Swamp Thing 1×04 taps into its characters’ deepest and darkest nightmares, and makes us wonder why anyone in Marais still thinks it’s a good idea to go into the swamp at night.
I know this is obviously a horror show, but this is the first episode of Swamp Thing where I actually had to look away from the screen (multiple times!) in horror.
Writers Kay Reindl and Erin Maher do a fantastic job pulling in all the best horror movie tropes — from monster corpses, to blood and gore, to scary knife wielding weirdos in clown and pig masks.
This episode is a delightful and sometimes disgusting foray into the world of horror that reminds you that this is not your average comic book TV show — and again makes me so upset that we only have six more episodes left of this tremendous show.
But, before I get too deep in my feelings about that, let’s get to what happened…
This week in Marais
Abby’s breakthrough last week was apparently good enough for the CDC, who have all since cleared out of town and left Abby on her own to investigate the resurrection of one goofy-cute scientist into a vine-covered swamp monster.
While the Green Flu is on its way out, a new — and decidedly more paranormal — illness finds its way to the townspeople of Marais, one which causes its victims to live out their worst nightmares in their waking moments and hurt themselves and the people around them.
The outbreak of this new darkness from the swamp draws Abby and Swamp Thing closer together and deeper into the mysterious of the swamp, while also shedding light on Avery’s continued villainy, Dan’s muddied past, and the future storm that’s headed their way.
By the numbers
Number of times I…
- Jumped because I got scared: At least a dozen times. This one was a scary one, y’all!
- Had to look away from the screen: That ENTIRE scene of Todd hacking away his arm with the knife. I didn’t even know he had put his hand in the TRASH DISPOSAL until my third viewing.
- Said, “This is a fucking nightmare!!” out loud to an empty room: Delroy’s nightmare with all the scary men in masks. The dark is my number one fear, and right below it are CLOWN MASKS.
- Shouted, “I SEE YOU, VILLAIN” at Avery: Assume I am always silently saying this in my head, but I said it out loud when he told Maria they should let Susie stay with them…and I WAS RIGHT.
Some people need to stay out of the swamp
One of my notes from this week’s episode was, “The swamp in the middle of the night is apparently popping, at least in Marais.” It’s true — but also, dear readers, why is it true? There’s been a whole lot of weird shit either happening in the swamp or emanating from the swamp these last few weeks in Marais, and yet people keep waltzing right into it.
Avery does it because he needs to burn Gordon’s body and have a weird flashback of his father trying to make him kill a gator. It’s the first time we see him mention his father, with a second mention coming later in the episode when he talks about how losing his father at a young age made him feel like he was always failed to measure up. Well, you went from being unable to kill a gator to full on murdering a man, so you made growth in some way, Avery.
Despite being the actual reason why everything in the swamp is out of balance, he goes into it and comes out unscathed, a fate that unfortunately did not befall poor Todd. Todd goes to Ochee Forks in the dead of night to help Butler cut down some cypress and ends up dead the next morning in the middle of a diner kitchen.
The virus he inadvertently brings out from the swamp does a couple of great things for the episode. First, it’s a way to include some fantastic horror tropes into the show, and each nightmare manages to be distinct from one another yet equally all horrifying.
The virus also gives us better insight into just exactly what is going on with the swamp and with Swamp Thing himself — why the swamp is acting in this way and what it is that Swamp Thing is capable of.
Finally, the virus gives us deeper insight into the characters. To learn about someone’s darkest nightmares is to see a part of them that they always try to keep hidden, and enables us to learn about them and their past in a way that we might otherwise never know. We learn about Delroy’s traumatizing tragedy, delve into Lucillia’s ever-present fears for Matt, and are given a peak at Abby’s murky, muddy childhood (and perhaps were given a peek of her Uncle Anton?).
It’s incredibly tight and efficient writing that also manages to be spooky and creative all at once. Goddamn, you guys, this show is just so good.
Some people need to go into the swamp
Ian Ziering’s Dan Cassidy gets more screen time this week as we learn more about his past, his destiny and the future of Marais.
