Seth has found another of Malvado’s properties (he does
enjoy less than salubrious locales) and decides to pass on a threat through a
Calebros waitress, which gets him an introduction with the big man himself
after being patted down by a man who apparently has 4 arms. After much back and
forth, Seth offers a deal.
All is not going well with Richie and Santanico because
of her ruining their little dinner with Seth – he accuses her of making
everything harder because she’s so revenge focused she doesn’t stop and think.
She has a more direct way to get uncle Eddie’s info though it offends Richie’s
honour – she has not very flattering opinions of that honour
While Seth, while not Santanico’s biggest fan, isn’t
discounting her vampy instincts and demands to know what secret Sonja is
keeping – Sonja tells him about an abusive ex partner (lover and in crime) who
she had take the fall for one of her crimes – I rather suspect there’s more to
it but since Seth isn’t exactly forth coming about the Calebras or why he is
now insisting both they and Eddie drop the idea of stealing from Malvado, he
isn’t exactly in a place to throw stones.
Seth absolutely fails to convince Eddie to drop the job
(and Eddie is both misogynist and dismissive of Santanico and Sonja hating each
other being a problem) and all he manages to do is completely offend the older
man because Seth has completely forgotten all his people skills.
Discarding the code, Santanico and Richie go to steal
Eddie’s info only to be found out by Eddie and to have Sonja turn up to reveal
Seth has already stole them – and she’ll show them if she still gets to be in
on the deal (and Santanico has another “I want to kill Malvado more than
anything so trust me” speech).
Richie catches up with Seth trying to hire new minions
and after a very easy kill and a quick slap down, Richie leaves with the info
and Seth hissing slurs against Santanico
Which brings us back to the beginning and Seth making a
deal with Malvado. Again, aimed at his hatred for Santanico.
So new gang, Richie, Eddie, Sonja and Santanico – and Seth
drops in to try and kill Santanico until Eddie calls time. This is his job and
even though he has no idea what’s really going on he doesn’t want the Geckos to
ruin his last score. After his rant, Santanico insists that Richie tell Eddie
the truth
And then the Regulator crashes the party. In the ensuing
fight, Eddie gets to see what Richie was trying to say. The Regulator seems to
be a match for both Richie and Santanico and Eddie gets himself killed in the fight but the Regulator dies (was this
from the shot Seth fired?). Eddie dies after the obligatory “you two take care
of each other” speech.
There follows a funeral with lots of powerful emotion –
and apparently a now united purpose. And step 1 is letting Sonja in on the big
secret. Santanico also has a moment where she blames herself for Eddie’s death
and leading the Regulator to them – something Richard forgets
But something Seth seems to have embraced in his meeting
with Malvado. I still think there’s more to this – because one of the men Seth
has working for him appears to be the man Richie bit. Seth proves he has Santanico by handing over
some cloth that smells of her which Malvado is seriously creepy over.
They leave and, yes, the bitten guy was Richie and it’s
all a set up. Told you.
Over to Freddie and Kate and the
aftermath of Malvado’s attack on Celestino – the one survivor wants them to
team up with the Geckos to stop Malvado. They’re also joined by Carlos who
tries to do the Calebros trick of pretending to be Freddie’s boss without
knowing enough to pull it off. Of course, to do that he needs to have killed
said boss so time for a fight scene – Carlos & Scott vs Freddie and Kate
(and, yes, Kate does shoot her brother with a crossbow). Kate and Freddie manages
to lock themselves in a room while Carlos keeps demanding the bonds (the
missing pieces to the ma mentioned in this oh-so-special prophecy).
Carlos also has a good reason why they should let them fulfil
the prophecy – a source of blood that doesn’t involve killing people means the
Calebros will stop preying on humans and have less risk of exposure (which is
bound to resonate with Kate who has all the guilt weasels over her brother).
She tries to raise the point with Freddie but he’s not having it.
They leave, Scott chasing (while Carlos notes Celestino’s
stash of super special blood). But Kate pulls a gun – she wants the bonds, she
wants the prophecy. She takes the bonds and he says she’s making a huge
mistake. Her response “No, I’m making up for one.”
She goes back to Scott and, despite him hitting her, offers him a deal. He gets the bonds and his non-killy blood (brushing over whether he likes to kill), Freddie is left alone and she gets to go with Scott and help him. She trusts Scott to keep her safe from Carlos… nice but is there any indication that he CAN?
Carlos is really loving the special blood and drinks the
cask dry, leaving Scott the wooden barrel to lick (while Kate looks on trying
not to be horrified).
The plot is moving on but I’m starting to get a little
annoyed by the whole Gecko focus. Yes, the show has improve in its treatment of
women since the first season – but this season opened with Santanico’s story.
It was her revenge, her quest, her power, her life, her history that was
important. The Geckos were a couple of criminals who stumbled on something
above them. The Fuller family was another family out of their depth and Freddie
may be the “peacemaker” but he was still a little lost and had a rather mundane
history
But Santanico? She has history. It was she who drove the
plot with her consuming need for revenge, with her complicated view of Paloma
with her being held up by some as a god. Santanico was – should be – the protagonist.
And then we had episode after episode of Gecko family drama and then stealing
from Malvado seemed to reach the same level as killing him. And now? Now it’s “for
Eddie”?
Sorry, no offense Eddie, but screw uncle Eddie. Yes his
whole aging and wanting one last score to prove he’s still got it and to retire
on et al are not bad storylines per se – but Santanico’s receding plot is
increasingly being pushed into the background and we didn’t need another motive
with lots of “for Eddie” going on there.
