is Daniel. With that said, he removes Daniel’s restraints and leaves. When he’s gone Daniel picks the suit up and considers everything the role cost him. Then, the suit starts glowing and blue light starts coursing through him as he screams.

 

Maria (Virginia Madsen) is trying to reach Nathan Ellery on the phone, but keeps getting his voicemail. After she leaves a message where she says she doesn’t have her husband’s limitations she turns around and finds said husband waiting for her. She’s shocked and Avery tells her to stay calm. It’s then that she notices the men standing behind her. Avery is having Maria involuntarily committed over the incident at the swamp.

 

Matt (Henderson Wade) is at the Roadhouse and continues to drown his sorrows. Delroy (Al Mitchell) inquires if Matt is okay, but he can’t very well share the paternity reveal and murder plot. When it becomes clear that Matt is not in a sharing mood, Delroy comments that he saw Matt get into it with his mom earlier. He doesn’t know what has them at odds, but advises Matt to go easy on her. He misses his own mother everyday.

 

Abby and Liz’s hunch was correct. Abby wants to go in, but Liz tells her to be cautious because Avery’s men are likely armed. But Abby says if they move Alec out of town she’ll never find him again. With that said Liz takes him into a side entrance. Once inside plants start to grow through the floor. Abby realizes the plants are trying to take them to Alec. They hear voices and try to hide, but the soldiers are about to find them. This is starting to look like the dark future that Daniel saw. That is until the soldiers are distracted by a high pitched noise. Then, a fiery blue spirit appears and turns into a blue devil which is presumably Daniel. The Devil attacks the soldiers and allows Abby and Liz to get away.

 

Abby and Liz find a sliced and diced Alec which is pretty unsettling for Abby. Fortunately, Alec’s healing factor kicks in and his chest stitches itself back together once Abby shines a light on him. Alec is happy that Abby came for him and sad that to Avery and friends he was just a specimen. Next, he says he has to go to the cove (site of the accident) to see if it’s true. Also, the Blue Devil really was Daniel as he wakes up in the facility in human form and covered in blood.

 

They get to the swamp and Abby sends Liz on her way. Liz tells her to be careful and insists she’s going to go find some answers. Elsewhere Matt is driving, but presumably he’s not nearly sober enough to. He swerves and nearly collides with another car. Then, he and Abby’s prom song starts to play and since he is distracted by it he drives right into a wall. When we cut away he’s unconscious.

 

Jason arrives home and tells Caroline he’s found the answer. He thinks it’s the cure for her condition. When he finally finds her she’s shaking and murmuring. She keeps saying she remembered to take her medication. Jason realizes Caroline must’ve kept forgetting and took all of the pills. Just then she collapses in his arms. Jason says it’s all his fault.

 

In the mental hospital Maria and Avery talk. Avery taunts her and wants to know why she tried to kill him. Maria says she couldn’t take the lies and infidelity. She tells Avery he should be grateful that she didn’t do it sooner. Avery responds that she could’ve been at his side when he reached the mountain top. As he leaves Maria says this isn’t over.

 

Once they arrive at the water Alec dives in. Abby doesn’t understand why he’s doing this, but then he emerges with a skeleton. He tells Abby he is so sorry. He explains that he is holding the body of Alec Holland.