For as much as I enjoy watching the show, The Gates usually uses every gimmick in the book to keep its viewers hooked. Each episode includes multitudes of subplots and characters, hoping that the audience will latch on to at least one. That way, with at least one relatable character for everyone, viewers will keep watching the show to find out what happens to their favorite vampire, werewolf, witch, or boring clueless human.
Not this week, though. This week’s episode of The Gates almost exclusively follows the exploits of Claire and Dylan Radcliff and their quest to find their kidnapped daughter, with their human lackey Nick in tow. While some may miss the cluttered hodge-podge that comprises The Gates ginormous ensemble cast, I certainly appreciated the added focus and attention the main plot line received in this episode.
Taking place right after the events from last episode, Dylan and Claire Radcliff are searching for their daughter who has been kidnapped by Claire’s jilted ex-lover, Christian. The Radcliffs enlist their human lackey and confidant Nick in the search for their daughter, and thanks to his handy police resources, they are able to track Christian down. However, when the trio confronts Christian, Emily is not there. The Radcliffs only want to know where their daughter is, but Christian seems Hell-bent on informing Nick that his mild-mannered vampire friends are perhaps not as mild-mannered as they seem to be.
Attempting to widen the gulf between the Radcliffs and Nick, Christian repeatedly asks Nick just how much he knows about his friends’ lives before they moved to The Gates. While Nick is at first adamant about wanting to only learn Emily’s whereabouts, he eventually grows interested in hearing what Christian has to say. Christian tells Nick the places where the Radcliffs have killed, and how many innocents died at each location. Dylan attempts to defend his actions by saying he did what he needed to survive, but Christian retorts by saying he at least knows who he is, and he knows the consequences of his actions to his victims and their families.
This gets Nick thinking – since Christian seems to care so much about the victim’s relatives, perhaps Christian left Emily with her blood relatives. Nick’s guess is right-on-the-money, as his hunch leads them straight to Emily’s former house in St. Louis – where Emily was born, and where Claire killed Emily’s real birth parents. Emily is being looked after by her aunt and uncle, and they are not at all interested in letting her go. However, after some phony baloney legalese speak by Nick, and some very heated moments from Claire, the couple eventually lets Emily go home with the Radcliffs – but not without their assurances that they will visit her in The Gates.
This could produce a future problem for Dylan and Claire – they definitely don’t need some random normies poking around their home, where they could find out about the Radcliffs vampiric ways. Especially not if they have an invested interest in Emily. What if they keep up in Emily’s life for the next five, ten, or twenty years? They might cotton onto the fact that Dylan and Claire never age… and “the Botox excuse” can only work for so long. Thankfully, the Radcliffs probably won’t have to ever worry about this, as I’m guessing this show will be cancelled or over well before that happens.
A much more serious, and immediate, problem for Nick and the Radcliffs is concerning Sarah Monohan (Nick’s wife). Sarah found out about Emily’s kidnapping from Claire, and was livid with Nick for keeping her in the dark. Oh, if only you knew, Sarah; if you’re mad about this, wait until you find out your friends are monsters, and your husband knew about it all along. I’m guessing neither Nick nor Claire – who is good friends with Sarah – will be able to contain their guilt and their secret much longer. Sarah will probably find out before the season is out. But what then? Guess we’ll have to keep watching.
Speaking of finding out dark secrets about paranormal genetics, Charlie finally found out this week that Andie is a “Succubi Paramour”. Well, he kind of did. After Lexie told Charlie that Andie was the reason he was getting sick, Charlie confronted Andie. Andie immediately dodged the question, and instead went straight after Brett – who told Lexie about Andie being a Succubus in the first place. Andie told off Brett, and told him she never wanted to see him again. Later, she finally dropped the bomb on Charlie, and told him about how she inherited the Succubus gene from her mother. Charlie didn’t believe her, as any reasonable person would. That, or he failed to grasp the full context of the situation. Either way, the conversation didn’t go well for Andie or Charlie.
If you’re having trouble keeping all these angsty High School romances in check, I’ll help you recap. Brett loves Andie, and thinks he’s the only one who can give Andie what she needs, or who will accept her for who she is. Andie is (or was) stringing Brett along, but still has feelings for Charlie. Charlie still has feelings for Andie, but he kind of likes Lexie… mostly since his options are nil. Lexie, however, is only using Charlie to make Andie jealous, so she can break it off with Brett… since Lexie likes Brett.
Confused yet? Me too. I need a flowchart. All you need to know is that everybody likes somebody other than who they’re with, and nobody’s happy. This proves that, no matter if you’re a werewolf, or vampire, or witch, or whatever – High School is pretty much the same for everyone.
Quick Hits:
- In an effort to draw out the killer instinct in Dylan, Christian offers to tell Dylan where his daughter is if Dylan kills Nick. Dylan briefly thinks about taking him up on this, but instead attacks Christian. Nick, however, sees this hesitation in Dylan, and it prompts him to learn more about Dylan’s murderous streak. Funny – Nick knows Dylan has killed dozens, hundreds, or maybe thousands of times before, but only gets really mad once Dylan thinks for a split-second about killing him.
- In a continuing theme from last week, Lexie uses her fictional “band name” as a talking point between her and Charlie. If she spent as much time playing an instrument as she did thinking about her band name, she might actually have a band. But since she doesn’t, can we please stop hearing about it? It was lame last week, and now it’s lame and annoying.
- Brett was finally in a position to win Andie back; sure, she still has feelings for Charlie, but he at least has his crazy health regeneration as a perk going for him. So what does he do this episode? He betrays Andie’s trust by telling Lexie about Andie’s Succubus genes. Then when he rightly gets called out for it, he berates Andie by telling her Charlie will never accept her for who she is. I’m not sure fans of The Gates will be starting “Team Brett” fan clubs anytime soon.
- Best part of the episode: just when the audience is wondering “what the Heck happened to Christian?” as the episode winds down, we see Christian get dropped off in the middle of the woods by Leigh. At first, he thinks he’s home-free… but do you think is waiting for him? None other than Claire Radcliff – one bad-ass vampire with a mean streak, a recently kidnapped daughter and a wooden stake. Claire plunges the stake into Christian’s chest, and finally finishes what her husband failed to do. I’m guessing we’ve finally seen the last of him.
