The Man With The Red Hair – As the third episode of Them: The Scare begins, Detective Dawn Reeve (Deborah Ayorinde) arrives and asks someone to pull forward since they’re blocking her spot. The man, Buzz Cut (Cuyle Carvin), tells her to park somewhere else. When she gets out, he curses her before speeding away. Once she goes inside, she finds a newspaper asking if the LAPD is turning a blind eye to another serial killer. Dawn sits at her desk and finds a picture of a dead person with a toe tag with her name on it. She slams it on the board before Lieutenant Schiff (Wayne Knife) pulls Dawn into his office. Although she says she didn’t turn a blind eye, Schiff reminds her she beat up a key informant.

Dawn asks if the victim didn’t matter because she was another DHI. Schiff says he’s never used that term. He is convinced she was the source of the article although she denies it. Schiff accuses her of insubordination of a direct order. He’s going to pull McKinney. It’s all on Dawn now. Athena (Pam Grier) works at the shop as a woman arrives to get the order forms. Once Athena is alone, she opens a box full of Raggedy Andy dolls. She almost chops off her hand until she hears the bell at the door. Athena throws all the dolls in the dumpster outside. Dawn tells Joaquin Diaz (Carlito Olivero) that the lieutenant wants to see him at two. She needs a new partner so she mentioned Diaz. He admits he’s been looking up to her ever since he came to RHD. She suggests she might’ve been the source for the Weekly article.

Diaz says that’s how the night stalker got caught. Dawn wants to make sure he’s up for it. Diaz thinks he knew their victims because it feels personal. Dawn wants to start by getting the foster home record from DCFS because the killer might’ve gone through Mott’s house as a kid. They talk about the killer stuffing their victims in small spots and leading them there with cleaning products. Dawn thinks he feels hidden and wants their attention. Edmund Gaines (Luke James) gets ready for his date with Rhonda (Tamika Shannon). He surprises her by saying he quit his job so he can set his sights higher. He asks about her dreams. Rhonda says she did some acting in high school. Rhonda and her coworkers are like family. A group of them usually goes out for drinks after work on Fridays.

She mentions Donovan who is such a riot. Edmund leaves the room. He returns and scares Rhonda. Edmund says he can’t get the image of Rhonda in pieces out of his head. Rhonda reminds him she has a son. Edmund takes off the mask and says that was some really great improv. Rhonda decides to leave. Someone calls RHD and speaks to Dawn. Once he learns she is on the case mentioned in the Weekly, he says he wants to meet her tomorrow. He gives her a location and says there’s been two more murders before hanging up. Dawn meets with the man who calls himself Victor (Eddie Park). He mentions his sisters live upstairs too. They’re called Sue-Yeon and So-Young, but they’re dead now. Victor claims they were murdered last month. The cops interrogated and humiliated his father even though he didn’t do it.

A man and woman come downstairs and tell Dawn to get out. Victor believes she can help them. Dawn is allowed to check out the bedroom where she finds a red X on one of the mirrors. She remembers a similar incident with McKinney. Dawn learns they put their beds together days before they died. She remembers asking similar questions about Ms. Bernice. Victor says the girls made home videos, but he doesn’t know where they are. He notices an air conditioning vent above them. Dawn checks the vent and finds a camcorder and a VHS tape. She watches it with Victor. The girls begin acting strange. Victor says they claimed they were followed home one afternoon. They couldn’t describe the person who followed them. Victor admits he thought they were just paranoid. In the video, the girls think they see someone outside their window.

They call him the man with the red hair. Victor found them the next morning. Edmund watches an interview with Charles Manson. He’s so engrossed that he’s cut himself with a knife. Edmund continues cutting himself. Kel hangs out with Natalie. He asks if she ever feels like something bad is going to happen. Dawn learns that the boys at the Divisional Homicide Bureau threw their records unit under the bus. They said the reports never made it to CCAD because they were sitting in their clerk’s record box. No divisional detective wants to give up a case to Parker Center. Dawn asks Diaz to put feelers out for any recent parolees with red hair. She wonders who could cross racial boundaries like this without being noticed. They wonder if it could be a cop. Detective Ronald McKinney (Jeremy Bobb) catches Dawn watching So-Young and Sue-Yeon’s video.

He asks if they can push the reset button on their relationship. McKinney knows she wants to prove she’s not another affirmative action hire. He apologizes for everything before asking about her boy. Dawn tells him to go home and sleep it off. McKinney asks if she’s scared. He calls her crazy, but he kind of likes that. Dawn visits a doctor who thinks she had an anxiety attack. He puts her on a round of beta blockers and tells her to see a cardiologist. Kel sees his dad in the stands. His dad says they have a sound check in about three hours and they’re playing in San Diego. McKinney stops Kel who is on his way home from school. He finds what appears to be drugs in Kel’s bag. Kel gets into the back of McKinney’s car before he’s locked in. McKinney asks if he’s scared. He questions whether his dad knows he smokes pot.

McKinney drops him off at home and tells him to say hi to his mom for him. Kel rushes to his room to get high. Rhonda sees Edmund and flees from him when he arrives at the reading. He gets upset when he’s asked to leave. Edmund is told he’s not reading for this role. He reminds Rhonda she told him he’d be good. Stella calls the police on him. He goes outside and screams. Dawn finds the drugs and tells Kel they’ll talk about it when his head clears up. When they go out to eat, Dawn tries to get answers from him. Kel says he smokes when he’s stressed. Dawn wants him to know he can come to her if something is bothering him. Kel tells her about the encounter with the cop, but he doesn’t know who the cop was. He calls the man a Ronald McDonald MFer. When they get home, Rhonda asks Dawn why she has drugs.

Dawn explains the test results came back normal. Edmund sits in the car listening to someone talk about love. He watches Rhonda leave with Donovan. Dawn watches McKinney through his window.

 

Them: The Scare Review

The third episode of Them: The Scare was okay but the story is a bit all over the place. There’s a lot going on although some of it probably won’t any difference in the scheme of things. While some of the performances are good, there’s no authenticity here.

Whether it’s the dialogue, performances, or the story, something about the series feels off like only 50% effort was put in. Truthfully, the series has been dull partly because it’s all over the place and rarely focuses on the core story. It clearly didn’t need eight episodes considering how many needless side stories are scattered throughout.

Despite some fairly creepy moments, three-quarters of this episode was just dull. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Them can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.