He’s convinced that Abby is the one he’s been waiting for and meant to help, so he’s taken to randomly popping up in the places in which she is. Not hard, since the town seems to consist of a hospital, Delroy’s and the town hall, but he still manages to weird Abby out when he asks if they’ve ever met before.
I’m of the opinion that it’s not Abby he has been waiting for but the Swamp Thing, but he seems to be one of the few people in the town without a predisposition for wandering into the swamp at odd hours of the night — which automatically makes him a character I empathize and agree with.
Unfortunately, he is one of the few characters who actually needs to go out into the swamp at odd hours of the night, as I’m guessing the deal which he made and which Madame Xanadu alluded has to do with his alter-ego of Blue Devil.
We haven’t gotten a lot of Dan, and his first few scenes didn’t leave much of an impression on me, but I found myself really liking him this episode. He’s on a similar journey to Swamp Thing — unsure of why he is, afraid of what he needs to do, lost and lonely and needing help.
Madame Xanadu tells him she’ll help if she can, but that “every hero’s path is theirs to walk alone.”
Walk alone at times, perhaps — but not stay alone forever. Get your ass to the swamp, Dan. There, your destiny (and your new swampy BFF) awaits.
Abby just can’t keep away from the swamp
Whoever is advertising Swamp Thing knows exactly what kind of content it is I am looking for, since they released about six production stills of Abby and Swamp Thing together, with two of them holding each other in what seemed to be an intimate and romantic embrace.
So, I have to admit that my first watch of the episode left me a little bit underwhelmed and disappointed, as Abby and Swamp Thing aren’t tenderly holding one another inasmuch as Abby is literally locked in Swamp Thing’s gentle embrace as she fights against her waking nightmare, not knowing that it’s Swamp Thing holding her and not the creepy man from her childhood dreams.
However, upon subsequent viewings, I realized that any sort of overt romantic overtures between these two at this point would’ve been too abrupt in terms of pacing and I’m glad that the show has yet to go there.
Alec/Swamp Thing is still trying to figure out what is going on with him and who/what he is, while Abby is still fully processing that what’s going on in the swamp and with Alec/Swamp Thing cannot be explained by science.
To illustrate my second point, there’s a scene in this episode where Alec/Swamp Thing emerges from the shadows and tells Abby that there’s a darkness within the swamp. Abby repeats, “The darkness?” With all the incredulity of someone who hasn’t just witnessed two people having nightmare hallucinations that lead them to commit violence and isn’t currently talking to a resurrected man covered in swamp vines.
Still, this episode gave us plenty of moments of closeness and intimacy between these two, with Abby repeatedly telling Alec that she wasn’t giving up on him or leaving him alone, Alec reaching out — figuratively, that is, as he is still literally keeping his distance — to help her whenever she needs it.
Plus that moment where he stands there resolutely taking her punches, then gently tells her to let him take this darkness from her is incredibly and quietly tender, and quiet tenderness is just as good as overt romance in my book.
Stray thoughts and lingering questions
- I must say that Todd must’ve lived a pretty okay life if his worst nightmare was a snake attack.
- In my notes, I referred to this virus as the “Boggart Virus,” which amused me to no end.
- Are we assuming that Maria now knows about Swamp Thing from sitting down with Susie?
- Avery literally bought Susie from her uncle thinking it would persuade Jason to help him find a cure for the disease. I think having her will certainly motivate Jason to help, but for practical reasons, not ethical or emotional ones.
- Speaking of Jason — once again, we’re 1500 words into this review and I haven’t even talked about Jason Woodrue yet. One of these days, I’m going to dedicate a full section of the review just to him. Kevin Durand certainly deserves it. Anyway, Abby lets him work on the sample she took from Swamp Thing, despite the fact that he’s working for Avery. He is sincerely baffled as to why who he works with makes a difference, and I’ll say this for Jason — he really does not give a shit about anyone or anything, whether that be a man as powerful as Avery or the fate of the entire world. That’s a strength when it comes to the former, and that will likely make him a villain when it comes to the latter.