Welcome back for the fifth instalment of the biweekly October Faction review. We’re halfway through this weird, middle-aged Buffy pastiche, and it’s somehow getting better and better. This episode had more action, stakes and drama than the first three put together and I was on board the whole way through. So with that, spoilers ahead.
1. A fight in the Parisian night
The start of this episode covered A LOT of ground and it’s really fucking good. We’ve switched from our usual, younger flashback actors to Tamara Taylor and J.C. MacKenzie who shine in the new context (even if they’re wildly bad at flirting). We have some great conflict between the old and new Allen parents, with Deloris endearingly standing up for Fred the entire time. It’s a really substantial scene that works because it feels like it has actual parallels, new parents constantly develop in the shadow of their own judgemental parents and the choice between honesty with children or white lies is a common debate that works as a great cornerstone for their intergenerational rivalry.
We didn’t get any pay-off on Deloris’s surprise infertility from last episode, but we do know now that Viv and Geoff are adopted, which leads to a whole other lane of rampant speculation. I feel like this might even be a reveal we don’t see an outcome on by the end of the season, coupled with the Presidio revelation I feel like Geoff and Viv just need to catch a break, and a surprise genealogy reveal might throw the show a little too far towards the soap opera end of the Netflix spectrum.
2. Trying to get the genie back in the bottle
This episode definitely conveyed the weight of Deloris and Fred’s mistake as we saw them scrabbling to make amends. It took a while but we finally had some actual, honest conflict between the kids and parents and it was great. There was no more eyebrow wiggling and funny wordplay, just kids telling their parents that they’ve been betrayed, and it works so much better. This was especially compelling after the opening where we got to see the contrasting dynamics of three generations of the Allen family, and Fred’s partial unwitting transformation into his own father, even if he tried to raise his kids differently. It’s a great moment that the show manages not to ruin by lettings its subtext stay as subtext.
We also got to see Viv and Geoff wrestling with their secrets being revealed, Cathy almost immediately guesses that Viv saw a vision of her future and Geoff finally works up the courage to admit his powers to Phillip. Both of these are interesting and touching, especially Geoff and Phillip’s first kiss, which just showed how much better they are together than they are apart.
3. Spinning Plates
This episode had a lot of balls to juggle, while it manages to pull most of it together, maintaining a breezy pace, it did fumble at times. The scene where Viv is accused of assault by the man who tried to rape her the night before could have had a lot more weight, but the social commentary behind it feels bogged down seeing as it comes out of the blue and is almost immediately discarded as a talking point, instead just becoming an excuse to have Viv out of school and stuck at the mansion for plot reasons.
We also had some frustrating character introductions. For one, I thought we were done with Maggie Allen, but she’s back again for some reason. Her whole character feels like a walking cliche in a show that just found itself some complexity. It’s also a weird moment in the season to introduce Madison’s mum and her whole schtick. I guess the writers were trying to emphasise how the town sucks up to the Allen family, but I feel like we had seen and discarded that plotpoint by the end of the first episode. Her character doesn’t pop up again, that theme doesn’t pop up again, it just felt like a scene they had intended for episode two that got put into episode five because they were obligated to find a place for it.
Continued below4. The Frankenstein Connection
The moment I saw the Allens watching Frankenstein I knew there would be misunderstood monsters and moral quandary coming up. Both Alice Harlow and the Octobernator showed their sympathetic sides this episode (even if the latter was a little more obvious than the former). I have a lot more questions on what constitutes a monster in this world, every monster we’ve seen so far has been humanoid and Alice is just a warlock. Are they a different species in this world? Does that make Viv and Geoff monsters? No matter what, it definitely blurs the black and white attitude Presidio thrives on.
We also see a more sympathetic side of Alice, she seemed almost regretful upon murdering her first victim for the episode and her carrying the urn of her fellow Warlock’s ashes was a lot more tender than I’d grown to expect from her. Of course, it’s a little hard to keep that sympathy going when she strings up a corpse over her bath and bathes in its drained blood, but that’s just Alice Harlow for you. I think her scene in the bathroom was a good visual metaphor, with the bath as a way for her to try and wash away her guilt, yet she’s only bathing in more blood. It’s very Macbeth. I was way more surprised than I should’ve been when she spoke for the first time, honestly I thought she might just open her mouth and you’d hear the screams of a million dying babies at once.
But, but but but, I can’t forget the true Frankenstein Connection this episode because VIV DID REMEMBER THE TERMINATOR!!! This is the craziest can of worms I’ve ever opened, honestly. Why did she just tell no one she had just been saved by a 7 foot party chaperone with a metal eye?! Why didn’t she tell her parents that she had just met an overcommitted Arnold Schwarznegger impersonator after they pulled out semi-automatics in the middle of their family home??? Why is she still going to school after realising that there’s a knock-off million dollar man who goes to her local ragers?! Honestly if the Octobernator saved me at a house party I think I’d just fake my death and move to Ukraine so I could have some time to think about how the fuck my life led to that insane event. Anyway, he was fine in this episode, kinda reminded me of The Iron Giant which was cute.
5. Pieces in place
Episode five is our official halfway mark in October Faction and it feels like the point where every role is becoming clear. Presidio has officially turned against the Allens, Viv and the Octobernator are unlikely partners, Phillip and Geoff are navigating their uncertain world together and Harlow is set up to be the first major antagonist for the series. It’s a great midpoint, even if it feels like some of the revelations probably should’ve panned out three episodes earlier.
On top of that, we had a tense, unpredictable ending. Honestly I’m not even that concerned for Sheriff Fernandez’s survival, I’m just excited to finally have a cliffhanger I can’t predict the outcome of in this show. Alice is still such an unknown quantity that the scene could end in death, kidnapping or mercy and all of those would be compelling. Also, ‘This Mess’ by Lucy Parnell and Natalie Barowitz was an end credits bop.
“Truth and Consequences” might be the best episode yet, even if it sent me into an existential spiral with its Octobernator reveal. This episode played to the shows strengths and was confident in its creative choices, we’ll see if that momentum continues next time with episode six, “Open Your Eyes.”
