Time for lots of fighting. Lots and lots and lots of fighting
and cheesiness. So much cheesiness. We have Burt impale 4 people on a sword at
once. We have Seth leaping through the air holding a revolver open to catch a
bullet in the chamber. Yes, this level of cheese. I do appreciate some silly
cheese.
This all takes place in this abandoned ghost town with Freddie
leading a begging Venganza to the town to be part of the sacrifice to get Amaru
her body back. They pass along a road where Culebras are tortured by sunlight
and Venganza reminds Freddie just how terrible Amaru is
Meanwhile, Seth and Richie organise themselves, Scott,
Burt, Aiden, Carlos, Santanico and a bunch of redshirt extras to launch an
attack on the town, on the church where the ritual will take place during the
eclipse (of course the eclipse). During daylight which means culebras are prone
to burning if they lose their protection. Group A: Seth, Richie and Red Shirts
attack openly to provide distraction while everyone else sneaks through some
convenient tunnels into the church, helped by Freddie who is a secret plant all
along
Something they didn’t share with Venganza it seems.
Brasa raises some extras of his own – a lot of undead
cowboys. Apparently this is something Brasa, demon of sunlight/sungod can do.
This is where Seth and the redshirts have a long long long gunfight with
bullets dipped in culebra venom featuring the aforementioned leaping-reload
shot. After many many deaths all the pesky extras and zombies are cleared away
leaving Richie and Brasa to face off
Now, some would say that a sungod vs human ends quickly
but a) Brasa wants Seth’s body (which I totally understand) to possess and b) Seth
is up their with Vampire Diaries, True
Blood and Walking Dead for the
power of their plot armour. Seth also have bombs, powerful powerful bombs with
woo-woo which manage to squish even a sun god. A truck full of explosives beats
sun gods apparently
Actually can we talk about this? Because the whole premise of this is Amaru will open Xibalba and unleash all kinds of hell on the world. But is this prophecy out of date? I mean, if one of the most powerful Xibalbans can be taken out by a truck full of explosives, perhaps a hellish invasion will meet 21st century technology and we’ll have a lot of very surprised demons?
Meanwhile Richie and the surviving Jaguar
warrior head off into the desert to have their own private duel. Ending in
stalemate so he and Seth can have a radio conversation that sounds a lot like a
poignant goodbye.
In the tunnels the gang splits up because of course they
do. We have a fight between Scott and Burt because Burt would quite like to
save the world while Scott is focused on saving his sister
Down the tunnels are culebras – slaves devoted to serving
Amaru. Carlos decides it’s time to preach and get them all worshipping la diosa
Santanico. Santanico would rather not – but Carlos is determined she will be
supreme ruler, queen, goddess and really really wants her on that throne. With
him by her side or at her feet of course
At the ceremony Venganza and Amaru have a rather awesome
stand off. Amaru has convinced herself that her slaves loved and worshipped
her. She is actually bitter, hurt and angry that Venganza “betrayed her” and
demands Venganza say she loved Amaru. This is a powerful scene, and it shows
the utter delusion that many oppressors have – convinced those under them like it
there, convinced they’re benevolent masters, convinced they’re right, that
their control isn’t cruel.
In the end, rather than give Amaru the “satisfaction” of
killing her, Venganza rips out her own snake (kind of like pulling out her
heart), killing herself. It hurts Amaru – but doesn’t get the ash out of her
hands
She now has everything she needs to begin the ritual to restore her body – including Freddie’s mind controlled wife (Freddie himself is chained up). Burt arriving and going on the rampage may have killed her in time – except Scott steps in and they both appeal to bring Kate back (ostensibly to save Scott from Burt stabbing him). It works – y’know a little earlier Kate would have been helpful – and Kate rises to the surface. But it’s too late –Amaru rises from the ashes, killing Burt in the process.
All ready for an epic season finale. But not before I
talk about Venganza, surviving lord, should have been an epic power was instead
used as bait and killed off. Another potentially strong female character
wasted, cast aside and killed for so little purpose. At least they could have
made her part of the plan! They could have given her some agency! Just as
Santanico could actually be a willing servant of her people.
