3.1 It’s a Shame About Ray I don’t read spoilers for this show, so I was immediately surprised by the fact that rather than pick up in the woods where we last left our favourite werewolves, we’ve jumped forward a year and a half — and one of our werewolves…well, isn’t. In a twist, Josh killed Ray to save Nora, and ended up saving himself. He’s no longer a wolf, but apparently the rumours were wrong: it didn’t cure anyone he’d sired as promised, and Nora is still a wolf. I feel like I should be more heartbroken about that than I am, but Nora never really hated being a wolf the way Josh did. Plus, she honestly doesn’t seem that torn up about it, so I’m not going to get hung up on it, either. And then, because this show hadn’t thrown enough twists at me yet, the witch reveals that they’re not doing this by halves — if they’re bringing Sally back, then they are bringing Sally back, as in back to life in her own body. Cue a second grave-digging montage! Apparently Boston cemetery guards will let anyone in for any purpose at the going rate of $200. Good to know. All the parts of their incantation thus acquired, Josh has a minor panic attack over what exactly his life has become, and you really can’t blame the guy because between this and just being a werewolf, turning into an animal once a month suddenly seems like an acceptable alternative. Too late, though, because the spell succeeds. Mostly. Meanwhile, Aidan’s storyline is a bit less compelling. Apparently during the eighteen months he was underground, a nasty strain of flu went around the Boston population. The humans vaccinated and drugged it out of their systems, but it left their blood poisonous to vampires, and the population is slowly dying. An entrepreneur (I use this term loosely) named Mickey somehow finds Aidan’s grave and digs him up, as his blood is rumored to be “pure” and able to cure the sick vampires. (Side note: that mask that Mickey put on Aidan’s face to keep Aidan from biting him…straight out of Saw, yes or yes?) Aidan is eventually rescued (again, I use this term loosely) by Atlee, who intends to take him to the Amish so that they can all feed from him and be healed. Aidan, having apparently gone mad from his confinement, hallucinates Sally, Josh, and eventually Bishop (proving once again that Mark Pellegrino instantly elevates anything he’s in just by his mere presence), the latter of whom encourages Aidan to fight for his freedom. He’s too weak, though, and his attempt to attack Atlee just leads to Atlee deciding to feed on him then and there. Only it turns out that his blood isn’t the cure they were promised and Atlee turns to dust right there at the wheel, leaving Aidan to crash into a pole and be flung from the vehicle. As he lays there, he hallucinates Josh and Sally realizing that he’s dying and he vows that he won’t, but he’s drained and lost with apparently no means of communication and no one safe to feed on to heal himself, so your guess is as good as mine as to how he’s going to get out of this one. I honestly didn’t realize how much I’d missed this show until it came back; it feels like there’s — pardon the pun, given Sally’s current condition — been new life breathed into it and I’m suddenly excited about these characters and their storylines in a way that season two just wouldn’t allow me to be. I loved the premiere of season three and the many twists it threw at me. What’d you think?
