From Dusk Till Dawn - S01E09 Boxman (2014)

Review

Richie has been turned by Panda, which heals his wounds and gives him perfect eyesight, however our Queen of the Damned also needs Seth to join the party. The Gecko in question is searching for a way out of the Temple along with the surviving Fullers and Sex Machine; thankfully the Prof is able to read the local hieroglyphics and triggers a mechanism that opens a door to the surface. Seth notes Richie and Panda heading towards the camper van and heads on over to get his brother out from under the influence. Jacob and Kate head back into the temple to try and find Scott, Sex Machine decides to head on in with them.

Seth is convinced to join Richie in entering the Labyrinth to face the trials that will free Panda and find they are tossed into the last heist Seth tried to pull off without Richie, the heist that landed Seth in prison. The Geckos are tasked with completing the heist successfully. Meanwhile the Fullers and Sex Machine run into Ranger Freddie, who has survived Carlo's administrations. Together the group are going to face more terror in the Temple and ultimately a betrayal they weren't expecting. Is anyone going to get out of this one alive?

Pretty much the episode rocks along on the concept of betrayal, hiding motives, and end games. Sex Machine proves to have his own obsession with the vision serpent and wants to bring back that old time religion. How exactly he expects this to pan out isn't totally clear, but hey primitive vampires so anything is possible. Carlos clearly has his own game plan now that Panda is showing a lot of interest in Richie Gecko, and this seems to revolve around maintaining the status quo. And finally Panda herself has an agenda that Seth at least isn't totally on board with but he still dials in, presumably with some weird notion of saving the converted Richie.

As penultimate episodes goes this one rocks it and sets up the season final as must watch viewing

Speaking of which the Labyrinth proved to be both more and less than I expected, who else was waiting on blazing torches in subterranean tunnels? The Geckos are flung into the heist that went wrong and ended with Seth doing some prison time, but this time it's the Gecko brothers riding again rather than Seth going solo. The brilliant part of this was all those incidental characters seen in previous episodes that were given far more screen time than they apparently warranted are back with a vengeance. So the Labyrinth proved to be more metaphysical than a series of harsh primitive ordeals that Indiana Jones may have faced, surprisingly the Geckos just dig on in and go with the flow, though those sudden changes of scenery as the Bros stepped through various doors was a cool change of pace adding to the whole supernatural shenanigans going down thus far. I must admit I was expecting individual trials rather than the whole mental attempted breakdown that we ended up with. If you love heist movies then you are really going to dig this episode.

And we finally find out what happened on the night the Gecko Bros survived the fire that killed their father, Richie proving to be a psycho of long standing. Seth has the scales lifted from his eyes in similar fashion to Kate perceiving what happened on the night her mom died in the car accident. So at least two characters are experiencing revelations that help define them, and at least Kate is growing character wise due to her new found knowledge.

One aspect of the episode certainly intrigued me; Carlos relates to his prisoner, "The Geckos, the two brothers, are inside the Labyrinth at this very moment. They have power and prophecy on their side", which certainly ties up a lot of the mythical threads having been exposed to viewers in recent episodes. He further explains that if the prophecy is fulfilled then they will all pay, which throws up a hell of a lot of questions considering Carlos is talking about Los Culebras and not their human prey. Therefore is it better for humanity that the Geckos achieve their hero quest or fail to do so? Dusk Till Dawn: The Series continues to throw developments at us that keep things well past interesting.

While the season hasn't shied away from the gore, one aspect of the dark genre that isn't being missed in television land recently, Boxman lifts the anti in exacting terms. During his conversion to vampirism Richie is having visions of a particular mean spirited nature, including one of his former victims delivering some of Richie's own medicine to the Gecko bro in fairly graphic detail; I was certain reacting to the scene. In a similar vein, pun intended, vampire Richie attacks his first victim with a fair amount of gusto and splashes of blood that would do a high chair occupant credit. If this is the entrée to the season's final episode it could get pretty messy next week.

There's a weird obsession with money in some horror outings, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead for example, and Dusk Till Dawn is no exception. Carlos and vampire Scott tear the camper van apart looking for the bank bonds the Gecko boys lifted in their last venture, not finding it Carlos seems to smell it in the back of a car. Unfortunately for Carlos, who isn't winning a trick recently, Seth is one step ahead of him. Think it was the Brit series Ultraviolet that linked vampires with cash in the old "follow the money" standby, pretty much we are in about the same territory here.

The episode does tie together a lot of loose ends that had been floating around from earlier in the season while also advancing the plotline toward the final episode. I was pleased to see all the mythology that had been carefully built into the show came to fruition this week and am more than foaming at the mouth to see what happens if the Geckos nail their quest next episode. There are clear indications of what next season might contain so one of the season's requirements is being meet, we'll all be tuning in during 2015 to see what happens next.

Excellent hour of tellie with more manipulations going down than a whole season of Game of Thrones can throw in our general direction. Did enjoy the horror elements, Director Nick Copus isn't going over the top with this, though it must be admitted the sex angle isn't being pushed to the forefront. As ever with this season I'm recommending the episode, while horror movies are faltering recently, shows like Dusk Till Dawn are rewarding the faithful. Can't wait till the final episode, it promises to be one hell of a ride!