"Damien" reviews - S1 episode 6 'Temptress' (spoilers)
Screencap from Bradley James Fan.net
G-Reelz Damien - Episode 6 & 7 - Review.
Episode 6 also featured another fantastic performance by Bradley James as Damien. His reaction to the real events by the end of the episode were simply crushing
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When we left Damien in Episode 5, he had attempted suicide to put an end to his potential rise as the antichrist. It was a decidedly dark end to th episode but bold in its execution because I believe a lot of material wouldn't go there. So where does that leave is at the start of Episode 6?
We get, yet another, creepily solid episode. Episode 6 was all about misdirection & during most of the episode we're not sure if what we're seeing is entirely real. It all seems too good to be true but the uncertainty leaves us with some very surreal images that have come to set Damien apart from other shows of its type. Episode 6 also featured another fantastic performance by Bradley James as Damien. His reaction to the real events by the end of the episode were simply crushing. He doesn't want to give into his destiny but he's seeing that he may not have much of a choice. His waking life is full of nightmares, as is his sleep.
Then we have Episode 7 which adds some more mythology to series. It's another strong addition to the series & really pushes the boundaries on some of the images the show is throwing at us.
We learn what is needed to kill the antichrist (all 7 daggers in precise locations on his body). The great thing about these tidbits is that we're seeing both sides trying to gain the upper hand. We know the son of the devil is rising but it's interesting to see that some are meant to try to stop it from happening.
The character dynamics and acting once again shine. As Ann, Barbara Hershey is making us second guess her at every turn. Does she want him to embrace his destiny? Does she care about him as a person? She does something in this episode that makes you wonder even more. The dynamic between her & Damien has been a highlight of several episodes and this one is no exception.
I'm curious to see where we are headed with only 3 episodes left. A lot is closing in on many of the characters & you get the feeling no one is quite safe. The improvements on this show have been tremendous & more people need to catch on.
A- (both episodes)
SciFi Bulletin: Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 6: Temptress
There’s a logic to it, albeit one that only becomes apparent towards the end of the episode, and it relies on Bradley James giving the sort of committed performance that he’s demonstrated up to now, but here delivers tenfold
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Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 6: Temptress
Damien begins to realise the truth of what is going on around him…
Okay, if last week’s episode was rather different from the normal run of the mill TV instalment, this one is completely out there - a jump down the rabbit hole, a trip through the looking glass and the full pharmacopeia of the Matrix rolled into one. Richard Hatem’s script begins with a shocking twist that makes you start to query everything you’ve learned about the series and the character of Damien - and then treats that merely as a springboard for a complete reassessment of everyone and everything’s place in the mythos.
There’s a logic to it, albeit one that only becomes apparent towards the end of the episode, and it relies on Bradley James giving the sort of committed performance that he’s demonstrated up to now, but here delivers tenfold. Nothing that Damien has taken for granted seems to be true, whether it’s relationships, his own past, or the events of the past few days. We learn more about Scott Wilson’s John Lyons, while Barbara Hershey is given plenty of strong material, and runs with it - the final shot of her could almost be captioned with the Shakespeare line about “how sharper than a serpent’s tooth…”
Bess Armstrong has an intriguing role in the episode (which I won’t spoil), but suffice it to say that I was reaching the point of returning to the 1976 movie to see just how the pieces slotted together when events reached a critical juncture. It was actually her character’s
involvement that made me realize what had to be happening - particularly knowing the respect which Glen Mazzara and the team have for Richard Donner’s original film.
Director Nick Copus - responsible for the 2009 version of The Day of the Triffids, as well as the recent Mr Freeze run on Gotham - ramps up the horror element of the script, with well-chosen shooting angles and a great use of shadows, as well as some rapid cutting that felt more cinematic than televisual.
It will be very interesting to see what Damien has learned from the events of the episode, and how that plays into his future relationships…
Verdict: Very much playing to the series’ horror roots, this is another powerful episode. 8/10
Paul Simpson
Click here to read our interview with executive producer Glen Mazzara
Voice of TV: Damien - 1x06 Temptress - Recap + Review
All in all, it was another down right creepy episode that had me interested from the beginning to the end.
[Click for full artice (spoilers)]Everything was thought we knew was a lie!
