TV REVIEW: ‘FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, SEASON 1 FINALE: THE TAKE’

“Has anybody here read a real book about vampires, or are we just remembering what a movie said? I mean a real book.”

Why did I choose that quote for this recap? Read on…

The finale bypasses any type of flashback and throws us right back into the labyrinth with Richie cracking the safe in Big Jim’s penthouse. Jim is taunting Seth, mercilessly ranting about his namesake, his father, trying to get a rise out of him. It works and Seth goes to shoot the poor bastard, but Richie stops him. Maybe it’s not the right move. Seth, switching gears, asks Richie whether he killed their dad. Richie waits a beat and confirms that he did. Richie cracks the safe a moment later and boom, disappointment registers across the Geckos’ faces. The Geckos shoot Big Jim in a nice homage to a scene from the movie. But the safe isn’t totally empty: it leads them back into the labyrinth where Richie presses on another seal. The wall opens to reveal Santanico’s urn. Richie picks the urn up and a snake, which contains Santanico’s blood, slithers down his throat.

Jacob sends Gonzalez to save Kate, who’s still in the altar room with Tanner. Jacob faces Scott, though it’s clear he doesn’t want to. In the altar room, Tanner tells Kate she’s to be sacrificed because she’s so pure, but Gonzalez shows up. While he’s fighting Tanner, Kate works her way free. Tanner confirms Gonzalez is part of some warrior tribe, but then Kate and Gonzalez dispatch the Professor into the next realm. Goodbye, Professor, you were a super shitty Sex Machine and for that alone I’m glad you’re dead.

Jacob coaxes Scott closer and throws him down. All he wants is for Scott to find peace, which he doesn’t believe will happen as a vampire since he’ll have to kill to survive. But Jacob can’t do it, he can’t put a stake through Scott’s heart. Scott says they call still be a family and goes all vampire, managing to bite Jacob on the arm. This is a little role reversal from the movie, since it’s Jacob who bites Scott in the film. Scott insists this is the way for them to be a family, that the blood is the conduit of the soul; Jacob argues it’s what makes them human. Scott resorts to pettiness and blames Jacob for mom’s death. Kate shows up and sets the record straight about their mom. Scott puts his blinders on and insists the vampire life is their new path. Kate asks him if he’s going to bite her, too, and she pushes and punches at him until he finally runs away. Jacob tells her that Scott will need her if he’s going to survive, implying his own death is close.

Seth and Richie exit the labyrinth and find Carlos, Narciso, and Santanico arguing. Carlos wants the money, Santanico wants her blood, but Seth refuses Carlos and basically cuts Richie loose. But Carlos has struck a deal with Narciso who easily breaks free and calls forth some minions who point guns at Seth. I knew this episode would be worse than a round of Fuck Your Neighbor. Carlos is intent on moving up the vampire food chain. Seth doesn’t seem to give a shit and he continues to cockblock Carlos from the money, but Santanico steps in and confronts Carlos over his greed and jealousy. Carlos gets a little pissed off at those accusations and slaps Santanico around, saying he loved her, betrayed everything and everyone for her. A minion stabs Richie in the neck with a poisoned blade intended to knock him out, but he resists long enough to start a fight. Santanico calls her stripper vamps, but Carlos and Narciso escape outside the bar with Richie. Santanico tries to follow but she physically can’t, being bound to the temple by her curse. They flee in a car and Seth doesn’t follow, instead he retreats back into the Titty Twister where Santanico blames all this on him, since all he cared about was his money. She says that she wants her freedom, that’s the least she should get, and that Carlos will call for the money.

Away from the Titty Twister, Narciso wants to kill Richie, but Carlos talks him out of it by painting a picture with Narciso on top, bringing a 30 million dollar score to the Lords. They can tell the Lords that Santanico betrayed them. Narciso buys into it… that Carlos, he’s just a slick bastard.

Meanwhile, Santanico tells Seth he’s not going to leave Richie. He likes to win and it’s never been about the money. There’s no way he’s going to let Carlos take his brother and the money. The phone rings and Carlos offers Richie’s life and Santanico’s freedom in exchange for the money. Carlos says Seth has ten minutes, otherwise he’s going to start cutting off Richie’s fingers and after that, he’ll just put a stake in his heart. Seth says he’s in.

Kate leads Jacob and Gonzalez through the catacombs, looking for a way to “unmake” Jacob’s recent vampire status. She’s basing this lunacy on the writing on the wall (nevermind how she can read it) and that the guardian vamps are made, therefore there should be a way to unmake them. Jacob collapses, exhausted, and says he’s going to test Kate’s faith. He wants to be staked. What follows is a genuine and touching moment between father and daughter as they discuss their faith. Kate sums things up beautifully when she says, “God isn’t in a book, but in each one of us, and He’s not that cruel.” Jacob says their whole trip had been about trying to find God and who knew he’d find Him in the eyes of his daughter and in a pagan temple. Gonzalez offers to do the deed, but Kate insists on it. Jacob’s eyes go all vamp-like and she rams it into Jacob’s chest, effectively sending him home. This scene alone almost exonerates Robert Patrick from his mostly wooden performance this season. One thing that may be interesting to note here… he didn’t turn to dust, but maybe that’s because he wasn’t fully a vampire? At any rate, it is goodbye, Jacob.

