"Damien" episode 10 reviews and BTS cast photo
Cast and crew at showrunner Glen Mazzara's Los Angeles house for the Damien finale on 9 May 2016.
@MarkhKruger All for u @glenmazzara @kcperry2 @BradleyJames @AbtahiOmid @BarbaraHershey8 @david_meunier
Project Fandom: Damien - S1E10 - Ave Satani
Performances: Bradley James. MVP. Enough said. - 10/10 [MVP-Most Valuable Player]
Everything about Ave Satani is superb. It’s the perfect payoff for a season that moved slowly at first, then roller-coasted to that final moment. The music, the performances, the violence, death, and twists - each of these things worked. Glen Mazzara, the show’s creator and this episode’s writer, has delivered on his promise.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
Damien - S1E10 - Ave Satani
Previously on Damien: “The Devil You Know”
Where to start? So much happens in Damien’s season one (hopefully) finale, that a recap is never going to do it justice. But I shall endeavour.
Following on immediately from last week, Damien and Simone are on the run from Sister Greta and her acolytes, but John Lyons and his private army quickly catch up with them. Lyons tried to sweet talk Damien into taking his side and gives him a big speech, but when Damien steadfastly refuses his offer, Lyons orders his army to shoot Simone and grab Damien. In an extraordinary scene, Damien uses his nascent power to command the army to kill each other, with the last man standing committing suicide. There is no turning back for Damien now. John Lyons knows this.
Meanwhile, Ann Rutledge mourns over her daughter’s dead body, and doesn’t take kindly to Amani blaming her for Veronica’s death. He’s strapped to a chair for his troubles. Lyons storms in and promises to make Sister Greta pay dearly. When he captures her, he practically congratulates her for “turning the Beast loose.” He has the rest of the nuns shot dead and thrown into the grave Greta had marked out for Damien. Then he brings Greta back to Ann, who promises her a death as horrible as the one Veronica faced. Ann Rutledge gloats: “Satan is God. Long may He reign.” It’s curtains for our favourite German exorcist!
Lyons quizzes Amani as to Damien’s whereabouts, and threatens his family in Beirut if he doesn’t give up the information. Amani genuinely doesn’t know, so both he and Greta are brought back to the scene of Greta’s attempted exorcism, where Amani is shot after he puts Greta in with her dead colleagues. Greta and Amani are then buried alive. Greta cries out to God to say the word and she will be healed. Her pleas go unanswered. Or do they? Because some time later, the ground rumbles and a hand appears, Carrie-like, from the grave. Whose hand it is, we don’t get to see,
Damien and Simone continue their escape by stopping a car on a bridge. The carjacked driver proclaims her love for Damien and proceeds to jump off the bridge. In a satisfying moment for Simone, she slaps the shit out of the woman before she goes through with her suicide attempt.
They end up at Powell’s caravan, where Damien cleans himself up and Simone examines one of the Megiddo daggers. Damien warns her to run while she still has a chance, saying he’ll kill her as he killed her sister Kellie. Simone elects to stay, thinking that she can rein him in if he goes too far. But the old lady from Damien’s visions is nearby, as is the freaky little girl from episode two, who Detective Shay sees as he speeds to Damien’s location. Shay is plagued by visions and voices of his own, thinking he’s run over his son Jacob as he’s distracted by a call to his husband.
Meanwhile, the Vatican send a group of Holy Hitmen, each armed with one of the remaining daggers, to finish the job that Greta started.
The season’s endgame begins when Damien realizes he must go to Megiddo itself, where the Last Battle - Armageddon - will take place. It’s where his father went, so he thinks - he knows - it’s where he should be. But as they leave the caravan, Detective Shay arrives and opens fire. Lyons and Ann arrive at the same time, too. There’s an almighty firefight, with Shay caught in the crossfire. He goes down, wounded, but not fatally so.
Lyons calls upon Damien to “Deliver us now!” but Ann has her own agenda. She betrays Lyons, telling Damien that he had Amani killed. Damien loses what control he has and sets the Hounds (yes, they’re back - all three of them) on Lyons. He’s a goner, a victim of his own success. Shay takes another shot at Damien but hits Simone instead, apparently killing her.
Damien is distraught and shouts at the heavens, to his “Father”, imploring Him to save Simone, saying he’ll do what is asked of him. The mark on his scalp, the 666, bleeds, and the blood falls on Simone, reviving her immediately. This is exactly what Ann wants to happen and it is precisely at this time that a host of acolytes appear from the forest. Everyone kneels before Damien: the acolytes, Ann, even - surprisingly - Detective Shay, who has seen enough shit for the day. Ann crosses her two daggers in front of the newly crowned Antichrist. Damien takes it all in and in a moment that reminded me straightaway of the final scene from The Omen, Damien turns and looks at the camera. He looks at me, at you.
Everything about Ave Satani is superb. It’s the perfect payoff for a season that moved slowly at first, then roller-coasted to that final moment. The music, the performances, the violence, death, and twists - each of these things worked. Glen Mazzara, the show’s creator and this episode’s writer, has delivered on his promise. I mentioned way back in the premiere that Damien had big shoes to fill. Audiences were used to the high production values and chills from Hannibal and Bates Motel, and the onus was on Damien to take its seat proudly at their table. I think it has done so admirably. Okay, it hasn’t been all perfect. Omid Abtahi’s character Amani Golkar struggled to find a decent arc in this season and I would be surprised if he returns in season two. Please, let there be a second season. But by and large, all the major players had satisfying arcs, and I couldn’t find much fault with how the show carried itself in terms of atmosphere and suspense.
Some questions remain:
Who’s hand is it we see coming out of the grave?
Now that Damien has ascended to Beasthood, is that it for him, or will he continue to struggle with his humanity?
The seven daggers are now in play. The Vatican Hit Squad has four, Ann has two, and Simone is seen with the final one. Will they be used against the Antichrist next season? Please, let there be a second season.
Is it the end of the world as we know it, or will good (love) conquer all?
We hope to find out soon. I’ll leave you with this classic shot.
TheOmen
Damien S1E10 = 9.5/10
Plot: Bang on the money. Everything this season has been planned carefully for the finale. - 10/10
Action: Lots of it. The pace and tension never let up. - 10/10
Dialogue: Much improved over the ten episodes. The writers and characters found their voices at the right moment. - 8/10
Performances: Bradley James. MVP. Enough said. - 10/10
[Click for more episode 10 reviews (spoilers)]Legion of Leia: Damien Recap and Review: S1 E10 ‘Ave Satani’
This episode was insane. I wanted to give it a standing ovation. It definitely deserved it. [snip]. What has made this season so completely compelling is the inner struggle that Damien has been fighting with. Bradley James has done such an amazing job playing into that duality, too.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien Recap and Review: S1 E10 ‘Ave Satani’
The Season 1 Finale of Damien begins with Damien and Simone running through the woods away from Sister Greta and her cult. They run into a convoy of military trucks that are being commanded by John Lyons. John pleads with Damien to trust him, but Damien won’t have it. John tells Damien just how powerful Armitage is, and that the entire company is ready for his rule. When Damien still refuses, John orders the soldiers to shoot Simone in the head, and then to capture Damien. However, Damien uses his otherworldly power to cause the soldiers to shoot each other, and the last soldier standing to shoot himself. Damien and Simone are then able to make their escape, and John Lyons is left all alone.
Ann Rutledge and Amani have made it back home with a deceased Veronica. Amani tells Ann that her daughter’s death is her own fault. Ann brought her into this world of darkness, and therefore it is her fault that Veronica is now dead. Ann has her goons remove Amani from the room, and she breaks down in tears. John shows up at Ann’s house and tells her that they have to move. This is the moment they’ve been waiting for, and they can’t lose Damien now.
John returns to the woods with more soldiers and retrieves Sister Greta. Sister Greta feels that she has failed, but Lyons tells her that she has not failed, but turned the Beast loose. He asks her where Damien went, but she does not know. John then tells his soldiers to bring Greta along with them, but to kill the other members of her group.
A bloody, shirtless Damien is walking across a bridge and he and Simone begin to steal a car from a woman driving near them. The woman exits her car and immediately starts to profess her love for Damien. She is about to throw herself over the bridge when Simone stops her. Simone asks Damien to help her save the woman, but he seems more concerned with taking her car. Eventually, Simone slaps the woman, and she seems to snap out of her state a little. Simone doesn’t want to leave the woman alone, but eventually the gets into the car with Damien and they drive away.
John has brought Sister Greta to Ann Rutledge. Ann wants revenge for her daughter. Ann takes great pleasure in pointing out, once again, Sister Greta’s epic failure in trying to stop the Anti-Christ. Sister Greta says that her failure does not matter, because there are others at the Vatican who will pick up where she left off, and will succeed.
We are then taken to the Vatican, where a monk is gathering up the remaining Daggers of Megiddo into a steel briefcase. Several other monks pack various blades into similar briefcases, and then they all leave to go to war against the Anti-Christ.
