Damnation Episode 9
Last week after watching what I considered the best episode of Damnation I thought “they will never top this.” Boy was I wrong! Damnation Episode 9 is not only amazing, but also heartbreaking as the first death of a beloved character occurs. Characters I never imagined coming together, have joined forces to battle The Black Legion. How long will this united threat keep them from turning on each other?
We open in Wyoming, 1924. Last week we heard gunshots and Cynthia (Hannah Masi) screaming. Seth (Killian Scott) runs to the church to find his father and two of his men holding the Rainey’s at gunpoint. Seth’s father proves just how big of an evil asshole he is when he shoots Cynthia and her father just to punish Seth. Seth loses his mind and ends up killing his father’s hired hands and finally his father.
Seth goes outside to where Creeley (Logan Marshall-Green) is waiting and tells him it’s all his fault that everyone is dead. He then holds his gun to his brother’s head as Creeley screams at him to “do it!”. It breaks my heart that Seth is putting all this on his brother. Seth can’t bring himself to kill Creeley though and ends up knocking him unconscious. It’s now obvious these are the murders that Seth pinned on Creeley. Creeley comes to in the church where three police officers are watching him. As they drag him away he keeps yelling he didn’t do it. I didn’t think it was possible to hate Seth even more, but I do. Poor kind hearted Creeley did not deserve any of this and my heart is aching for him.
Noose Around Their Necks
We finally return to Holden where Seth and Sam, Jr (Rohan Mead) have nooses around their necks. I’ve been on edge all week wondering if and how they will get out of this. Will Creeley save his brother? When Seth refuses to call off the strike The Black Legion tie the nooses to a truck. I don’t know if I feel bad for Seth or not, but I am scared for Sam, Jr. He is a completely innocent boy who was framed by Creeley and does not deserve to die. The truck starts driving off pulling Seth and Sam, Jr up off their feet. I’m a bundle of nerves as they struggle to breath.
I knew Creeley was too good a man to let them hang. He pulls out his gun and starts shooting members of The Legion, including the driver of the truck. He jumps in the driver’s seat and backs the truck up saving Seth and Sam, Jr. They jump into the back of the truck with the help of Preston Riley (Teach Grant), as Creeley holds off The Legion. He then speeds away in the truck under heavy gunfire. We fade away with a very angry Melvin Stubbs (Paul Rae) and you know he’s not going to take this lightly.
Run For It!
Sheriff Don Berryman (Christopher Heyerdahl) is rushing Bessie (Chasten Harmon) out of town when he comes up to a Black Legion blockade. He keeps nervously looking at something hidden in his backseat. If the Legion find Bessie they will kill her. Berryman is so nervous while being questioned by The Legion that it fills me with dread. As the hooded figure grabs the blanket to see who is hiding in the backseat my heart is racing. Poor Bessie is dead if they find her! As the blanket is yanked away I’m shocked to see it’s just Berryman’s record collection.
The Legion lets the Sheriff and a moonshiner who was also stopped go through. I wonder if Bessie is in Berryman’s trunk. I’m confused where she could be. The Sheriff and the moonshiner pull up to a cabin in the woods and we discover that Bessie was hidden on his truck. I honestly did not see that coming. As they enter the cabin, the moonshiner discovers the bothel’s madame and her prostitutes are hiding out there. Deputy Raymond Berryman (David Haysom) is also with them and confesses to his Uncle about helping The Legion get Sam, Jr out of the jail.
Seth, Preston, Creeley and Sam, Jr having returned to the Riley Farm and are now setting up blockades to protect themselves from attack. While building up the defenses Seth and Creeley begin arguing about Cynthia. Seth says he lost everything that day, and he thinks Creeley lost nothing. It pisses me off that Seth doesn’t think framing Creeley would affect him negatively. How self centered can a person be? Creeley tells him he lost a brother and a future. How is it possible that Seth is such a cold hearted person? Creeley tells Seth he paid for the sins of his past and asks Seth if he can say the same thing.
An Unlikely Hero
Amelia (Sarah Jones) and DL Sullivan (Joe Adler), the newspaper reporter that’s helping her with the underground newspaper, are stopped by The Legion on the way back into town. They discover copies of their latest edition in the trunk and bring them both to see Melvin Stubbs. DL claims, falsely, that Amelia had nothing to do with the papers. I cheered when DL did this, he is willing to risk his own well being for Amelia, that’s my kind of hero. When DL is knocked to the floor he slips a bit of broken bottle into his jacket pocket. Stubbs tells his men to take them away.
