Episode 5 of season 3 was written by Mallory Westfall, Justin Boyd and Nick Antosca and directed by Arkasha Stevenson.
The series finale of Butcher's Block premieres on Wednesday, March 14 at 10pm Eastern Time on SYFY!
The opening scene has the chief 'seeing' his dead son standing next to him, in his kitchen. They look at each other, ominously. Aldous knocks on the door: "time to face the music, chief." Aldous is quietly terrifying.
Zoe, in the Peach summer house, reflects back on her own disease extraction. She seems to know that she's made a mistake. A slumbering Alice has an admirer in the tiny, red-hooded Peach.
Zoe sneaks around the mansion and hears the Peaches discussing Izzy; that she is marked and if they don't find her: "he won't be merciful."
Zoe finds the red door and tries to enter. It won't allow her to and she is terrified by what she feels is on the other side of the door.
Aldous and two of the tiny Peaches are taken by the chief to the Robert and Luke's grave. Aldous: "did you forget how to count?" There is only one body in the grave. The chief tells Aldous that Luke paid the price: "family for family." Lord, does this guy have a heart?
Aldous tells him that the children can smell his blood and they will find Luke. He holds the children's hands like I held my own children's hands when they were little.
Luke is alive! Louise is shown stitching an unconscious Luke's neck with her taxidermist's tools and speaking to him quietly about her deeply troubled, long-lost brother: "his two feet would never walk in the same direction."
Her brother even bit off the top of her finger during one of their big fights. After he disappeared from Butcher's Block, she, sadly, felt relieved: "a person can only give so much and then they've got nothing left to go around."
Side note: Krisha Fairchild (Louise) recently revealed that she is actually missing the top of her finger due to breaking up a dog fight a few years back.
Luke awakens not in too much pain since Louise has given him some of the girl's 'nasty habit' pills. He's also lost his ability to speak.
Back upstairs, Alice is the epitome of the 1950s housewife. She hears sounds in the walls. Zoe confronts Alice. She wants to go find Izzy. Alice wants to stay.
Even after seeing Zoe's self-inflicted wounds. Zoe: "you will be VERY, VERY hungry." Alice feels that anything is better than going insane. She just wants to feel protected and taken care of, for once. Who doesn't?
Zoe is turning into the hero of the story; the strong one. Alice 'drank the Kool-Aid.'
After discovering a gruesome garden of mangled hands, Zoe finds the witty, riddle loving gardener who asks about his name: "is that who I am or what I do?" She asks him how to get through the red door. He whispers: "a child."
Alice, still hearing the sounds behind the walls, finds Izzy as her head is birthed out by the wall. It is a strange sight. Alice tells her to hide for just a little bit longer and pushes her head back into the wall.
Side note: I noticed a beautiful portrait of Aldous on the wall, next to Izzy's head. I asked Bradley Sawatzky (Aldous) if he was able to keep the painting. He didn't answer yes or no just: "who wouldn't want an oil painting of themselves?" The art department, beautifully, went above and beyond on this production.
Alice asks Peachy if they are going to hurt Izzy. He lies: "we don't eat children." Alice divulges Izzy's location.
We see Edie and Meatman leading Izzy to the red door. Who wouldn't trust a sweet-talking pregnant lady? She says to Izzy: "let's go home," knowing that all Izzy truly wants is to go home.
Aldous shows up at Louise's and she takes Luke to the basement, in refuge. We hear three gunshots and the chief appears in the basement. Louise does not trust him. I wonder why?
The chief wants to explain saying that he was trying to spare Luke from being viciously killed by the Peaches; telling them that: "this ain't the mob, son, you can't go to the Feds for help."
Luke writes a note: "what now?" His dad says that they have to leave town now, but Luke wants to stay and help the people of Garrett. Louise asks the chief: "are you with us or them?" The chief and Louise get down to beheading the Peaches. Why saws this time instead of the lopper? Much more work involved.
Back upstairs, Zoe tries, in vain, to convince Alice to find Izzy and go back downstairs. Alice won't relent. Zoe: "which is worse, Alice, losing your mind or giving it away?"
Alice's extraction ceremony is upon her and she dresses beautifully all in white with Meatman escorting her to the chapel-like room. It is much more extravagant then Zoe's ceremony. Maybe, it was Alice they wanted all along.
Alice is escorted to an altar that is alit with candles. Zoe is there with the rest of the family. She looks very sad and disappointed as Peachy dunks the back of Alice's head into a pool of blood. The church-like music adds to the creepy feel of the ceremony.
Peachy extracts a long, multi-legged bug 'father time' from Alice's throat. The family, except for Zoe, is truly excited. Alice seems as happy as Zoe once was. Alice falls into Peachy's arms as they warmly embrace. Can Alice ever come back from this? How quickly the roles have reversed since episode 1.
Louise and the chief labor hardily to 'Marie Antoinette' Aldous and the 'kids.' Zoe goes to the red door and musters the courage to enter. She finds Izzy lying on the eight point starred floor. She grabs her and hears their god growling, sees the obscene, horned figure and runs.
They find a door and Zoe tells Izzy to descend to safety and go to Louise's house if Zoe doesn't come for her. She wants to try one more time to save her sister. Sisters do not give up on each other.
Zoe finds Alice, in a complete state of bliss. She tells Alice the truth about the Peaches 'feeding' Izzy to their god. Zoe tells Alice that she remembers how Alice is feeling: "it's like you don't have a care in the world."
Alice won't go. Zoe: "Alice, please wake up." Alice says she knows what they were going to do to Izzy. Zoe takes a brave step and eats Alice's 'father time:' "I want to go back to the way I was."
Louise and the chief are exhausted, sitting on the blood-soaked cellar floor. The chief tries to convince them to leave town, recalling a story about Luke always trying to help people: "you can't save everyone, you've got to take care of the ones that you love and not so much the less important ones, got me, son?"
Luke does not get him. He seems to have had enough of his cynical, once-admired father and from his lying position on a couch shoots him. Louise's gasp sounded as if she was truly as shocked as the viewer.
Alice, seated at the formal dining table with her new family, still looks blissful. And, unlike Zoe, she digs right in, devouring her meal. The family notices that Zoe is missing. Alice says that she's gone downstairs. The Peaches panic.
Peachy takes the red-hooded, tiny Peach in hand and they go through the red door. Izzy is gone and their god is mad. Joseph Peach: "god, I am your servant, don't be angry with us, please I'll bring her back to you."
Their god is not having it. His power pulls the tiny Peach from Peachy's grasp and the gruesome sound of something being ripped apart stuns Joseph. The screams are shrouded in the darkness.
Zoe escapes, descending the stairs, running through the woods, hopefully to safety?
Random thoughts: Of course, another wonderful episode. I can't wait to see how it ends. But, I will miss it terribly and wish that it were a few episodes longer.
Is 'father time' actually representative of our humanity?
This series has you questioning everything: upstairs/downstairs, heaven/hell, dead/alive, good/evil. Which end is up? Hopefully, some questions will be answered this week.
Louise and Luke are a dynamic duo.
Butcher's Block would make a fabulous big-screen movie!
