I figured that this episode would serve more as a segue to the season finale which airs next week.  While some events in this episode served as fodder for the finale, I will give the writers credit for throwing in one mother of a curve-ball.  I love being surprised by what happens in television shows because normally I can see things coming, but this…..this I didn’t see at all.  If you’ve read any of the other recaps then you know I lay it all out there.  Needless to say there are spoilers here so consider yourself warned.

Through the course of the season we’ve seen each character fight their nature and struggle with who they really are.  Aidan wants to be free of the vampire choke-hold, but finds that freedom comes with its own restrictions.  Josh has always struggled between being a man and being a wolf and after infecting Nora, he struggled to see himself as anything other than a monster.  Sally’s struggle just came about when she realized that she is the Reaper but now that she realizes it, she’s trying to right all those wrongs.  This season should have had “IDENTITY CRISIS” stamped on it from the get go.

Sally

Sally spends the bulk of the episode trying to make amends with Zoe.  She finds Zoe in the hospital cafeteria and Zoe tells her that because of what Sally did to Nick, she no longer has the desire to help other ghosts.  She tells Sally to leave her alone, but Sally is persistent and follows her around the park quoting speeches and literature.  When Zoe finally acknowledges her, the two are distracted when a ghost that Sally shredded in the park shows up during an eclipse.  Sally tells Zoe that he shouldn’t be there and Zoe explains that it has to do with the eclipse and merging two planes of existence…or something like that.  Sally realizes that if Walter showed up where he was shredded then Nick must be at the house.  She tells Zoe to hurry and she heads back home to find Nick on the floor….as well as Danny since she shredded him there too.

Sally has a chance to apologize to Nick for what she did and she asks him where he went and what it’s like.  He tells her that it’s a never-ending void of pain and nothingness.  This news makes Sally feel even worse if that’s possible.  When Zoe arrives she gets a chance to say goodbye to Nick.  He tells her that he’s in a better place and he’s finally at peace, so she can be at peace too.  Danny on the other hand tells Sally that limbo, that’s what they call it, is awful, but it’s nothing less than he deserves.  There wasn’t any sympathetic apologies, just acceptance, which was nice.  I didn’t want Sally to feel guilt over Danny because he did, after all, kill her.

Once Nick and Danny vaporize again, Zoe thanks Sally and tells her that since she knows Nick is ok, she’ll be ok too.  Even though Sally knows the truth about limbo, I think this one act confirms to her that she’s not the evil being that the Reaper represents.  She’s just Sally.

Aidan

Picking up where we left off last week, Aidan is being surrounded with Mother’s cronies to be staked.  Henry is the ring leader of the group but it turns out he’s actually there to help.  After dealing with the others, Henry tries to help Aidan and Suren, but knowing this would mean certain death for Henry, Aidan stakes him in the belly and tells him to go back to Boston.  Not left with many other options, Henry does just that.

Aidan heads back to the room and find Suren crawling up the walls because she needs to feed.  I’ll admit, she was looking a little rough.  Aidan tells her to stay put and that he’s working on a plan for them to escape.  He leaves her at the hotel and drives out to the farm where the elders live.  Once there, he forces one of the caretakers to wake up Atlee.  He tells Atlee his plan, but Atlee is reluctant to help since they view Aidan as the heretic.  Aidan pulls out the big guns and tell Atlee that he’s only in his new-found position of power because of Aidan and either he helps, or Aidan outs Atlee to the elders.  Atlee of course, agrees.  Aidan heads back to the room to collect Suren, but finds that she’s gone.  Realizing that she’d never make it on the run, and also that it would mean Aidan’s life, she heads back to Boston telling Mother that Boston is where she belongs.  Poor Aidan.  Can the guy get a break?  I don’t see him as the mushy-in-love type, but maybe deep down he is.

Josh

Thinking about the information that Nora gave him about ending the curse by killing the maker, Josh seeks out/stalks Ray at his home.  What he finds however is a bit of a shock to the system.  He finds that Ray has a wife and child and seems to be living a normal life.  Ray tells Josh that he came clean with his wife about what he is and they were able to work through it.  He also tells Josh that he should do the same with Julia.

Speaking of Julia….things are becoming serious between them again and Julia tells Josh that her best friend Chelsea is in town and they’re going to meet up for drinks.  Julia tells Josh that she wants to tell Chelsea about them, but Josh is hesitant.  Finally he relents and decides to meet up with them.  The scene is a bit tense as best friend and boyfriend collide, but things become relaxed, at least until Julia heads to the bathroom and Chelsea has a moment alone with Josh.  He swears that he’s not going to hurt Julia again and that she doesn’t have to worry.

After Chelsea leaves, Josh decides to tell Julia about his affliction.  Things take a turn when the eclipse triggers his wolf and he begins to transform.  Josh runs from the restaurant and ends up in a dead-end alley where Julia finally catches up with him.  Once he turns around, she sees the reason he left in the first place.  Stunned, she backs into the street and gets hit by a car.  Unable to do anything because of the change, Josh runs off.

When he returns, he sees Julia sitting on the sidewalk while police talk to witnesses.  She’s a tad skittish of him, and she asks what he is.  He admits to being a werewolf and she finally realizes that THAT is the reason he left her.  He tells her that he was just trying to protect her and swears that he’ll continue to do so.  But she tells him that it’s too late and he turns to see her body being loaded into the back of an ambulance.  Dude….right?!  He realizes that he’s actually talking to Julia’s ghost and he apologizes once again.  Julia’s door shows up and Josh tells her that it’s for her.  Before crossing over, she tells him that she loved him enough, he just didn’t realize it.  Left alone, Josh walks away racked with guilt because once again, what he is has caused yet more harm.

Poor Josh man.  What a blow.  I didn’t see it coming and sat there a bit shell-shocked after that car mowed Julia over.  Way to throw in a shock there fellas.  One episode left and to be honest, I have no idea where they will end it.  I’m sure Aidan will suffer at the hands of Mother once he’s back in Boston and Josh will obviously be dealing with some major grief.  I’m not sure where Sally is headed now that she seems to be in control again.  Whatever the case may be, I sense a cliffhanger.  Thank goodness the show got picked up for a third season.

About the author

Tracy Ladd has written 534 articles on this blog.

Tracy has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she's back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks. Follow her on Twitter: @ReelGoddess

• Twitter
• Facebook

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 9:18 am and is filed under Television, TV Show Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.