Victor (Arnold Pinnock) shows up at the Riley Farm with his family. He is not welcomed because he broke the strike and sold his milk in town. He provides them with a trunk full of various weapons and they agree to let him help. Everyone out at the farm seems to have a grudge against at least one other person there. How long will they work together? Will they end up turning on each other?
The Battle Begins
As night falls and the men prepare for battle Connie (Melinda Page Hamilton) talks to Seth and discovers it wasn’t him that killed her husband after all. Suddenly Brittany (Alexis McKenna) yells out and everyone sees many Black Legion members carrying torches coming across the field. The tension is so thick as The Legion just stand there facing off against the farmers. I hold my breath waiting for something to happen. Suddenly a shot rings out from the other side of the field. More Legion members, unseen because of the distraction of the first members, are firing on the farmers. They say there has to be 100 of them. I’m terrified for the farmers who are well outnumbered.
The farmers turn all the car lights on The Legion giving them their one advantage…they have the cover of darkness while The Legion is lit up like it’s mid-day. As the two sides battle several Legion members go down. I have not seen a single farmer hit yet and I’m relieved for that. I don’t know how long they will be able to hold off all those men though. As The Legion gets closer the men know they need to retreat to the safety of the house. Creeley leaves the rooftop to help them escape the gunfire.
A Secret No More
Back at the cabin Berryman finally tells Bessie about her mother. Bessie always thought her mother was a prostitute. She discovers that her mother, Pearl, was a singer and that her and her father were in love. Being different races made it difficult for them to be together. Her mother travelled too much to care for Bessie and they thought it was best to leave her at the orphanage. My heart goes out to Berryman, you can see he clearly loved Bessie’s mother and was in an impossible situation. He then leaves Bessie to listen to a recording of her mother. Memphis Pearl, singing.
Creeley is providing gun fire as cover for the farmers to run to the farmhouse. It becomes a very tense moment when his gun runs out of ammo and he turns to face a Legion member. My heart stops, but suddenly a shot takes out the man. It was fired by Sam, Jr who could have, and probably should have, let Creeley be killed. Creeley killed his father and framed him, but when this moment came he protected Creeley. He may just be a boy, but in my eyes he’s more of a man than most of them. As Legion members attempt to burn the food the farmers set off some dynamite they had hidden there.
The Great Escape?
Back at Stubb’s warehouse Amelia and DL were tied up in a storage room. DL used the broken bottle he slipped in his pocket to cut the ropes from his wrists. After freeing himself he frees Amelia. They pretend to still be tied up when a Legion member enters the room. DL is able to disarm the man and shoots several men as they escape. I’m so happy as they reach the door to freedom. That happiness ends immediately, Stubbs is on the other side of it and knocks DL out with the butt of his rifle.
Tanner (Bradley Stryker) pulls out the Legion’s artillery gun and starts firing on the farmhouse. Several farmers are shot as they all run for the house. My anxiety is very high because I don’t see how any of them are going to get out of this alive. They know the only way to survive is to take out the machine gun. Victor has some hand grenades but he needs a distraction. Sam, Jr volunteers but Preston says he will do it.
The Fight Come to an End
I’m on the edge of my seat, heart racing, there is no way this is going to end good. Preston starts driving a bulldozer towards the artillery gun. The Legion begin firing at him. As he takes a shot to the shoulder Seth sneaks out with the hand grenades. Some Legion members manage to enter the farmhouse and Connie takes them all out. Go Connie! I find myself cheering for people I never thought I could ever like. Preston takes another shot and slumps over. Is he dead? Please don’t let sweet, lovable Preston be dead! The hand grenades Seth planted then go off scattering the Legion members.
They did it! I can’t believe it, but they did it! They survived. The Black Legion have all run off. I feel a sense of relief, but only for a second. A horse comes running up to the farmhouse dragging the dead body of DL. Poor brave DL who died trying to save Amelia. There is a note pinned to his body saying Amelia is next if Seth does not turn himself over.
DL is dead, Preston may be dead. Amelia is being held by Stubbs. Seth has to turn himself over. Former enemies are working together against The Legion. What will the Season Finale bring us? I can’t even imagine how this is all going to turn out.