Dead of Summer - How to Stay Alive in the Woods - Review: Under Pressure

It’s time for an overnight camping trip. Tents and no cabin, but it helps if the people responsible for packing the food remember to pack the meat with ice.

The counselor of the week is Joel, the resident videographer, who has been accepted to film school. When we first see him, he’s about 10 and it’s just before his first summer at Camp Stillwater.

Even at this age Joel has a video recorder in his hand. He’s recording his big brother getting ready to go to his prom. Everything seems great. Michael is going for a James Bond look (much much better than the powder blue I saw at my prom.) Michael sees something outside his bedroom window, and a little while later Joel finds his body in the bathtub; wrists cut. A note is scrawled on the wall in blood: “He Will Never Leave Me Alone.”

Years later when it’s time for Joel’s prom, Joel sees The Tall Man. I’m pretty sure this is the “He” that Michael was referring to. Also, how is the Tall Man in town? Does he possess rather than haunt? Or am I just too used to the idea that ghosts are connected to a place. Though I suppose they can be connected to a person as well.

I kept wondering why Joel never talked to his parents about what he’s seeing. I would think that if both boys were born with the ability to see The Tall Man, then someone else in the family would have the ability and that Joel’s dad would have heard of them. But when Joel asks his dad if Michael ever told him what he was seeing, his father says no. He also says it was in Michael’s imagination. I can understand why Joel didn’t tell him.

Although I wonder if there was a bit of an editing issue in the script; like they changed his mind about Michael telling his parents what he saw, because after Joel beat up a friend at the prom (Joel thought he was hitting The Tall Man), he tells his girlfriend that his parents looked at Michael like he was a freak after he told them what he saw. Is there no continuity person on staff?

We learn that Joel uses the camera to discern the difference between a vision and reality. He soon realizes that since he’s been back at the camp, the camera is failing him. He belatedly realizes that more than half of what he experienced with Deb is in his head. He looks at the video he recorded and sees the truth. She never sent him flirtatious signals. They never slept together. I cheered.

The Tall Man puts major pressure on Joel in this episode. Because of, whatever, is happening to Amy after that ritual, The Tall Man wants Joel to kill Amy. If he doesn’t kill her someone else will die. I still think The Tall Man is a good guy. I think he wants Joel to kill Amy to protect everyone else. Unfortunately, in doing so, he actually causes Joel to try to save EVERYONE. Joel seems to be cracking under this pressure.

When Joel pulls a knife on The Tall Man, Amy talks him into giving her the knife. Joel finally confesses to his friends that he’s seeing things and needs help. He’s completely freaked out when Jessie shows him the picture she got from Garrett. Holyoke, The Tall Man, is real. Jessie still doesn’t believe anything weird is going on. Even though Anton pops in to reveal that The Tall Man has been discussing the situation with him as well. Anton announces to the group that Joel “should have killed her when he had the chance.”

Alex tries to get a second chance with Cricket. Personally, I think Cricket is right. Alex is only chasing her because Cricket is the first girl that turned him down. Alex doesn’t give up. He quizzes Blair on Cricket’s favorite song so he can set up a perfect date watching the Blood Moon.

Aside: Cricket, running at a person yelling “what are you doing” is NOT the way to stop someone from accidentally stepping in a bear trap. People’s natural instinct when someone runs at them is for them to step back. “Stop!” works a lot better than “What are you doing?” It’s little things like this that make me nuts when I’m watching shows.

Cricket decides to give Alex a second chance and heads out into the woods to meet Alex in the woods. We see the Tall Man’s prediction come true. One of the masked acolytes pushes Cricket, head first, into one of the bear traps. If Joel had done what The Tall Man told him to do, Cricket would still be alive.

I was a little surprised that Cricket was the one to die. I think because Drew took such a huge emotional chance last week and finally did make a friend that would accept and understand him, I expected Drew to be the one to die.

What did you think about the episode? Do you think Holyoke is a good guy or a bad guy?

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now.

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