A Look at "Channel Zero: Candle Cove", pt3

The Other Day

            I have been talking about Creepypasta and the SyFy show inspired by those internet horror stories, “Channel Zero”.  More specifically I am talking about “Candle Cove” which was the first season of the show.  You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

More Robust Show Rundowns

            In part 2 I gave a heaping helping of episode synopsis for the “Candle Cove” TV show and a running commentary.  (My running commentary is in parentheses, and is almost entirely bitching, both about the show and the wiki rundown which leaves out shit beginning, middle, and end.)  I imagine these are a what a youtube reviewer’s initial scripts look like, but here I am, in the dark age of text.  Whatever.

            I decided to go back to Wikipedia and grab the short episode descriptions for this purpose and after going thru episodes 1, 2, and 3 I found the whole blog getting far too long.  This is the continuation of that.  Episodes 4, 5, and 6 presented with my complaining (and the rare compliment) running alongside of it.  Let’s get back to it.

Episode 4

            Mike’s daughter, Lily reveals herself to be a manifestation of Mike’s dead twin brother, Eddie.  Lily promises to send Mike "where he belongs".  (Why?  Why is the little girl Eddie?  Is she possessed?  How did she get to the town?  Psychic teleport?  This is stupid.)

            Fulfilling Eddie's wish, Mike breaks into the morgue with the help of Jessica and burns Eddie's skeletal remains.  (Why the wishes of a murderous psychic dickhead are being fulfilled, I have no idea, we all do stupid things in the name of family.)

            Jessica and Mike are shown to have been childhood sweethearts when they were young.  (No one cares.  This detail is a lazy short cut to build emotional report, a sturdy build in much the way a pump tent is a sturdy house.  Also, if you have ever watched any horror story ever then this emotional depth being revealed telegraphs Jessica’s death from a mile away.  Lame.)

            Acting Sheriff Amy, one of the party guests present when Mike initially brought up the topic of “Candle Cove” (that is to say the puppet show) investigates the strange behavior of some kids and after a confusing encounter with Mrs. Booth at school.  Amy finds the children playing pirate in the gymnasium. Acting on a hunch, Amy searches Mrs. Booth's home and finds Candle Cove props in the woman’s basement, and eventually discovers the body of Daphne.  (I clearly remember thinking, “bang up police work, all this evidence is inadmissible”.)
            Meanwhile, Jessica returns home to discover several children masked in Candle Cove costumes.  After she draws her husband’s gun to defend herself, they begin stabbing her.  Rather than fight back with the gun, Jessica makes a pathetic attempt to run away, falls into a kiddy pool, and is stabbed to death.  (I was… let’s say “frustrated” by this death, as I find a cadre of knife wielding attackers worthy of being shot regardless of their status as children; maybe that is just me.  Beyond that, I found it kind of silly.)

            Mike’s daughter Lily regains consciousness as herself rather than as a manifestation of Eddie.  (Still stupid, and I would further point out that the involvement of the daughter mostly serves as a digression into wasting more time.  Mike’s family, aside from his Mom and brother, serve no function in the story and could have been cut for brevity.)

            (I don’t know where it happens but Sheriff Amy has a love interest, goes home with that love interest, and presumably has sex with that target of her affections, who is a fellow cop.  This subplot is not mentioned in the recap.  I understand why it was left out, as it adds nothing.  I mention it only because it takes up space in my mind, and now knowledge of its existence will take up space in yours.)

Episode 5

            Mike discovers an extra tooth breaking through his gum, a trait that his twin Eddie had as a child, but which Mike had never previously suffered.  (Shrug.)

            Sheriff Amy tells Mike about Jessica's murder and she agrees to let Jessica’s husband, Gary out of custody to help him search Mrs. Booth's property.  Gary discovers some teeth left on a fence post outside and Mike realizes that the Candle Cove props found in the basement are fake.  (Mike’s ability to judge the authenticity of puppet show props is not explained.  Maybe he had a creepy puppet phase at some point in his life.)

