Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Superstition, Season 8, Episode 8: You're Not my Momma




The gang’s all together celebrating Thanksgiving with everyone being all positive and friendly and nice (ish, anyway). But we have some ominous whispers coming from Calvin’s ring and a big scary storm coming in

And some omens of a death

The death isn’t that surprising giving that they run a funeral home. Eric wants to bury his deceased wife - and he wants her buried with the world’s creepiest possible doll.

Because this guy is just TRYING to create an evil demonically possessed doll.

The doll was important to his dead wife because she couldn’t have a child. Bea is definitely moved by the story and rightously slaps Calvin down for being even slightly disrespectful of the evil demon doll. While Tilly is well and truly freaked out since she has a perfectly sensible rational irrational fear of dolls.

It should surprise absolutely nobody that demon doll kills Eric’s dead wife’s best friend Brenda - and then rips out her eyes and puts them on a teddy bear and stuffs her body with cotton wadding.

Nope nope nope nope nope



So they call Eric the husband and say “oh hey, demon doll is evil and killing people” and it turns out he was totally having an affair with the dead woman and adds that they weren’t infertile, he and his wife had a child but the child was stillborn which sent his wife into a huge depression. So he got her the creepy demon doll for comfort -he mentions a Thai tradition of Luk Thep but I honestly think this tradition wants nothing to do with evil demon dolls.

He also advises they just throw the doll away

Which is stupid when you clearly should be KILLING IT WITH FIRE.


Bea, Tilly, May and Garvey talk about the case and Bea reveals why this case affects her so much - she had a child that was stillborn. She talks about how deep and moving the pain was but also takes a judgemental swipe at women who have abortions during it. Tilly steps on that - she has had an abortion, it was a choice she made so she could go on and have her career and the life she had; she’s clearly offended by the judgement that Bea threw her way. Bea realises she’s taken a wrong step and backs up; accepting it was her choice and Tilly’s choice with Tilly being very firm that it WAS her choice and it was the RIGHT choice.

May adds her own story in that, as a young single mother, she had also considered abortion with Garvey; she doesn’t regret her choice  but she can understand the alternative. So can Garvey and has a moment where she wonders what life her mother could have led - travel, education et al - without her; but May is clear that’s a completely different life. You can’t ask “what if” because that would be such a different life and a different person

All in all that’s a topic very well handled with some very firm “you need to putting your judgy lens back on yourself, thank you very much” and how very differently people live and your judgement is so offbase.

Tilly has to leave through this because Cal brings her the doll (which has managed to escape the grave) to autopsy. Yep, no no no no no no no. Inside the doll is wadding and the mummified corpse of a baby. Presumably the stillborn baby. The doll then moves as the lightning storm puts the electricity out.

Tilly then does what every sensible person should do - packs her bags and leaves. Everyone acts like she’s being irrational but I’m waving her on and cheering. Tilly knows what to do when a creepy demon doll is on the loose.

Calvin goes to visit Eric because if Evil Demon Doll killed Brenda for having an affair with Daddy then presumably Eric is next for the stabbing. Eric is being duly terrorised by the Evil Devil Doll and admits that he actually killed his wife with Brenda and even has the gall to present it as a mercy killing.

Calvin isn’t amused - he’s willing to protect him from the devil doll, but he’s going to go to prison for the whole murder thing. So Eric attacks him - including with a katana (because of course he has a katana; one of these days I want to see an Asian character trying to kill someone with a hammer or a cricket bat or bit of lead pipe or something). In the fight the evil demon doll murders Eric and all is good

Everyone assumes it’s all good, I guess. I mean who knows who else the dead woman had a beef with? That demon devil doll could be marauding around the local bridge club for all you know. This lady could have been happily holding grudges against everyone standing in front of her in the local Walmart. Even now that doll could be unleashing carnage in the frozen food aisle.

Side plot - other than Calvin’s ring whispering to him - is the mayor of LaRochelle who is an Infernal but kind of kept a love profile while Dredge was doing his thing. He is worried about the Hastings being in town since killing Infernals is kind of their modus operendi: so he calls in isaac to reveal to no-one’s shock that the whole town kind of hates him. Also he’s done some digging and found like 11 generations of Isaacs all with the same name and looking exactly the same. Also he hasn’t aged in 70 years and wouldn’t life be really bad if the media started poking this since attention would really get in the way of doing their job.

He’s trying to Blackmail Isaac and family into leaving, instead Isaac returns with a magical trinket to erase his memory - which doesn’t work because the mayor’s an Infernal.

They Mayor’s cover is blow and Isaac prepares to give him a righteous stabbing but the mayor begs - he’s not a bad guy! He likes being human! He’s not here for all the violence and stuff that the Dredge was all for and he’s super happy the Dredge is dead so he can get on with mayoring and stuff. He’s also apparently a decent mayor.

Isaac is duly suspicious but they come up with a treaty: the mayor leaves the Hastings alone, doesn’t do anything evil and helps the Hastings when necessary and in exchange Isaac doesn’t murder him