2.8 – “B is for Brain”
Written by Lousa Hill
Directed by James Whitmore Jr.
Reviewed by KathM
There are blowflies in the whiskey.
This week’s story is about a device called the God Helmet, which uses sciencey
stuff to help people achieve peace and may give the wearer visions of God.
Bishop Marx may see it as a marketing tool, as many people are turning to
Christianity after putting it on. He sends the trio to Cornell in order to
interview people who have had experiences with this helmet. But as much as I
wanted to know what’s really going on with the device, the madness spinning
around Kristen takes precedence in my brain. See what I did there?
As strange as this episode is, with the light bondage and the masks and the
self-harm and the God Helmet, nothing disturbs me more than Kristen in the
tub, imbibing. I think it’s because the blowflies in the last episode really
freaked me out. Not a fan of bugs in general, and I think that Kristen doesn’t
need blowflies possibly taking up residence inside of her to help speed up her
deterioration.
So, Daddy’s home! Andy is back, and frankly I’m surprised he showed up. The
girls are thrilled but Kristen has to psych herself up to see him by
practicing smiles in the mirror. Even then Andy’s return seems to emit no
feeling from this wife, and before they have “Honey, I’m home!” sex she
insists on masks for both of them (she dons a wolf mask), and when Andy
worries the girls wil hear her, she gags them both. It was surprising, but
kind of awesome. Later, as Andy sleeps soundly beside her, Kristen slips out
of bed down into the kitchen where she heats a crucifix on the stove until
it’s fire red and presses it into her stomach next to older scars from doing
the same thing. I’m not sure what she’s trying to accomplish, a kind of
purging?
As he watches her, Andy is sure something is wrong. Duh. He’s right: Kristen
is constantly angry and dismissive. Life is happening around her, not to her.
She’s more interested in whether or not she tied her shoes a certain way
before she puts the science helmet on than to her husband being home after
months away. While they are shopping in a store and someone cuts in the
checkout line, she grabs a bag of frozen fries and smacks the crap out of him.
She seems to have become less involved with her children. At least, aside from
the elevator episode we haven’t had many scenes with them interacting. That
being said, Kristen’s phone has the girls as her screen saver, and she looks
at them like they might be her lifeline to sanity. She held the phone so
tightly when she got it back after the Monastery, just staring at their
smiling faces.
Back to the God Helmet. Ben is the most eager to take it for a spin, joking
about getting to see both God and possibly Keith Moon (see earlier
interview with previous God Helmet subject). Ben’s background is in science,
and to him this in many ways is a new toy for him to play with. However, this
changes when the experience begins with seeing his dead mother, who takes him
on a walk through a memory of a place he visited as a child. They argue a bit
about religion, then Ben is distracted by a woman in a sari, but with hooves
for feet. The creature pulls off its clothing and Ben is hit with a dark
breeze. He starts screaming and is brought back to reality by Kristen, David,
and the researcher who created the helmet. Do you think that he’ll be able to
work through his issues in the next four episodes, or will this be an ongoing
thing? I hope he finds peace, but then again I like seeing Abbey pop up from
time to time.
Kristen tries the helmet and has a strange vision which involves a visit to
her therapist who tells her that she doesn’t want David to become a priest
because then he’ll be unobtainable. She visits David’s attic to find Leland
devouring him, literally, piece by piece. Foreshadowing?
David tries it, and sees nothing. Nothing at all. As a matter of fact, he
doesn’t even relax and go under. I’m not sure what it means, but it may mean
that his meditation exercises are working in that his mind couldn’t be
influenced by the helmet.
Now that we’re seeing Kristen through Andy’s eyes, she looks even more
unhinged than thought. Her guilt over LeRoux’s murder combined with her murder
maps (I’m not sure if we’ve seen these before. Anyone?) and the assault on the
guy who cut in front of them in line at the grocery store. I figure she’s one
bad decision away from a complete breakdown. I wonder if the murder maps just
show directions to LeRoux”s, or are there are others she’s got on her radar?
