TV Review: Swamp Thing Season 1 Episode 4

Swamp Thing Season 1 Episode 4 “Darkness on the Edge of Town”

Directed By: Carol Banker

Starring: Crystal Reed, Andy Bean, Derek Mears, Will Patton, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Beals, Kevin Durand, Maria Sten, Henderson Wade, Jeryl Prescott, Ian Ziering

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 44 minutes

Avery Sunderland is a real son of a bitch, I tell you h’what. With each new episode of Swamp Thing, I both hate and love him more as a character. But I’m getting ahead of myself, a bit. Swamp Thing is continuing along, one new episode a week, and it just keeps getting better. In this fourth episode “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, there’s a mysterious ailment going around. Not the one we’ve been seeing already, a new one.

A man and his father are out in the swamp, doing what people do in the swamp. A mummified body falls out of a tree and cuts Todd, the son. Thinking nothing of it, he goes into work the next day and starts hallucinating. He sees a snake, and trying to get it off, stabs himself and shoves his arm in the garbage disposal. The sickness passes from person to person, and Abby Arcane, with help from the Swamp Thing, is trying to figure out what it is and put a stop to it.

This is a good episode. I don’t think it’s the best episode, but it’s a good one. The main plot about the sickness/hallucinations passing from one person to the next felt a bit formulaic to me. From the moment it went from person A to person B I knew Abby would have it by the end of the episode. Turns out I was right. It makes sense that the “villain” role is coming from the swamp, but I hope it doesn’t turn in to a “monster of the week” type of show. I think that the side stories are way more interesting. Avery Sunderland is shaping up to be the “big bad” but it’s a slow burn.

He’s my second favorite part of this episode. Will Patton is just so good as the dastardly southern businessman. Pretty much everything he’s doing has an ulterior, sinister motive behind him. Ian Ziering is great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything else ever, but he’s killing it as Daniel Cassidy. The last episode we learned he’s got a mysterious destiny in store for him, and it’s why he can’t leave Marais. This episode, he’s just chasing after it, whatever it may be. But he’s great, he’s not the main focus, but he’s in it just enough to be a standout.

I think this episode may have the first use of the “bad” CGI that Titans and Doom Patrol both have. It’s not even a huge thing, just the cells of Swamp Thing under a microscope, they look fake. That’s all, nothing to major, but it’s noticeable. The rest of the episode is good, nothing else I could take notice of. As usual, the acting from the leads is great. Crystal Reed especially. She has the same chemistry with Derek Mears that she did with Andy Bean. Different contexts for sure, but it’s there. This may not be the best episode we’ve gotten so far, but it’s still a show that everyone should be watching.