Damien - 1x06 Temptress - Recap + Review
After Damien tried to kill himself last week, we find Damien waking up in hospital this week. To cover up the suicide attempt, Ann convinced a doctor that this was indeed an accidental drug overdose. However, a nurse doesn't agree and decides to keep him longer. Instead, Damien escapes from the hospital to go talk to John Lyons to find more about Ann. He also finds a tattoo artist who tells him that the 666 tattoo on his head was done forcefully. This actually kind of blew my mind because all this time fans of Damien and fans of the film The Omen believed that this was a birthmark. What is happening? Where is this story going? I'm so confused at this point. Is this just one big set up by a couple of psychopaths?
It started to look like that when a doctor called Damien to tell him that they found hallucinogens in his blood. Right off the bat Damien suspects that Ann has been poisoning him in order to plant the whole Antichrist story in his head. Now that he knows this, Damien starts to feel the dark cloud finally lifting. He starts to become happier and feeling like a normal person thinking that Ann is the one who is actually sick in the head. However, that dark cloud suddenly returns when he learns that John Lyons, a man that he trusts, is actually plotting against him with Ann. I guess the saying is true, you can't trust anyone but yourself.
After learning these details, Damien snoops around John's office and steals one of the files that he found in a cabinet drawer. What's inside the file was another big surprise... Damien's mother is alive! WHAT! This story is changing everything we thought we knew. Anyone else starting to feel like your whole life has been a lie?
Anyway, Damien and his mom reunites and share a nice bonding moment. Of course that time was interrupted when Ann came barging in. With Damien's mother furious at Ann, the two fight on top of a staircase. This is never a good idea, we know what's going to happen right? Yep, somebody is going to fall down those stairs and die. Since Ann can't die, at least not yet, it has to be good ole mom. And sure enough it was.
It's kind of sad really. Damien just got his mother back just to lose her all over again. This will send anyone into rage, and it certainly did for Damien, who attacks Ann by wrapping his hands around her throat. It doesn't take long for Ann's bodyguards to rush in and save the day. A huge fight breaks out between Damien and the guys as they try to drug him, but luckily Damien managed to escape unharmed. That was intense.
But Damien is not out of the woods just yet. After he leaves his mother's home, Damien gets arrested by Detective Shay, the man that has been suspicious of Damien for a while now. But don't think Damien is going to jail, in another twist, the Detective parks in a dark alley to meet John Lyons. It appears these two are working for each other and now have bigger plans for Damien. But before they put that plan into action, that creepy old lady makes her return and kill both of them. As it starts to attack Damien, we see him waking up screaming in the ambulance and we soon later realize that the whole thing was a dream. Thank god right? Because some of this stuff was actually pretty messed up.
So now we're at the beginning of the episode where Damien is in the hospital. Ann visits him, but Damien does not want to see her. He tells her he wished he killed her when he had the chance to. She is torn apart to know that Damien hates her, so upset that she leaves the room crying. I started to feel sorry for her, but then I had to ask myself why?
All in all, it was another down right creepy episode that had me interested from the beginning to the end. The episode did a great job with the music and now I am dying to find a club like that in my area. Anyone knows of a place?
It was great to see Scott Wilson returning as John, I hope we will start seeing him more often. I was wondering when were was going to see him again. I hope we'll start seeing him around more often.
And finally, I was relieved to learn that this was all a dream, or maybe a warning, but yeah, none of those twist meant anything because it wasn't real... was it?
Skatronixxx: Damien SN1 EP6 - ‘ Temptress ‘
Holy shit what an episode! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and my mind was working overtimeda trying to process what my eyes were seeing and just when I thought I had my head around it BANG! Mazzara throws another twist into the mix that creates heaps more questions and what you thought was real was actually not or was it? [snip] I really didn’t see a lot of what happened in this episode coming at all and I’m usually pretty good at that…. well-played Glen Mazzara can’t wait for next weeks episode!
[Click for full artice (spoilers)]Damien SN1 EP6 - ‘ Temptress ‘
Holy shit what an episode! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and my mind was working overtimeda trying to process what my eyes were seeing and just when I thought I had my head around it BANG! Mazzara throws another twist into the mix that creates heaps more questions and what you thought was real was actually not or was it? For those of you missed last weeks episode or like me have a bad memory here is a recap below.
