TV REVIEW: ‘FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, SEASON 1 EPISODE 9: BOXMAN’

“Does anybody know what’s going on here?”

“I know what’s going on. We got a bunch of fucking vampires out there, trying to get in here and suck our fucking blood. And that’s it. Plain and simple.

Only it’s not that simple, which it shouldn’t be, but goddamn, I didn’t know who was fucking who by the end of this episode. I suppose that’s a good thing, though.

Our opening flashback this week is the fire that claimed the Geckos’ father, the one that Richie saved Seth from. During this scene, Seth wants to go back for his dad, but Richie pulls him out the door. We come to see that this is Richie’s memory and we flash to more memories (with him and Seth, him and the bank teller, etc) and know this is what he’s seeing as he’s turning into a vampire. Santanico appears to him as the bank teller and she stabs out one of his eyes, but it heals as does the wound in his hand and he doesn’t need his glasses anymore, and he goes on the offensive, attacking Santanico. She easily fends him off.

Seth is still running around the catacombs with everyone else until they reach a dead end. There’s a halved symbol on the wall and Tanner pushes it together, which opens a secret wall compartment and stairs going up. I kind of appreciated the “fuckin’ a” Seth let rip (is it like PG-13 movies where you can only have one fuck in a season?) and they soon find themselves at a door leading to the parking lot. They all watch as Santanico and Richie enter the RV. This Richie is wearing glasses (warning sign?). Seth is ready to go after Richie, but the others won’t leave Scott behind. They all separate here and Seth goes to confront Richie while the others go back down into the temple.

In the RV, Seth wants to know where Santanico is and he’s tearing the RV up looking for her. Richie comes up behind him, lets the old fangs out, but another Richie (this one not wearing glasses) busts the fanged one over the head with a wrench, knocking it out. What? They eat bullets, get staked, but a wrench knocks one out? Richie says, “Things are going to get weird.” That’s an understatement.

Back in the temple, Kate tells Jacob she knows her mother took a bunch of pills and that’s why Jacob was driving so fast. He was trying to get her to a hospital to have her stomach pumped and he doesn’t have to carry that burden alone anymore. The group runs into Gonzalez (and, really, who was surprised by this?) who imparts Scott’s fate to Jacob. Jacob insists on seeing for himself. Naturally, Gonzalez thinks that’s a bad idea, but goes with them anyway. Maybe there’s some Ranger left in him yet.

In the RV, Seth puts a stake to Richie, but can’t kill him. Seth knows it’s all a trick, and tells Richie to forget about the money. Seth leaves the RV and finds himself in a parking garage instead of a parking lot. Santanico approaches him (and personally I believe the glasses wearing Richie was Santanico and they just ran a con on Seth, but that’s neither here nor there) while Richie comes out of the RV. The two of them tell Seth he’s in the labyrinth, which is filled with puzzles and games and he has to win. The prize is, of course, Santanico. Seth refuses and Richie tells him the only way out now is through the labyrinth.

Carlos and Scott really do leave the Titty Twister and head to the RV. They’re looking for the money, and Carlos sniffs out the car where Seth stashed it. But it’s only an empty bag. Scott wants to find his family and Carlos tells him no, everyone is serving their purpose, including Scott. Scott can never go back because he’s better than them now. Scott brushes off Carlos’ words and runs off.

Santanico explains to Seth her blood is the prize. She’ll still be a vampire, but free and Seth is like, “Free to do what? I don’t think so.” Richie explains it was whoever beats the trials will be deemed worthy, but no one knows what they’ll be worthy of. It’s been 500 years and no one has done it yet. Seth finally agrees to the labyrinth and both the RV and Santanico disappear. Richie and Seth are presented with a car and a table full of stuff… stuff like pictures and guns and equipment. It seems Seth is going to have to succeed at the botched job, which happened at the Parker Hotel, that landed him in prison. We find out, too, that the big man in the job (Big Jim, as it is) was the guy who kicked their dad out and Richie says Seth made the job personal, which is why Seth botched it. Seth points to the different pictures, running down the job for Richie. They put on fresh clothes (because, you know, the gods obviously give a shit what you look like) and we see Seth has the money taped to his chest. Probably a better way to reveal that, but hey, now we know where the money is.

The job starts and the Geckos instantly run into trouble. The labyrinth has swapped some of the original players out with people from their past, people that don’t like them and will recognize them. Seth goes on the offensive but bites off more than he can chew as one of them is a vampire. Richie ends up staking it and saving Seth’s life, but then Richie goes all vampire on the other guy, ripping his throat out and sucking his blood. Seth looks on, disgusted and horrified.

