This week’s episode was not like the others. The previous episodes are more dedicated to the building of the plot and finding new clues about what or who is lurking behind the shadows of misery within local towns and neighboring states. This episode was slower, mainly the building blocks of facts and myths compiled together to fabricate the stories and cultural lore of the ‘grief-eater” and what he does. This episode leans towards character building as well as helps the viewer grasp a better idea of what is going on within the storyline. We’re able to take hold of the facts within the story and start to piece them together, rather than being completely in the dark from the start.
So far, we know of a few details that help us to better understand the creature lurking in town and ‘feeding’ on the grief it causes. We know that it takes the shape of it’s chosen victim in order to take the lives of children. We also know that he scratches and infects chosen victims but do we know if there is a difference between the neck infections and scratches? Not yet. We also know that Jack Hoskins has an infected neck, which causes him to lash out irritably and sees things that are not visibly present to us, except when his dead mother beats the crap out of him in his living room. Alongside Jack, the strip club owner was also seemingly scratched, though there’s no way to foresee what’s coming from it.
The entirety of this episode brings a background character to light, Jeannie Anderson, Ralph’s wife. As we know both of the Anderson’s had lost their son a while back which resulted in a sort of dying, broken marriage and a depressing home life. See where I’m going yet? They say misery loves company and that’s exactly who comes to visit. Jeannie begins seeing the hooded figure in her waiting room while she’s working, and begins to psych herself out. The second time she sees the figure she decides to shuffle slowly towards him and shake him. It turns out to just be a sleeping patient, waiting to be seen. That’s not the last time she’s visited by him though. He also visits her in her home, her dining room to be exact, and warns her that Ralph must stop investigating or the both of them will die. This is a turn of events of course because now we have a viable adult who can explain who she saw.
I personally love Jeannie’s character because she was quiet in the beginning of the show and now we have the spotlight on her, allowing her character to open up and help with the investigation. To me, it seems as if the hooded figure feels like Ralph and the rest of the investigators are getting way too close to answers, he feels threatened. With one of his only defenses being greif, there’s virtually no way to hurt the anderson’s since they have already experienced grief through the death of their son.
This episode was quite slow, but like I said it really holds up with the actor’s performances and storyline buildup that we needed before the real stuff begins to happen. I have a feeling the next episodes are going to be fast-paced and the roof is going to be blown off of the case.