SN1 EP5 - ‘ Seven Curses ‘
Damien goes to meet a shrink about this PTSD and while there he meets the family of the little boy he saved at the subway station. The boy’s father was injured while serving in the army and it undergoing treatment. When Damien asks him to let him shoot his agony, the soldier confesses to Damien that he plans to commit suicide and requests Damien to shoot his attempt. Simone steals the keys to Damien’s apartment from Armani and tries to understand what her sister Kell was trying to do before she died in a freak accident. Damien, quite disturbed after the soldier’s suicide goes to his parent’s home and tries to kill himself in the garage by turning on the car engine and injecting himself with something to lose conscious. After he falls unconscious, tow dogs drag him out and stand guard for him.
SN1 EP6 - ‘ Temptress ‘
Ok let’s get into this weeks episode, it was full of twists but has also raised more questions about Damien and his so-called protectors. Damien wakes in hospital only to see Ann trying to convince the doctor that his suicide attempt was an accidental drug overdose, but the doctor is not stupid and knows a suicide when she sees one she calls to tells Damien that Detective Shay will be by later to speak to him. Damien removes the oxygen, gets dressed and escapes from hospital to speak to John Lyons and find out more about Ann. Amani calls Damien and tells him that he has someone who needs to tell him something, when he arrives he meets a tattoos artist that tells him he was forced to tattoo the 666 in his head by to men, and was worried Damien had recognize him from the VA hospital elevator.
Damien receives a call from the doctor and is told they had found hallucinogens in his blood and he suspects that Ann has been poisoning him in order to make him believe he is the Antichrist. Damien goes home and throws out all the food not knowing what was poisoned and what wasn’t, Damien is starting to feel happier now he is starting to realize that the whole Antichrist story is totally fabricated, he tells Simone its like a dark cloud is lifted and then he leans in and starts kissing her? Hold up! what the hell?? That totally came out of nowhere or did I miss something?
Damien sweet talks his way into Lyons office and takes a file of a woman with him and discovers that’s his mother and she is actually alive and living in a quiet countryside estate …. Now I definitely didn’t see that coming it’s totally blindsided me. Damien makes contact with her and meets with her at what looks like his childhood home which struck me as a little odd, she tells him she was told that he and his father were dead and that these people are extremely dangerous. Ann followed Damien to his mother’s home and the struggled and in the struggle Damien’s mum lost her footing and fell down the flight of stairs hitting her head, Damien tries to help her but quickly realizes she is gone. He attacks Ann and grabs her by the throat he is then tackled by two of her goons and they try to inject him with something but he manages to avoid it and runs out of there and drives off but later gets arrested by Detective Shay who leaves Damien in the car and he watches on while the old woman attacks Shay and Lyons and then turns on Damien, he wakes up screaming in an ambulance as they are trying to sedate him. Damien wakes up in a hospital room calling for his mother and Ann rushes to his side to calm him and its then he realizes it was all a dream and tells Ann to go away and leave him alone, she then relizese that he hates her and she is visually upset and leaves the hospital in tears.
I really didn’t see a lot of what happened in this episode coming at all and I’m usually pretty good at that…. well-played Glen Mazzara can’t wait for next weeks episode!
This weeks episode rating:
Fathers on Holy Gore: Damien - Season 1, Episode 6: “Temptress”
This is one of the best openers of any episode yet. Dig it, hard. Makes it all quite exciting. [snip] Love the whole aesthetic of this show. Dark, dreary, though vibrant. [snip] Solid, creepy episode. Very excited for the next episode to see what’s about to happen, as more revelations, more nightmares, more truths come out of the woodwork
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A&E’s Damien
Season 1, Episode 6: “Temptress”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Richard Hatem
After the emotionally devastating “Seven Curses”, Damien Thorn (Bradley James) is being transported to the hospital following his suicide attempt. He wakes to Simone (Megalyn E.K.). She genuinely cares and wants to help. Also kicking around is Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey) trying to make things go smoother for the Antichrist.
