From Dusk Till Dawn - S01E06 Place of Dead Roads (2014)

Review

The Geckos and Fullers enter the Titty Twister, though Jacob is doing his best to extract the family from the increasingly tangled circumstances the Gecko Boys find themselves in. Freddie is wandering across the desert getting freaky instructions from heads on poles and the like. He does manage to run Carlos down to a Cantina but while investigating is captured by Carlos and a couple of goons. Carlos mentions some sort of war going down at the Twister that evening involving the nine vampire houses, which doesn't sound like good news for the Fullers and Geckos. Freddie does manage to escape, dispatching two vampires in the process - stake through the heart and severing the head.

Meanwhile Richie is settling in like the Twister is his long lost home while Seth senses something is very wrong with the place. Amid plenty of scantily clad go-go dancers Kate works her charms on Richie and it looks like the Fullers might just be able to sneak away. However things are interrupted by Carlos taking the stage and announcing the appearance of the one and only Santánico Pandemonium, the woman Richie has been having visions of. Ranger Freddie makes the scene and zeroes in on the Geckos, however things are about to get a whole lot more complex for the lawman.

With the Fullers and Gecko boys finally entering the Titty Twister I guess I was expecting a bunch more to go down on the vampire stakes, no pun intended, but Place of Dead Roads was content to build the anticipation while working through Ranger Freddie and Carlos making the scene by the end credits. I can dig that, we still have four episodes to go in season one and it's going to be an adrenaline rush from here for sure. On the bright side the bartender aka Cannonball was introduced, and just how much was Greg Ingram channelling Danny Trejo in the role, as was Sex Machine with Jake Busey making the role his own rather than following in Tom Savini's footsteps. Kate definitely had something to say about his crotch gun, which was kind of cool and why I'm really grooving to the Kate Fuller character.

The Twister is setup for a final declaration of vampire nightmare and battling all night long

As usual we got some flashbacks to fully draw the characters we're watching in the present. While Seth was languishing in prison Richie was going all hermit and looking like a reject from Woodstock. Talk about your diametric opposite to the suit wearing urbane psychopath we currently all know and love. We find out how Richie started having visions of Santánico, hence forth known as SP in these episode reviews, which is just as well as she finally graces the screen with her presence in the flesh so to speak. We also get an uncomfortable flashback to a younger Freddie discussing Ranger treatment of Mexicans with his mentor Earl McGraw, there wasn't much point to this dialogue to be honest and I really can't see it going anywhere. Earl does mention the "Place of Dead Roads", which is the last stop before Hell, which set the scene for Freddie eventually entering the Twister. Got to say the flashbacks weren't doing a hell of a lot this episode and could have been edited out to give a tighter view for those grooving to the season.

Carlos remains an intriguing character and perhaps points to where the season may progress and perhaps what next season may hold in store for us. The dude is planning a war, I assume here it's against the nine vampire lords, but it could also involve SP I guess. For no obvious reason he was milking snake venom, assumed to use against someone. And strangely Richie seems to hold importance for Carlos, though why this is the case hasn't been spelt out just yet. For sure Carlos was intent on taking the obsidian, as we now know the blade is made of, knife from Freddie and putting it back into the hands of Richie, its rightful owner according to Carlos. I'm expecting things to erupt next episode with Carlos' war within the vampire nation to erupt engulfing all and sundry at the Twister.

Speaking of the bar, I have to admit I was somewhat underwhelmed when we finally got a look inside. Sure plenty of scantily clad young ladies dancing to the resident Southern rock band, but the bar didn't hold the menace it did in the original. Kate was quite happy to wander around the various attractions without due concern, something the character would have been ill advised to do in the source movie. Hopefully the rest of the building lives up to the star billing it has received through the first half of the season.

There were a few aspects to the episode that certainly didn't work as intended for this little black duck. The doorman didn't have the spiel or presence that the character had in the original movie. What was it with Seth taking the loot from the RV and hiding it in the backseat of some random car, what happens if the owner leaves early, easy score! And while cool, Freddie taking down two vampires while showing not a single iota of surprise was strange to say the least. While I acknowledge we are watching a television show, it remains a requirement that the Writers and Editors keep their eyes on what is going down.

If anything this episode tries to out Tarantino the Director himself and in so doing falls flat on its arse. While most of the Actors have tried to emulate the more accomplished performances on display in the original movie they have pretty much all fallen short of that particular finishing line. The series needs desperately to find its own voice rather than being a pale reflection of the cult movie it is derived from. Television is never going to be able to scale the heights of movie makers prepared to let it all hang out there, and very much Place of Dead Roads reinforced that for me. We are over half way through the season and to be honest I don't think the show has found its own voice yet, fingers crossed it does else the viewer is going to be left with some disappointment over what could have been.

I'm still dialling in next week but am starting to see the cracks in this first season. Some ideas have stretched out way too long, the whole border crossing for example, while other ideas haven't been developed enough to add due dramatic impact, Carlos' interest in Richie. We really do need something out of the ordinary to drive the final part of the season, it's all a bit flat at this stage, fingers crossed the season can be staked in some style from here. Interest does remain in just where this season might end up however, stay tuned folks.