Daimon and Gabriella Find themselves in a bizarre situation that only gets stranger. Yen has some disturbing experiences of his own. Ana must make the hardest choice of her life.

The end of the previous episode may have felt like it was a long time in coming on one hand and then got predictable the next, but I’ll give the writers this – I did not see where they were ultimately headed.

So stuff gets really weird, as it turns out that Kthara has had a plan all along, and it’s one that’s both simple and horrifying. But surely our favourite demon-slayer can save the day and prevail here? Well…

Meanwhile Yen, who thought all his troubles were over, suddenly finds that they are very much not. All the poor guy wants to do is decorate his apartment with boyfriend Derrick and live a normal life. But turns out that once you’ve closely interacted with a Keeper, it ain’t all that simple.

Back at St Theresa’s, there’s just about time for Caretaker and Hastings to have a heart to heart (and for her to reveal her newfound determination to embrace life) before they all become forcibly made aware of just how crazy things are getting. Ana ends up faced with a difficult choice indeed – the one weapon that might help is also the one that is likely to cause her the most pain. But the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Back with Gabriella, the poor girl is doing her best to remain defiant but it has to be said that the odds are stacked highly against her and it doesn’t really feel like there’s a lot left that she can do.

Overall, after the heights of the previous episode it’s… a mixed bag. There’s certainly interesting ideas and some neat surprises thrown in, but there’s also some stuff that just feels a little forced, and like it’s just pushing us gently towards the next scene rather than organically contributing to the ongoing plot. A confrontation between Ana and Daimon in particular just ends up coming off slightly goofy at its conclusion, as the plot requires one of them to suddenly do something all prior indicators suggested they can’t, just so that things can progress. It’s difficult to think necessarily of a better way it could have been done, but that rather begs the question of whether it should have been done at all.

Verdict: As the series barrels towards its conclusion, it’s difficult to see how this landing will be stuck. 6/10

Greg D. Smith