Luke Owen reviews the seventh episode of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series…
The episode is named Pandemonium and, for a time, it’s a completely apt title. This has everything you could want from a television remake of a blood-soaked b-movie homage and it comes by the blood-filled bucket load. However, Pandemonium does suffer from a few niggling issues.
The war that Carlos was promising is here – or so it seems. As Ritchie is fascinated by Santanico Pandemonium, the now rogue Ranger Carlos puts a halt to the party, causing the seemingly innocent Titty Twister patrons to reveal their true selves. As the blood and bodies mount up, we discover more about Carlos’ plan against Narciso, brotherly bonds are tested and more information is given about just what The Titty Twister really is.
So, where do the problems lie? Pandemonium is really an episode of two halves – and not in its time frame. It goes from brilliant and entertaining practical effects to horrifically bad CGI. It goes from being violent and fast-paced to a little boring. It goes from well-written dialogue and solid performances to hokey nonsense with so-so delivery. It borderlines on being a great episode, but in the end just feels a bit unbalanced.
Original movie helmer Robert Rodriguez returns to the director’s chair this week and his presence is felt almost instantly. The opening of the episode is a very faithful recreation of Selma Hayek’s sensual show as Santanico to the point where Zane Holtz has to endure Quentin Tarantino’s foot fetish as he drinks alcohol from the feet of Eiza González. From there, the reveal of the serpent beings (not vampires in this version) is a superb and ultra bloody affair as people get their limbs torn off, throats ripped open and just about anything else you could think of. Sadly, the band do not play with instruments made from human remains. This is Rodriguez doing what he does best while not being bogged down with trying to emulate the Grindhouse feel. But when it’s all said and done, the episode falls into the (albeit necessary) exposition heavy scenes where Jake Busey explains what is happening. Rodrieguez does try to give the relationships a bit of time so the dialogue has some impact, but it all seems underwhelming when placed against what came before.
From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series has been chock full of great performances and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. Even Brandon Soo Hoo (who these reviews have not been kind to) is starting to give some flair as his character shows just how his grief is effecting him and Madison Davenport does well in her ‘terrified teen who doesn’t know what to do’ role. Jesse Garcia is his usual grimacing self and Holtz and D.J Cotrona are great as always. Pandemonium also gives us our first glimpse at the elusive Santanico, who has played a much bigger role in this story than she did in the original film. That character continues to grow in the most interesting of ways, but Eiza González doesn’t always give the best read. At times she’s great, but she can also ham it up when it’s unneeded – returning us to the problem with Pandemonium being an episode of two halves.
However, Jake Busey steals the show as Sex Machine. Unlike González , Busey can ham up his character because he is a college professor who specialises in Mayan history and just so happens to have a six shooter around his genitals that fires when he thrusts his pelvis. If he played this role straight, it would just seem weird.
Everytime an episode of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series comes to an end, I head to Twitter only to find that no one is talking about it and it’s such a shame. This has been a fantastic series and, while the episode has its flaws, it’s still really great. The positives greatly outweigh the negatives. We have two more episodes to go and, with the announcement of a second series, it will be really interesting just how closely the series follows the movie in terms of plot points.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published April 30, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
