Channel Zero S04E04, E05, and E06 Review

Well, didn't see that coming.

As I noted in my last review, I thought "The Dream Door" would end in tragedy. But it didn't, really. Everybody who should die, died. Except Jack. I'll miss him. But we're getting Troy James on The Flash after the elections. As a white-faced contortionist killer. Let's hope he doesn't get typecast.

But Gregg Henry died after one brief full episode of appearing. And that's what tends to happen to Gregg Henry, just because he plays bastards on TV. Just look at his Proctor character last year on Black Lightning. And Ian (Steven Robertson) dies. But how do they die? Well, let's see.

In "Bizarre Love Triangle", we pretty much get the end of the first half of the plot. Jack tries to kill Tom and chases him and Sarah into what is apparently a community center. Which has the weirdest looking basement I've ever seen: all big empty underground-looking rooms filled with exercise machines. It also seems to be oddly abandoned, but the front doors are unlocked. I guess it's a Canadian thing.

Ian helps Jillian get control of Jack and together they destroy him as he's about to drown Tom in the swimming pool. Sarah tells Tom and then Jillian her child isn't Tom's, so I guess the fact the one glimpse we saw of it and it looked a lot like Tom was just bait-and-switch. Everything seems to be all right. But then Ian pays a visit to Bill at his motel and confirms he's Bill's other child and thus Jillian' half-brother. Ian summons his imaginary friend Tall Boy, and Tall Boy pops out Bill's eyeballs. Goodbye, Gregg Henry.

And Tall Boy (Stephen R. Hart) has none of the charm and mildly smiling beatitude of Pretzel Jack. He's presumably not supposed to, particularly given what happens in episode six. Mr. Hart never gets the chance to imbue Tall Boy with the dichotomy of smiling affability and homicidal mania that Mr. James does with Jack.

In "You Belong to Me", Ian trains Jillian at his family's summer house. But she realizes something is wrong. She finds her childhood stuffed animal which looks just like the dog she and Tom found. She finds half-formed creations around the house. Jillian recognizes the house from her childhood and eventually remembers Bill took her and her mother there once.

Meanwhile, Tom checks out Ian's house and finds photos of him and his mother with Bill. And Jillian and her mother with Bill. And more of the dogs. When Jillian and Ian return, Tom confronts them and Ian cheerfully shows them Bill's corpse in the garage, being chewed on by his dog creations. Although it's more padding then anything, they call the cops including our two intrepid detectives. As they take Ian to jail, they stop behind a school bus and Tall Boy appears to kill both detectives. Why all of this entitled Greg Bryk to a star credit, or why he got there while Marina Stephen Kerr as his partner was only a guest star, I have no idea. I guess Bryk has a better agent.

In a weird scene that ultimately goes nowhere, Tom and Jillian make love and Jillian manifests a weird semi-baby. It dies in her arms, and Tom goes out to get some air. Ian arrives, has Tall Boy kill another police officer, and then has his creation drag Tom away. He also leaves a message for Jillian to come to the "ghost neighborhood", whatever that is. We never do find out what it means, or how Jillian knows how it means.

In "Two of Us", Jillian goes to the "ghost neighborhood", which turns out to be a development Bill owned and left to her. Tom runs off and more of Ian's imaginary friends, the "Crayons", chase after him. Other than giving Nick Antosca another chance to indulge his affection for red-dressed killer dwarves, they don't really serve any purpose. They only get to kill one redshirt... umm, I mean security guard. Which, other than showing they're vicious killers, or remind us that Ian, who controls them, is a vicious killer, doesn't serve any purpose to the story. They do kind of stop Jillian from leaving the development, but it seems like Ian and Tall Boy can do that just fine on their own.

In another weird sequence, Tom calls Jillian over to the house where he's hiding. But it turns out "Tom" is another of Ian's creations. Jillian figures out what's going on, and drives a sign post through the fake Tom's chest. The real Tom shows up, and the couple talk about their issues for a few minutes.I'm not sure if the creative team is going for seriousness or parody. It ends up with the Hodgsons declaring their love for each other and Tom accepting Jillian for who she is despite her power.

Ian sends Tall Boy after them, and Jillian finally manages to summon Jack. Jack "kills" Tall Boy and then in a fun moment teams up with the couple and together they all three go after Ian. Ian "heals" Tall Boy and hides in a room filled with all of the doors he's created. Jillian confronts him and Jack arrives, and Tall Boy cuts him in half vertically from the waist up. Ouch.

Tom arrives and together he and Jillian drive a knife into Ian's chest. Tall Boy charges at them with some kind of power tool, the couple get out of the way, and Tall Boy ends up killing his creator. The pathetic moans and whimpers Tall Boy makes as he watches his creator die are kind of touching, and the closest thing we get to characterization on the creepy-looking killer's part.

A year or two later, Tom and Jillian have a baby. And when no one is looking, it creates a door in its nursery. The end.

Overall, "The Dream Door" was probably the best season of Channel Zero to date. It had two good actors, a decent villain in Steven Robertson, and Troy James' endlessly amusing performance. He was more of a mime than a contortionist, although the contortionist angle helped. I particularly liked how when he fights Tall Boy in the last episode, he bonelessly collapses to avoid an attack and then kicked Tall Boy's legs out from under him. I'm eager to see how he does in The Flash, which in the comics has always raised the question of how does a guy who is triple-jointed fight a hero who can move at near-light speeds.

Gregg Henry didn't have much to do, and neither do Greg Byrk, Barbara Crampton, and Diana Bentley as Bill, McPhillips, Vanessa, and Sarah, respectively. Steven Weber as Abel had a few fun moment in the thankless role of "Guy who doesn't believe in Jillian and gets killed". As anyone who has seen Weber in iZombie along with a multitude of other shows, he's always been an actor who can do a lot more than just be a straight guy on Wings.

"The Dream Door" still reminds me a lot of The Brood. The main female character gives birth to a creepy baby in both of them. And we get one creepy red dwarf in "Dream Door". That movie ends with a white guy strangling a female, which they couldn't dare show in this day and age.

I suppose if you analyze it enough, you can come up with a commentary on the current social climate in the U.S. Ian suffers from toxic masculinity, is able to make his fantasies real and unleash them on the world, and is obsessed with a woman. He never gets any real characterization, but actor Robertson manages to convey the pitiable elements of the character from the script as best he can. But there's no real answer to why he's crazy. Which is something they gaslight in the final episode when Jillian points that out.

While the suburban environment is nothing to write home about, I did like the final episode being set in a development. Even if it looked a bit like they filmed in the same location for "The No End House". I don’t recall any other horror movie or TV show being set in an abandoned development, although I'm sure there's been one. I must have missed it. But it makes for an effective setting for a final showdown.

There's no word on whether Syfy will pick up Channel Zero for season 5. And some talk it will go to Netflix or Hulu so it can pick up viewers it just isn't getting on Syfy. There are thousands of creepypastas out there, and Nick Antosca has shown he can turn them into full-season stories. So here's hoping for a season 5 somewhere or another, and if not then Antosca continues working in horror elsewhere.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?