Damien and Simone arrive at the mobile home where Damien accosted Charles Powell. Damien cleans his wounds while Simone looks around. Simone finds pictures of Damien and Charles, and questions where they are. Damien tells her that it belonged to someone he went to school with, and that he killed him, too. Simone begins to clutch the Dagger of Megiddo she retrieved from Sister Greta closely, but Damien tells her that it will take a lot more than that if she wants to protect herself from him.
Meanwhile, Sister Greta is slowly bleeding to death while Ann taunts her. Ann and Sister Greta then get into an argument as to whether Satan or God is the better Lord. Neither is willing to change their opinions, and Ann tells Sister Greta that Satan is God.
Lyons questions Amani as to where Damien is. Amani doesn’t know, but Lyons doesn’t believe him. Amani asks what Lyons wants of Damien, but John won’t answer. John threatens Amani’s living relatives in order to try to get an answer out of Amani. John tells Amani that it’s too late for loyalty.
In the mobile home, Damien tells Simone to run. Simone tells him that she’s dead if she leaves, so she’s not going to go anywhere. Damien tries to push her away by saying that he killed Kelly, and he doesn’t want to kill Simone. It doesn’t work, and Simone begins to clean Damien’s wounds. There’s a brief moment when she cleans his feet that is very reminiscent of Jesus cleaning the disciple’s feet in the New Testament. In this case, however, the disciple is cleaning the lord’s foot, further perpetuating the mirrored aspect between the Christ and the Anti-Christ.
John and Ann have brought Sister Greta and Amani to the site where Damien was tortured. John orders Amani to put Sister Greta into the grave that had been dug for Damien. John tells Amani that if he doesn’t, he will destroy Amani’s hometown. Sister Greta tries to comfort Amani, and Amani slowly lets her down into the grave. John then shoots Amani in the stomach, and pushes him into the grave. Sister Greta holds Amani, cries, and prays. She is not ready to die. However, as she is praying, one of John’s henchmen begins to pour dirt on them.
Damien tells Simone that he plans on going against Armitage and the church. Simone tries to appeal to who he used to be, telling him that he isn’t a killer. Damien disagrees, though, and in that moment flies begin to pour out of Simone’s mouth. It almost seems as if she is about to die, but Damien grabs her arms and tells her that she’s ok, and the flies disappear. We then see that the mysterious old woman is standing outside of the mobile home, smiling.
Ann and John have their goons searching for Damien, but they are having no luck. They feel as if they are on the even of Damien’s ascension, and they need to be with him. Neither Ann nor John know where Damien could be, however, when John says to set the church on fire, Ann realizes where Damien is, at the mobile home of the friend whom he set on fire.
After a quick scene where we see a hand pop out of the filled in grave, we see Detective shay driving down the road. He hallucinates hitting his son with his car. After he realizes it is nothing more than a hallucination, he continues on his journey.
A monk is waiting on a helicopter to land. The monks from the Vatican we saw earlier are exiting the helicopter with their silver suitcases in tow. They all get into unmarked vehicles and keep traveling.
Detective Shay has arrived at the Mobile home where Simone is sleeping, and Damien is looking at the Dagger of Megiddo. Simone wakes up to find Damien staring at her. Damien tells her that he is going to go to Megiddo. He knows that is where Armageddon is supposed to be fought, his father went there, and the daggers are from there, so he must go there.
Simone and Damien are able to sneak away just as Ann and John arrive with their soldiers. Damien and Simone are running from the soldiers, but Detective Shay stops them. Damien uses his powers to have the soldiers take out Shay with a flash bang, and he and Simone continue running. Eventually, the soldiers surround Damien and Simone. As they are trapped, John and Ann approach them. Damien reminds Ann that she swore never to hurt him, and Ann says she is there to protect him. Damien says that if they let Simone go, he will go with them. John begins to say that he will allow Simone to live, but Ann cuts him off and tells Damien that John is lying. She tells Damien that John will kill Simone, just as he killed Amani earlier. When Damien hears about Amani’s death, he is livid. Rottweilers appear and attack John. Simone tries to calm Damien down, because she does not want Damien to become a killer. However, Shay catches up with them in that moment, and accidentally shoots Simone in the head. Damien is beside himself with grief. He screams to the heavens that he will do whatever it takes if Simone is allowed to live. In an otherworldly voice, he commits his soul to his father, Satan. With this declaration, the birthmark on his scalp begins to bleed, and when the blood drops onto Simone, she is resurrected. Damien helps Simone to her feet, and when they look around they see that everyone around them is kneeling before Damien. Apparently this pleases Damien, and he begins to smile, ending the episode, and the season.
This episode was insane. I wanted to give it a standing ovation. It definitely deserved it. Damien has now come full circle and has ascended as the Beast. I really wonder what this is going to mean for the character. I really hope that the struggle between the light and dark is not gone now. What has made this season so completely compelling is the inner struggle that Damien has been fighting with. Bradley James has done such an amazing job playing into that duality, too. Also, what does the resurrection mean for Simone? Is she going to be the same, pure good character we saw this season? Or is she going to come back with a little extra darkness within her? I will eagerly wait for Season 2 to find out!
SciFi Bulletin: Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 10: Ave Satani
Bradley James is at his best throughout the episode, as Damien doubts, assesses, queries, and argues about what is happening to him. It’s been important to emphasize the humanity of Thorn throughout the series, but it’s equally important in this finale that he show the other side of his personality, and James is horrifyingly cold when his heritage kicks in. [snip] Verdict: Hopefully just the end of the beginning… as the first season goes out on a high. 10/10
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 10: Ave Satani
DAmien 1.10It’s all for Him…
This review is going to be spoiler-filled so if you’ve not yet caught the final episode of this first season of the Omen sequel, then head off and watch it now…
It became abundantly clear as the series headed towards its climax that it was going to take something extraordinary for Damien to fully assume his birthright, and that’s what Glen Mazzara gave us in this intense and powerful concluding episode. The phrase “it’s all for you” has been a key part of the Omen mythos right back to the early portion of the 1976 movie, but it’s a phrase that could potentially have a number of meanings, and you suddenly realise how it’s being used, and how that affects the way you look at the series up to now. (That’s something Mazzara promised when we first spoke - watch out for the second interview coming soon!) For me, it was when the girl got out of her hijacked car and started to say it was all for Damien that the penny dropped…
Everyone’s souls are laid bare in this episode - from Sister Greta to Ann Rutledge, Amani to Simone… and of course Damien himself, who understands how to use his power (as the opening massacre demonstrates) but only finally accepts it when he needs to save Simone. Detective Shay plays a very different role from that I expected, becoming the series’ version of St. Thomas, the apostle who doubted the resurrection, but who believes when he sees what Damien does. The fate of Scott Wilson’s John Lyons was sealed, I suspect, the moment he shot Amani (and just who was it who did the Carrie bit out of the grave…?), and it all became about him rather than Him!
Bradley James is at his best throughout the episode, as Damien doubts, assesses, queries, and argues about what is happening to him. It’s been important to emphasize the humanity of Thorn throughout the series, but it’s equally important in this finale that he show the other side of his personality, and James is horrifyingly cold when his heritage kicks in. I find it slightly ironic that the series has effectively provided an alternate journey to where we last saw Damien Thorn in The Final Conflict - an adult Anti-Christ, who has an army from all walks of life who follow Him, and when the series returns I’d love to see an equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount scene from the third movie… and who says they all would have to be in the same place at the same time? Armitage Global is now at Damien’s disposal…
It’s one of those episodes where you could analyse virtually every scene for its allusions and hidden meanings - the parallels between the treatment of Greta and the nuns with the Jews during the Second World War as well as the martyrdom of various saints; the return of the old woman and the white-dressed girl, just for starters - and it’s one that will reward rewatching. And just who are the hit squad from the Vatican? Hopefully the opener of season 2 will show us…
The whole cast turn up their performances a notch for this episode, and director Nick Copus keeps the tension rising throughout, aided by Bear McCreary’s score, which has been one of the keystones of the whole series (and hopefully will be released on CD). It’s one of those episodes you can’t take your eyes off for a moment, and a fitting capstone to the season.
Verdict: Hopefully just the end of the beginning… as the first season goes out on a high. 10/10
Father Son Holy Gore: Damien - Season 1 Finale: “Ave Satani”
This was an exceptional finale. I’m hoping A&E realizes the potential for it to grow, as there are already a dedicated base of fans, particularly online that always seem to be watching, tweeting along with Glen Mazzara and the others live.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
Father Son Holy Gore: A Time for Film & A Place for Horror
Damien - Season 1 Finale: “Ave Satani”
May 9, 2016Posted in A&E, Barbara Hershey, Bradley James, Damien, Film, Finale, Glen Mazzara, Horror, Season 1Tagged Antichrist, Ave Satani, Barbara Hershey, Bradley James, David Meunier, Finale, Megalyn E.K., Nick Copus, Omid Abtahi, Robin Weigert
A&E’s Damien
Season 1, Episode 10: “Ave Satani”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Glen Mazzara
* For a review of the penultimate Season 1 episode, “The Devil You Know” - click here
Disclaimer: I was invited to the Damien Season 1 finale screening in L.A. tonight, which includes a lunch, plus Q&A with Executive Producer Glen Mazzara and star Bradley James. Unfortunately travel/time constraints would not permit me being there. However, the people at FOX were kind enough to send me a personal screener. Something for which I was very grateful.
