In “Crowd of Demons”, it’s Halloween at The Drake. Cobwebs have been hung in the lobby with care, the smoke monster has transformed into a menacing man … and I’m guessing nothing good is about to happen!
We flash back to 1929 when the smoke monster man is getting into the elevator with an agitated buddy. He’s wigging out about ‘something’ they did, which was supposed to bring them wealth and power, but instead invited evil into their families. Smoke monster man seems to agree, but he’s eerily calm about it. He enters his apartment and greets his little girl not-yet ghost daughter (ooh that’s interesting!), and then his eye starts to twitch. He tells his wife, “In heaven you will be truly happy,” and attacks her with an ax (also interesting, but über ick). Somehow the wife survives long enough to make it to the bedroom, where her daughter is hiding under the bed. Covered in blood, she collapses on the floor, rips off a necklace that she’s wearing and hands it to her daughter. She tells her to it safe and make sure it stays in the family. We see that the necklace is the very same one that Jane treasures, which belonged to her grandmother. So the question becomes … is little girl ghost – gasp – Jane’s grandmother?
Back in the present, everyone is bustling around preparing for a big Halloween bash that’s going to take place in the lobby of The Drake. Naturally, it’s the social event of the witching season! But Gavin is preoccupied by a mysterious enemy who nearly drives over Olivia in the street and keeps sending him threatening texts. “You’re going to pay for everything you’ve done.” Uh-oh. Somebody knows what he did last summer!
Henry has become a local celebrity after saving the commissioner’s life at the mayor’s house. He’s interviewed as a ‘hero’ on TV and is being pursued by a sexy media consultant who wants to turn his 15 minutes of fame into a lifetime! Henry is being modest and playing down the hero talk. It’s probably supposed to be endearing, but it’s actually sickeningly annoying. He secretly dreams of running for office and yet he can’t even accept accolades for a good deed he actually did? Most politicians are notorious for accepting praise for stuff they had nothing to do with! Good luck with that career path, buddy.
Brian and Louise (who we didn’t see last episode) are having an awkward moment about Todd Scott, a hot doctor that Brian caught Louise lying down with. He was only ‘massaging’ her injured ribs, but it looked a little too intimate to Brian. Louise brushes off his concerns and claims she wants to hook Dr. Scott up with Alexis at the party.
Henry and Jane receive goofy Halloween costumes from the Dorans and head to the party dressed as a cowboy and Tippi Hedren from The Birds. Wow… for people with classy taste, the Dorans are officially the worst costume choosers in the world! First of all, those are lame things to dress up as. Second of all, don’t they realize that couples are supposed to be nauseatingly adorable with their matching Halloween costumes? On the way down to the festivities, Henry and Jane share an elevator with the smoke monster man, who is creepily fixated on Jane’s necklace.
Jane is saved from her terrible costume within the first few minutes of the bash when someone spills a drink on her and she excuses herself to go change. Back in her apartment she’s waylaid by the little girl ghost who warns her that “He got out!” Jane finds the suitcase empty and inspects it carefully. She discovers a newspaper article hidden within the lining – about a man who murdered his wife with an axe. She recognizes the little girl ghost as the daughter who escaped … and the man from the elevator as the murderous husband. Instead of heading back downstairs to the comforting safety of a large crowd, Jane sits in her dark apartment and researches the 1929 murder.
Down at the party there’s a bunch of nonsense with Brian and Louise where he keeps worrying about Dr. Scott, she keeps reassuring him, and Alexis keeps planting seeds of doubt. Louise disappears into an elevator with Dr. Scott and Alexis plants a scandalous text message from Dr. Scott on Louise’s phone: “Want you now.” Truthfully the only thing Louise wants from Dr. Scott is his prescription pad. Turns out she used to be a speed addict and her recent painkiller usage has triggered a narcotic dependence. But Alexis succeeds in convincing Brian that his wife is cheating on him.
Gavin’s antagonist makes contact again, showing up in a strange mask to drug and kidnap Olivia. He taunts Gavin over the phone, “I have your wife,” and cuts the power to the building. While the power is down, the masked man breaks into Gavin’s safe, steals a wooden box and leaves his mask. Gavin finds Olivia sleeping safely on the balcony, but is distraught when he discovers the missing box. He can’t figure out the thief’s identify but tells him over the phone, “Whoever you are, wherever you are, I’m coming for you.”
While the power is out, Jane is attacked by the smoke monster man – who is once again wielding his ax. He tells her he has to finish what he started and chases her from floor to floor as she flees in terror. A bystander gets in the way and the smoke monster man sticks the ax in his back and leaves him for dead. Jane is finally cornered in an apartment on the 5th floor (most likely the infamous 5F where the original murder took place) and the smoke monster man repeats his pattern from 1929. His eye twitches, he tells her, “In heaven you’ll be truly happy,” and he swings his ax. But this time Jane ducks out of the way and he strikes the wall instead. The Drake starlings fly out of the wall and swarm aggressively around him while Jane escapes. When the cops investigate, the body of the innocent bystander and any evidence of the smoke monster man have been swallowed into the floor of The Drake. We actually didn’t see the body of the smoke monster man, so it’s possible he escaped the birds and will reappear later. But the floor definitely ate his ax!
The Good:
There was a LOT more to like about this episode than the last one. It felt like there was finally some cohesion in the storytelling.
– Back in the first few episodes we learned about The Order of the Dragon – a secret society of men who met in the basement of The Drake. In this episode we learned that in 1929 at least two men who lived at the Drake were involved in some type of ritual that went badly. Were they members of the Order who unleashed a great evil? Gavin’s plot with his antagonist thief felt connected and I’m wondering if Gavin is not a demonic creature at all but merely a member of the Order who was able to control the evil and use it to his benefit. Something in his stolen box was very precious to Gavin and it might have to do with the source of his power.
– I loved the family connection between Jane and the little girl ghost. It’s a nice twist and it ties her to The Drake. Was she destined to end up in the place where her family suffered a tragedy? It’s interesting because the Dorans keep going on about Henry Henry Henry and how he’s sooo important. Jane is merely a steeping stone to him. But Jane’s the one who’s been sucked into the supernatural world, who is drawn into The Drake.
The Bad:
– I still have a hate on for Henry and his gee gosh golly attitude.
– I don’t care at all about Louise and Brian’s story anymore. At first it seemed like Alexis might be a demonic temptress sent to manipulate Brian into a vulnerable position – maybe to set him up for Gavin to pounce on him. But now it just seems like she’s a crazy slut who has seen Fatal Attraction too many times. She has sex with Dr. Scott just to steal his phone and make it seem like Louise was having an affair? There could be something supernatural involved, but right now it’s being written like a Melrose Place love triangle. No Thank You.
Questions and Concerns:
– If the little girl ghost escaped her father’s wrath … why is she still a little girl? Presumably she grew up, had children and passed the necklace down to members of her family. Otherwise how would Jane have gotten it? So … aren’t ghosts supposed to look exactly the way they looked when they died? Yeah, I’m being silly about this but …
– When Jane researched the murders, why didn’t she make the family connection? Did her grandmother change her name and hide her violent past? It better not turn out that Jane’s grandmother bought the necklace at a flea market and Jane isn’t even related to little girl ghost. I will be PISSED.
Photo Courtesy of ABC