By: Brandon Wolfe
“Pandemonium” is probably the episode of ‘From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series’ that adheres most stringently to the source material, which is saying something considering how many episodes have stuck to the script thus far. There isn’t much new here that we didn’t get in the parent film. Fortunately, “Pandemonium” covers what is easily the liveliest segment of the film, so even though you know the song by heart, it still has a beat you can dance to.
Richie is getting his table dance from Santanico Pandemonium, right down to the foot-fetishizing he still receives even though he’s no longer played by Quentin Tarantino. But we are quickly snapped out of our bout of déjà vu by Ranger Gonzalez, who stabs Richie in his already wounded hand before engaging in a Mexican standoff with both Geckos. Yet before any triggers can be pulled, Santanico vamps out and lunges at Gonzalez, tossing the man around like a rag doll. This kicks off a bacchanal of bloody carnage, as the entire staff of the Titty Twister bares their fangs and gruesomely mauls and tears into the patrons as our primary characters do their best to fend off being devoured.
What follows is about ten minutes of mayhem that, it must be said, is pretty well-executed. Throats are ripped out, viscera is torn from necks in horrific taffy-like strands and blood (much of it, unfortunately, of the CG variety) flies everywhere. The Fullers attempt to take cover while the Geckos futilely let their bullets fly. Before long, the group seems to piece together that vampire rules are in play and begin using wooden pieces of broken chairs to stab the hearts of their attackers, who disintegrate into clouds of dust in the ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ style, rather than in the bursts of flames we saw in the ‘Dusk’ film.
The vampires retreat to the back to regroup while the survivors are locked in the front bar area. We are then treated to plumes of exposition, most of it coming from Sex Machine, who is, however incongruously, the alter ego of the nebbishy archaeology professor Aiden Tanner, consulted earlier in the season by Ranger Gonzalez. Tanner explains that the vampires are part of an ancient cult that worships serpents, and that they are themselves serpentine in nature (“more snake than bat,” as he puts it). He also surmises that they were initially Aztecs, that the bar is most likely a temple and that its purpose is to draw in travelers from the road to act as a “people juicer”. This discussion goes on for quite some time, longer than its sister scene in the film, and is very tedious. Because we have seen both the film and the earlier portions of the season, nothing we are told by Tanner registers as news. In the film, we in the audience were being caught up at the same time as the characters were, but we’re way ahead of the game here. While it makes sense that the characters would need to learn this information, the info dump could have been moved along much more swiftly for the benefit of we at home.
Backstage, Carlos is tending to a sort of gentleman’s club of elegantly dressed vampires as they enjoy a feast consisting of gory portions of the bar’s less lucky customers. Carlos is reprimanded for working with the Geckos on the bank heist and risking the exposure of the vampire subculture. He is told that he has no right to go against the will of the mysterious Nine Lords. Santanico then enters and tells the men that it is time for them all to rise up against the Nine Lords, to be servants no longer. When her suggested insurrection is not met favorably, she and Carlos opt to dispatch the entire group.
Richie and Seth’s relationship begins to chafe more severely as Richie clearly knew about the vampires to some extent, yet did not tell his brother about them. Richie says that he saw visions, but never knew what they meant, and has his own axe to grind over Seth giving a chunk of their money to Vanessa, his ex-wife, without consulting him. But they don’t have much time to squabble when the second shift of vampires descends on the survivors. During the battle, Scott is outmatched by a stripper and thrown through a window, but Kate shows a surprising aptitude with a chainsaw. When the group thinks they’ve reclaimed the upper hand, Santanico appears and appeals to Richie to join her ranks, despite Seth’s protests. Before he can decide one way or the other, Ranger Gonzalez pops up and shoots Richie through the chest, and he is dragged off by Santanico, his fate unknown.
The good thing about “Pandemonium”, beyond the undeniable enjoyment of the consistent mayhem, is that, while it covers so much of the same ground as the film in a largely slavish way, it also marks roughly the end of available material from the film for the series to pillage. There isn’t much left in the story, as laid out by the film, for the series to use. Richie will likely still become a vampire, the Fullers and Seth will have to make a final stand while Jacob reinforces his faith, but there are three whole episodes left and there is no way the show can fill up all that time using just these final items. For the first time, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series’ is going to be forced to stand on its own two feet in a manner more substantial than it has had to up to this point, and it will be interesting to see how well it fares without lines left to color inside.
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