Luke 8:17 – As this episode of Them: The Scare begins, Athena (Pam Grier) attends church. Edmund Gaines (Luke James) has Donovan in the trunk of his car. Edmund gets him out and forces him to crawl away on the ground. Edmund knocks him into a shallow grave before hitting him with a shovel. Donovan pleads with him because he wants to live. He says he’ll do anything. Edmund bashes him repeatedly with the shovel. It appears he leaves the shovel and drives away from the scene. Dawn Reeve (Deborah Ayorinde) approaches Reggie (Charles Brice) who is in the bedroom. Reggie says Dawn wasn’t herself last night. He suspects she has been going through something heavy. Dawn admits it was a tough day at the office.

She promises not to do that to him again. Before she leaves, Reggie tells her he can’t do this anymore. It’s been two years and he still doesn’t know who she is. Reggie wants more. Dawn apologizes before leaving. Athena tells the priest it was a terrible thing she did and she never wanted anyone to know. She goes on to say it’s coming for her and her family so she’s going to pay for what she did. The priest tries to give her peace of mind, but Athena is convinced it’s too late. Joaquin Diaz (Carlito Olivero) meets Dawn and questions whether she should let the case go. She tells him that something happened with McKinney and she doesn’t want Diaz to experience any blowback. He’s with her. Dawn asks about the lead he has on a red-headed perp. He tells her about Gary Trent who has a record for assaults and attempted murder. His only alibi for the night of the murders is his current girlfriend but she’s an unreliable witness.

Diaz says officers were called to a spot in Lincoln Heights a couple of nights ago and learned an exorcism was being performed. It was being performed on a boy named Benny Alvarez who keeps saying he sees a red-haired man standing outside his window at night. They go to Benny’s house and speak to Mrs. Alvarez. While Diaz keeps her busy, Dawn speaks to Benito who says the man wants to kill him. He’s a big man with red hair. Benny only sees the man in his mirror at night. He just wants his brother who is not here anymore. Mrs. Alvarez does not want them to look inside the house. She says it’s a matter for the church and not the police. Benny gives Dawn something before he’s pulled away from the window. Diaz tells Dawn that Benny and his brother came from Mexico to live with her. The brother had trouble so she sent him to be with his parents.

She thinks Benny might be imagining things. She mentions that all of Curtis’s mirrors were covered. The Kwon sisters had their mirrors covered as well. They’ll come back tonight just in case. Dawn still has the candy in her hand. Edmund rushes home and begins packing his clothes. He notices one of the dolls sitting on his dresser nearby. Edmund gets a call from the Department of Children and Family Services. They managed to track down the information about his sister. Edmund gets the information before leaving to find his sister. Kel makes his mom answer the door because he forgot the key. Edmund arrives at Corey’s house. Corey thinks he’s the new neighbor so he invites him inside. Dawn comes downstairs and asks Corey who he’s talking to. It’s 1989. Edmund seems infatuated with Dawn. He tells the couple that he has twelve-year-old twins.

Edmund says his son has a harder time making friends. Kel is introduced to Edmund. Dawn is a cop like her father who died when she was young. Edmund lost his father at a young age as well. Dawn becomes suspicious of Edmund. He explains he’s an actor and scraped his hands moving boxes. Kel asks about the birthday cake before Dawn tells him to go to his room. Dawn seems to know who Edmund is now. She orders him to take his hands out of his pockets and put them against the wall. Dawn pats him down and finds his wallet and ID. Edmund cries and says he made a mistake. Outside, Dawn warns Edmund she’ll arrest him if she sees him in this neighborhood again. He says he’s happy for her before leaving. At home, Edmund records himself saying he only sees blood after leaving her house.

He breaks down while watching Raggedy Ann and Andy. He hears the doll telling him that his precious sister rejected him in 1991. Dawn and Diaz check out the Alvarez house in the middle of the night. People gather to pray. Before long, Diaz and Dawn hear Benny screaming from his bedroom. A priest is inside trying to perform an exorcism on Benny who is having a seizure. Diaz phones for an ambulance. Dawn wants to rush the boy to the hospital. Benny bangs on the cage in the back of the police car and rips his shirt. Once they reach the hospital, Dawn finds that he’s dead and contorted. Edmund talks to the camera about seeing blood over and over.

 

Them: The Scare Review

The fifth episode of Them The Scare was short and sweet, but it still provided a lot of insight into Edmund’s past. The flashback scenes are a bit weird since they’re just thrown into the action. Then, the only clarification is when the year is displayed after the scene. Still, thanks to these flashbacks we learned that Edmund and Dawn are actually brother and sister. Although predictable, that set up some interesting scenes and also explained Edmund to some degree.

Something must’ve happened between them to make Dawn want him to stay far away from her and her family. The encounter seems to have pushed Edmund over the edge. The killer also claimed another victim. This killing made it appear that there is something supernatural at work here since Benny died in the back of Dawn’s vehicle.

The episode was decent because it was short and straight to the point. It also helped that it focused on Edmund a lot more than the other characters. The character is the most interesting and probably better performed than anyone else through five episodes. There isn’t any horror here though and there hasn’t been since the beginning of the series.

This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Them: The Scare 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 with friends at the Reel Mockery Forum.