Finally, Aftermath gives us something to talk about. The first four episodes were barely passable entertainment that offered minimal humour and minimal character moments, but was entertaining enough in all its apocalyptic craziness to tune in every week during my downtime.
In 'A Clatter and a Chatter' the Copeland family is finally reunited, plus a creepy 15-year-old, and a certain guest actor whose appearance adds some spice to the character dynamics.
The addition of Wayne Brady to the cast was refreshing. This show was in dire need of some levity and an actor like Brady could provide that. However, I found his humour to be as much grating as it was funny. The actor really forced his jerkiness with all this 'booty' and flirting with Karen, and though it had its moments, it did feel a little bit too over the top at times. There is no denying the dynamic he brings, however, and for now he is a welcome addition to the cast.
Aftermath continues to throw everything at us in terms of its monsters. This week we saw a Jubokko, a Japanese tree like creature, which grabs its victims with its tubular branch and drains them of their blood, or in this show drags them underground and does who knows what. The Copeland family just can't catch a break.
One of the more curious scenes in the episode involved Brianna and her father. Joshua listening to music that was, according to his daughter, "before his time," started the scene off ominously. To further make everything peculiar was his talk to Brianna where he seemed uncomfortable and out of place. On top of that, Brianna mentioned how easy it can be for possessed Feverheads to disguise themselves as normal human beings, which seemed like foreshadowing as much as it was a recount of Reverend Brother. Can papa Copeland be possessed? They sure gave viewers a reason to believe that after this scene.
One family member who is definetly not right, is mama Copeland. What is up with the Banshee screaming in her head? The show keeps throwing random stuff at us. Brianna telling her mom that it is a sign someone close to her will die added some suspense. Who will it be? Although the most obvious candidate would be her sister, which it was. The death scene added some much needed emotion to the episode and the series as a whole. It'll be interesting to see how they explore the fallout from this development next week.
Unfortunately, with one recurring cast member written off, we've had another slowly introduced into the cast - creepy, religious 15-year-old boy who is hopelessly in love with Brianna. He is not only annoying to viewers, but apparently within the narrative to Brianna's siblings, as well. Is his character really necessary? There is nothing likeable about him, and I hope he won't still be around by season's end.
We also got some teen romance with the other sister. The dude seems to be a little bit too old to be dating a 15-year-old, but what do I know.
I have to say though, despite all this lame romance occurring, the episode provided some thrills to make up for it. Watching Jeff Quantrell slowly devolve into the possessed Feverhead was creepy. Both Sally and Karen's refusal to shoot him would turn back around and end up being refusals that would lead to Sally's death, sadly.
This theme of killing a Feverhead without hesitation as being the necessary thing to do was definetly a theme of this episode, as emphasized in Brianna's interaction with her dad, and it resonated quite profoundly for a show like Aftermath.
I loved the ending that saw Boone's troops lead the Feverheads into a kill zone - a field of dynamite that would extinguish them all. The resulting effect, the supernatural beings flying into the air, was pretty darn cool, though a little bit of Supernatural influence there.
Overall, Aftermath gave us a refreshing, though not entirely as humorous as he was meant to be, character in Brady's Boone. We got some got relatively strong character moments, compared to the lack of in prior episodes, and some emotional stakes with the death of Sally. The Jibokku and Banshee were interesting creatures of the week. 'A Clatter and a Chatter' was definitely the strongest episode of this young series and hopefully it continues on this momentum.
7/10