SO… if you’ve not yet seen this finale, DO NOT KEEP READING! You will be spoiled. Otherwise, if you want to be spoiled, dive on in.
Here we are - the finale of Damien‘s first season. It’s been a great ride, getting better with each chapter. “Ave Satani” is upon us, and with the end of last episode, Damien Thorn (Bradley James) may finally have slipped into full-on Antichrist mode!
We start as Damien leads Simone (Megalyn E.K.) out from the woods. They run up on some big military-style vehicles, men with red dotted sights freeze them in their tracks. Ah, it’s Lyons (Scott Wilson). Of course. Now he’s revealing more of Armitage’s involvement with his supposed future. “You‘ll rule for a long, long time,” he tells Damien. But the young Antichrist is not happy with any of the explanations and the bullshit.
When Lyons orders Simone shot, then Damien taken in, the power of the Antichrist emerges, as he turns the men and their guns on themselves. While Damien and Simone make off, you can see Lyons is very pleased with how things are going. God damn psychotic. This opener assures us, though - Mazzara and the crew have readied us a properly horrific finale.
Ann (Barbara Hershey) and Amani (Omid Abtahi) take the now dead Veronica back. But Amani makes it clear, mother is to blame. While that’s obvious she clearly doesn’t want to hear that. And downstairs, Amani gets ziptied to a chair. Things are definitely breaking down. Lyons arrives and starts to convince Ann they need to begin action. For her part, she seems ready. Because Ann is one hell of a bad ass lady, no matter if she’s a bit evil and freaky.
Poor Sister Greta (Robin Weigert) finds herself in the hands of Lyons and Armitage. No telling what her fate will be. They’ll keep her around, a while. Then, who knows. The rest of her crew meet a terrible end on their knees in the forest.
Ann (to Lyons): “Blood will spill. Hers, yours, mine.”
Meanwhile we’re privy to the terrible creepiness of Damien’s Antichrist presence and how it affects others. When Simone and Damien track down a car, the woman inside confesses her love for him - “It‘s all for you, Damien!” - then tries to kill herself before Simone intervenes. This was honestly one of the most unsettling scenes for me in the whole first season. Just how quickly the sentiment overcame her. Chilling.
Ann comes face to face with Sister Greta, after the awful death of her daughter. She promises the nun a similar end.
Cut to Vatican City - the remaining daggers of Megiddo are packed up and carried off. All sorts of blades and weaponry are likewise packed, and a gang of holy men are off on a mission. Yowzahs! Love this brief moment, really had dark energy. Then there’s Bear McCreary’s eerie score, which only serves to consistently make the atmosphere of this series creepier and creepier.
Out in the woods again at the old trailer where he and Powell used to meet, Damien brings Simone to lay low. Plus, he washes off all that nasty earth and blood from his resurrection the night previous. He even sees a little flash of the old woman from Damascus. All the evil of his life is crowding around him. And that adds more weight to the woman in the car who tried committing suicide, immediately pledging her life to him: it’s as if all those old evils he’d previously experienced, unknowingly the coming of his place as the Antichrist, are coming back around again, now that his eyes are wide open.
The debate about who’s worse rages between Sister Greta and Ann. They’re each hard, tough women. Although, I can’t help but believe they’re equally as stubborn. If in their world both God and the Devil/Antichrist exist, then the label of “cruel Lord” that Ann gives the former is perhaps most relevant. God has been responsible for quite a bit of pain and suffering, under the guise of his supposed plan. At least the Devil revels in what he does. Even after Greta pleads her case passionately, there’s no selling that old chestnut to Ms. Rutledge: “Satan is God,” proclaims Ann, “Long may he reign.”
Now Lyons is interrogating Amani about Damien’s whereabouts. This doesn’t end the best after Amani gets violent, but as Lyons puts things for him there’s no loyalty left that can save Damien. He is becoming something else now.
Doing her best, Simone sticks around with Damien, who insists she go. But she stays, readily admitting she is part of what’s happening. Then Damien says that he killed her sister Kelly, and that the same will only happen to her, as well. Likely true. Still doesn’t make her love, though. She is one tough character. At first I wasn’t a fan of Simone, but over the course of this first season she has truly grown on me. Now she’s really getting good in this finale.
Sister Greta is shown the rest of her people, shot in the head, thrown in a mass grave. Nasty. She and Amani are given the real, brutal view. Lyons tells Amani he must put Greta in the grave, or else - in a roundabout way - he says they’ll kill his mother. HOLY FUCK. That is some hardcore madness right there.
What does the nun have to say? “God‘s will be done,” she sweetly, calmly tells Amani. What follows is a dark, emotionally disturbing moment. That includes Lyons putting Amani down there, too. We finally see how deceptive Lyons is, having completely fooled Amani to the end. Watching the two of them start getting dirt rained down on them is so sad, so brief, it stings.
The Antichrist side of Damien is really breaking through. He is gradually accepting his darkness and his vicious power. Further than that the danger to Simone is getting greater almost by the second. And not far outside lurks the woman from Damascus, coming closer to Damien all the time.
There’s a possible rift between Ann and Lyons now, after he effectively executed Amani. She didn’t want him to die. Most of all Lyons wants to get Damien under his control. He saw a fraction of what could be, and can’t wait to use that terrible power inside the Antichrist to bend the world to the will of Armitage.
AND YES, YES, YES! A hand emerges from the mass grave after it’s all covered up. Not all hope is lost.
Poor Detective Shay (David Meunier) is having a worse time of it, too. He thinks he see his boy on the road, then believes he runs him down. Only to discover it’s the powers of the Antichrist out in the world, the evil, sucking him into the downward spiral. On a side note, Meunier is killing it in this role. Very happy with his performance over this season and I keep wondering what will happen next in his story.
Back to the Vatican City assassins. They’re now in the same city as the Antichrist himself. What will come of this? A wild showdown is coming. Especially considering most everybody is heading for Damie, including Shay, Rutledge, Lyons, all of them, and they’re all converging on that old trailer in the woods.
Then Damien reveals he is headed to Megiddo. He figures all the answers are there, the apparent location of Armageddon. But before he can do anything, all forces rain down on the nearby field, just as Dt. Shay creeps up.
An intense little sequence here before Damien and Simone ends up confronted with Ann and Lyons. “I will kill all of you,” the Antichrist rages at them. He then finds out what Lyons did to his best friend, as Ann lays bare the truth. And of course Lyons finds himself being chased down by a pack of Rotties. Nom nom. All the while, Simone pleads him to stop, and Ann gets aroused.
Then a shocker: trying to shoot Damien, the detective puts a bullet right through Simone’s head. Wow. And just as was saying her character got more interesting to me. MAZZARA, WHY DON’T YOU LET ME HAVE NICE THINGS?
Well this is really setting Damien off. You can feel his heart breaking more. Then the woman from Damascus arrives, Damien pleads to be taken. He speaks in a language we’ve never heard of him, to his ‘father’ and then the forces of evil really start to take hold. Blood from the 666 in his head starts seeping out. It drops onto Simone and breathes life into her again. Whoa. Not only can the Antichrist take life, he can give it, too. Shay watches on and sees the power.
And from the darkness come Damien’s legions, the Antichrist’s followers, his fan club. They’re all there. For him. Kneeling, along with Ann. Even Shay. Towards us, the audience, Damien turns with a knowing, devilish smile subtly across his face.
The Antichrist has risen!
This was an exceptional finale. I’m hoping A&E realizes the potential for it to grow, as there are already a dedicated base of fans, particularly online that always seem to be watching, tweeting along with Glen Mazzara and the others live. Personally, I wasn’t sold immediately. The pilot was decent, but I didn’t like the large amount of clips from the original Omen. Then after the second and third episode, I was sold. The whole thing progressed magically, so dark and exciting throughout its first season. And the finale spoke volumes to how wonderfully devious this show can get.
Give Mazzara and Damien another season, A&E! The ratings will get better alongside the quality. Hopefully the finale will pump some decent numbers up. Stick with me and we’ll try to make sure the network knows how much we, the fans, enjoyed this show in its initial season. Here’s to hoping for more Antichrist badness!
