Dead of Summer Season 1 Episode 8 Review: The Devil Inside

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If you had told me eight weeks ago that I'd be attached and rooting for Jessie, I would have laughed until tears streamed from my eyes.

But Dead of Summer Season 1 Episode 8 gave Jessie a story worth watching, though it didn't try to explain away all of her less-than-flattering behavior from the beginning of the season.

Is It Over?

Where Amy is the vessel for the demon, and currently possessed, Jessie seems to be the vessel for Holyoke now, along with Joel.

It's not over.

Cricket

Joel bit the dust, too, and joined Cricket in the afterlife after Demon Amy stabbed him in the neck with a knife. I may or may not have exuded a giant sigh of relief when Joel was killed and Alex was not.

Starting with Jessie's flashbacks, as soon as we were introduced to her mother I knew exactly how the story would play out.

Jessie, a star student and teenager, took the blame for her mother's drunk driving accident which probably killed the other driver, and that explains her court date. But Jessie also had to deal with a mother who wouldn't grow up, wouldn't take care of herself, and treated her like a burden rather than a daughter.

The Jessie at Camp Stillwater is not the Jessie we saw that was accepted into Northwestern University. Her mother forcing her to change seats in the car after the accident seemingly changed her much more than any of these demon shenanigans would.

Whose mother would make them ruin their life to take the fall for their accident? It's despicable.

Jessie spent her entire life leaning on and relying only on herself because her mother was a flake, which is what made Cricket's ultimatum during the eclipse so hard for her.

She couldn't trust her own thoughts because she didn't know if that was actually Cricket or if it was the demon, Malphas, trying to trick her into doing his bidding.

Jessie: You're going to kill her.
Holyoke: No, I'm going to save her.

It was so obvious Holyoke was being framed for all of this. He may be a creepy, obnoxious specter, but he's the hero. He's the one who is trying to save Amy, the vessel, from the demon of the lake. He is the protector of the lake.

We thought we saw the important part of the story, but Holyoke was framed for the murders of those in the lake. They were helping him to purify it and keep the demon at bay, but the satanists intruded and murdered them all. Then, they called the militia to ensure their plan worked.

Holyoke's duty to keep the lake safe ended with him; whereas he was probably supposed to pass the task onto the next generation which had kept Malphas secluded in the lake for so long, but his early death obviously prevented that.

So, if he's good, why was he so forceful on killing Amy?

Jessie: You're going to kill her.
Holyoke: No, I'm going to save her.

Could some of the interactions the group had with "Holyoke" at Camp Stillwater actually been the demon? Could that have been another way of discrediting him and the good he was actually attempting to do?

With Deb now in on the secret of the demon, what will she bring? She experienced a similar eclipse at camp in 1970 and could sense the change after this new one. She suggested she may know more than she remembers.

Could she have blocked out memories of a similar experience during her time at Stillwater? Could Malphas have the ability to wipe memories of him when the campers leave and he gets what he wants?

WHY do people keep coming back to Camp Stillwater?

You can watch Dead of Summer online right here at TV Fanatic, and be sure to tune in on August 23 for Dead of Summer Season 1 Episode 9, where a possibly killer exorcism will occur as Holyoke will attempt to rid Malphas from Amy.

The Devil Inside Review

Editor Rating: 4.9 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.2 / 5.0 (20 Votes)

Jay Ruymann was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He retired in January 2018.

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Dead of Summer Season 1 Episode 8 Quotes

I wanted to give you the best summer... I'm so sorry.

Deb

Did you not remember that I have my Northwestern interview in two days?

Jessie