​ "Channel Zero: The Dream Door" - S04E02 and E03 Review

Okay, I was wrong. Since Syfy released season 4 of Channel Zero on demand before they aired it entirely on their network, it's out there before it airs on the channel itself. Or... something. The point is it's on the web and I can watch it. That also means I can hopefully finish and review the entire season without it interfering with my nighttime watching.

One thing you wonder, and I've wondered in the past with the previous seasons, is where the heck they're going. Because they've already crammed a lot of plot into the first three episodes and either the resolution is blindingly obviously (Jillian controls her rage), or it all ends in tears.

Has anybody seen David Cronenberg's The Brood? 1979 movie with Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. Woman has the ability to manifest her anger in the form of homicidal little toddlers. Basically killer dwarves that wear red: see my last review for how series creator Nick Antosca really likes killer dwarves that wear red. They kill everyone she's ticked off at. And the wife gives birth to them in the usual David Cronenberg-y body-horror way. If you have seen it, imagine a somewhat less gory version of the same, but in the usual Cronenberg north-of-the-border Canadian sterile-filming sort of way. And you've got "The Dream Door".

Or maybe it's not that there's not much plot here. Jillian gets angry, manifests a childhood imaginary friend, it kills everyone she gets mad at.

But what does any of this mean? Let's recap and find out. In episode 2, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", the police question Jillian about Jason's murder. Mostly they wonder why the killer (Pretzel Jack: a real "Twisty the Clown" which is mildly ironic since John Carroll Lynch was in season two's "The No End House") didn't kill her, and if she had something to do with Jason's death. Ian the next-door neighbor continues being creepy in a helpful, calming sort of way. We get some Americanized near-nudity that isn't as exposing as what they used to do on Dominion. Boy, do I miss Dominion.

Steven Weber continues to play Abel, the not-so-therapeutic therapist Jillian visits. After meeting with Abel and almost summoning Jack, Jillian goes to her childhood home, waits until the current owner goes to walk her cat, and then breaks in and goes to her old bedroom. Sure enough, there's a "dream door" in the back of her closet. And inside it is some human-shaped something. We'll find out more about that in episode 3.

Tom is acting all sneaky and goes to a therapist who practices floating meditation. While Tom is in a pool floating, with a pair of earplugs in, Jack shows up, attacks Vanessa, and then goes into the pool room and starts drowning Tom.

Episode 3, "Love Hurts", has Tom manage to break Jack's grip. He runs out and slips, and Jack tries to cut his heart out. Fortunately, Vanessa is not quite dead yet and shoots Jack before she dies. Tom manages to drive away and gets to a hospital. Jillian and Ian go there, and the two police detectives question Tom. It turns out Vanessa was taping him floating in his skivvies in the pool. And she masturbated while watching Tom, in a subplot that goes nowhere other than that she's another wacky Cronenberg-style doctor.

Tom figures Jack is a maniac who hid in the house, saw Jillian's drawings, and decided to make himself up as her imaginary friend. Nobody points out the holes in that theory, like where the heck the two doors, the stairway, and the mysterious underground chamber came from. Instead Tom is dismissive of Jillian's insistence that Jack is real and she somehow created him. She even shows him that human-shaped whatever from the last episode, which it turns out is the husk her childhood Jack left behind when he disintegrated.

The most effective imagery in both episodes is Jack striding down the streets, watching from backyards, and contorting himself to rest up under a neighbor's porch. Kudos to actor Troy James, who is a real-life contortionist who got his start on America's Got Talent. He'll be playing Ragdoll (see left) in an upcoming episode of The Flash, and I'm looking forward to it. James is not only threatening as Jack but strangely touching as well. More on that in a few paragraphs.

Jillian and Tom eventually go to Abel, who is still a dick. He manages to make Jillian more upset by insisting she's imagining the whole thing. They hear a noise outside of his office, and Abel says if he goes out and it's not Jack, that proves Jillian is imagining things. It's not Jack, but then Jack climbs in the office window casual as you please. Abel confronts him and orders him out, and it doesn't go well for Abel as we hear some neck-cracking noises and the Hodgson's reaction shots. Let's just say that the therapist is... unabled.

Ian pulls up to the hospital and helps the couple escape. They go home and Ian tells them he can manifest his subconscious just like Jillian can. He was drawn to her and demonstrates his ability to manifest by creating a cat out of nothing, complete with a door in his bedroom for it to come out of. This finally convinces Tom, and they try to figure out how to get rid of Jack. I'm not big on the super-rational Tom and Abel, but at least it serves a purpose: getting Jillian all good and mad so she sends Jack after them. The rational way the trio approaches trying to dispose of Jack is interesting. It's not exactly working with horror movie tropes (ala Scream), but it's close.

Jillian can't just move out of the country. It will "shut down" Jack, but she'll just create another version. Ian says she has to learn to control her emotions. So they go down to the room beyond the doors, and Tom and Jillian talk out their feelings about their marriage. Tom is worried Jillian is like her father, the yet unseen Bill (Gregg Henry). Tom had an affair and a child (he claimed earlier the affair was before he met Jillian as adults), and wants to raise the child but is worried Jillian is too tightly wound to raise a child.

Jillian thinks they're not ready for marriage (duh!) and starts losing her temper. Tom gives up on the whole thing, but Jack shows up. He runs past Tom and goes to Jillian, and in a well-acted and directed moment, Jillian first circles Jack and then they stare at each other before hugging. Again, credit to Troy James, who does a good job of "reflecting" Jillian's emotional state as she takes comfort in her childhood imaginary friend. Also credit to Brandon Scott, as he has to react to his character's wife making a connection with a serial killer.

So you'd think everything was settled, even though we're only halfway through the season. But... Bill calls Jillian and says they need to talk. And Tom's mistress Sarah shows up at the front door and when Tom answers, says they need to talk. So it looks like rough times ahead.

It's hard to imagine three more episodes of Jillian losing her temper, and Jack killing people. For one thing, they're running out of people to kill. Tom will probably make it to the final reel, just because he's the source of most of Jillian's anxieties. But I can see Sarah and Bill getting it. And Jack will probably kill Ian, just because that's what tends to happen to secondary male characters on Channel Zero.

Overall, the season so far has been the best one yet. Creator Nick Antosca manages to improve each season of the show. The Hodgsons are more relatable, it actually feels like they're in an American suburb even though they're in Canada. There are worse people for Antosca to emulate than Cronenberg. And Antosca and director E.L. Katz are spot on with imagery, with Jack striding down streets and casually--almost puckishly--killing people. It's an excellent combination of character and actor.

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

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And hey, if you have a spare 2 hours and 32 minutes, you can watch The Brood on Youtube. If that's too long, there's a trailer or three that will give you the general idea.