Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Christopher Hollier
Directed by Allison Liddi Brown
Following a very busy Halloween party at the Drake, there are a lot of balls still left up in the air. Gavin Doran is naturally at the center of all of it. Yet, it is still unclear what kind of power he has over the Drake and its residents. That lack of clarity lends Gavin an air of mystery and ambiguity rather than outright fear. He seems more like a powerful businessman or kingmaker at any one time, not the Devil that was implied in the pilot.
Should this somehow tie to the history of the Drake and what Jane’s ultimate role in it? It’s not surprising that Jane would feel some stronger-than-usual connection with the old building, and that should inform much of her actions in the coming episodes. What’s left is where Henry will be when all of this goes down. Will he give in to growing political ambition, thus leaving Jane in the lurch, or stay with her to keep exploring her newly-discovered family history? Perhaps there was a true purpose to Gavin hiring these two as the Drake’s building managers.
All the business surrounding Gavin involved the mysterious box that was stolen from his private safe during the Halloween party. We find out almost everything about the heist. Who engineered the heist (Victor Shaw, determined to get some self-righteous payback for all of Gavin’s misdeeds and injustices) and who gave Shaw’s man access to the safe and the mysterious Box of Death. While the resolution of the plot feels rushed, somehow having the theft and confrontation between Shaw and Gavin occur within the space of 48 hours, and at times unnecessarily convoluted, it’s building the blocks for the next step in the overall arc. Punishing his lawyer for betraying him and endangering Olivia was an interesting, if ultimately pointless endeavor.
It is just like many of the other souls who reside in the Drake, doomed to live out the repetition of their own specific little tortures. Here, Gavin’s lawyer is seemingly stuck in an endless maze within one floor of the Drake before his head is delivered to Shaw in a box. I should hope the rivalry between Shaw and Gavin continues to be developed into something. Bringing Kandinsky back into the fold is another unknown card the writers can play with. What will be his use from here on out? The little subplots dovetail into the rivalry between Shaw and Gavin. Dr. Scott makes a return appearance here, although nothing is mentioned about the “affair” between him and Louise from the Halloween party.
Instead, Scott has a gambling habit that appears out of nowhere, which gives ample opportunity for Gavin to show off some supernatural skill in giving the doctor a tattoo on his chest to remind him of the enormous debt to be paid to Gavin. It was implied that Gavin can do this telepathically, adding to the mystery of what exactly the rules that govern the show’s universe are. There has to be some connection between everything that’s happening with Gavin and Jane’s continued exploration of the Drake’s history.
Speaking of which, Jane has to explain to the police what exactly happened on the night of Halloween. It’s a plot that feels directly in contrast with Gavin’s adventures with the Box of Death. The audience knows exactly what happened to the man in the Devil costume and who attacked Jane on Halloween, but the characters do not. It’s all designed to paint Jane as a woman who is on the edge of losing her marbles. The little story the detective tells Jane about the end of his belief in ghosts was elegant, but hardly necessary. Ghosts in the Drake do exist, Jane has seen (and been attacked by) them, and so it’s hardly a shock when Jane reveals that she’s thinking about moving out of the Drake. Henry is a rising political star (much of which is apparently occurring offscreen these days) and this is the basis for the wedge in their relationship.
They will be driven further apart with the revelation that Peter Kramer’s daughter was Jane’s grandmother. If Jane goes to Gavin with this tidbit, he might keep her in the Drake for a long time. Would he start to look at her more carefully rather than groom Henry for political office? It’s unlikely, but would make their interactions more interesting. Her connection to the Drake through the little girl is a much stronger one to base a plotline on than nearly jumping off the roof of the Drake because an apparition told her or an old suitcase containing black smoke. That strength was not acted on in the previous episodes of this show because it was still trying to figure out what it wanted to be. The supernatural elements are still struggling to blend smoothly with its glamourous soap opera structure. I don’t know if it will ever do that successfully.
Score: 6/10
