At the end of the previous episode of Hell Motel, Crow (Shaun Benson) had a pound of nails hammered in his head. Somehow, he is still, barely, alive and can share the knowledge that the killer is wearing a Baphomet mask. However, Floyd (Gray Powell) takes it upon himself to finish off Crow when he is alone with him in the freezer.
Shirley (Yanna McIntosh) suspects that the macabre artwork of Kawayan (Emmanuel Kabongo) might be a sign of a darker side. As such, she begins to get to know him to see if he could be the new killer. Meanwhile, this week’s flashback shows how a young Shirley (Mercedes Morris) began her Satanic murders with Floyd (Mike Taylor).
My Thoughts on Hell Motel – Episode 104: “Devil in the Details”
We are now halfway through Hell Motel, and it is proving to be an immensely formulaic series. I’m less inclined to blame Adam MacDonald’s direction and more the writing by Ian Carpenter and Aaron Martin. So far, each episode features character development for one of the patrons of the Coldwater Motel, with that character often ending up the week’s victim. This was indeed the case this week for Emmanuel Kabongo’s Kawayan, who was already the least developed of the ensemble.
However, instead of flashing back to Kawayan’s past, this episode establishes how Shirley and Floyd began their original murderous rampage. If anything, this week’s flashback reveals that Shirley has been using a lot of guesswork for the Satanic ritual, basing the time and location on the 30-year rotation of Saturn around the Earth. It’s safe to say that Shirley and Floyd’s naivety is going to be their undoing, since even though they were the ones who got to mortally stab Kawayan, the new Baphomet killer would go on and continue their M.O. of staging the death scene based on the victim’s character trait. In this case, Kawayan was turned into one of his art installations.
With the rapidly thinning herd, there are only a few people left who could be Baphomet. The show is heavily suggesting that the increasingly unhinged Blake (Atticus Mitchell) could be the killer, given the fact that he is unaccounted for when Kawayan is killed. However, this may turn out to be a red herring. Another possible red herring could be the fact that Andy (Jim Watson) is wounded outside. While seemingly suggesting that he is not the killer, Andy did not necessarily have a pleased reaction on his face when Paige (Paula Brancati) suggested that she may have feelings for him.
While I am probably going to stick with Hell Motel until the end, with each successive episode, I am losing more interest in what is happening. At this point, I have a good idea who is going to live and die in the upcoming episodes, and there has to be a big swerve to prove me wrong. That said, it would also be a cop out if the killer turns out to be somewhat other than the main cast, so hopefully the second half of the series can get me back on board.
