Thursday, October 20, 2016

From Dusk Till Dawn, Season 3, Episode 8: Rio Sangre



Santanico still alive! Perhaps they realised just how few women they had left in this show and decided they had to pull her out of the plot box

Of course this is episode 8 out of a 10 season run – so very few points there. Especially since everyone in this episode refers to her sexiness.

So what has she been doing? She’s decided to resurrect Carlos which is apparently a thing. Because he knows how to find the missing Venganza via a dancer she’s obessesed with (this could be sign that Venganza is in a relationship with a woman, same with Santanico. But we don’t even get to see them together and, of course, that dancer ends up dead without ever opening her mouth so let’s not bake a batch of cookies just yet).

What kills her? El Tatuaje, the new big bad of the week.

Ok, y’know, last week I commented on how the show seemed to be delving into at least the names of Aztec/Meso-American mythology. But now we have a big guy called “The Tattoo”. Someone reached the end of their wiki research!

El Tatuaje has the ability to make the tattooed weapons on his body real. And he touches people and turns them into tattooed minions.


Back to Santanico – she and Carlos join the Geckos and, after a moment where they decide whether or not to torture Carlos for Reasons, Seth (who is leader and normally I’d say “why” but I did mention those moments when he almost seemed to mean it) decides to let Carlos in. His plan is to get to Venganza and find out where the Lords his Amaru’s bones (Amaru was consumed by the lords who kept her blood and, apparently, her bones) which they can destroy and hopefully kill Amaru.

This seems likely since Amaru is definitely pushing to be restored to her own body which seems to be behind the whole kidnapping of Freddie’s family.

Venganza is hiding in a prison – a prison where the inmates, culebras and humans, are in contrl all under the authority of Venganza and all lethal and scary. This reminds of me Santanico’s little utopia and again I question how a society that thrives so much on physical violence can have humans and super-powered, super-healing, near invulnerable monsters co-existing. Because, nope.


They manage, after the necessary posturing, to get an invitation to see Venganza after which Carlos rats them all out and reveals they were going to kidnap Vanganza

Wait, what, why? That was the plan? Why was this the plan? They wanted to know where the bones where – why was kidnapping on the agenda? Shouldn’t that at least be option three after “asking nicely” and “whining a bit”?

This leaves Carlos and Venganza alone for a bit where they can have a really epic scene

Carlos, basically, drags her on the carpet for what she’s doing – hiding, letting the Geckos, nasty criminal types, doing her fighting for her – while revelling in the protection and service of people she has imprisoned and enslaved. Remember, the Culebras were slaves in Xibalba who escaped, the Lords among them. Carlos hits a direct hit by pointing out she achieved freedom only to become exactly what she tried to escape.

Now this would be a very very interesting point to follow up and if Venganza had ever been allowed to be more than a bit character this would have been awesome

Alas we have a fight scene to fit in as El Tatuaje arrives and we have tattooed minions everywhere. During which we see Richie and Seth pretty much come through unscathed, Santanico get repeatedly, brutally stabbed (because of course the woman is the one who needs help despite being the oldest Culebra there) and Scott shows off his mysterious martial arts skills he got from somewhere.

At this point, Santanico finally dredges up a believable motive for why she’s there after previously saying vengeance didn’t stop her being mad. Seth has inspired her by his willingness to endure so much and fight so hard for the culebras. Is this a romance I smell? Y’know if Santanico was in a relationship with Dead Lady (she was hardly characterised as more) then the body’s not even cold yet, can we not railroad her into a relationship with a guy straight away?

They meet up with Venganza and Carlos for the big revelation – the Lords ate the bones as well. The key to killing Amaru/putting her back in her body requires Venganza’s death.

Really show? You’re going to kill another woman?

Santanico and Carlos – well mainly Carlos (why can’t Santanico be awesome? Why?) kill El Tatuaje

Let’s check in with Freddie trying to find his family, deciding to leave his back up behind and ending up being captured by a ranger who is working for the Xibalbans. Oopsie. Shame you left Aiden and Burt in the car.

Freddie bargains for his life by offering way more than himself – since he’s not actually all that useful to Amaru, really. At least he learns where this shiny ritual to enflesh Amaru is going to take place

What is that offer? He kidnaps Venganza form the rest of the gang who don’t even try to stop her (yes, Lord of the Culebras, one of the oldest, powerful culebras out there, is kidnapped without a struggle). He intends to take her to the ritual where he can put everyone at risk.


I rather think this is not going to lead to Venganza expanding her insight here.