Speaking In Tongues – As the sixth episode of Hysteria begins, Chief Dandridge (Bruce Campbell) brings Judith (Jessica Treska) and Dylan (Emjay Anthony) into an interview room and separates them. Dandridge wants to know if Dylan is a Satanic cult leader. Judith eventually blurts out that Dylan is a cult leader and she’s his number one follower. Chief Dandridge hopes Dylan knows what he just got himself into. When they’re alone, Judith tells Dylan this was liberating. Dandridge finds a note with the white mask. Faith (Nikki Hahn) calls seconds later. Dandridge urges her to come down and make a statement so he doesn’t have to release Bob. Faith begins laughing. Dandridge warns her she could get into trouble for providing false tips. Faith speaks in a demonic voice and says she’s not a young lady.

The Chief notices that the phone’s cord has been cut. Tracy and Faith try to clean up after Gilbert. Tracy urges Faith to do this now before Gilbert’s blood seeps into the rug. Faith wants to know what her mother did. Tracy says she opened herself up to the devil and he stepped right in when she was Faith’s age. Her parents hired a man to cast the evil out and he saved her. Tracy wanted to save Faith too. She insists she’s living proof that it’s not too late for Faith to find salvation. Faith can’t believe all of this was about sex. She claims she’s a virgin. The Reverend (Garret Dillahunt) enters with Bob (Eric Tiede). Tracy says he’s here to help. Linda Campbell (Julie Bowen) can’t stop thinking about everything that has happened. Gene interrupts and reminds her this is a huge surprise to them. Dandridge asks if they saw any warning signs.

He warns them that Dylan is officially a prime suspect in Ryan’s murder. Linda shows him the mark he leaves. Dandridge asks who leaves the mark. Linda doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. Later, Gene complains to Dylan. He tries to tell them what happened. Linda says she and Gene were trying to enjoy one night of normalcy. She is convinced she was attacked by a demon. Linda says there has to be consequences for Dylan’s actions. She is going to get rid of his guitar and records. The Reverend talks to Faith about Gilbert. He insists Ryan’s death was not murder. Faith asks what happened to him. The Reverend claims Ryan died from an asthma attack brought on by panic. If he had been anywhere else, he would still be alive. Ryan was tempted by the devil in Faith. Faith suspects they made his death look like a Satanic murder so no one would look their way.

They warn Faith that she could be trial for involuntary manslaughter. She insists she can’t keep this to herself. Tracy claims she was at the station uncovering a real cult led by her friend. Faith needs to play her part or normal will never be possible. Judith returns to the school wearing a different outfit. Spud (Kezii Curtis) and Jordy (Chiara Aurelia) sell tapes at the school. Dylan wonders if they summoned something. Spud and Jordy don’t think so. They remind Dylan they told him to end the cult. Chief Dandridge wants to speak to all of them in private. He tells Dylan that failure to cooperate could lead to his arrest for suspicion of murder. Others are questioned about the cult too. Spud admits they recruited a few people just to fill a room. Spud insists it’s not a cult though. He says it was Dylan’s idea to get into Judith’s good grace.

Jordy says they’re not Satanists. Dylan says the whole ritual thing was Judith’s idea. If he is charged with anything, Judith will have to be charged too. Judith says she wanted to leave because she has never felt truly seen. Some of the students are given a month of detention for being involved. Cassie visits Linda at the salon because she thinks they should speak. When Cassie begins talking about Judith, Linda believes she’s somewhere else. Once she returns, Linda insists she didn’t overstep. She admits she hasn’t been sleeping well recently. Cassie doesn’t think they should keep letting Judith and Dylan see each other. Linda can’t stay focused. Linda thinks Judith should stay away from her son. She ends up cutting Cassie’s ear. Cassie yells at her to stay away as she flees the store. Jordy finds Faith and asks her to tell Principal Cleary that she and Spud were with her at the dance.

Faith doesn’t think this is a good idea. Jordy gets upset and says she needs at least one person who isn’t going to screw her over. Dylan joins Judith in the cafeteria. Ingrid (Milly Shapiro) and Cliff (Elijah Richardson) think someone snitched. Cliff immediately blames Spud and Jordy. Judith claims they did it because they’re jealous. Jordy asks Dylan if she should tell Judith. Dylan insists it’s nothing. Jordy says it’s all BS because there is no cult. They’re just a band with a cheap gimmick. Jordy tells them they’ve all been fooled. Dylan tries to explain everything to Judith who gets upset and leaves. Officer Olsen (Allison Scagliotti) and Chief Dandridge talk about the case and the mask. Dandridge says he can’t keep ignoring what’s right in front of him. He suggests the crazies aren’t crazy after all. Abigail (Jennie Page) gets a call before telling the Chief about Cassie’s confrontation.

