From Dusk Till Dawn - S01E05 Self-Contained (2014)

Review

Following the battle at the Dew Drop Inn the Geckos are onboard the Fuller RV of tension and heading for the Mexican border. Ranger Freddie is of course in hot pursuit but finds some obstacles thrown in his path. Naturally Richie is experiencing some weird interludes; he thinks Jacob and Scott are demons, bit of pot and kettle there. Seth is naturally trying to be cool, but is losing his grasp of the situation as the border crossing is jammed packed and security is tight. Surprisingly Jacob takes control of the situation, perceiving the need to get safely across the border to have any hope of saving his children from the psychotic brothers.

Freddie arrives at the crossing and spots the RV, however he runs into trouble with the border security folk who have been infiltrated by the shape shifting Carlos. In a tense standoff the Geckos get across the border with some help from Jacob and Carlos, disappearing into the Mexico hinterland as Carlos and a couple of minions open fire on the border post. Freddie meanwhile swims across the Rio Grande as he goes off the reservation. And in a fitting conclusion to the mid season episode the RV arrives at the Titty Twister, the destination the Gecko Bros have been aiming for.

Self-Contained is all about tension following the fire fight in the previous episode, however I found it fell a bit flat for some reason. I can't put my finger on it but I simply didn't get the same buzz from this episode that I had got from the previous four. While the plot is really moved along, there's a feeling that perhaps this came at the cost of additional character information, and for sure there's something of a plot hole going down.

For some reason this episode didn't resonant as much as the previous episodes

I just found the waiting at the border crossing to be slightly drawn out, breaking the pacing that had previously kept this season at something approaching breakneck speed. Given time to ponder the situation I found myself losing interest, which is strange as this sort of stuff is normally bread and butter. A little introversion is good for the soul folks. Guess maybe there wasn't something cool going down and Director Joe Menendez was trying a little too hard to be either Tarantino or Rodriguez. As stated there was something a little off, but I can't put my finger on it.

On the bright side of the sacrificial knife Scott Fuller started to develop into more than background decoration. The Kid gets the draw on Richie with a gun he had hidden in his luggage, but eventually follows Jacob's path of less resistance to ensure the Fuller family stay as a viable unit. There's even a reference to Pulp Fiction going down with Scott remarking to Richie that he should lower his gun due to it likelihood off it going off if the RV hits a bump. In a spot of plot foreshadowing, or not, Kate remarks that Scott doesn't know what Jacob is capable of, considering that Scott has definitely swung outside the borders I wouldn't be underestimating the teen if I was the Geckos.

Speaking of Jacob we do get some more insight into the night of the accident that killed his wife, but it still remains elusive in terms of why. Seems Jacob wasn't impaired by alcohol and his wife tried to "get off the bus" at a crucial time which lead directly to the accident. Okay not quite sure how this is going to work into the overall narrative but clearly there's more to be discovered in the coming episodes. Supernatural link, simply a coincidence, or something even more sinister your guess is as good as mine. No doubt there will be answers at the Titty Twister but just what those may be is going to be worth catching up with.

Over the past couple of episodes I've had a slight problem with the Fullers running into the Geckos, and it has to do with Carlos. Clearly the dude had picked out the Fullers to play a part in his plans for the Geckos but this seems to have bounced off the table with Seth determining the mix and Carlos not having a hand in it, which kind of makes you wonder about the scene where Carlos confronted the Fullers, now there's clearly something a lot deeper than I think going down or the script writers have thrown up an implausible coincidence. Fingers crossed we get some sort of tie up there else I'll be disappointed for sure.

I watched this episode with someone who hadn't seen the original movie and it showed in our different appreciation of the onscreen mayhem. While I wasn't overly impressed with the tension going down at the border post, the movie would indicate all roads lead to the Twitter Twister, my fellow viewer was on the edge of his seat as things got down to the wire. Clearly those who haven't had time in Country with the movie are going to get a lot more thrills and spills from the television series than those of us who have seen the original flick and it's sequels. I'm wondering if this is the root cause for a fair amount of, for mine unwarranted, negative criticism on the web, the show has excellent production values but if you know where things are headed then it's a long and winding road getting there. I'm sticking with things as the television series is going to have to deviate from the original plot line at some stage, we are after all only half way through the initial season with at least one more in the pipeline!

While the Acuna crossing point added the focal tension for the episode I was also intrigued by what could become a subplot as we advance into the second half of the season. After the accident Jacob's wife, has she been named yet? - was still alive, albeit with a hunk of metal through her side, Jacob asked his God to take his life rather than his wife's life. Clearly his request fell on deaf divine ears, but lead to his renouncing of the faith, will this come back to haunt him down south of the border?

So not the best episode this season, mainly due I suspect to my having seen the original movie and hence not getting the full tension at the border. We are at the Titter Twister with five more episodes to go so not quite sure how that's going to be handled from here, it will be interesting however. The characters are definitely fleshed out, I'm hoping for some mayhem from here as the Geckos and Fullers face off against Carlos and his vampires, with Ranger Freddie no doubt rocking it at some stage. Hold on to your linen folks it should get pretty intense from here, but you really do need to rock the initial episodes if you haven't seen the original movie.