The Case of the Devlin House – As the third episode of Dead Boy Detectives begins, Edwin Paine (George Rexstrew) and the others prepare for new clients. Edwin and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) begin listening to the ghosts’ problems. Once things calm down, Edwin, Charles, Crystal (Kassius Nelson), and Niko (Yuyu Kitamura) consider their options. Then, Susan Kessler arrives and explains her brother-in-law killed her sister and two nieces in 1994. It was coined the Devlin family murder. The sister’s husband snapped before killing his family and himself. Susan explains something is still inside the house where they died. Before Susan died last week, she wanted to visit the house one last time. When she got close to the house, she heard screaming inside.

Susan leaves and the team begins deciding which case they should take. Eventually, they decide to take Susan’s case. Edwin says they need to research the family and the house. Crystal talks about the possibility of adding Charles to her body count. Edwin decides to head to the library. He takes Niko with him. When they’re alone, Crystal warns Charles that Edwin is jealous. They approach Jenny Green (Briana Cuoco) who tells them about the big storm coming through. Crystal asks her about the Devlin murders. At the library, Niko begins asking Edwin about his female disguise. Niko believes Edwin is tense because of the sexual electricity between Charles and Crystal. They receive all the Devlin family articles on microfiche. They thank Maxine.

Jenny tells Crystal and Charles that the Devlins lived in an old two-story house on Haywood in the 1990s. They were the model family, but everyone has skeletons in their closet. One night, the dad went full psycho. He killed the mom and daughters while they were watching television. He used an ax. There were rumors that the wife had an affair and that the new Radio Shack was taking business from the father’s electronic shop. Jenny reveals they’re tearing the house down. Esther Finch (Jenn Lyon) enters the butcher shop. Crystal asks her about the gigantic, bloody woman living in an ocean inside her head. Esther suggests she made a deal with a primordial goddess named Lilith for immortality. Once they leave, Esther tells Jenny the whole town will wash into the ocean one day.

Monty (Joshua Colley) runs into Niko and Edwin at the mall. While Niko and Monty talk, Edwin counts a few cats. Monty tells them about astrology. Niko says they live above the Tongue and Tail Butcher Shop. When Monty leaves, Niko tells Edwin that Monty is into him. She goes on to say two boys can like each other. The Night Nurse (Ruth Connell) goes to the notary with a request. She wants travel approval to go to Earth with a form G 1215. The Night Nurse explains that the two boys are not where they’re supposed to be. Her request is denied. The notary tells her to come back with a more precise location. That night, Crystal talks to Edwin and Charles about Esther and the case. They find the haunted house which is being torn down tomorrow. Two cats keep an eye on them as they go inside.

Edwin wonders who is playing a cassette inside the house. They see the father ghost and it doesn’t seem to notice them. Brandon comes downstairs with the ax and tells his wife he found the letter. He asks if she thought she could leave him for Hudson. Brandon is adamant that none of them can leave him. The attack begins. After killing his family, Brandon goes upstairs and kills himself. Edwin and the others wonder what they should do. Then, it looks like the events are restarting. Charles gets angry watching the murders again. He questions how they can stop this. Edwin thinks they’ve been stuck in a loop since 1994. He asks about the stone tape theory. Edwin explains the emotional trauma of death can sometimes leave a psychic imprint on a physical place. The victims have become trapped in the loop. They’re not able to move on to the afterlife.

Edwin says they have to find the trigger and remove it. They think they should look for the letter. If they don’t fix the problem soon, the ghosts will be destroyed with the house. Niko spends time alone, but tells the sprites the others didn’t leave her behind. They warn her that her friends are going to die in there. Niko covers the jar with a sweater. Edwin and the others frantically search for the letter. Charles finds Hope’s diary. He tells Crystal he checks in on his parents because he misses them and he wants to make sure his dad isn’t hurting his mom like he hurt him. He could never make his dad happy no matter what he did. Edwin yells that he’s found something. He suspects Charles has been crying, but Charles claims it’s the dust in the house. Edwin says he found an acceptance letter proving Hope was leaving for Milwaukee.

The school is called Hudson University. They begin suspecting Brandon was worried about his daughter leaving him for Hudson University. Crystal rips up the letter and throws it to the floor. Brandon still finds it and goes downstairs to kill his family. The sprites continue bothering Niko who is afraid of the storm. Niko denies she’s afraid of the storm. They make fun of her for being afraid not to go to the haunted house. Niko says she has a rational fear of death. Soon, she realizes she should be helping so she leaves. Edwin wonders  if the letter was the trigger since it didn’t work. Crystal hears a clicking sound. Charles admits he’s sick of watching Brandon kill his family for no reason. He decides to try to stop this his way. Brandon effortlessly knocks him to the floor. Charles ends up disappearing. He ends up getting stuck in the loop.

Crystal tells Edwin that Charles dealt with some serious abuse so it was strong enough for him to get stuck in the loop. Edwin thinks he’d know if something was amiss. Crystal says Charles has been hiding things from him and probably from himself. She complains about the music. Edwin notices there isn’t a Victrola or phonograph anywhere in the house. Crystal remembers Brandon controlled the volume using a remote upstairs. They find a hidden room in the bedroom. Inside the room, they find surveillance equipment as well as a stereo. Hope was right that her dad was always watching. They wonder what else it could be if it’s not the murder. Crystal suggests destroying the VHS tape. Edwin worries that would mean losing Charles. Crystal thinks they should try erasing the images from the VHS tape instead. Edwin tells her to be ready to run because death will come.

When Crystal begins messing with the tape, they hear something eerie. Edwin tries to keep her quiet when a Misery Wraith approaches them. He instructs her to think happy thoughts and avoid negativity. David ends up possessing Crystal although he says he is there to help. She tries to maintain happy thoughts. David offers to go in there and destroy the wraith. He tells her that she used to be such a good time. Edwin tries to record over the VHS tape. He also has to protect Crystal from the wraith since she keeps having negative thoughts. She comes back to reality before they check on Charles. Brandon drops the ax and doesn’t kill his family. Once they get Charles back, they think it’s time to flee before death comes for them. Later, Crystal thanks Edwin for protecting her. Charles pretends he’s okay and just happy to be out of the loop.

Niko runs towards them banging a lid hoping to get rid of evil. They talk about the wraith before they run into Monty who refuses to shake Charles’s hand. Monty gives Edwin a book about astrology. The others leave them together to talk. Esther scares away two cats watching from nearby. The night nurse is busy trying to get information for the notary. The murdered girls have arrived with a story about the two missing boys. Night Nurse learns where they are and so much more.

 

Dead Boy Detectives Review

The third episode of Dead Boy Detectives was somewhat better with a little more exploration of Charles’s backstory. The series could potentially reach emotional heights if it focused on serious subject matters a bit more. These strong moments are offset by some of the sillier scenes such as Niko running to help the group.

The series is riding the fence as to whether it wants to aim at children or adults. It goes both ways. The silliness is more suitable for kids, but the sexualized scenes and cursing are probably best for adults. Truthfully, some viewers are going to connect with the characters and enjoy the silliness more than others.

It is watchable although a bit bland at times. Some of the performances could be better as well, but George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri make a decent team. This was a better episode because it focused mostly on one case and also touched on Charles’s abusive father. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Dead Boy Detectives can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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