Linda throws out Dylan’s stuff and gets ready to burn it. She lights everything on fire. Gene arrives and questions what she’s doing. Dylan complains about what Jordy and Spud did to him. They argue about everything that has happened. Jordy claims Dylan destroyed everything. Dylan is tired of everyone in this town blaming him for his issues. Jordy quits the band and leaves. Perdita Shipley (Maria Sager) interviews Tracy. She calls Tracy a hero. When Faith arrives, Shipley asks for a photo of them together. Tracy reminds Faith that she needs to play her part. Bob drives a van into the woods and tells Gilbert he’s sorry it had to end this way. When he opens the back, he finds out that Gilbert is missing. Dylan finds out about his belongings. He goes inside to complain to his mother. Cliff approaches him and asks why he did it. Cliff says they all bought into him. He asks Dylan why he did it.

Dylan says he wanted to be like him, Judith, and Ryan. He just wanted to be seen. Dylan would do anything to make it up to them. Cliff tells him to prove it. He wants to take him somewhere. Faith talks to Tracy about what has happened and Ryan. She believes they’re terrible people. Tracy says they’re good people who made terrible mistakes. The Reverend calls her to say Gilbert’s body has gone missing. Tracy worries because Gilbert was going to the police. The Reverend says they need to play their ace tonight. Tracy retrieves something. Father Mathis (Jamie Flanagan) visits Linda. He explains he wants to find out what is going on with her. Cliff takes Dylan to meet Judith and the others. Judith tells him he’s going to die tonight. Judith says it’s a ritual called the Ceremony of Stifling Air. It will allow him to be reborn as his true self. He’ll get into a box, say a phrase, and scream to purge the old Dylan.

Dylan is told he’ll have to leave everything behind. Judith says she just wants to trust him again. Tracy takes Faith to Jordy’s house. She admits what she asked of her daughter was unfair. She wants to put an end to all of this tonight. Tracy says Jordy is her best shot at freedom. She has Ryan’s inhaler. Linda tells Father Mathis about her recent experiences. She tells him about the thing that attacked her. The last time she saw it, she felt like it got inside of her. Mathis asks if he’s ever opened a door to darkness. Linda admits she did. Faith doesn’t want to set up her friend. Tracy insists this is the only option. Dylan climbs into the box and is told he can watch himself die. Linda says she saw a doctor 20 years ago when they were trying to have a baby. The doctor she saw on her own found scar tissue that would’ve made getting pregnant impossible. Linda prayed to anyone who would listen.

Dylan says the phrase. Linda confesses that she opened herself up by calling into the void. She wonders if Dylan was actually a miracle after all. Faith visits Jordy who asks what she’s doing there. Linda doesn’t want to feel like her son is evil. She wants him to be a little boy again. Father Mathis rewinds the tape and plays it. Linda has a demonic voice on the recording. Faith returns to her mother and says she did it. Tracy insists she did the right thing. Dylan is still stuck in the casket. He begins freaking out. The others start throwing dirt on top of the casket. Officer Olsen calls Chief Dandridge that one of the cultists was bragging about killing Ryan. It was the goth girl, Jordan Stanwyck. She supposedly showed off the inhaler as a token. Dandridge wants to get over there immediately. He has to stop when he sees something demonic on the road.

Dandridge gets out with his gun to confront them. It turns out to be Gilbert who is injured.

 

Hysteria! Review

The sixth episode of Hysteria was very long-winded to the point that it barely felt like the story moved forward. Truthfully, there is way too much going on here leaving to a disjointed series. The show didn’t need eight episodes because it feels like it’s going nowhere with lots of uninteresting side stories.

There’s a good chance that the whole thing will end up being a nothing burger. After all, that seems to already be the case with Ryan’s death. None of the characters here are likable making it difficult to genuinely care about the outcome anyway. Viewers watching from week to week will likely find something more interesting midway through.

There is always a chance that the finale will make the series worthwhile, but it’s hard to see that happening at this point. Ultimately, the idea has been much stronger than the execution through six episodes. This one scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Hysteria can be found here.

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