The first two episodes of Hell Motel took us to the Cold River Motel and introduced us to its owners, Portia and Ruby; Hemmingway, the chef; and the guests: Kawayan, Andy, Adriana, Blake, Crow, and Paige. The resort had become infamous for the brutal murders committed there, and after several decades of closure, it reopened to attract true-crime fans.
While Portia, Ruby, and Hemmingway sought to impress guests with mock-thrillers, the brutal death of the chef heightened the fear in the place and caused everyone to suspect each other. Now, it was revealed that the two newcomers, Shirley and Floyd, had come to the motel with the goal of massacring people and opening a portal to hell (yes, literal hell). But they weren't responsible for Hemmingway's death. And when Portia died as well, the murderous pair realized there was a copycat among them, trying to thwart their plan or open the portal to hell for themselves.
Stars: Shaun Benson, Paula Brancati, Genevieve DeGraves
Episode 3 of Hell Motel picks up right where Episode 2 left off, with Ruby discovering Portia's lifeless body in her bed. As she screams, cries, and tries to return Portia's heart (it's a pretty realistic traumatic response), the rest of the guests burst into the room and automatically assume Ruby is the one who killed her. The murder weapon (a huge knife) is found right next to the bed, and the fact that Ruby slept through it all is apparently enough evidence to tie her to a chair and confine her to that room so she wouldn't pose a danger to anyone else.
We now know that, before falling asleep, Ruby took care of Hemmingway's corpse, which is why she was so exhausted that she wasn't awakened by the murder happening right next to her. Unless the footage of Portia's death was purposefully manipulated to make it appear that, in addition to Portia and Ruby, there was a third person in the room who killed her, we know Ruby didn't kill her own partner. But the guests experiencing all this firsthand obviously don't know this. Well, maybe one of them does and is persuading the rest to act instinctively rather than reason. However, the guests' decision to tie up Ruby is rational, especially since it's common knowledge that she wore that horned mask and black robe to chase Paige and advertise the motel.
Back in their room, Shirley and Floyd discussed the danger they were facing. At first, they thought it was a stupid impersonator, but the severed heart proves this individual is very skilled. Meanwhile, outside the motel, Andy and Crow briefly discuss how they're dealing with this whole situation and that they should discuss it before acting impulsively, as it could lead to an outcome that doesn't favor anyone.
Crow opines that he's simply being the voice of the voiceless, which is a roundabout way of saying that he's using the guests' inability to be proactive to satisfy a strange need to avenge Caitlyn that's been gnawing at his brain for a decade. For a deeper dive into this, the episode flashes back 10 years and shows a young Crow entering the motel basement to communicate with Caitlyn's ghost. I can't say for sure whether Caitlyn's ghost actually contacted Crow or if he hallucinated the entire conversation because he was high on opiates, but he was evidently told to kill her killer, and the culprit could be identified by his horned mask and black robes.
Incidentally, if Caitlyn's ghost is real (which makes this the first clue that something supernatural is actually going on at the motel), there's a good chance that the third killer, who is wiping out the motel's current inhabitants, is an undead Caitlyn. I mean, to be honest, if I saw people doing nothing for 3 decades without solving my murder and instead turning the place of my death into a tourist attraction, I would come back from the dead to get revenge.
Ruby makes the mistake of freeing herself and escaping through the vents to the basement. Because, as soon as the guests discover her, they gut her like a fish. Crow, Adriana, Shirley, Floyd, and, to a certain extent, Blake enjoy giving free rein to their innermost desires. Meanwhile, Paige, Kawayan, and Andy choose to keep their hands relatively clean. The whole scene is quite brutal and heartbreaking, especially since we, the viewers, knew Ruby was completely innocent. But this introduces a truly interesting conundrum.
Until now, the anonymous killer was the enemy, and the guests were the victims. After this barbaric act, a split develops among the guests: those willing to kill to survive, and those who just want to survive until they can contact the authorities. This split creates another problem: those unwilling to get their hands dirty could testify against those with blood on their hands. So, Paige, Kawayan, and Andy aren't just facing the main killer; they're also facing the rest of the "survivors." Also, hearing Crow, Adrian, Floyd, and Shirley enjoy killing Ruby could have caused Blake to turn against those killers. I don't know if Paige, Kawayan, and Andy will accept Blake as an ally, but since these are desperate times, maybe they'll have to see his remorse as a positive and use it to strengthen their group. Still, it's really strange that Blake decided to participate in a lynching despite being the victim of a mass murder.
We have another flashback, where Crow is seen talking to Officer Dickson (if you think Patrick Garrow looks like Brad Dourif, you're not alone), urging him to reopen the Caitlyn-Joey murder case because Caitlyn's ghost told him to. Dickson is hesitant to do so because it's futile. That said, based on some vague details of the alleged conversation between Crow and Caitlyn, Dickson focuses on a man named Renee, who was apparently watching the crime scene from afar some time after it happened. Since it's a widely held theory that the guilty party always returns to the scene of the crime for reasons only they know, Dickson believes he could be their target.
Crow, desperate to free Caitlyn's soul from this mortal realm, asks Dickson to bring Renee in for questioning and pressure him until he talks. Renee admits that she went to the motel to look for the books the Satanists used for the ritual that led to Caitlyn and Joey's deaths. But he's very clear in stating that he had nothing to do with their murder and that he's not a Satanist himself; he was just curious, nothing more. This doesn't satisfy Crow, who pressures Dickson to interrogate Renee to exhaustion. I don't know if Crow really has magical powers or if he's just that good at motivating people to do bad things, but he gets Dickson to apparently turn off the interrogation room recorder and play with her mind. This causes Renee to snap, and after seeing a figure wearing a horned mask and black robes, she decides to kill herself right then and there. Neither Dickson nor Crow were around to watch him. Therefore, they are guilty of letting an innocent man die.
At the end of episode 3 of Hell Motel, Floyd decides to don the more or less iconic costume and hunt down the killer. Curiously, Floyd encounters another individual in the same costume, and they engage in a brutal fight that leaves Floyd severely injured. For a second, it seems Floyd is about to die, but Shirley comes to his rescue with a flare gun. The third killer (Shirley and Floyd are the original two) flees the scene, hiding his identity. Meanwhile, Crow awakens from his slumber and heads to the basement, where he is cornered and incapacitated by this third killer (I assume), who then proceeds to hammer a bunch of nails into his head.
As he passes out, Crow sees Caitlyn's ghost again, but the aforementioned nails cause him to lose his ability to distinguish between reality and fiction. Crow's wailing wakes Paige, and as she heads down to the basement, everyone else follows her. They're understandably shocked, but since they see Crow muttering, they try to get information out of him about the perpetrator before he enters the afterlife. Now, without subtitles, I couldn't make out what the hell he was saying. He could have said "Bath King," "Bell Cane," or "Bacon," I don't know; if you do, please let me know in the comments section. All that said, I think this third killer isn't a human being, but someone who has come from the underworld to enact some twisted revenge. I'm betting on the ghost of Caitlyn or Joey because, after all, everyone in the motel is mockingly mocking her death, and yes, that includes Renée.
Comments
Post a Comment