The Wonder of Being Human

 
Episode 308: “Your Body Is A Condemned Wonderland”

[Photos: Phillipe Bosse/Syfy]

I’ve had a hatefest the last few weeks on Nora, and there’s a part of me beginning to wonder, “Is it just me? Am I just bitter and small?” But then I read about Nora elsewhere, and I am heartened; while I may in fact be bitter and small, a large population of viewers would like to see Nora go the way of the dodo. So please forgive my incessant Nora-bashing as I talk through the best episode of the season so far.

Now, for the last week or two, I’ve been wondering where the underwear twins went (“Form of a bikini! Shape of a thong!”), but they materialize to harass Josh and worsen Nora’s opinion of Aidan, if that’s possible. Josh’s discussion with Nora and Sally about the girls’ deaths develops yet again into a discussion about Erin, and Nora says something that momentarily humanizes her: “It shouldn’t go this easy when a girl dies.” But then I remember Brynn, who was also young and also died.

I don’t begrudge Nora her grief, and I do believe that she killed Brynn in self-defense. What irritates me is that Nora can’t give Aidan the same benefit of the doubt that she expects for herself. When Aidan reaches out to her in a conciliatory gesture, Nora threatens him again. There’s just no high road with her. And Josh, sweet, humble supportive Josh asks her for her hand in marriage anyway.

Sally’s head rot is larger than ever, so she visits Nick; he’s as befuddled by her condition as she is. But darned if soggy old Nick isn’t lying through his reanimated teeth. As soon Sally leaves, he examines his own rot, conveniently hidden on his torso. Why lie? Oh, because the stray kitty he’s been feeding on the back porch? That’s lunch. Fortunately, Nick has the decency to feel awful about his new proclivities, even if it does cure his death rot.

Aidan visits the campus where Kat professes. While his original intent is to cut off his nascent relationship with Kat, she manages to pull him in further with her saucy talk of tavern wench outfits and corsets. Before the flirting gets too serious, Liam shows up on campus with two of his goons, and they usher Aidan away from Kat. Kat calls Josh to convey her concern, and Josh packs a bag o’ weapons.

Sally, meanwhile, discovers the makeup magic of embalming wax, but her excessive interest finally drives Max (yay, Max is back!) to demand her secret. She explains, he summarizes: “You’re a non-flesh-eating, super-articulate zombie?”, to which she replies, “I’m still me!” Understandably confused, Max dashes.

The rescue scene at Liam’s manse is fast-paced. While Liam beats the stuffing out of Aidan with a sledgehammer, Josh creeps slowly closer. Liam threatens Aidan with an injection of virus-tainted blood, so Aidan “confesses” to killing Brynn. Josh shoots Liam, Liam injects Aidan, Josh shoots Liam some more. Josh removes the chains from Aidan with the now unused sledgehammer, Liam transforms, and Josh runs out of bullets. Both Aidan and Josh make a break for the stairs, but not fast enough to outrun a purebred. Josh turns and knifes Liam-Wolf in the face, and Liam crumples to the bottom of the stairs. Aidan and Josh make it out of there, but at a cost: Josh has sustained a scratch to his arm. But really, did anyone not see that coming?

By the end of this episode, Aidan knows that Nora killed Brynn, and Nora and Josh both know that Aidan knows. Josh wonders why Aidan told Liam that he had killed Brynn. Aidan reasons he was dead anyway, because he had killed Connor…why not lie to spare Nora? Those have to be extra bro points, but will it mean anything to Nora other than fleeting, half-felt gratitude?

Max resurfaces at Sally’s to apologize awkwardly and attempt forehead reconstruction on Sally. Let’s face it, most men aren’t going to hang around when you tell them you’re dead, and Max is taking a leap of faith. Good on him, as my dad would say. Things crumple yet again, however, when Josh and Aidan stumble into the house with their countless injuries. Sally kicks Max out, and he’s pissed. He’s tired of being cut out of family meetings; although Sally tries to assuage his anger by insisting that this time, the secrets in flight aren’t her secrets, it appears to have little effect. Sally will have some fall-out there.

The three roommates huddle around the kitchen table. Aidan sews up Josh’s deep arm scratch, and Josh tells Sally that he’s a wolf, yet again. The tell-tale black viral spotting appears on the back of Aidan’s hand as he works on Josh. While Aidan is pragmatic, Sally remains defiantly optimistic that a solution will be found for all three of them.

The episode closes out with Josh alone in bed, musing the circular nature of his fate. Aidan lies in bed in his dank basement wonderland, contemplating his sudden mortality; if I were Sally, I would have crawled in bed with Aidan and just been with him. Get your head out of the gutter, now, I don’t mean brown chicken brown cow. I just mean this is a show about being human; what greater human outreach is there than touch when a loved one is dying?

Instead, Sally tries once again to tackle her insatiable zombie hunger with a healthy heapin’ of raw hamburger meat. This scene is pure Sally awesomeness. She sits with the refrigerator door open, jamming handfuls of raw meat into her mouth. She initially appears to be on the verge of puking, but then she utters in amazement, “Lovely!”

So, questions for the week: how come Nora is only just now seeing the underwear twins? What will Nora say when she finds out Aidan lied for her? What will Liam’s retribution be? How will Josh handle being a werewolf this time around, given that it happened while saving his friend? Better than last time? Will Nora view him as more of an equal? Nora tried to talk Josh out of marriage a couple of episodes back; will she try to weasel out of her ‘yes’? What new tasty treats will Sally try? How is Stevie faring with the new nutritional requirements? Is Max recoverable? And can Sally and Max still have 9 ½ Weeks scenes that involve live animals (thinking that wouldn’t work for me)? How long does Aidan have, and does Kenny hold the key to the cure that all vamps have sought? And for the love of Mike, when will Nora catch a clue and let go of her Aidan grudge?

See you guys next week. Until then, bon appétit!

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[Official Show Site on Syfy]     [Previous Recap: “One Is Silver And The Other Pagan”]