As they’re looking for Scott, Kate and Gonzalez discuss Richie’s tortured soul. Gonzalez admits that he believes someone made Richie kill the bank teller (which, I didn’t mention this in my last recap, but if Richie didn’t kill them, who did? Possibly something for next season?). They come across a room with a foul smell and the floor is littered with bones and body debris. Many guardian vampires show up and during the escape, Tanner makes sure Gonzalez and Jacob get away. The two men flee behind a door, barring it from the pursuing vampires. Tanner and Kate get left behind and they set off in their own direction looking for the others.

Seth and Richie head to the Parker Hotel while arguing over Richie’s feeding. Richie explains he couldn’t help it, he just had to do it, though he doesn’t know why. But soon we all know why as he shapeshifts into the guy he ate. He soon shifts back to Richie.

Now that Carlos believes Santanico is betraying him, he goes to Narciso and gives him two choices. Basically, Narciso can rot in chains or help Carlos stop what’s coming if the Geckos beat the gods, because if Santanico is set free, they’re all going to pay the price. Narciso looks worried at the prospect of this happening. Like I said earlier, we just don’t know who’s screwing each other over at this point.

At the Parker Hotel, Richie decides to change the game up a little and goes straight for Big Jim. William Sadler, who plays Big Jim, is usually a treat to watch and this isn’t any different. Richie says he has the next “big score” and Jim relates a story about how beautiful the women in Brazil are, but over half of them are really men, basically telling Richie he’s full of shit, much like these women. Richie proves he’s worth it and Jim invites him up to the penthouse, but to give him a few minutes as Jim has some business to attend to.

During this, Seth goes through a door and finds himself in the past with his dad, played with usual surliness by James Remar. Seth tries to leave, but the doors are all locked up. His dad, seeing Seth as a child, puts him at a table and tells him to reassemble a gun. Seth does so, but is too slow, and gets told to do it again. He’s too slow and has to do it again. Each time he gets faster and more frustrated, until he finally smarts off to old man who was bad mouthing Seth’s mother. Seth’s dad puts a gun to Seth’s head, tells him to put the gun together faster. Seth succeeds and the doors pop open. When Seth goes to leave, his dad tells him he can’t save Richie. Richie is a bad seed and everyone knows it. Seth suddenly smells something funny and asks what it is… dad tells him it’s lighter fluid, the same thing Seth smelled the night of the fire. Dad says Richie used it to set the fire and killed him. Is it true, though, or is the labyrinth just messing with his head? Seth sees Richie doing it, so who knows at this point. Seth leaves the apartment and is back in the game.

Richie rides up the elevator with one of Jim’s bodyguards. The phone in the elevator rings and it’s for Richie. Turns out it’s Jim calling and he knows Richie is a Gecko and it’s the end of the line for him. The bodyguard pulls a gun and the two end up in fight. Since the bodyguard is a vampire, it’s a vamp fight! But we don’t see who wins, though we all know who wins…

Kate and Tanner end up back in the ritual room and Busey does a good job of making Tanner suddenly very creepy, talking about how he’s always wanted to see this and how it’s cool to talk about it and finally be here. You get the immediate impression he’s going to sacrifice Kate to the vision serpent in hopes of being ascended to the next plane. This is confirmed when we flash over to Jacob and Gonzalez and Gonzalez realizes the Richie’s knife is gone. As it turns out, Carlos got to Tanner and set him on his current path, which makes Carlos’ earlier statement make just a bit more sense. Jacob and Gonzalez now understand Tanner is going to kill Kate, but they’re trapped behind the door with no weapons to get past the guardian vamps outside the door.

That is, until Scott shows up and kills them. The look on Jacob’s face when he sees his son as a vampire is supposed to be heartbreaking, I think, but it’s more disgusted than anything.

Seth gets the money to the drop and puts a bomb in the bag. When he gets in the room, we find Pete from Benny’s World of Liquor. Pete refuses to help Seth and puts a gun in Seth’s face. The money counter finds the bomb and freaks out, Seth disarms Pete, but can’t leave because the door is coded. Pete won’t give the code, but Seth figure it out… it’s the price of a bottle of hooch… Seth gets out, the bomb explodes and serves its purpose as a distraction. The bodyguard that fought Richie in the elevator gets to Jim in the penthouse, and then transforms into Richie (who didn’t see that coming?). Seth shows up and Richie lets him in.

At the end of the episode is an interesting conversation between Santanico and Carlos where they dance around the subject of loyalty. Carlos admits to not having Seth’s money and believes the Geckos are trying to pull a fast one, but Santanico has trust in Richie yet. And Carlos says once the Geckos make it out of the labyrinth, they’ll know where everyone stands.

And that statement alone sums up where the season is. But, it’s also telling insofar as Carlos believes the Geckos will succeed and free Santanico. Whether he ends up suffering just because she’s free or because he eventually screws her over is something we’ll have to wait and see. The finale is next up and I’m looking forward to it.