Original Release Date (Netflix): Friday April 19, 2013
And now the season finale of Hemlock Grove! I almost don’t want to write this, because it means that at least currently, the show is over. It’s always a little sad when you finish a show. I felt the same way when Firefly got cancelled.
Anyhow, this episode starts off a little strange. We see Peter and Christina just hanging out in the Rumancek’s trailer, as Christina goes on about silly high school gossip. Peter tries to make her feel better about the situation, telling her girls get to a certain and act weird. As he puts it, “They act like a freight train without a conductor.” He tells her that the emotions she feels now other girls have gone through before and come out fine…mostly. When she tells him she hates not feeling like other people, Peter tells her, “So what? You’d rather be normal? You’re abnormal as fucking balls!” She laughs and he tells her, “Take it from an old man, this town, these people, all of this fucked-up shit that seems like the end of the known world, it’s all just a blip. The world outside this place and the life that you’re gonna live is so much bigger than this. You were born for so much more than you can see here.”
And when he tells her, “I’d be jealous of you, if I weren’t me.” She gets a look in her eye and ominous music plays!
After the credits roll, we see Letha trying to kick down the locked doors, as Roman wrestles with Christina the wolf. He waves the axe at her and she lunges at him, biting into the handle and taking him off balance. He fights her as she has him pinned, and she manages to get him to toss the axe. Now Roman is helpless under her, and the look in the wolf’s face is priceless. She knows she’s got him now. She seems to even savor the moment, breathing down Roman’s neck. But up on the rafters, is Peter in Wolf form. He lunges at Christina, biting and the two fight until she gets a good ripping bite into him, and then pins him as she snaps his neck in her jaws. Letha screams, and Christina has her sights locked on her.
But before the wolf can pounce, Shelley comes charging towards her, grabs her in a lock and snaps the beasts neck. With almost a sort of kindness, she puts Christina’s body down and notices Peter dying in the corner. She looks up with pain in her eyes and locks eyes with Roman. Roman is about to say something to her, when out of nowhere Shelley’s chest explodes from a shot gun shell.
Up in the choir loft, Sheriff Sworn shoots down at Shelley, filling her with two shot gun shells.
It’s so sad. Just timing gone right and then gone wrong. If Shelley hadn’t been there, Roman would be dead. But if she hadn’t been there, Sworn wouldn’t have thought her the killer, and shot her.
Shelley, being the modified woman she is, is still capable of running away, even after being shot. Roman is still covered in Shelley’s blood as he chases her down, crying and screaming after her. Sworn of course, chases her too, until Roman convinces him to let her go. I think he used his mind powers, but he was already covered in blood on his face, so it was hard to tell.
As Roman chases his sister, Letha looks up at the stain glass windows, almost in prayer. She watches Sworn come back to pick up the naked dead form of Christina, who he carries painfully in his arms and ignores Letha and the black wolf form in the corner.
Letha is left alone in the chapel, with Peter dying nearby. In that moment, as the wolf whimpers at her, she realizes who it is. She starts to weep, going down on her knees beside it and resting her face against his. She pulls him into her arms, telling him she’s here for him, and he whimpers again. I swear this scene breaks my heart. I can’t stand to hear a wolf whimper.
Then we see poor Roman picking up Shelley’s hair piece she uses to cover her bald spot, as he screams for her in the distance.
Things go back to Letha, as the sun rises and she holds Peter in her arms, alive, human and startled.
The scene changes and we see Roman drag his broken self back to his mother, who greets him at the door. She asks him to tell her what went down. All he can say at first is she’s gone. Olivia questions him, and he tells her people think she is the killer and Christina is dead. He explains how Shelley saved them, and starts to cry. Olivia pulls him in her arms and tries to comfort him.
Next we see Peter at his cousin’s place, Letha hugging him before he goes off to sleep. Lynda asks her if her parents are coming to get her and she says yes. Lynda takes her by the hand as Letha tells her, “I saw him change into something else and then I saw him die. And then…I woke up and he was back in my arms. I don’t understand how any of that could happen.”
Lynda smiles and says to her, “It was you. There’s no magic in the world stronger than life itself, and life is love.”