Geeks of Doom: TV Review: Damien 1.10 “Ave Satani” (Finale)
The final 5 minutes are CRAZY! There was an audible “HOLY SH*T!” moment for me, and Damien makes a fateful decision in front of legions of followers. Whoa! Damien ended its first season with a bang. The show captured the eerie tension of the film, and managed to pull off some terrific surprises. The music and use of the religious imagery always had a menace to them, and I found myself once again looking nervously around the empty room during the commercial breaks, and hearing strange noises.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
TV Review: Damien 1.10 “Ave Satani” (Finale)
Damien
Season 1 Episode 10: “Ave Satani”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Glen Mazzara
Created by Glen Mazzara
Starring Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Megalyn EK, Omid Abtahi, Scott Wilson, David Meunier
A&E
Air Date: Monday, May 9th, 2016, 10pm
“Ave Satani” was the name of the Oscar nominated original song (sang in Latin) from the 1976 film, The Omen, upon which the Damien series is based. It is a fitting title for the season’s final episode, as it seems Damien Thorn has embraced his inner Antichrist. Sister Greta’s attempted exorcism last week was met with limited success, as he pulled himself out of a shallow grave and turned the Megiddo dagger on her. Damien (Bradley James) has the mark of the devil, and is constantly surrounded by mysterious deaths. Despite Detective Shay (David Meunier) being convinced of his involvement, and apparent high ranking acolytes in his stead, Damien has maintained an almost childlike innocence, unwilling to be a part of the evil that shrouds him. He has watched his ex be swallowed in a construction site accident, and long time friends like John Lyons (Scott Wilson) are in cahoots with the obsessed Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey). Even his closest friends don’t know where to stand. Tonight, Damien will make his final choice and perhaps make the ultimate sacrifice.
Spoilers ahead.
Damien runs from the churchyard with Simone (Megalyn Echikunwoke), and encounter Lyons and a small army of heavily armed soldiers on the road. John tries to coax Damien by revealing that the Armitage Corporation has banks and buildings ready at Damien’s disposal, with leagues of followers waiting to hear his words. Damien wants nothing to do with it though, and after John gives the orders to kill Simone, the soldiers turn on each other in a glorious massacre. Evil or not, Damien is coming into his powers. That’s even more evident when they attempt to steal a car from a woman who upon seeing him tries to throw herself off a bridge while uttering “It’s all for you.”
Rutledge is mourning the violent tree-assisted death of her daughter Veronica (Melanie Scrofano), and this brings her into a face to face with Greta (Robin Weigert). Greta promises of others, and we see an army of Vatican priests packing a legitimate arsenal of weapons including more Megiddo daggers. The verbal standoff between Greta and Rutledge is incredibly well written and acted by the two women. Both are totally devoted to their causes and faiths. In the hands of lesser actresses, it would’ve simply been two characters yelling “GOD”, and “SATAN” but these ladies are pros. While they converse, Lyons interrogates Amani (Omid Abtahi) about Damien’s whereabouts. This includes threatening the lives of every member of his family. Wilson, who portrayed Lyons as a calm, sympathetic father figure to Damien is chillingly evil now. He channels the psychopath he played in the horror mockumentary “Beyond the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon”.
Damien, meanwhile, escapes with Simone to Charles Powell’s abandoned trailer. He advises Simone to run but she refuses, and ends up helping him clean his wounds. Damien is beginning to understand his role and powers. He knows the church won’t stop and neither will Armitage. When Simone tries to convince him he’s not a killer, he lifts an arm and she starts coughing up biblical bugs. Outside the trailer, waiting, is the old woman (Viv Moore) whose ancient ramblings in Damascus started Damien’s descent.
Detective Shay is on the hunt for Damien, his family having left him behind. His visions are getting more intense as he imagines running over his son while driving a back road. Back at the attempted burial site, Amani is forced by Lyons to put Greta in the grave which is now a mass grave filled with the women who were helping her. Lyons then shoots Amani, and Greta and him lay together as the Armitage henchmen bury them alive… though not for long.
Damien has a plan. He tells Simone he is going to Megiddo, the place his father visited, and the place where the daggers are from. Shay is tracking them as they leave the trailer. Lyons and Rutledge also find him and the chase is on. The final 5 minutes are CRAZY! There was an audible “HOLY SH*T!” moment for me, and Damien makes a fateful decision in front of legions of followers.
Whoa! Damien ended its first season with a bang. The show captured the eerie tension of the film, and managed to pull off some terrific surprises. The music and use of the religious imagery always had a menace to them, and I found myself once again looking nervously around the empty room during the commercial breaks, and hearing strange noises. We can expect the Vatican Priest Army to go gung ho after the Antichrist in season 2, plus the ending leaves so much unknown about this season’s survivors. Where will Simone’s loyalty lie? Has Shay completely lost it? Are Amani and Greta alive? Ah, the look of pure evil joy on Barbara Hershey’s face at the end will haunt me until the start of season 2.
Skattonixxx: Damien SN1 EP10 - ‘Ave Satani’
Holy shit what a way to end season 1!! These actors are at the time of their game and can’t wait for season 2
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien SN1 EP10 - ‘Ave Satani’
Last week we seen Sister Greta attempt to exorcise Damien but she failed miserably as we watched Damien pull himself out of the shallow grave and turned the Megiddo dagger back on Sister Greta, we also witnessed the death of Ann’s Daughter Veronica by a freaky, possessed, evil tree. Detective Shay is asked to hand his badge and weapon in and is taken off the case but Shay is like a dog with a bone and he wont stop till he gets his man, he is slowly losing control and his family.
SN1 EP10 - ‘ Ave Satani ‘
Damien and Simone run from the churchyard and come across Lyons and his small army of men that are packing some heat, Lyons tells Damien that the Armitage Corporation has banks and buildings ready at Damien’s disposal along with hordes of followers waiting for his words. With Damien not conforming Lyons orders his army to put a bullet in Simone head and all of a sudden the soldiers turn on each other in a bloody massacre. Damien is starting to get his powers, when he and Simone try to steal a car from it becomes very clear his powers are upon him, the woman tries to throw herself off the bridge whilst chanting “Its all for you Damien.” Ann is mourning the brutal death of her daughter Veronica, Ann and Sister Greta come face to face for the first time and Sister Greta promises there will be others coming to stop Damien. We see the Vatican priests prepare to take down the Antichrist and gather weapons including Megiddo daggers.
Lyons wants to know where Damien is and threatens to kill Amani’s entire family if he doesn’t tell him Damien’s whereabouts but Amani isn’t giving it up and has no idea where he is anyway. Damien and Simone were able to escape and he heads to Charles Powell’s abandoned trailer, he tells Simone she needs to run and save herself but she refuses to leave him as she tends to his wounds. Damien is starting comprehend his role and the power he holds but he also knows that Armitage and the church won’t stop, when Simone tries to convince him that he is not a killer, he raises his arm and Simone starts to cough up bugs. Shay is on a mission to find Damien but his obsession with Damien has caused his family to leave him behind, Shay visions are becoming more tormenting as he believes he has run over his son while driving along the back roads. At the site of Damien’s failed exorcism, Lyons forces Amani to put Sister Greta in the grave that is now filled with the body’s of the women that were helping her, Lyons then shoots Amani and Sister Greta holds Amani as they are buried alive by the Armitage army.
Damien tells Simone of his plan to go to Megiddo, the place his father had visited and the home of the daggers. Shay tracks Simone and Damien as they leave the trailer, Rutledge and Lyons also figured out where he is and the chases is on and what happened next had me on the edge of my seat. Shay takes a shot at Damien but shoots Simone in the head her and Damien fall to the ground and he is screaming for someone to help her, his 666 mark starts to bleed and a drop of his blood lands on Simone’s head where she was shot and comes back from the dead, Damien and Simone are surrounded by Damien’s followers who all drop to their knees including Detective Shay. Holy shit what a way to end season 1!!
These actors are at the time of their game and can’t wait for season 2, no doubt we will see the Vatican’s army of priest arrive with their arsenal of weapons including the Megiddo daggers but what becomes of Amani and Sister Greta? Do they both survive? Does Shay completely succumb to his visions and obsession? Can’t wait to see what season 2 will bring!
Talk Nerdy With Us: Damien’s Shocking Conclusion is Finally Here
After the amazing culmination of events, you’ll see the entirety of Damien reach its peak. This is not a finale you want to miss!
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
The season finale of Damien hits the ground running with an opening sequence that truly reminds you of what kinds of people are looking to see Damien Thorn (Bradley James) fulfil his destiny as the antichrist!
John Lyons (Scott Wilson) and his armed assistance from Armitage Global attempt to cull the beast, but we quickly see that Damien’s power has been affected by the exorcism as we see him rise from last week’s episode, The Devil You Know.
We follow Damien and Simone (Megalyn E.K.) as they try to escape Lyons, and on the way see other horrible signs of Damien’s now growing power getting out of hand. During this time, viewers will get to see Amani (Omid Abtahi) again after being kidnapped and interrogated by Ann Rutledge. Both Amani and Sister Greta (Robin Wingert) are in a sticky situation, as they are both now being held by Lyons and Rutledge.
dm_110_08042015_bmh_06816Ann’s vendetta against Sister Greta is particularly strong after the loss of her daughter, Victoria (Melanie Scrofano). Their fates are seemingly decided but whether they have one foot in the grave is yet another exciting moment to be seen! Fans will be shaken to the core with this finale, as it never stops to take a breath. It’s loaded with action, shocking moments, and amazing character growth.
The religious and horror tones are thrown into overdrive in an inspired manner, and we finally see each player in their final place in this huge game of Damien’s fate that’s been laid out in ten episodes. After the amazing culmination of events, you’ll see the entirety of Damien reach its peak. This is not a finale you want to miss!
Damien‘s season finale airs tonight, May 9th on A&E!
