From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, Season 1, Episode 7, “Pandemonium”
Written by Diego Gutierrez
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Airs Tuesdays at 9pm (ET) on El Rey Network
“Is this really what we desire? To crawl at the feet of our masters? We are so much
more than slaves”
The thing to remember about From Dusk till Dawn is just how over the top it is. The same can be said about the television show. Over the course of just six episodes From Dusk till Dawn: The Series has proven itself to be campy, dangerous and way more enjoyable than this reviewer originally thought possible. Episode 6 seemed to be the thing that was going to drive everything for the rest of the season. Seth (D.J. Cotrona), Richie (Zane Holtz) and the Fuller family finally arrived at the Titty Twister and the war that Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) warned was coming earlier in the season seems to have arrived.
“Pandemonium” has a lot going on and its not the best episode of the season, but there are good moments and not only is it very well executed it also gives the show interesting places to go for the final three episodes. Even if it’s important to the overall storyline what exactly Carlos is up to seems a bit tedious, especially those “dinner party” scenes. “Pandemonium” is heavy on the mythology building. Its been clear from the beginning that, that was one of the ways the show would differ from the film. There was going to be a deeper exploration and creation of a mythology. “Pandemonium” is really the first episode that lays everything out there. Most of that information is from Professor Aidan Tanner (Jake Busey, who also gives us a heavy dose of comic relief as the “sex machine”). At times it is a lot to take in but its handled well and is very entertaining.
One of the biggest risks that the show took in the beginning was not being able to translate the hectic, bloody and dirty. But watching the brutal and sometimes funny, yes funny, massacre that dominates the first half of the episode led by Satanico (Eiza Gonzalez) that the series is making its own satisfying path. “Pandemonium” gives us our first extended look at her character and the pull that she has over Richie. For fans of the film it’s a role that’s hard to separate from Salma Hayek but Gonzalez makes Satanico fierce and her own. For the first six episodes we knew that Satanico had a connection to Richie and held something over him. But we see in “Pandemonium” that he holds some significance for her. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the remaining episodes.
From Dusk till Dawn: The Series is greatly benefited by Cotrona and Holtz who have an exceptional and easy chemistry. The shocking end, Richie getting shot and dragged away by Satanico and Seth’s anguished scream, shows their bond even if they did spend most of the episode fighting each other and the vampires. Both Cotrona and Holtz are at their best when together and this is one of their best episodes.
Ultimately “Pandemonium” is a bit messy but is a great lead into the final three episodes of the season.
Tressa Eckermann