Witches of East End - Smells Like King Spirit - Review

After last week's episode set the scene for some big events leading up to the return of the king in a host body, the Beauchamps were up to their ears in trouble in this installment, while the Gardiners were hardly exempt either.  The harder Freddie tried to fight back against Tarkoff and the king's plots, the worse the consequences became, as we finally saw in a shocking and devastating ending.

While Frederick came close to completing the ceremony to make Caroline into the host, ultimately he couldn't stand to do it, thank goodness.  But Tarkoff was genuinely displeased with this turn of events, and his threats inspired Frederick to tell Joanna and Wendy about Tarkoff's true nature and plans.  Unfortunately, while filling in his family on the situation, Frederick conveniently left out the bit about how he himself was also in on the plan to bring back the king up until recently.  After Freya learned this little tidbit during a scouting trip to find poor Tommy, who had been kidnapped by Tarkoff to become the new host, she was enraged at her brother, feelings soon shared by Joanna and Wendy.  A set of creepy little paralyzing/killing scorpions were in play as Joanna used one to freeze Frederick but didn't sting him twice, choosing to let him live.  Later, however, Frederick used a scorpion to apparently kill Tarkoff, who turned out to be many leagues more nefarious than I'd originally suspected.

Sure, Tarkoff was obviously a villain, but as we learned in this episode, he was unflinchingly, horrifically violent and unrepentant, all the while confessing his undying love to Joanna, whom he hoped to have as his "reward" once the king returned.  Flinch!  

Freya finally got suspicious of Eva's power over Killian, but her timing ended up synching with Eva's own imminent demise, leading to a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion to this plotline.  Instead of the badass diva showdown between Freya and Eva that I was looking forward to, we got Freya and Killian showing up once "abuela" had died, causing Eva's youth-preserving spell to break and her old age and frailty to return.  It turned out that Eva was a mortal-born woman who only obtained lasting youth and power as long as she kept bearing the children of warlocks. It was melancholy to see Eva's decline and hear her last confession of honest love to Killian, even as the last strands of her spell on him and his own better nature caused him to feel more sympathy and sadness at her fate than anger at her manipulations.  While it's great that Killian isn't under Eva's spell anymore, this story seemed to end with a whimper rather than a bang.

Killian had plenty to do elsewhere, however, especially since Dash and Ingrid had earlier shared a chat culminating in her asking Dash to fess up to his brother about almost killing him last year.  After Dash conveniently unearthed some old photos and information about Ingrid from her past life when she was involved with Archibald, he confronted Ingrid, who explained about her many lives and et cetera, clarifying that there was no familial connection between her and Dash, and that Archibald's journals must be destroyed because of the darkness they contain.  Dash seemed to burn the journals in Ingrid's presence and continued to ask her for another chance at their romance.  Wisely, Ingrid entreated Dash to prioritize saving his own soul first and foremost.  She'd also noted the similar pattern between her dangerous love with Archibald and the path Dash has been leading her down, what with the murder and cover-up.  Could Dash break the pattern of his own destructive ways and prevent further doom for everyone who crosses his path?  Well, um.

That turned out to be a problem later when Killian was less than understanding about Dash's confessed attack on him, and being left to die by his own brother and such.  In the ensuing fisticuffs, that old, indefatigable, seemingly cosmic hatred between the brothers burned full force as Dash abandoned his apologies and let his own rage blast forth in a crazy brawl.  Meanwhile, in all the commotion, that itty bitty floating stick doll that was keeping the corpse of Dash's victim hidden underwater surfaced, and so did the dead body...so now, all of Dash's secrets are seeming a lot less safe.  I hope that in perhaps having to face some consequences for his misdeeds, Dash can find some kind of redemption.  After a promising start to the character earlier this season that brought greater complexity, I'm not loving the more simplistically selfish and violent turn Dash has taken in the last few episodes.

But even Dash and Killian's 99 problems paled in comparison to the one major issue irking Joanna, Freddie, and Wendy: Tarkoff, who was on a rampage to end all rampages.  Tommy, sadly, turned out to be an ideal host candidate for the king, and all of Tommy's previous statements about not fearing death actually seem to have been foreshadowing.  That very quality, combined with his newer knowledge of witches, made it all too easy for Tarkoff to perform the spell.  However, since Tommy's apparently still alive and intact in there, perhaps there's a chance he can make it through being the king's host.  

I felt terribly bad for Wendy, who'd been so blissfully happy with Tommy, and there's no denying that it also royally sucks to be Freddie, whose turn back to the good side and rediscovered love for his family came too late in so many ways.  The trust the Beauchamp women had in Frederick has again been shattered, and even as Freddie tried to make amends by taking Tarkoff out, the baddie murmured that he'd left a present in the garden.  This obviously boded horribly, but I was kind of expecting a dead Caroline or something.  Instead, Wendy and Joanna walked outside to find the awful sight of Ingrid and Freya both hanging dead from a tree.  As chilling as this ending was (poor, poor Joanna!), it also made for a hell of a cliffhanger, as we have to wonder how on earth our heroes are going to get out of this mess of trouble and bring Ingrid and Freya back.  How awesome would it be if Killian and Dash could, however temporarily, bury the hatchet and combine their skills to help bring back Freya and Ingrid?  Whatever the solution, I can't wait to see how it plays out in next week's episode, along with the return of the king!

What did you think of this episode?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  And don't forget to catch an all-new Witches of East End, Sunday at 9/8c on Lifetime.

About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana

Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, and Witches of East End for Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog

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