@MarkhKruger All for u @glenmazzara @kcperry2 @BradleyJames @AbtahiOmid @BarbaraHershey8 @david_meunier
Project Fandom: Damien - S1E10 - Ave Satani
Performances: Bradley James. MVP. Enough said. - 10/10 [MVP-Most Valuable Player]
Everything about Ave Satani is superb. It’s the perfect payoff for a season that moved slowly at first, then roller-coasted to that final moment. The music, the performances, the violence, death, and twists - each of these things worked. Glen Mazzara, the show’s creator and this episode’s writer, has delivered on his promise.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
Damien - S1E10 - Ave Satani
Previously on Damien: “The Devil You Know”
Where to start? So much happens in Damien’s season one (hopefully) finale, that a recap is never going to do it justice. But I shall endeavour.
Following on immediately from last week, Damien and Simone are on the run from Sister Greta and her acolytes, but John Lyons and his private army quickly catch up with them. Lyons tried to sweet talk Damien into taking his side and gives him a big speech, but when Damien steadfastly refuses his offer, Lyons orders his army to shoot Simone and grab Damien. In an extraordinary scene, Damien uses his nascent power to command the army to kill each other, with the last man standing committing suicide. There is no turning back for Damien now. John Lyons knows this.
Meanwhile, Ann Rutledge mourns over her daughter’s dead body, and doesn’t take kindly to Amani blaming her for Veronica’s death. He’s strapped to a chair for his troubles. Lyons storms in and promises to make Sister Greta pay dearly. When he captures her, he practically congratulates her for “turning the Beast loose.” He has the rest of the nuns shot dead and thrown into the grave Greta had marked out for Damien. Then he brings Greta back to Ann, who promises her a death as horrible as the one Veronica faced. Ann Rutledge gloats: “Satan is God. Long may He reign.” It’s curtains for our favourite German exorcist!
Lyons quizzes Amani as to Damien’s whereabouts, and threatens his family in Beirut if he doesn’t give up the information. Amani genuinely doesn’t know, so both he and Greta are brought back to the scene of Greta’s attempted exorcism, where Amani is shot after he puts Greta in with her dead colleagues. Greta and Amani are then buried alive. Greta cries out to God to say the word and she will be healed. Her pleas go unanswered. Or do they? Because some time later, the ground rumbles and a hand appears, Carrie-like, from the grave. Whose hand it is, we don’t get to see,
Damien and Simone continue their escape by stopping a car on a bridge. The carjacked driver proclaims her love for Damien and proceeds to jump off the bridge. In a satisfying moment for Simone, she slaps the shit out of the woman before she goes through with her suicide attempt.
They end up at Powell’s caravan, where Damien cleans himself up and Simone examines one of the Megiddo daggers. Damien warns her to run while she still has a chance, saying he’ll kill her as he killed her sister Kellie. Simone elects to stay, thinking that she can rein him in if he goes too far. But the old lady from Damien’s visions is nearby, as is the freaky little girl from episode two, who Detective Shay sees as he speeds to Damien’s location. Shay is plagued by visions and voices of his own, thinking he’s run over his son Jacob as he’s distracted by a call to his husband.
Meanwhile, the Vatican send a group of Holy Hitmen, each armed with one of the remaining daggers, to finish the job that Greta started.
The season’s endgame begins when Damien realizes he must go to Megiddo itself, where the Last Battle - Armageddon - will take place. It’s where his father went, so he thinks - he knows - it’s where he should be. But as they leave the caravan, Detective Shay arrives and opens fire. Lyons and Ann arrive at the same time, too. There’s an almighty firefight, with Shay caught in the crossfire. He goes down, wounded, but not fatally so.
Lyons calls upon Damien to “Deliver us now!” but Ann has her own agenda. She betrays Lyons, telling Damien that he had Amani killed. Damien loses what control he has and sets the Hounds (yes, they’re back - all three of them) on Lyons. He’s a goner, a victim of his own success. Shay takes another shot at Damien but hits Simone instead, apparently killing her.
Damien is distraught and shouts at the heavens, to his “Father”, imploring Him to save Simone, saying he’ll do what is asked of him. The mark on his scalp, the 666, bleeds, and the blood falls on Simone, reviving her immediately. This is exactly what Ann wants to happen and it is precisely at this time that a host of acolytes appear from the forest. Everyone kneels before Damien: the acolytes, Ann, even - surprisingly - Detective Shay, who has seen enough shit for the day. Ann crosses her two daggers in front of the newly crowned Antichrist. Damien takes it all in and in a moment that reminded me straightaway of the final scene from The Omen, Damien turns and looks at the camera. He looks at me, at you.
Everything about Ave Satani is superb. It’s the perfect payoff for a season that moved slowly at first, then roller-coasted to that final moment. The music, the performances, the violence, death, and twists - each of these things worked. Glen Mazzara, the show’s creator and this episode’s writer, has delivered on his promise. I mentioned way back in the premiere that Damien had big shoes to fill. Audiences were used to the high production values and chills from Hannibal and Bates Motel, and the onus was on Damien to take its seat proudly at their table. I think it has done so admirably. Okay, it hasn’t been all perfect. Omid Abtahi’s character Amani Golkar struggled to find a decent arc in this season and I would be surprised if he returns in season two. Please, let there be a second season. But by and large, all the major players had satisfying arcs, and I couldn’t find much fault with how the show carried itself in terms of atmosphere and suspense.
Some questions remain:
Who’s hand is it we see coming out of the grave?
Now that Damien has ascended to Beasthood, is that it for him, or will he continue to struggle with his humanity?
The seven daggers are now in play. The Vatican Hit Squad has four, Ann has two, and Simone is seen with the final one. Will they be used against the Antichrist next season? Please, let there be a second season.
Is it the end of the world as we know it, or will good (love) conquer all?
We hope to find out soon. I’ll leave you with this classic shot.
TheOmen
Damien S1E10 = 9.5/10
Plot: Bang on the money. Everything this season has been planned carefully for the finale. - 10/10
Action: Lots of it. The pace and tension never let up. - 10/10
Dialogue: Much improved over the ten episodes. The writers and characters found their voices at the right moment. - 8/10
Performances: Bradley James. MVP. Enough said. - 10/10
[Click for more episode 10 reviews (spoilers)]Legion of Leia: Damien Recap and Review: S1 E10 ‘Ave Satani’
This episode was insane. I wanted to give it a standing ovation. It definitely deserved it. [snip]. What has made this season so completely compelling is the inner struggle that Damien has been fighting with. Bradley James has done such an amazing job playing into that duality, too.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien Recap and Review: S1 E10 ‘Ave Satani’
The Season 1 Finale of Damien begins with Damien and Simone running through the woods away from Sister Greta and her cult. They run into a convoy of military trucks that are being commanded by John Lyons. John pleads with Damien to trust him, but Damien won’t have it. John tells Damien just how powerful Armitage is, and that the entire company is ready for his rule. When Damien still refuses, John orders the soldiers to shoot Simone in the head, and then to capture Damien. However, Damien uses his otherworldly power to cause the soldiers to shoot each other, and the last soldier standing to shoot himself. Damien and Simone are then able to make their escape, and John Lyons is left all alone.
Ann Rutledge and Amani have made it back home with a deceased Veronica. Amani tells Ann that her daughter’s death is her own fault. Ann brought her into this world of darkness, and therefore it is her fault that Veronica is now dead. Ann has her goons remove Amani from the room, and she breaks down in tears. John shows up at Ann’s house and tells her that they have to move. This is the moment they’ve been waiting for, and they can’t lose Damien now.
John returns to the woods with more soldiers and retrieves Sister Greta. Sister Greta feels that she has failed, but Lyons tells her that she has not failed, but turned the Beast loose. He asks her where Damien went, but she does not know. John then tells his soldiers to bring Greta along with them, but to kill the other members of her group.
A bloody, shirtless Damien is walking across a bridge and he and Simone begin to steal a car from a woman driving near them. The woman exits her car and immediately starts to profess her love for Damien. She is about to throw herself over the bridge when Simone stops her. Simone asks Damien to help her save the woman, but he seems more concerned with taking her car. Eventually, Simone slaps the woman, and she seems to snap out of her state a little. Simone doesn’t want to leave the woman alone, but eventually the gets into the car with Damien and they drive away.
John has brought Sister Greta to Ann Rutledge. Ann wants revenge for her daughter. Ann takes great pleasure in pointing out, once again, Sister Greta’s epic failure in trying to stop the Anti-Christ. Sister Greta says that her failure does not matter, because there are others at the Vatican who will pick up where she left off, and will succeed.
We are then taken to the Vatican, where a monk is gathering up the remaining Daggers of Megiddo into a steel briefcase. Several other monks pack various blades into similar briefcases, and then they all leave to go to war against the Anti-Christ.
Damien and Simone arrive at the mobile home where Damien accosted Charles Powell. Damien cleans his wounds while Simone looks around. Simone finds pictures of Damien and Charles, and questions where they are. Damien tells her that it belonged to someone he went to school with, and that he killed him, too. Simone begins to clutch the Dagger of Megiddo she retrieved from Sister Greta closely, but Damien tells her that it will take a lot more than that if she wants to protect herself from him.
