We have something
dubious and supernatural shenanigans going on at a boot camp. This concerns the
local barman in LaRochelle since he’s a veteran like Cal and his nephew is
currently in said boot camp running the risk of being eaten by something
gribbly and nasty.
Cal tries to play
oblivious when he’s recruited but the barman has been in LaRochelle for a
while - he’s also been barman for a long time so has heard a lot of drunken
gossip. He knows what the Hastings do and what they’re up to.
Calvin’s in and they
go speak to the commander/colonel who runs the camp. I assume they get this
kind of personal attention because they’re veterans. The barman runs his mouth
about hauntings and obviously is dismissed out of hand for being a damn fool.
Calvin is more reasonable, discussing how they’ve had an utterly ridiculous
number of missing recruits and it’s only a matter of time before the camp is
shut down, they’re investigated and her career is officially wrecked. So she
might as well let Calvin look around discreetly
Ok, part of me is a
little leery here because she allowed these people to roam around her camp with
very little reason at all. But I think this could be a comment on the world
building - or maybe I’m just reading too much into it. I’ve said before that in
a world where the supernatural exists then people are going to be less…
cynical? Disbelieving? More inclined to believe that some nasty shadowy monster
is eating their recruits.
Calvin also reads the
riot act to bartender when he tries to go public after his nephew is attacked -
you call the Hastings for help, you do it THEIR way.
She even had an
experience herself when she was a recruit which she explains after they do some
investigating and hear about electrically charged air and check in with Isaac
and Tilly for some reasearch. They confirm that the enemy is probably a kind of
djinn - a shiqq (and points to world building in doing a little more research
rather than just saying “hey, genie!”). The colonel identifies a possible
witness, and they find a recruit trying to kill himself but prevented from
doing so by the shiqq. It seems likely he’s made some kind of devil-at-the-cross-roads
deal to basically get him through training since everyone expected him to wash
out. The shiqq tries to kill the bartender and Calvin jumps on him after the
ring whispers at him
His demon ring is
doing it’s best to seduce him to use his power, to “ally” and defeat their
enemies. I’m not sure if that’s what happened here because he just kind of
leaps at the shiqq and wins. So I’m going to assume yes and that the monster
wasn’t just body slammed to death
But this monster of
the week episode wasn’t the main point. We had two more intriguing side quests
going on.
Firstly we have Tilly
and her heavy history. She returns from her holiday early for various reasons
but between her distractions she mentions her mother has died
And it’s apparent their
hinted at fraught relationship was very very very fraught indeed. Which is even
more fraught since her will asks to be buried at the Hastings family cemetery.
Her mother, like
Tilly herself, was Wiccan and her high priestess and executar of her will arrives
to discuss the ceremony. Tilly easily recites the necessary rites and things
between Tilly and said priestess are… not good. The uncompromising praise she
has for Tilly’s mother - a woman Tilly calls abusive and neglectful. She also
blames the priestess for driving a rift between them - and she doesn’t deny it,
saying she thinks a “clean break” was best. She also suspects Diana of an
ulterior motive - she needs someone to fill Tilly’s mother’s place. She’s
recruiting
Her complicated
feelings go further when we see Tilly utterly break down while caring for her
mother’s body.
She and Diana cross
horns again - Tilly tries to make Diana confront the abuse, while Diana talks
about redemption and change - which is a shitty thing to do to any victim, trying
to blame and guilt them into forgiveness. She doubles down by almost accusing
Tilly of giving up her faith - though Tilly rejects the idea she has to be with
a certain person or in a certain place to observe her faith and adds her
insistence that her job is important and even spiritual.
Diana has another
bombshell - she’s dying. She does want Tilly to return home but to lead the
coven. And Tilly, though clearly not liking Diana and having some issues with
the Coven, she clearly recognises the massive honour involved. Diana invites
her to come home
This is also really
awkward for Isaac, you can see him wanting to treat Diana as a bereaved
customer deserving of respect and Tilly is an employee who should respect her
but then Tilly has her personal issues, is family, is hurting and has a solid
dollop of being right.
Tilly tells him about
the offer and he says how important it is to be with family - but that she is
with family with them. She does challenge this because though the words are
nice she points out they don’t entirely treat her that way. She is the Help.
Isaac doubles down - she isn’t just like family, she IS family
Which is nice and
just what Tilly clearly needs when she’s this hurting; but at another time and
when not grieving it would be nice to expand on her not-mean-counter there; the
insistence she is family is good but clearly not everything backs that
Tilly tells Diana
that she wants to stay home with the Hastings - and Diana excludes her from the
funeral, calling it “family only”. And she doesn’t get slapped upside the head!
Tilly cries in
Isaac’s arms - and I love this cementing of Tilly’s place in the family.
And to another member
of the family - Garvey
Garvey is having
issues with Russ and his newly learning her secret. As I said last episode, the
dynamic here is very different - he doesn’t think she’s a freak despite her
powers and he isn’t afraid of her. No, the issue is he doesn’t think he’s good
enough for her. She is all powerful and shiny with an awesome mission and life
- and he’s so normal and boring and mundane.
In a genre full of
teenagers wailling about being normal, this very real hailing of the special
and interesting is refreshing.
He also encourages
her to experimenting with her magic - which she does. At his urging she uses
shiny woo-woo to make his fidget spinner move. Of course he now feels less
special but Garvey has the idea to see if he can learn since they shared blood
It doesn’t go well,
It’s all bloody and messy and awful and Isaac has to rescue them, kick Russ out
and read Garvey the riot act about treating her so-important family legacy.
Which means Garvey’s magic is well and truly out there and on the table
And Russ still
doesn’t blame Garvey. I really didn’t expect Russ to be as onside as this. I
expected him to be a low key antagonist. I think it speaks to just how… mature Superstition is, and it’s something that
has struck me from the beginning with this show with all of it’s powerful
family drama which manages not to aggravate or annoy me because it’s handled
sensibly. There’s no ridiculous melodrama, plot points driven by ridiculous
decisions or characters acting like they have a severe concussion – it’s what
makes it work
