Beyond: Season 1/ Episode 9 "Out of Darkness" – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Who perhaps is the true evil one of the show reveals themselves and the mask is lifted.

Topic 1: Hello Little Sis (Charlie)

We learn Tess wants Charlie dead and has tasked Mustard Jacket to handle it. Alongside that, we meet Charlie’s sister Annabelle (Raquel McPeek Rodriguez) and learn she is deaf.

Commentary

With Switched at Birth having its final season, it’s nice to know FreeForm isn’t going to outright abandon the deaf community. One actor, one more who gets exposure and gets to show their talent, is important. For while FreeForm isn’t like the Disney Channel and churning out star after star, every role, every additional episode seen, it helps.

I was watching Will Packer, who has produced a lot of movies featuring Black talent, on The Breakfast Club and speaking as a produce he noted that his discovery of talent often happens by chance or due to third parties. Kevin Hart, for example, he discovered thanks to his son playing his comedy specials over and over. Now, relaying this to Ms. Rodriguez, she was an extra on Switched at Birth and now has a semi-regular role on one of the network’s newest properties.

Though considering Tess wants Charlie handled, for reasons I don’t mentally get since she isn’t much of a threat to them, maybe I speak too soon?

Topic 2: You’re So Selfish/ I Owe You Nothing (Dr. Frost, Willa, and Holden)

Dr. Frost reveals himself to be the true villain of the series for despite, originally, saying Holden could leave if he said no, that wasn’t really a true option. He wants his wife back by any means so he forces Holden to stay and says he will help him. Luckily for him, Jeff, alongside Willa and Luke, try to rescues Holden but Willa and Luke are caught. Leading to a Daughter/ Father moment in which Willa tries to negotiate for Holden’s release, on some “you owe me that much” type of power play, but then he reminds her that she is the reason her mom ended up in a coma so he was just fixing the mistake which was her. Well, he didn’t take it that far but he was certainly nasty about it.

Commentary

The best antagonist doesn’t become hated due to killing someone or even ordering someone’s death really. It is all about attitude, cutting and slicing people with their words, and Dr. Frost gave Willa a flesh wound with him making it seem Celeste died because Willa put her in a coma. An issue he tried to fix, but the mistake which caused the coma was too grave. Sort of leading to the thought, how do a lot of parents who lost their wives or partners to childbirth feel about the child who survives? The only other show, offhand, I can think of which addresses this topic is Game of Thrones and it handles things in an oddly similar manner.

That aside, does anyone else feel a cliffhanger coming on or is it just me?

Topic 3: What Would You Do, Do For Love? (Dr. Frost & Holden)

Like with how Frost tricked Holden into thinking he could just leave, it seems he tricked Willa into thinking maybe he would let Holden go. Truth is, he had no plans to. Now Willa is being used as some sort of ploy to get Dr. Frost what he has always wanted. To be taken to the gate, to cross that bridge, and to see his beloved Celeste once more. Something that keeps being pushed as something only Holden can do, despite his memories not returning in full, but I guess with his powers offering protection, which will keep Frost from returning damaged like the many he has sent out into the realm, he pursues what he wants. Which is what he gets for Holden agrees to help Frost if solely for the sake of Willa.

Commentary

It’s interesting to me how with Dr. Frost seems to know so much about Holden, and his powers, but we aren’t necessarily told how. Like, what triggered him to send Mustard Jacket to watch over Holden? How do they know what great powers he had? It still isn’t clear if those being we saw in the last episode were Dr. Frost’s reps or else beings of the realm. Though I must say, again, considering how they have made the realm seem like the long journey toward the next world, you’d think they would have done more with it. We see images of it nearly every episode but in flashbacks, they don’t have Frost’s people spying on Holden, there are no angels or what have you watching, stalking, and then attacking Holden. The place is touted as dangerous yet all we have seen are wolves, birds, and these Pan’s Labyrinth meets Spy Kids things. All of which, likely due to budget, don’t seem to live and roam but just show up.

Making it where, honestly, I think the only thing which may make the finale pop or jaw dropping is a Charlie death. For the realm has been so avoided, so underdeveloped in terms of mystique and crafting the dangers of that world, that it makes a weak focal point. Even with Arthur and Dr. Frost both wishing to have some realm of control over it and it being put on a pedestal.

Things to Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Willa is 26 based off Dr. Frost saying he lost the woman he loved 26 years ago.
2. Luke is still locked in a bedroom but, thanks to Holden’s MacGyver abilities, he may have a way out. Though with Jeff also not locked up, there is the guardian angel.
3. Diane confronts Ian about Hollow Sky and it doesn’t seem like he is on a Mustard Jacket level. He is just sipping the kool-aid and hoping for answers.

Collected Quote(s)

[…] miracles don’t simply happen. They’re a product of a limitless imagination and just a little bit of moxie.

—           “Out of Darkness.” Beyond