Damnation: Den of Lost Souls

Damnation: Den of Lost Souls | Season 1, Episode 5 | Rating: 9/11

I’m going to need a flowchart to keep track of all the relationships in this show. And I bet Amelia would agree with me. Every week, someone from Seth’s past pops up and this week is no exception. This time it’s a childhood friend named Lew Nez: you may remember his face on that wanted poster in the sheriff’s office that Seth ripped down. Lew conveniently shows up right after Creeley warns Amelia that someone has been sent to kill her and Seth. Since Seth killed the three men Martin Eggers Hyde (Gabriel Mann) sent, he dispatched a second killer after them.

Seth is naturally suspicious of Lew who shows up out of nowhere and seems intent on breaking his preacher man persona with tequila and shooting, but so far Lew seems pretty solid. He takes Seth on a bit of a bender and the two of them kidnap and harass the bank representative, Calvin Rumple. They also show up at the traveling carnival with Lew in a preacher’s collar and the two of them really are the worst at pretending to be men of God. They’re drinking, shooting and Seth ends up sneaking into a haunted house ride to have sex with Amelia (very ungodly). The only good thing about Lew taking Seth down the devil’s path is that sneaking off on that ride saves Seth’s life, since the assassin puts a silencer on his gun and follows them into the ride.

Lew also remembers “Squealy” from their childhood and can’t believe Creeley is now a cold-blooded killer. But Lew might not be so far off. Although Creeley seems determined to prove that he is a killer, he doesn’t want his brother dead. After warning Amelia doesn’t put a fire under them, Creeley decides to make a statement at the town carnival. He finds the body of the men Seth killed and puts one on the Ferris wheel as a warning. His big moment is another distraction that saves Seth’s life when the assassin makes another attempt on his life. Creeley gets a third chance to save Seth when he takes off after the killer and ends up disarmed. Like Seth, we’re wondering if Creeley just saved Seth so he could kill him himself, but it turns out Creeley wants Seth alive so he can confess to a murder he commited that Creeley took the fall for.

While Creeley is digging up bodies and Seth is hanging out with his best buddy, Amelia and Bessie are trying to support the men in their lives despite themselves. Amelia is working with DL Sullivan to create their own underground newspaper since the town paper is suppressing the stories of the farm worker’s strike. The two of them sneak into the news office to print their paper and DL convinces someone at the carnival to distribute the paper as they travel because DL’s uncle is a carnie and apparently DL is a master sharpshooter! File that away and add it to the flowchart because you know that’s going to come into the story again. Bessie is being pressured by her father to divulge information about Creeley and, although he’s treating her pretty bad (he’s trying to be a stone-cold killer sweetie, it’s not about you), she’s not ready to rat him out, not even when her dad offers to help finish the down payment on the home she wants. Bessie ends up finding a compromise: she lies and tells her dad that there’s no personal connection between Creeley and Seth, but she also gives her dad information on Martin Eggers Hyde. So now the sheriff knows that Hyde is funding these foreclosures and trying to end the strike even though he doesn’t know why.

As usual, there’s plenty of interesting tidbits this episode. Did you know the silencer was invented in 1909? There are so many things in this show that seems anachronistic but it turns out they were just invented earlier than I assumed. The carnival rides also seemed very advanced, but the Ferris wheel made its debut in 1893. These are the facts I wish I’d learned in American history.

Bessie & Sheriff Berryman

This episode was a bit slower and less intense than the past few weeks, but the pacing and cat and mouse dynamic between Seth and Creeley continues to drive the story well. I just need Creeley to treat Bessie a little better. It’s clear he’s trying to push his feelings down and now we know why, but Bessie is going to be incredibly justified if she turns on him because she is working hard behind the scenes for him. Like she said last week, everyone needs a little sweetness from time to time and Creeley has been coming up short in that department.

Sound select:

What was that playing during Seth and Amelia’s horror house rendezvous? The bluesy roots of  “Bless Your Soul” by The Bones of J.R. Jones.