Except for now he’s under observation. Detective Shay (David Meunier) is on his way. So Damien slips out, nice and quiet. He heads off to meet Amani (Omid Abtahi) in some sketchy alley, heading down into a below ground club. Someone wants to meet Damien. Very secretive. They meet with a tattoo artist who says two men came and roughed him up, asking for a tattoo to be done on someone who’s passed out. Turns out it was Damien. He apparently tattooed the 666 on his scalp. Or so he claims. Is this true? I don’t think it is. Could it really be the case?
This is one of the best openers of any episode yet. Dig it, hard. Makes it all quite exciting.
Love the whole aesthetic of this show. Dark, dreary, though vibrant.
Amani is shown the tattoo. He explains the artist came looking for him, after seeing Damien at the VA hospital. Too convenient. Everything around Damien’s becoming more and more slippery, in terms of reality. He sees people in the distance, a hooded figure. Now all this about his supposed birthmark being faked. He has no way to latch onto anything real, so the world only becomes further confused.
Doesn’t help that John Lyons (Scott Wilson) muddies the waters. He’s in league with Ann, yet there he is telling Damien all about her, the danger he’s in because of her presence. John gives over a big file filled with countless bits of information.
Damien discovers, from a doctor at the hospital, he was given a dose of some incredibly powerful psychedelics. Wild shit. But Lyons is quick to keep things silent. The doctor wants to let police know. Lyons would rather handle it himself. “We don‘t bring in outsiders to clean up our messes,” he tells Damien.
As the unknowing Antichrist walks the streets, a hooded figure hovers not far away. He ends up meeting with Ann who says she wants to chat. With all the belief instilled by Lyons about Ann waging “psychological warfare” on him, Damien has got his back up. If only he knew. He’s being played on all sides. It really is a setup for complete mental breakdown, as well as the possible emergence of a vicious evil. For now, he rips Ann a new one, even going so far as to verbally threaten her. Yikes.
o Damien goes ahead and tosses out all his food. Until Amani arrives. He captured the meeting with Ann as planned. Then he followed her to a meeting with Lyons. Now Damien’s world, his reality, all those truths are slipping even faster. He manages to sneak his way into Lyons’ office under the pretense of a forgotten phone. He locates a file with his name on it and gets it out undiscovered. Inside is everything frm pictures to documents and tons of other things. Including pictures of a woman, which intrigue him.
And then he meets her: his mother, Mrs. Thorn (Bess Armstrong). She’d been in hospital when her husband tried to kill Damien, then under the impression they’d both died.
Although, is this all too convenient? Would Lyons really keep a file on Damien with such important, damning evidence right in his desk? All of a sudden, his mother pops up and claims there was nothing ever wrong with him, that she was sucked into thinking all those Antichrist-like things about him by Mrs. Baylock and the like. This feels like an elaborate scheme. Because nothing good can ever come to the Antichrist, can it?
Of course Ann arrives. Then she and Mrs. Thorn have a pretty tense argument. An accident, on Damien’s part, causes his mother to fly down a staircase, cracking her skull along the way. Too good to be true. Ann says she’ll keep his actions a secret, pissing him off enough to strangle her. He ends up having to wrestle her henchmen. We get to see Damien kick some ass here, too. He’s pretty tough when he wants to be, taking them down and getting the hell out of Dodge.
But what did Ann mean when she asked if Damien’s mother would tell him who she really is? Who is she truly? Another ruse on Lyons’ part?
When Damien goes to see Simone, something is not right. Everything feels wrong. He heads back out to the streets, and sees smoething even stranger: Amani meeting with Ann. They sit together at a fancy restaurant outdoors. Or at least that’s what Damien thinks he sees. Detective Shay comes out of nowhere and picks him up, wondering exactly what happened with Damien’s mother, wondering what the hell is going on at all; especially after the events he experienced at home a couple episodes. Pleading to be taken seriously, Damien brings Shay to meet the tattoo artist. Problem being the man is dead, murdered, driven through with a bunch of daggers. The plot thickens.
Things are very complicated for Damien. Everything he says is like a dead end because there are too many questions about his mental health involved. He seems absolutely crazy. Right down to a bit of blood Simone smeared on his shirt, actually from a steak, which does him no favours. At all.
