Season: 3
Episode: 19
Original Airdate: November 2, 2013
Director: Neill Fearnley
Writer(s): Brandon Auman
The
plot of today's episode goes a little something like this. A man tells
his psychiatrist of the struggles that led to his downfall, beginning at
his great-uncle's bedside, where he receives a key to a locked
collection of his papers. The papers reveal a lifelong obsession with an
underwater deity, Cthulhu, around which a cult has formed. Nah just
kidding! Here's the actual plot.
When
looking for a shortcut to get to a party, three friends, Margaret,
Nickolas and Erica, take a short-cut through the Lovecraft's Woods, a
strange patch of woods just as evil as its namesake.
So
from what I understand, this episode has nothing to do with H.P
Lovecraft. But is it still a good episode regardless? Well, let's find
out.
Now one of the
things I liked about the episode is the suspense. While it does get off
to a bit of a slow start, the episode becomes extremely suspenseful once
the "ghoul" character is introduced and it barely lets up for the rest
of the episode. I'm not going to lie, this has got to be one of the most
suspenseful episodes I've seen so far.
The
other thing I liked about the episode was the twist. Now early on, part
of the twist is revealed once you get a good look at the ghoul's face
(i.e Erika is the ghoul.) However, the rest of the twist is kept a
mystery until the very end and honestly, it not only through me for a
loop but it also made sense given what happens to the characters.
The
final thing that I liked about this episode is the Erica character. Now
at the beginning, she acts rude towards her friends. However, as the
episode progresses, you start to learn more about her and when Erica
gets accidentally scratched by something in the woods, the scratch
becomes worse and worse to the point where she becomes deformed. In
other words, while Erica isn't a total saint, she still manages to be
likeable enough to where you feel sorry for her when she has bad things
happen to her.
Overall,
Lovecraft's Woods is a solid episode. While it may not be as good as
Detention, there are plenty of strong elements that really make this
episode enjoyable in its own right.
Overall Grade: A-
The title was a little confusing because, like you said, it made you assume it had something to do with the works of Lovecraft. I can understand that, however, because as a writer myself I've used references like that to set a mood. I also like the theme of gradually transforming. "However, the rest of the twist is kept a mystery until the very end and honestly, it not only [threw] me for a loop but it also made sense given what happens to the characters." That's good to hear! There are some writers who are so desperate to have a twist that they write something completely ridiculous. Not everyone can be M. Night Shyamalan. Shoot, sometimes not even M. Night Shyamalan is M. Night Shyamalan.
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