[S2E6] Monster
Lucifer does finally go to Linda, and brokenly admits to feeling something he never felt before; guilt, that his brother didn't just die, Lucifer killed him. Linda stops him, and tells him she can no longer keep up with all his elaborate metaphors. Almost desperately he responds, "But it's not a metaphor, Doctor. You need to take me seriously. You need to believe what I'm saying. Otherwise, you'll never understand... I'm a monster. A monster who deserves to be punished." She believes he feels that way, and she wants to understand, but he must be completely honest with her so that she can help him, "That's what all of these sessions... Our entire relationship...is all about. Getting to know the real Lucifer. No more lies. No more metaphors." He seems both reluctant and relieved when he displays his Devil face. When Linda is frozen in terror and does not respond to him, he sadly departs.
[S2E6] Monster
Lucifer wants to believe he's a monster, but everyone around him doesn't believe it. Dr. Linda didn't believe it. And, even though she saw his true form, will she really think he's a monster? She's in shock now.
Everything he's been telling her since the beginning is true. Of course she's going to be in shock. But, when she does recover, I don't believe "monster" is going to be the first thing that comes out of her mouth.
Chloe certainly doesn't believe he's a monster. She believes in Lucifer. She believes Lucifer is a good person despite all of his inappropriate behavior this hour. She doesn't see his behavior as something bad, she just sees it for what it is: inappropriate.
And, Maze was pretty protective of Chloe's offspring. It was hilarious watching her intimidate the pirate dad with the candy. Even better was when she "dressed up" for Trixie. Maze was a little hesitant about showing her true form, but Trixie had no problems seeing the monster behind Maze. Perhaps that's because while Maze may be a "monster" she's not a monster at all.
Turns out this octopus is capable of turning straight-up invisible. In real life, this trait exits in something called the Glass Octopus, but the tentacled monsters in this episode are much bigger and much meaner.
The series, like its characters, pierced the veil between worlds when it went from anonymous Netflix title to a celebrated series in a year chocked-full of celebrated showsseries. With Season 2, it too conquers a monster the deadly beast of high expectations.
Riko signals the residents to ignite the monster while it is distracted. Other residents drop a net on the monster violently toward the ground after the explosion causes it to float into a net. Some even fire wooden pillars and large silver pickaxes to keep the beast tied to the floor.
Will stares at Mike for a long time, before confirming him as a friend. Was that the monster, the tendriled, shadow creature making a panicked guess? When Dr. Owens did his fire experiment, was that Will screaming in pain, the monster, or both?
I enjoy paranormal or supernatural investigator shows as much as anything else that reality TV has to offer. No matter how skeptical and thus reasonable the shows may occasionally be, there is almost always a moment where I find myself laughing out loud at the ridiculous situations that these people get into. I also find myself infinitely jealous that I don't get paid for running around in a field or an old house, chasing after sasquatches, ghosts, zombies, or whatever other monsters people have had eyewitness accounts of. This episode of Mountain Monsters, enticingly titled "Sheepsquatch of Boone County," is no exception in ridiculousness. In fact, it is so much more; just absolute lunacy. The men of the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings or "AIMS" are a fairly stunning cast of characters. All equipped with wonderfully thick beards, surly Southern drawls and the capability to dole out pretty hilarious one-liner insults, this episode would not have been even remotely worth watching if not for them. Trapper, the team leader, is the co-founder of AIMS who has put his outdoorsman persona to good use by investigating unsolved mysteries of the Appalachian region. His fatherly presence among the other men is enjoyable to watch due to their family-tight camaraderie that seems to originate from his friendly atmosphere.
The episode opens with the AIMS men driving to Boone County, West Virginia, where multiple sightings of a peculiar beast, aptly named the Sheepsquatch, have been recorded. The creature is bipedal and an amalgamation of several animals, which makes it essentially look like a giant ram, but I prefer Trapper's introduction of the monster to the other men by saying, "...this is a big, dangerous, Sheepsquatch son-of-a-bitch." The AIMS team then meet three witnesses; Mason, a deer hunter who saw the monster when he was in the forest; Rocky, a hunter who captured some unconvincing photographs; and Dave, who managed to get a video of the beast (as a shadowy blur, as 'sightings' videos often seem to look). The AIMS men plan multiple hunts for the monster that seem haphazard at best; one ending with a car crash, all laden with unorganized running every which way, and one moment where the creature is in a tree and urinates on Trapper's face, which blinds him for the night. There is also a pretty lovely moment where the men find some of Sheepsquatch's fecal matter, which Trapper excitedly examines with his hands. In good conscience, I really can't recommend this episode to many people. With a premise so outrageous and it pretty evidently being a series of faked "encounters," even more so than your run-of-the-mill ghost investigator show, Mountain Monsters is only really worth watching to see how crazy the entire event is. Although the episode wasn't necessarily good, the men of AIMS are genuinely funny in their quick quips and Southern-similes, such as, "...it's as thick as dog fur in here," in reference to tall grass, or when one of the men likens the Sheepsquatch's supposed musky scent to what Jeff, the other co-founder, smells like.