Meanwhile, Sister Greta is slowly bleeding to death while Ann taunts her. Ann and Sister Greta then get into an argument as to whether Satan or God is the better Lord. Neither is willing to change their opinions, and Ann tells Sister Greta that Satan is God.
Lyons questions Amani as to where Damien is. Amani doesn’t know, but Lyons doesn’t believe him. Amani asks what Lyons wants of Damien, but John won’t answer. John threatens Amani’s living relatives in order to try to get an answer out of Amani. John tells Amani that it’s too late for loyalty.
In the mobile home, Damien tells Simone to run. Simone tells him that she’s dead if she leaves, so she’s not going to go anywhere. Damien tries to push her away by saying that he killed Kelly, and he doesn’t want to kill Simone. It doesn’t work, and Simone begins to clean Damien’s wounds. There’s a brief moment when she cleans his feet that is very reminiscent of Jesus cleaning the disciple’s feet in the New Testament. In this case, however, the disciple is cleaning the lord’s foot, further perpetuating the mirrored aspect between the Christ and the Anti-Christ.
John and Ann have brought Sister Greta and Amani to the site where Damien was tortured. John orders Amani to put Sister Greta into the grave that had been dug for Damien. John tells Amani that if he doesn’t, he will destroy Amani’s hometown. Sister Greta tries to comfort Amani, and Amani slowly lets her down into the grave. John then shoots Amani in the stomach, and pushes him into the grave. Sister Greta holds Amani, cries, and prays. She is not ready to die. However, as she is praying, one of John’s henchmen begins to pour dirt on them.
Damien tells Simone that he plans on going against Armitage and the church. Simone tries to appeal to who he used to be, telling him that he isn’t a killer. Damien disagrees, though, and in that moment flies begin to pour out of Simone’s mouth. It almost seems as if she is about to die, but Damien grabs her arms and tells her that she’s ok, and the flies disappear. We then see that the mysterious old woman is standing outside of the mobile home, smiling.
Ann and John have their goons searching for Damien, but they are having no luck. They feel as if they are on the even of Damien’s ascension, and they need to be with him. Neither Ann nor John know where Damien could be, however, when John says to set the church on fire, Ann realizes where Damien is, at the mobile home of the friend whom he set on fire.
After a quick scene where we see a hand pop out of the filled in grave, we see Detective shay driving down the road. He hallucinates hitting his son with his car. After he realizes it is nothing more than a hallucination, he continues on his journey.
A monk is waiting on a helicopter to land. The monks from the Vatican we saw earlier are exiting the helicopter with their silver suitcases in tow. They all get into unmarked vehicles and keep traveling.
Detective Shay has arrived at the Mobile home where Simone is sleeping, and Damien is looking at the Dagger of Megiddo. Simone wakes up to find Damien staring at her. Damien tells her that he is going to go to Megiddo. He knows that is where Armageddon is supposed to be fought, his father went there, and the daggers are from there, so he must go there.
Simone and Damien are able to sneak away just as Ann and John arrive with their soldiers. Damien and Simone are running from the soldiers, but Detective Shay stops them. Damien uses his powers to have the soldiers take out Shay with a flash bang, and he and Simone continue running. Eventually, the soldiers surround Damien and Simone. As they are trapped, John and Ann approach them. Damien reminds Ann that she swore never to hurt him, and Ann says she is there to protect him. Damien says that if they let Simone go, he will go with them. John begins to say that he will allow Simone to live, but Ann cuts him off and tells Damien that John is lying. She tells Damien that John will kill Simone, just as he killed Amani earlier. When Damien hears about Amani’s death, he is livid. Rottweilers appear and attack John. Simone tries to calm Damien down, because she does not want Damien to become a killer. However, Shay catches up with them in that moment, and accidentally shoots Simone in the head. Damien is beside himself with grief. He screams to the heavens that he will do whatever it takes if Simone is allowed to live. In an otherworldly voice, he commits his soul to his father, Satan. With this declaration, the birthmark on his scalp begins to bleed, and when the blood drops onto Simone, she is resurrected. Damien helps Simone to her feet, and when they look around they see that everyone around them is kneeling before Damien. Apparently this pleases Damien, and he begins to smile, ending the episode, and the season.
This episode was insane. I wanted to give it a standing ovation. It definitely deserved it. Damien has now come full circle and has ascended as the Beast. I really wonder what this is going to mean for the character. I really hope that the struggle between the light and dark is not gone now. What has made this season so completely compelling is the inner struggle that Damien has been fighting with. Bradley James has done such an amazing job playing into that duality, too. Also, what does the resurrection mean for Simone? Is she going to be the same, pure good character we saw this season? Or is she going to come back with a little extra darkness within her? I will eagerly wait for Season 2 to find out!
SciFi Bulletin: Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 10: Ave Satani
Bradley James is at his best throughout the episode, as Damien doubts, assesses, queries, and argues about what is happening to him. It’s been important to emphasize the humanity of Thorn throughout the series, but it’s equally important in this finale that he show the other side of his personality, and James is horrifyingly cold when his heritage kicks in. [snip] Verdict: Hopefully just the end of the beginning… as the first season goes out on a high. 10/10
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien: Review: Series 1 Episode 10: Ave Satani
DAmien 1.10It’s all for Him…
This review is going to be spoiler-filled so if you’ve not yet caught the final episode of this first season of the Omen sequel, then head off and watch it now…
It became abundantly clear as the series headed towards its climax that it was going to take something extraordinary for Damien to fully assume his birthright, and that’s what Glen Mazzara gave us in this intense and powerful concluding episode. The phrase “it’s all for you” has been a key part of the Omen mythos right back to the early portion of the 1976 movie, but it’s a phrase that could potentially have a number of meanings, and you suddenly realise how it’s being used, and how that affects the way you look at the series up to now. (That’s something Mazzara promised when we first spoke - watch out for the second interview coming soon!) For me, it was when the girl got out of her hijacked car and started to say it was all for Damien that the penny dropped…
Everyone’s souls are laid bare in this episode - from Sister Greta to Ann Rutledge, Amani to Simone… and of course Damien himself, who understands how to use his power (as the opening massacre demonstrates) but only finally accepts it when he needs to save Simone. Detective Shay plays a very different role from that I expected, becoming the series’ version of St. Thomas, the apostle who doubted the resurrection, but who believes when he sees what Damien does. The fate of Scott Wilson’s John Lyons was sealed, I suspect, the moment he shot Amani (and just who was it who did the Carrie bit out of the grave…?), and it all became about him rather than Him!
Bradley James is at his best throughout the episode, as Damien doubts, assesses, queries, and argues about what is happening to him. It’s been important to emphasize the humanity of Thorn throughout the series, but it’s equally important in this finale that he show the other side of his personality, and James is horrifyingly cold when his heritage kicks in. I find it slightly ironic that the series has effectively provided an alternate journey to where we last saw Damien Thorn in The Final Conflict - an adult Anti-Christ, who has an army from all walks of life who follow Him, and when the series returns I’d love to see an equivalent of the Sermon on the Mount scene from the third movie… and who says they all would have to be in the same place at the same time? Armitage Global is now at Damien’s disposal…
It’s one of those episodes where you could analyse virtually every scene for its allusions and hidden meanings - the parallels between the treatment of Greta and the nuns with the Jews during the Second World War as well as the martyrdom of various saints; the return of the old woman and the white-dressed girl, just for starters - and it’s one that will reward rewatching. And just who are the hit squad from the Vatican? Hopefully the opener of season 2 will show us…
The whole cast turn up their performances a notch for this episode, and director Nick Copus keeps the tension rising throughout, aided by Bear McCreary’s score, which has been one of the keystones of the whole series (and hopefully will be released on CD). It’s one of those episodes you can’t take your eyes off for a moment, and a fitting capstone to the season.
Verdict: Hopefully just the end of the beginning… as the first season goes out on a high. 10/10
Father Son Holy Gore: Damien - Season 1 Finale: “Ave Satani”
This was an exceptional finale. I’m hoping A&E realizes the potential for it to grow, as there are already a dedicated base of fans, particularly online that always seem to be watching, tweeting along with Glen Mazzara and the others live.
[Click for full article (spoilers)]
Father Son Holy Gore: A Time for Film & A Place for Horror
Damien - Season 1 Finale: “Ave Satani”
May 9, 2016Posted in A&E, Barbara Hershey, Bradley James, Damien, Film, Finale, Glen Mazzara, Horror, Season 1Tagged Antichrist, Ave Satani, Barbara Hershey, Bradley James, David Meunier, Finale, Megalyn E.K., Nick Copus, Omid Abtahi, Robin Weigert
A&E’s Damien
Season 1, Episode 10: “Ave Satani”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Glen Mazzara
* For a review of the penultimate Season 1 episode, “The Devil You Know” - click here
Disclaimer: I was invited to the Damien Season 1 finale screening in L.A. tonight, which includes a lunch, plus Q&A with Executive Producer Glen Mazzara and star Bradley James. Unfortunately travel/time constraints would not permit me being there. However, the people at FOX were kind enough to send me a personal screener. Something for which I was very grateful.
