One Of Us Is Gonna Die Tonight – The episode opens with Athena (Pam Grier) watching the water turn red as the washer spins. She is later cooking while a news report about 10-year-old Benita Alvarez’s death while in Detective Dawn Reeve’s (Deborah Ayorinde) custody. The news makes Athena stop what she is doing.

Distraught, Kelvin “Kel” Reeve (Joshua J. Williams) tells Reeve that something with red hair came toward him but only he saw it. He admits to feeling crazy and voices concern about it returning. She vows to prevent it. Later, she receives a call from Corey (Iman Shumpert) telling her that he believes she is innocent in Alvarez’s death. Elsewhere, Athena prepares a tray for Kel. Reeve admits to being afraid for Kel. Unable to speak with Kel, Corey promises to be there soon. Kel refuses Athena’s offer of tomato soup. Reeve hears static on the phone as The Scare pays Kel another visit. The Scare crawls across the floor, onto the bed, and hoovers over Kel, demanding he eat the soup. Kel frantically pulls what appears to never-ending string out of his mouth. Athena calls his name and everything returns to normal. He yells for Reeve. She drops the phone as Corey promises to come tonight.

Reeve races into Kel’s room to find him in a panic, saying The Scare sounded like Athena. As she comforts him, he says, One of us is going to die tonight.” Athena finds the Raggedy Andy doll on the floor. When she touches it, the dryer begins to move. She rushes upstairs to warn Reeve that someone is in the house. Leaving Athena with Kel, Reeve retrieves her handgun before searching the house for intruders. As she descends the basement steps, she hears her tape recorder playing and rewinding. Continuing through the basement, she sees the Andy doll lying on the floor. An audio recording of her telling Rena (Skylar Ebron) about her imaginary friend plays. Athena secretively watches Reeve retrieve the tape recorder. Reeve denies having knowledge of how Alvarez died but is sure they saw something. Athena says Reeve and Edmund Gates (Luke James) are twins and her father called them “Frick and Frack.” She says Edmund threw a tantrum on their third birthday when she gave her black dolls, instead of his gift, a Raggedy Andy doll. She admits to throwing the Raggedy Andy doll in the trash but it was back the next day. Athena says when they returned from the park, William was dead and Edmund had his heart medicine. She confesses to telling Reeve that Edmund was her imaginary after he was back in Bernice Mott’s care.

Reeve learns Edmund died two years ago. Later, Kel asks her if she likes having sex with Reggie Marks (Charles Brice). Stunned, she sees his appearance has changed as he emerges from the bed and gradually approaches. The bedroom door begins to shake violently. His voice distorted, Kel suggests Reggie’s dick was good because she was never home. Seeing the room is empty, she rushes into check on Kel who says The Scare is trying to kill him. She comforts him.

At 11:45pm, Reeve is fixing Kel’s hair when Kyong-ah calls Athena to apologize for firing her and asks her to come to the store tonight. A distorted voice threatens to kill Reeve if she does not comply. Raggedy Andy doll in hand, Athena enters South City Toys and demands Edmund leave her family alone. Large shelves move across the floor and “Raggedy Ann & Andy” by Liza Minnelli begins to play. The area lights up and William drags himself across the floor and gives her his pill bottle. A distorted voice asks, “How does it feel mommy.” While trying to open the bottle, her hands become contorted before returning to their natural state. Red lights up the store and The Scare appears and attacks her. In a distorted voice, he accuses her of taking him back to the group, knowing Bernice would hurt him. Seeing he is gone, she gets to her feet. The Monster attacks her from behind. She collapses to the floor. A police officer informs Reeve of what happened. A short time later, she and Kel arrive at South City Toys. Kel stays in the car while she approaches the store and looks through the window at Athena lying in the center of an aisle. Kel yells at her from across the parking lot when she collapses to the ground. The episode ends.

 

Them: The Scare Review

Kel warns Reeve that one of them will die tonight. Athena tells Reeve that she and William rescued her and Edmund from Bernice Mott’s group home. Reeve and Edmund are twins. On their third birthday, Athena throws them a party and refuses to let Reeve have Edmund’s gift, a Raggedy Andy doll. When Edmund sees she replaced it with two black dolls, he throws a tantrum. She leaves him with William while she and Reeve go to the part. When they return, William is dead and Edmund is holding his heart medicine.

Reeve grieves for Edmund after he is back in Bernice’s care. To ease her grief, Athena tells Reeve that Edmund is her imaginary friend. The Scare lures Athena to South City Toys to kill her.

 

A lackluster episode packed with filler. Other than Athena’s death, nothing significant happened. The season should have been shortened to five or six episodes. A lot of nothing going on for the most part.

The story lacks any form of explanation as to how The Scare came about. Reeve isn’t the target, as it seems only Edmund, Kel, and Athena have seen The Scare. However, she is impacted through her family. It all problems stems back to the Raggedy Andy doll.

The episode deserves a 4.5 out of 10. Get more of Them: The Scare recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by donating. Learn how advertising with us can help build your brand awareness. Join our newly established forum to discuss new and classic TTV shows, movies, crime, and celebrity happenings.