            Mike receives a phone call from Booth instructing him to meet her alone at an abandoned diner.  Once there, Mike witnesses Booth in the skeleton costume, the same one he had seen and followed in previous episodes.  Mrs. Booth has been controlling children into helping her commit murders.  (For some reason, there is a monster made out of teeth that Ms. Booth has been feeding teeth she takes from the children, it doesn’t come up in this scene, but I feel the need to underline the strange stupidity of it.  The symbolism of the teeth is obtuse to the point where I have no idea what it means and no idea why they went with it beyond, “It’s spooky”.)

            Later, Booth goes to Marla's house and tells Mike and Marla how Eddie used his psychic powers to cure/control a condition Booth suffered from which caused her seizures.  It was Eddie who created Candle Cove, not her.  (Presumably Eddie did it thru mental projection, though the “Why a pirate puppet show?” part is NEVER explained.  And I don’t know about you, but I feel that warrants an explanation.)

Just going to use this picture from Yesterday again.

            Booth killed her own son as a sacrifice for Eddie to increase his power and welcomes Eddie's return through Mike.  That night at a motel, the tooth creature lures Lily away.

            As Mike attempts to extract his extra tooth, Candle Cove begins playing on the television, featuring a frightened Lily.

            (I should also note that random instances of dreams and giant puppets show up to be creepy and then leave without accomplishing anything.  They foreshadow nothing, I guess they just had a bunch of ideas and didn’t know what to do with it all, so they just kept throwing random shit out there.)

Episode 6

            Amy and Gary search for the children suspects and Gary is able to reclaim his own children from Candle Cove's control.

            Mike's wife, Erica, demands that he tell her where their daughter Lily is.  But, Mike is convinced that he's the only one who can save Lily.  Mike takes Erica to the site of the murders and loses consciousness, entering Eddie's parallel world filled with strange rooms and monsters.  (Let me be clear, the show was off the rails back in episode 4, at this point the train of logic is flying thru the air without cause, reason, or trajectory.  PARRALEL DIMENSION?  What even the hell are they talking about?  This was never explored previously and they totally could have.  This does not work.)

            When Mike finally comes face to face with his brother, Eddie agrees to let Lily leave the dimension (Is this her soul?  Body?  Things are a little unclear.), but Lily can only go if Mike agrees to stay forever.  Lily returns to reality by crawling through a TV and is greeted by her mother.

            Marla goes to the woods where she is attacked by Mrs. Booth.  Marla is rescued at the last minute by Amy, who shoots Booth and Marla finishes off the old school teacher by stabbing her in the skull a hook.  (Nothing wrong with this, a fit mother killing an unfit mother with the help of a law enforcement official.  I would say “symbolism” but there really isn’t any.  It is just what should happen in a situation like this.)

Honestly, as a character, Amy is the most level headed and direct.
The actress does a good job and I enjoyed her side of the story.
I kind of wish she was given more to do.

            Meanwhile in the parallel dimension, created by the psychic ghost of a murdered 10-year-old twin who likes pirate themed puppets and has extra teeth… (See how this stuff is piling on?)  Mike convinces Eddie to stay for one more instance of the card game War that they played as kids but could never finish.  That might have something to do with the game of War being garbage).  This delay tactic distracts Eddie’s exit from the Parallel Dimension.  Eddie plans to leave Mike trapped there while taking over Mike’s body and going out into the world.  (What he plans to do after that is a big question mark.  I am guessing that a 10-year old in an adult body would just go get some McDonald’s first and then play it all by ear.)

            Mike’s plan is a success though, as this delay is long enough for Marla to return to the woods, find Mike’s body, and suffocate her son’s unconscious form before Eddie can possess it.

            Unable to break free of his world, Eddie is forced to remain with Mike in the parallel dimension along with Skin Taker, a monster Eddie created to act as jailer to Mike (I think). (The tooth monster remains unexplained, and could very well have been unrelated to the incident, perhaps just a mutant wandering onto the edge of town from a nearby nuclear accident… Strangely, in the Parallel Dimension, there is a different monster there, Skin Taker, which they address directly while they DO NOT MENTION the tooth creature.  Makes no sense.)

This is also glimpsed several times and it is never explained.
A lot of spooky for the sake of spooky.

Okay, that is Enough Now

            Alright, I have now given a rundown of each episode in the series and am set to blather out some meek complaints for the next entry in this series.  I hope this is proving to be entertaining to read, because it is actually pretty tiring to write this much about a TV show I didn’t really care for.

Part 4...

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