Also, Andy is talking about closing the business and seeing whether he can get
a job at REI HQ, which he thinks is located where they live but can actually
be found in Washington State. And why, if their business is located in
Colorado, didn’t they move there in the first place?
Leland and Sister Andrea meet again, each armed with a knife and some
attitude. It is interesting that no matter how much Leland tries to come over
all creepy, Sister Andrea never fails to unsettle him. In this episode he
realizes what she “is”, commenting that he didn’t think they were “around
anymore”. Whatever you are, Sister Andrea, stick around. I think we may need
you before too long.
2.9 – “U is for UFO”
Written by Nialla Lebouef
Directed by Clark Johnson
Reviewed by KathM
Hello, and welcome to the vaguely X-Files episode.
Well, more like a third of an X-FIle episode because a lot is going on. It
goes like this: Various people have come to the church saying that they have
seen “UFOs” or “lights” and they feel somehow changed by the encounter. Why
does the Church care? Because Bishop Marx says the church is interested in all
different kinds of life. He asks the trio to talk to the one person they have
found whose encounter is credible: an Army pilot who saw something she was in
the air that was actually captured on camera. Ben also finds a student with a
similar, and credible, story in a UFO chat room. Enter “The Entity”, which I
think is a really sinister name for a kind of CIA version of the Vatican. They
want to take the two women back to Italy and continue to investigate them,
when suddenly an unknown government authority appears and intimidates them
into redacting their stories. For this, both women are rewarded: the pilot,
who had been grounded, is allowed to fly again and the student, who is
brilliant but poor, has suddenly received a scholarship to MIT.
Elsewhere, Leland has a tiff with his demon therapist and it is everything.
Demon thinks that Leland may lack the willpower to carry on the exorcism con,
and will be writing a report to “The Manager” about it. Leland responds by
violently strangling and then turning Demon Therapist into a nice curry just
in time for Sheryl to come with a nice, full-bodied red. For some reason,
either Demon Therapist or “The Manager” requested that Leland acquire some,
but he failed to do so. Instead of just killing someone (else) randomly,
Leland heads over to Sheryl’s garage to see whether she has any to spare. She
refuses, but later stops by Chez Leland for dinner.
Shery has me completely confused. I thought she was staying clear of Leland
and putting her faith, such a it is, in that creepy doll she has in her
bedroom. It would seem not. For a while I thought her storyline was ramping
up, but now I’m not sure. And whose blood did Leland need? I think it’s
Kristen’s because Sheryl is a blood relative.
A video someone took of Kristen’s attack on the Line Cutter Dude in the last
episode has gone viral and the girls enjoy it so much they stop speaking at
once. Mom is a hero, as far as they’re concerned, because when you’re a kid
things like that are funny. But moms should be positive role models, and
Kristen in particular should know this because she’s a mental health
professional. At least she had the decency to look somewhat chastened when the
Head Nun at the girl’s school calls Andy and Kristen in to let them know that
little Laura got into a fight with another girl who didn’t believe Kristen was
the person in the video. She also used the “F” word, which didn’t improve the
situation. I wanted to know the type of punishment she received from the
school and her parents, but all we got instead is a vague conversation where
Andy tells the girls they need to “step up”. That, and Lynne may be called
upon to manage her siblings more frequently. That went over like a lead
balloon with everyone but Lynne. Hope we get to see a bit of that.
At one point Kristen tells David not to become a priest because she would miss
him. So while she says she no longer believes in God, she still respects the
uniform, if you will. Once David is ordained he becomes something else,
someone she sees as inaccessible. But given his continuously growing feelings
for her, that may not be an issue.
Even though it was a short scene, it was nice to see the trio just hanging out
in David’s office and chatting. They are at their best when they’re together,
and it’s been a while since that’s happened. I’m hoping that the RMS
Infertility brochure in Father Katagas’s case was a huge surprise, and David’s
commitment to finally find out what the clinic’s deal is will hopefully play a
large part of the season’s end.
