This episode had some major revelations about the season’s mystery.
In addition to those revelations Ace found himself involved in a new mystery when an unidentifiable body came into the morgue.
The shocked spirit called out to Ace in an attempt to understand what happened to her. The only thing Ace manages to figure out is that the victim is not who the authorities assume she is.
I can’t help but think this woman’s death is going to feed into the Sin Eater storyline somehow.
Nancy and Nick spent the episode in investigative mode. They were focused on learning the Sin Eater’s first sin in order to kill it.
Using one of Nick’s inventions forced door to show them the ceremony that created The Sin Eater.
It didn’t reveal the first sin, but it did help them recognize the importance of a mural in the back of the courtroom where Bess’ trial was being held.
George’s next lesson, in her quest to become a lawyer, is that you can’t control what your client does, regardless of how much you care about them.
Bess didn’t make this an easy lesson for George to learn. It’s gonna be a work in progress.
When they got to court, the FFTH had a huge surprise for Bess. They dropped the breaking and entering charges against her in exchange for what sounded to me like legal gobbledygook.
Basically, if Bess recants everything she’s said and believes about the history of Horseshoe Bay, all legal actions against her would be dropped and she would be allowed to continue to run the Historical Society.
We’ve been seeing this type of fight happening in states across America over the last few years. Small segments of the public trying to remove the unpleasant facts of American history from schools.
The show is doing an excellent job of telling a compelling story that looks at our society in an effort to get us to pay attention and think about what’s happening in the world around us.
Too frequently, when they try this in film, the message becomes more important than the story.
These writers are more focused on telling a compelling, well crafted story, and it is paying off.
When Bess’ girlfriend, whom we haven’t seen for quite a few episodes reappeared, it wasn’t just to offer Bess support in court.
Addy’s appearance served both main stories of the episode; getting Nancy the information she needs to kill The Sin Eater and providing ammunition for Bess to use in calling out the FFTH’s true motives.
Now we know why the dinner with Addy’s parents was such a big deal in “The Maiden's Rage.” The Soctomahs had the answer Nancy needed.
They grew up hearing about that first sin and as teens had tried to expose it.
Two of the town founders Douglas Marvin and Reverend Hudson killed Odette Lamar before reaching Horseshoe Bay.
It’s not really a surprise that they and their fellows kidnapped the children of the indigenous community, a community they had been peacefully living with.
They didn’t just kill these children. They used them as guinea pigs to perfect the creation of The Sin Eater.
This spirits of the people killed when they tried to rescue their children left a ghostly imprint of that heinous action in the walls of the courthouse.
The mural was painted to coverup the imprint. Addy’s parents were arrested for trying to reveal the imprint.
When Bess formerly rejected the FFTH’s offer, she did so by rather dramatically exposing the imprint.
Bess’ speech and demonstration were awesome. No-one had a clue what to do with it.
Well, Mrs. Farquar had an idea. She immediately began her public opinion campaign.
Her expression when the imprint was revealed left me believing that she truly does not believe in the supernatural.
The only thing that would have made Bess’ demonstration better, for me, was if the guy who supported Nick in the first town council meeting (when Nick tried to get the council to test the water) had been there.
I was worried that the judge was going to be more biased. Bess was found innocent of the criminal charges, but guilty of mismanaging public funds (purchasing artifacts with city money, maybe?).
Unfortunately, that meant Bess lost control of the Historical Society.
How much trouble do you guys think Mrs. Farquar will cause? Is she stupid enough to open or destroy the containment unit? (I just had a “Ghostbusters” flashback. LOL)
Armed with the first sin stored in a cool gadget Bess found that distills the essence of spoken truths into a liquid, Nancy sets off to kill The Sin Eater.
The books Nancy stole contained a lot of information about the creation of The Sin Eater and how to use The Black Door.
Nick didn’t find the critical information hidden in the binding of the book until after Nancy left to fulfill her task.
I should have seen it coming.
Once again, I have to applaud the writers. The groundwork they laid throughout the season was so thorough that my expectations, based on the opening scenes of the episode, were completely wrong.
Ryan’s feud with the Glasses, the return of the supernatural stomach pump, and Nancy accepting the date with Tristan all had me expecting a Romeo & Juliet type romance story between the feuding families.
Those elements were all so tied to other season arc stories that it never occurred to me to consider them a setup to the reveal at the end of the episode.
I was completely unprepared for Tristan to exit in that manor.
I am rarely caught off guard.
When this season started (and through the first few episodes of the season) I was worried that I would be disappointed with the final season of the series.
I am not disappointed. In fact I’m looking forward to seeing how this story ends.
Ranking: 10
Bess had her day in court. Ace discovered a new mystery. More sins of the Horseshoe Bay Town Founders were revealed. And we learned what The Sin Eater is, how it was created, and why it was such a devastating revelation.