Kaleb's sister Kym arrives to Mystic Falls for Commonwealth Day, just in time to witness MG and Lizzie capture a zombie. Josie learns about the effect the spell from Kurutta's sword had on Lizzie and goes to New Orleans to consult Freya Mikaelson about it. Freya teacher her the words to the spell, and Josie uses it on Freya to have her remember her niece Hope. MG and Kaleb capture Sebastian and put him in Dr. Saltzman's old office until they know what to do with him. Meanwhile, a new monster called Croatoan arrives to Mystic Falls and starts killing people keeping secrets, starting with a town councilman. The creature goes after Lizzie for keeping Hope's secret about being back. Sebastian reveals that he knows what happened at the lost colony of Roanoke, since he was there at the time. It involved a witch named Cassandra unleashing the Croatoan on the town in order to find a killer, who was Sebastian himself. Josie arrives just in time, when the Croatoan is about to kill Hope and Lizzie, and uses the spell on the entire town. With the secret revealed, the Croatoan returns to its primary mission and grabs Landon to take him to Malivore. Sebastian remembers that Cassandra unleashed the creature on Roanoke to keep attention away from him, whom the witch loved. She was the one who desiccated Sebastian but was killed by the creature before she could get rid of it. He gives MG his medallion, which protected him from the Croatoan and which Hope uses to destroy the creature. Landon is furious at Hope for keeping her secret from him and isn't sure if he wants to be with her or Josie. Raf remembers his own feelings for Hope and tells her he can't be near her. Sebastian convinces MG to tell Lizzie the truth. The escaped zombie leaves behind its eyeball, which is used to spy on the school through a magic ritual.
The Big Easy: Josie goes to New Orleans to consult with Freya Mikaelson.
Continuity Nod: Josie consults with Hope's aunt Freya on the Japanese spell. At the end of the episode, Freya comes to Mystic Falls after regaining her memories of her niece.
Geek: Lizzie knows exactly how to distract Landon. She then asks him about his opinion on Ewoks. Cut to a scene about Landon excitedly talking her ear off about them while making a sandwich. Lizzie is so bored she nearly nods off.
Later on, Landon references a number of "versus" films and gets offended when Lizzie refers to them as boring.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Cassandra was killed by the very creature she brought into being.
Instantly Proven Wrong: Kaleb tries to convince his sister that there's nothing interesting at the Salvatore School, moments before a zombie bursts through the door and is captured by MG and Lizzie.
Internal Reveal: Everyone finally regains their memories of Hope.
Lizzie learns that Sebastian is real.
Josie tells Lizzie about Penelope's journal and tells her to stop using the pen Penelope gave her.
Landon tells Lizzie that he and Josie haven't slept together, so Lizzie tells Hope that she still has a chance.
Let's You and Him Fight: Landon has an idea to unleash the zombie on the Croatoan, figuring the monsters will fight, which will allow them to get away. This turns out to be incorrect, as the two monsters completely ignore one another.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke: It's revealed that Roanoke was wiped out by a creature summoned by a witch named Cassandra because of the murders Sebastian committed. Initially, he believes that she unleashed the creature to find out the culprit. However, after Josie's spell jogs his memory, he remembers that Cassandra knew it was him all along and wanted to protect him from the townsfolk, so she unleashed the Croatoan to seek out the colonists' secrets and keep them distracted. She was planning on destroying the creature but gave her protective medallion to Sebastian instead, so the creature killed her before she could banish it. At some point, Malivore took the Croatoan, so even Sebastian forgot some of the details of those events.
Love Triangle: After his memories of Hope are restored, Landon doesn't know who he wants to be with anymore and tells Josie he needs time to figure out his feelings. Gets even more complicated with Raf, who remembers his own feelings for Hope but doesn't want to ruin his friendship with Landon. To get even more complicated, both Josie and Hope crushed on one another in the past. There's also some ambiguity with MG, who has long had feelings for Lizzie but also likes Kaleb's sister Kym.
Manly Tears: Sebastian after remembering the whole truth about what happened at Roanoke.
The Reveal: Lizzie and Hope reveal a bunch of secrets to one another, as they're trying to keep the Croatoan from killing them. Hope had a crush on Josie when she was 14.
Lizzie thinks Hope is cool, even though she is loathe to admit it.
Also, the ending of the previous episode implied that Josie suspected Landon of having feelings for Hope. In fact, between episodes, she reads Lizzie's diary entry on remembering Hope and figures out the whole truth.
Matt Donovan is now the Mayor of Mystic Falls.
Running Gag: Landon has to keep reminding others that phoenixes don't have Super Strength.
Sinister Schnoz: The Croatoan has a long, pointy nose, which it uses to stab its victims in the throat to keep them from screaming, before stabbing them with it multiple times in the chest.
Title Drop: Spoken by Landon to Josie about his feelings for her after regaining memories of Hope.
Wrong Genre Savvy: The Super Squad believes they can stop Malivore from sending any more monsters if they capture one of them instead of destroying it. They capture the zombie with the Malivore symbol on its forehead, but are seemingly proven wrong when the Croatoan shows up anyway. What they don't realize is that Malivore didn't create the zombie, it was the mysterious hooded figure at the cemetery, so they may still be right.
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