SO… if you’ve not yet seen this finale, DO NOT KEEP READING! You will be spoiled. Otherwise, if you want to be spoiled, dive on in.
Here we are - the finale of Damien‘s first season. It’s been a great ride, getting better with each chapter. “Ave Satani” is upon us, and with the end of last episode, Damien Thorn (Bradley James) may finally have slipped into full-on Antichrist mode!
We start as Damien leads Simone (Megalyn E.K.) out from the woods. They run up on some big military-style vehicles, men with red dotted sights freeze them in their tracks. Ah, it’s Lyons (Scott Wilson). Of course. Now he’s revealing more of Armitage’s involvement with his supposed future. “You‘ll rule for a long, long time,” he tells Damien. But the young Antichrist is not happy with any of the explanations and the bullshit.
When Lyons orders Simone shot, then Damien taken in, the power of the Antichrist emerges, as he turns the men and their guns on themselves. While Damien and Simone make off, you can see Lyons is very pleased with how things are going. God damn psychotic. This opener assures us, though - Mazzara and the crew have readied us a properly horrific finale.
Ann (Barbara Hershey) and Amani (Omid Abtahi) take the now dead Veronica back. But Amani makes it clear, mother is to blame. While that’s obvious she clearly doesn’t want to hear that. And downstairs, Amani gets ziptied to a chair. Things are definitely breaking down. Lyons arrives and starts to convince Ann they need to begin action. For her part, she seems ready. Because Ann is one hell of a bad ass lady, no matter if she’s a bit evil and freaky.
Poor Sister Greta (Robin Weigert) finds herself in the hands of Lyons and Armitage. No telling what her fate will be. They’ll keep her around, a while. Then, who knows. The rest of her crew meet a terrible end on their knees in the forest.
Ann (to Lyons): “Blood will spill. Hers, yours, mine.”
Meanwhile we’re privy to the terrible creepiness of Damien’s Antichrist presence and how it affects others. When Simone and Damien track down a car, the woman inside confesses her love for him - “It‘s all for you, Damien!” - then tries to kill herself before Simone intervenes. This was honestly one of the most unsettling scenes for me in the whole first season. Just how quickly the sentiment overcame her. Chilling.
Ann comes face to face with Sister Greta, after the awful death of her daughter. She promises the nun a similar end.
Cut to Vatican City - the remaining daggers of Megiddo are packed up and carried off. All sorts of blades and weaponry are likewise packed, and a gang of holy men are off on a mission. Yowzahs! Love this brief moment, really had dark energy. Then there’s Bear McCreary’s eerie score, which only serves to consistently make the atmosphere of this series creepier and creepier.
Out in the woods again at the old trailer where he and Powell used to meet, Damien brings Simone to lay low. Plus, he washes off all that nasty earth and blood from his resurrection the night previous. He even sees a little flash of the old woman from Damascus. All the evil of his life is crowding around him. And that adds more weight to the woman in the car who tried committing suicide, immediately pledging her life to him: it’s as if all those old evils he’d previously experienced, unknowingly the coming of his place as the Antichrist, are coming back around again, now that his eyes are wide open.
The debate about who’s worse rages between Sister Greta and Ann. They’re each hard, tough women. Although, I can’t help but believe they’re equally as stubborn. If in their world both God and the Devil/Antichrist exist, then the label of “cruel Lord” that Ann gives the former is perhaps most relevant. God has been responsible for quite a bit of pain and suffering, under the guise of his supposed plan. At least the Devil revels in what he does. Even after Greta pleads her case passionately, there’s no selling that old chestnut to Ms. Rutledge: “Satan is God,” proclaims Ann, “Long may he reign.”
Now Lyons is interrogating Amani about Damien’s whereabouts. This doesn’t end the best after Amani gets violent, but as Lyons puts things for him there’s no loyalty left that can save Damien. He is becoming something else now.
Doing her best, Simone sticks around with Damien, who insists she go. But she stays, readily admitting she is part of what’s happening. Then Damien says that he killed her sister Kelly, and that the same will only happen to her, as well. Likely true. Still doesn’t make her love, though. She is one tough character. At first I wasn’t a fan of Simone, but over the course of this first season she has truly grown on me. Now she’s really getting good in this finale.
Sister Greta is shown the rest of her people, shot in the head, thrown in a mass grave. Nasty. She and Amani are given the real, brutal view. Lyons tells Amani he must put Greta in the grave, or else - in a roundabout way - he says they’ll kill his mother. HOLY FUCK. That is some hardcore madness right there.
What does the nun have to say? “God‘s will be done,” she sweetly, calmly tells Amani. What follows is a dark, emotionally disturbing moment. That includes Lyons putting Amani down there, too. We finally see how deceptive Lyons is, having completely fooled Amani to the end. Watching the two of them start getting dirt rained down on them is so sad, so brief, it stings.
The Antichrist side of Damien is really breaking through. He is gradually accepting his darkness and his vicious power. Further than that the danger to Simone is getting greater almost by the second. And not far outside lurks the woman from Damascus, coming closer to Damien all the time.
There’s a possible rift between Ann and Lyons now, after he effectively executed Amani. She didn’t want him to die. Most of all Lyons wants to get Damien under his control. He saw a fraction of what could be, and can’t wait to use that terrible power inside the Antichrist to bend the world to the will of Armitage.
AND YES, YES, YES! A hand emerges from the mass grave after it’s all covered up. Not all hope is lost.
Poor Detective Shay (David Meunier) is having a worse time of it, too. He thinks he see his boy on the road, then believes he runs him down. Only to discover it’s the powers of the Antichrist out in the world, the evil, sucking him into the downward spiral. On a side note, Meunier is killing it in this role. Very happy with his performance over this season and I keep wondering what will happen next in his story.
Back to the Vatican City assassins. They’re now in the same city as the Antichrist himself. What will come of this? A wild showdown is coming. Especially considering most everybody is heading for Damie, including Shay, Rutledge, Lyons, all of them, and they’re all converging on that old trailer in the woods.
Then Damien reveals he is headed to Megiddo. He figures all the answers are there, the apparent location of Armageddon. But before he can do anything, all forces rain down on the nearby field, just as Dt. Shay creeps up.
An intense little sequence here before Damien and Simone ends up confronted with Ann and Lyons. “I will kill all of you,” the Antichrist rages at them. He then finds out what Lyons did to his best friend, as Ann lays bare the truth. And of course Lyons finds himself being chased down by a pack of Rotties. Nom nom. All the while, Simone pleads him to stop, and Ann gets aroused.
Then a shocker: trying to shoot Damien, the detective puts a bullet right through Simone’s head. Wow. And just as was saying her character got more interesting to me. MAZZARA, WHY DON’T YOU LET ME HAVE NICE THINGS?
Well this is really setting Damien off. You can feel his heart breaking more. Then the woman from Damascus arrives, Damien pleads to be taken. He speaks in a language we’ve never heard of him, to his ‘father’ and then the forces of evil really start to take hold. Blood from the 666 in his head starts seeping out. It drops onto Simone and breathes life into her again. Whoa. Not only can the Antichrist take life, he can give it, too. Shay watches on and sees the power.
And from the darkness come Damien’s legions, the Antichrist’s followers, his fan club. They’re all there. For him. Kneeling, along with Ann. Even Shay. Towards us, the audience, Damien turns with a knowing, devilish smile subtly across his face.
The Antichrist has risen!
This was an exceptional finale. I’m hoping A&E realizes the potential for it to grow, as there are already a dedicated base of fans, particularly online that always seem to be watching, tweeting along with Glen Mazzara and the others live. Personally, I wasn’t sold immediately. The pilot was decent, but I didn’t like the large amount of clips from the original Omen. Then after the second and third episode, I was sold. The whole thing progressed magically, so dark and exciting throughout its first season. And the finale spoke volumes to how wonderfully devious this show can get.
Give Mazzara and Damien another season, A&E! The ratings will get better alongside the quality. Hopefully the finale will pump some decent numbers up. Stick with me and we’ll try to make sure the network knows how much we, the fans, enjoyed this show in its initial season. Here’s to hoping for more Antichrist badness!
Geeks of Doom: TV Review: Damien 1.10 “Ave Satani” (Finale)
The final 5 minutes are CRAZY! There was an audible “HOLY SH*T!” moment for me, and Damien makes a fateful decision in front of legions of followers. Whoa! Damien ended its first season with a bang. The show captured the eerie tension of the film, and managed to pull off some terrific surprises. The music and use of the religious imagery always had a menace to them, and I found myself once again looking nervously around the empty room during the commercial breaks, and hearing strange noises.