Gonzalez tells Kate she saved Jacob’s soul and that’s what he wanted. He also tells her that he’s felt pulled, led here. As he’s talking, he turns and finds Kate gone, but blowing along the ground is the little invitation card for his daughter’s baptism. He follows it to a room where an older, probably late teens girl is packing her bags. She’s Hispanic and if you don’t know who she is right away, you haven’t been paying attention. The girl says she’s getting out today, out of rehab, that after her Dad disappeared, Mom couldn’t hack it and died of an overdose/alcoholic binge. Gonzalez realizes it’s his daughter and finds out she was never baptized since he never came back. Carlos did tell Gonzalez he’d never see his family again. Gonzalez blinks and he’s back with Kate, says he saw something. Kate says yeah, this place will do that to you.

Carlos taunts Richie with food, though I’m not sure if it’s real food or cooked human parts or raw human parts at this point, but Carlos eats it with a fork. I honestly don’t know what all these vampires actually eat for nourishment. He also taunts Richie over Santanico and her love, her sex, but Richie pushes back, never one to take any shit. Carlos offers up a truce by bringing a girl for Richie to eat and well, she’s definitely not real food, and he’d only drink her blood, so I’m even more confused. Before Richie can eat, though, Seth shows up with the case of bearer bonds. Seth starts giving Richie shit, recalling a past job in Cheyenne (I suppose that’s Wyoming), but we all know this code for something. Seth apparently has a plan, and Richie fucks it all up by going on and on about Phoenix instead, before attacking and biting Seth. The case flies out of Seth’s hands and Santanico’s girls show up, firing stakes at Narciso and Carlos and their vampire minions.  Carlos and Seth face off and Seth has the advantage until Carlos goes all vamp. But then Richie steps in and saves Seth’s ass, getting him into the car and headed back to the Titty Twister.

Seth is, quite rightly, worried about his bite. Richie tells him to quit being such a wuss; he didn’t pump any venom in so Seth isn’t going to change. They’re still arguing when Gonzalez appears and puts the ritual knife into Richie’s shoulder. Again. He tells Seth and Santanico to back up or he’s going to stake Richie. Instead of doing some crazy vampire stuff, Santanico listens, but still Gonzalez hesitates. Santanico tells him he doesn’t want to pay the price, that it’s too steep, and he’s not going to kill Richie. Gonzalez tells them he’s going to leave and go back to his family, and none of them better follow him, or so much as threaten his family in the future. He takes the keys to the RV from Seth and leaves the bar. He gives the keys to Kate, who’s waiting outside, and she asks about Seth and Richie. Gonzalez says the Geckos will never be free. He gets back on the motorcycle he arrived on and roars out of the parking lot without looking back.

As the sun rises, Santanico and the Geckos gather in the main area of the Titty Twister; Santanico and Richie stand up on the stage while Seth is on the floor, surrounded by Santanico’s stripper vampires. These vampires are all chanting, chanting, chanting. The ritual to free Santanico has started. The snake comes out of Richie’s mouth and bites Santanico, then Richie bites her. The bar shakes, the walls split open, and the sun comes fully over the horizon, roasting all the vampires in the main bar. I wonder if they knew they were all getting smoked? Santanico and Richie are out of the sun’s rays up on the stage and Seth joins them there. Richie tells Seth that Seth saved him, but now he has to let him go. Seth leaves the bar and finds Kate outside. I admit to getting excited…

“You want some company?” Kate asks.

“Yeah,” Seth replies.

Oooooh, damn! So he’s neither a bastard or a fucking bastard in this one. Kate gets into Seth’s Corvette and they peel out and away from the bar, heading further into Mexico by the looks of it.

Carlos and Narciso are back in the temple. Narciso sends Carlos into the labyrinth for “re-education” as that’s what the Lords demand. Carlos expresses doubt in his own survival.

The final scene is Richie and Santanico driving away in a black SUV, heading towards the United States. The two are holding hands.

And thus ends the first season of From Dusk Till Dawn.

I have some lingering questions, such as: Where’s Scott? He’s not dead. Why didn’t Jacob turn to dust? I wonder if we’ll see him next season as a vampire, somehow saved by Scott. And lastly, will Carlos survive the labyrinth? I think so. We haven’t seen the last of him yet.

In regards to my opening quote, my biggest problem with the show is the lackadaisical approach to the vampire rules. What do they eat? Blood? Body parts? Food and drink? It’s not clear as they’re seen eating all of the above throughout the season. And the sun! Holy fuck, one minute it burns them, the next it has no discernible effect. Make up your mind.

The last thing I’m going to touch on here is actress  Eiza Gonzalez, who plays Santanico. I didn’t make any comparisons in any earlier reviews simply because Salma Hayek is in the movie for all of ten minutes before Seth kills her. It seems unfair to judge Eiza against one of the sexiest dances I’ve seen on the big screen. Eiza brings depth to Santanico, and she alternates between wicked and pouty in a heartbeat, almost perfectly. And let’s face it, she fits the bill as far as sex appeal is concerned, too.

Now that they’ve covered the original movie, they can really take off and explore the mythology they’ve set up, but the further development of the characters. Each one of these characters developed well and moved into new realms this season, so I’ll be looking forward to their continued progress next season. The last thing I’d love to see them improve on is the dialogue. They dropped three F-Bombs this season, so I don’t see a reason why the dialogue shouldn’t be razor sharp (like in the movie) next season.  All in all, it’s a very solid horror show, especially if you like your vampires deceitful, mean, and bloody. There’s no sparkle, no Sookie with her magic blood, and certainly no teenage angst.

What did you think of the season? Hit me up in the comments or find me on the Facebook/Twitters and let me know!