And life only gets stranger. Shay drives Damien in a cop car, they stop in the dark and then Lyons gets in. He doesn’t seem too happy with Damien and what’s been going on. But what is it that’s happening here? Is this reality? Outside, something attacks both Lyons and Shay. A bunch of somethings. They climb inside the car, terrorizing Damien.
Then he wakes up in an ambulance right after his suicide attempt. The EMTs look like the two henchmen from earlier. Was it all a dream?
He’s awake again, for real this time. In the hospital, Ann waits by his side, comforting him. The whole dream crushes him. He’d hoped none of the Antichrist business was real. And he really hoped Ann was actually dead. Too bad, so sad. He drives her away for now. The emerging Antichrist in him is causing everything to crumble. How can he ever be sure what’s real and what isn’t? His waking life is filled with nightmares, so is his sleep.
Solid, creepy episode. Very excited for the next episode to see what’s about to happen, as more revelations, more nightmares, more truths come out of the woodwork. Next up is “Abattoir”, so stay tuned with me!
Geeks of Doom: TV Review: Damien 1.6 “Temptress”
This was one of the best episodes so far, and now Damien appears more aware of what’s going on and who he can and can’t trust. All things look positive going forward.
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TV Review: Damien 1.6 “Temptress”
Damien
Season 1 Episode 6: “Temptress”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Richard Hatem
Created by Glen Mazzara
Starring Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Megalyn EK, Omid Abtahi, Scott Wilson, David Meunier, Tiffany Hines
Air Date: Monday, April 11th, 2016, 10pm
Last week on Damien, after a mindtrip around the VA hospital last week culminated with him assisting a patient with suicide, Damien (Bradley James) went to his family’s estate, locked himself in the garage, turned the car on, and went to sleep. Of course, he didn’t succeed in killing himself; a couple of canine companions showed up to drag his carcass from the vehicle. Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey) tells the doctors it was an accident brought on by substance abuse… but Damien is tired of the copious amount of death that surrounds him.
Spoilers below.
He awakes in the hospital and Simone (Megalyn Echikunwoke) is there. She was stalking around Damien’s apartment when a pair of masked men came in and turned the place over, so she’ll have some conversation with him when the time comes I imagine. When he hears that Detective Shay (James Meunier) is en route to talk with him, he bails. He meets Amani (Omid Abtahi) at a goth club and meets a tattoo artist with an incredible story. It seems a few months two large goons showed up and dragged a body out of the trunk of a car for a tattoo. The unconscious guy was Damien and the tattoo was the 666 on his head… whoa!?!?
Damien goes to John Lyons (Scott Wilson) and is given a folder of decades old intel on Ann Rutledge with a warning - she is psychotic. Info in the folder includes an FBI file linking her to a “religious cult”. The doctor informs them that they found traces of a South American plant that causes hallucinations in Damien’s bloodstream, hence the crazy visions at the VA. Damien meets Ann for lunch and calls her out directly for all the lies and messing with his life. She tries to explain, but he flat out threatens her life on his way out. This probably won’t bode well for him.
Damien’s new lust for life doesn’t last long, as Amani tracks Rutledge to a meeting with Lyons, and Damien now knows he is being played on both ends. He goes back to Lyons’ office and takes a folder on himself and finds his mother (!?!?) Damien meets her (Bess Armstrong)… but the show has followed the film so well that we, the audience know his mother is dead. Lee Remick played her in the film and she was thrown out a hospital window by Mrs. Baylock. So is this an imposter trying to lure him deeper into the trap? We don’t have to wait too long because Rutledge shows up and soon after his mother is dead. Another tragic accident…
When he returns back, suddenly Simone and Amani are mysteriously against him, and when Detective Shay shows up and accompanies him to the tattoo parlor, they find the artist stabbed to death with the megido daggers. Shay then picks up Lyons and… attacked by old demon women… sonofabitch… I fell for the ol’ “it’s a dream episode”!!! Damn I’m usually better than that!
Despite being upset with myself for not seeing a cliched plot device, touché to the show because this episode was all sorts of f’ed up. One thing Damien knows for sure from his carbon dioxide induced nightmare, he wants nothing to do with Ann Rutledge. This was one of the best episodes so far, and now Damien appears more aware of what’s going on and who he can and can’t trust. All things look positive going forward.
Damien is back with a new episode next Monday night at 10:00 on A&E.