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TV Review: Damien 1.10 “Ave Satani” (Finale)
Damien
Season 1 Episode 10: “Ave Satani”
Directed by Nick Copus
Written by Glen Mazzara
Created by Glen Mazzara
Starring Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Megalyn EK, Omid Abtahi, Scott Wilson, David Meunier
A&E
Air Date: Monday, May 9th, 2016, 10pm
“Ave Satani” was the name of the Oscar nominated original song (sang in Latin) from the 1976 film, The Omen, upon which the Damien series is based. It is a fitting title for the season’s final episode, as it seems Damien Thorn has embraced his inner Antichrist. Sister Greta’s attempted exorcism last week was met with limited success, as he pulled himself out of a shallow grave and turned the Megiddo dagger on her. Damien (Bradley James) has the mark of the devil, and is constantly surrounded by mysterious deaths. Despite Detective Shay (David Meunier) being convinced of his involvement, and apparent high ranking acolytes in his stead, Damien has maintained an almost childlike innocence, unwilling to be a part of the evil that shrouds him. He has watched his ex be swallowed in a construction site accident, and long time friends like John Lyons (Scott Wilson) are in cahoots with the obsessed Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey). Even his closest friends don’t know where to stand. Tonight, Damien will make his final choice and perhaps make the ultimate sacrifice.
Spoilers ahead.
Damien runs from the churchyard with Simone (Megalyn Echikunwoke), and encounter Lyons and a small army of heavily armed soldiers on the road. John tries to coax Damien by revealing that the Armitage Corporation has banks and buildings ready at Damien’s disposal, with leagues of followers waiting to hear his words. Damien wants nothing to do with it though, and after John gives the orders to kill Simone, the soldiers turn on each other in a glorious massacre. Evil or not, Damien is coming into his powers. That’s even more evident when they attempt to steal a car from a woman who upon seeing him tries to throw herself off a bridge while uttering “It’s all for you.”
Rutledge is mourning the violent tree-assisted death of her daughter Veronica (Melanie Scrofano), and this brings her into a face to face with Greta (Robin Weigert). Greta promises of others, and we see an army of Vatican priests packing a legitimate arsenal of weapons including more Megiddo daggers. The verbal standoff between Greta and Rutledge is incredibly well written and acted by the two women. Both are totally devoted to their causes and faiths. In the hands of lesser actresses, it would’ve simply been two characters yelling “GOD”, and “SATAN” but these ladies are pros. While they converse, Lyons interrogates Amani (Omid Abtahi) about Damien’s whereabouts. This includes threatening the lives of every member of his family. Wilson, who portrayed Lyons as a calm, sympathetic father figure to Damien is chillingly evil now. He channels the psychopath he played in the horror mockumentary “Beyond the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon”.
Damien, meanwhile, escapes with Simone to Charles Powell’s abandoned trailer. He advises Simone to run but she refuses, and ends up helping him clean his wounds. Damien is beginning to understand his role and powers. He knows the church won’t stop and neither will Armitage. When Simone tries to convince him he’s not a killer, he lifts an arm and she starts coughing up biblical bugs. Outside the trailer, waiting, is the old woman (Viv Moore) whose ancient ramblings in Damascus started Damien’s descent.
Detective Shay is on the hunt for Damien, his family having left him behind. His visions are getting more intense as he imagines running over his son while driving a back road. Back at the attempted burial site, Amani is forced by Lyons to put Greta in the grave which is now a mass grave filled with the women who were helping her. Lyons then shoots Amani, and Greta and him lay together as the Armitage henchmen bury them alive… though not for long.
Damien has a plan. He tells Simone he is going to Megiddo, the place his father visited, and the place where the daggers are from. Shay is tracking them as they leave the trailer. Lyons and Rutledge also find him and the chase is on. The final 5 minutes are CRAZY! There was an audible “HOLY SH*T!” moment for me, and Damien makes a fateful decision in front of legions of followers.
Whoa! Damien ended its first season with a bang. The show captured the eerie tension of the film, and managed to pull off some terrific surprises. The music and use of the religious imagery always had a menace to them, and I found myself once again looking nervously around the empty room during the commercial breaks, and hearing strange noises. We can expect the Vatican Priest Army to go gung ho after the Antichrist in season 2, plus the ending leaves so much unknown about this season’s survivors. Where will Simone’s loyalty lie? Has Shay completely lost it? Are Amani and Greta alive? Ah, the look of pure evil joy on Barbara Hershey’s face at the end will haunt me until the start of season 2.
Skattonixxx: Damien SN1 EP10 - ‘Ave Satani’
Holy shit what a way to end season 1!! These actors are at the time of their game and can’t wait for season 2
[Click for full article (spoilers)]Damien SN1 EP10 - ‘Ave Satani’
Last week we seen Sister Greta attempt to exorcise Damien but she failed miserably as we watched Damien pull himself out of the shallow grave and turned the Megiddo dagger back on Sister Greta, we also witnessed the death of Ann’s Daughter Veronica by a freaky, possessed, evil tree. Detective Shay is asked to hand his badge and weapon in and is taken off the case but Shay is like a dog with a bone and he wont stop till he gets his man, he is slowly losing control and his family.
SN1 EP10 - ‘ Ave Satani ‘
Damien and Simone run from the churchyard and come across Lyons and his small army of men that are packing some heat, Lyons tells Damien that the Armitage Corporation has banks and buildings ready at Damien’s disposal along with hordes of followers waiting for his words. With Damien not conforming Lyons orders his army to put a bullet in Simone head and all of a sudden the soldiers turn on each other in a bloody massacre. Damien is starting to get his powers, when he and Simone try to steal a car from it becomes very clear his powers are upon him, the woman tries to throw herself off the bridge whilst chanting “Its all for you Damien.” Ann is mourning the brutal death of her daughter Veronica, Ann and Sister Greta come face to face for the first time and Sister Greta promises there will be others coming to stop Damien. We see the Vatican priests prepare to take down the Antichrist and gather weapons including Megiddo daggers.
Lyons wants to know where Damien is and threatens to kill Amani’s entire family if he doesn’t tell him Damien’s whereabouts but Amani isn’t giving it up and has no idea where he is anyway. Damien and Simone were able to escape and he heads to Charles Powell’s abandoned trailer, he tells Simone she needs to run and save herself but she refuses to leave him as she tends to his wounds. Damien is starting comprehend his role and the power he holds but he also knows that Armitage and the church won’t stop, when Simone tries to convince him that he is not a killer, he raises his arm and Simone starts to cough up bugs. Shay is on a mission to find Damien but his obsession with Damien has caused his family to leave him behind, Shay visions are becoming more tormenting as he believes he has run over his son while driving along the back roads. At the site of Damien’s failed exorcism, Lyons forces Amani to put Sister Greta in the grave that is now filled with the body’s of the women that were helping her, Lyons then shoots Amani and Sister Greta holds Amani as they are buried alive by the Armitage army.
Damien tells Simone of his plan to go to Megiddo, the place his father had visited and the home of the daggers. Shay tracks Simone and Damien as they leave the trailer, Rutledge and Lyons also figured out where he is and the chases is on and what happened next had me on the edge of my seat. Shay takes a shot at Damien but shoots Simone in the head her and Damien fall to the ground and he is screaming for someone to help her, his 666 mark starts to bleed and a drop of his blood lands on Simone’s head where she was shot and comes back from the dead, Damien and Simone are surrounded by Damien’s followers who all drop to their knees including Detective Shay. Holy shit what a way to end season 1!!
These actors are at the time of their game and can’t wait for season 2, no doubt we will see the Vatican’s army of priest arrive with their arsenal of weapons including the Megiddo daggers but what becomes of Amani and Sister Greta? Do they both survive? Does Shay completely succumb to his visions and obsession? Can’t wait to see what season 2 will bring!
Talk Nerdy With Us: Damien’s Shocking Conclusion is Finally Here
After the amazing culmination of events, you’ll see the entirety of Damien reach its peak. This is not a finale you want to miss!
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The season finale of Damien hits the ground running with an opening sequence that truly reminds you of what kinds of people are looking to see Damien Thorn (Bradley James) fulfil his destiny as the antichrist!
John Lyons (Scott Wilson) and his armed assistance from Armitage Global attempt to cull the beast, but we quickly see that Damien’s power has been affected by the exorcism as we see him rise from last week’s episode, The Devil You Know.
We follow Damien and Simone (Megalyn E.K.) as they try to escape Lyons, and on the way see other horrible signs of Damien’s now growing power getting out of hand. During this time, viewers will get to see Amani (Omid Abtahi) again after being kidnapped and interrogated by Ann Rutledge. Both Amani and Sister Greta (Robin Wingert) are in a sticky situation, as they are both now being held by Lyons and Rutledge.
dm_110_08042015_bmh_06816Ann’s vendetta against Sister Greta is particularly strong after the loss of her daughter, Victoria (Melanie Scrofano). Their fates are seemingly decided but whether they have one foot in the grave is yet another exciting moment to be seen! Fans will be shaken to the core with this finale, as it never stops to take a breath. It’s loaded with action, shocking moments, and amazing character growth.
The religious and horror tones are thrown into overdrive in an inspired manner, and we finally see each player in their final place in this huge game of Damien’s fate that’s been laid out in ten episodes. After the amazing culmination of events, you’ll see the entirety of Damien reach its peak. This is not a finale you want to miss!
Damien‘s season finale airs tonight, May 9th on A&E!