Letha seems genuinely touched by that.
The next scene is of Norman in the car, listening to the radio as they talk about Shelley being the one who did the killings. He doesn’t seem to quite believe it himself, despite what the radio or Sworn says. Letha meets him as she leaves Destiny’s shop and tells her that he’s spoken to Olivia. “The town will need an explanation, one that answers more questions than it raises, one that protects the ones who are still here. You’re names won’t be part of it. It’s been arranged with Tom. You were never there.”
This doesn’t sit well with Letha, but she doesn’t argue. She agrees it has to be Shelley who takes the fall.
The scene that follows is Olivia giving Roman a pep-talk, convincing him to keep the story straight. “For the town to heal and the family to move forward, they can never know the truth.”
Letha cuts over the scene with Olivia and rationalizes it’s for Peter’s sake. She tells Norman, “They need a villain.”
Olivia tells Roman she will make all the necessary arrangements. The Sheriff acted alone and saw what he saw. She tells Roman, “It’s what she would have wanted. She would have wanted to save what pain she could.”
Letha cuts in again and tells Norman as they continue to talk in the car, “We’re Godfrey’s and what we say happened, happened.”
The scene cuts back to Olivia and Roman, as Roman tells her, “What she wants, not what she would have wanted. It’s what she wants. That’s why she shouldn’t let me find her.” He nods his head as Olivia agrees. “When she returns, we will protect her with all our power. It’s what we do. We protect our own.” After that matter is settled, Roman asks about Clementine. Olivia says to him frankly, “Oh don’t worry darling. I’ve taken care of that as well.”
What follows is Christina’s funeral, where Norman and his family make an appearance. Of course Sworn is there, angry as ever. After the appearance has been made thoroughly, Norman tells Letha she can leave as he makes his way to Sworn. He tells him he’s sorry for all he’s lost, which isn’t much of a consolation. All Sworn can say is, “I did my part. One bullet for every one of mine. Not another man here can say the same. These people call me a hero. That abomination was under my nose the whole time.”
Norman tries to console him by saying the town is safer now, but he replies with, “If I really was a hero, I’d burn that tower to the ground with Pryce inside.”
Norman tries to convince him it’s over, but Sworn isn’t having it. “You think that we’re living in a town without evil? I don’t. And I’m done. Turned in my badge this morning. It’s ridiculous to think that a piece of tin would make you one of the good guys. And what’s a good guy when you can’t even protect the things you love the most?” Norman can’t answer that, but he does offer him someone to talk to if he wants to. Which isn’t likely, considering where Sworn’s head is at now.
The next scene is at the White Tower, and Norman finally agrees to sign over his share to Lod. Olivia sits beside him as he signs the paperwork. He passes the papers back to Dr. Pryce, as the representative of Lod, who happens to be the same bishop who gave orders to Clementine as the Order of the Dragon, asks Norman if he is a man of faith. When Norman says no he just wishes him a blessed day.
Everything is connected folks.
Olivia and Norman leave, letting the Bishop and Dr. Pryce talk alone. The Bishop hands Dr. Pryce a glass of scotch and says to him, “Strange bedfellows.” Pryce replies back, “So to speak” as the two men clink their glasses and drink to “Peace in the kingdom.” Of course Pryce mentions that Lod has to share their crown with Roman Godfrey. The look on the Bishops face shows that he’s not exactly pleased with that part of the deal.
Norman celebrates his freedom with Olivia in the car, and mentions how the albatross now hands over Roman’s neck. Norman says, “Well if he takes after his father at all…he’s a good kid. They all are. Oh Jesus, the things they’ve seen.” Olivia clasps his hand and replies back, “They have each other. We all have each other. It’s all trivial in the face of this family. All that matters is family.” They then talk about how Norman is going to leave Marie, an kiss.
Next we see Letha and Peter talking as Roman sits in his car and waits. Peter rubs her belly and as her if she is gonna tell baby girl about everything. Letha shrugs. Peter razes her about how that must feel to talk to him, and she nods, smirking slightly. Peter slaps her on the rear and tells her not to lose her “backyard baby weight.” Really likes the pregnant lady look it seems. Peter leaves Letha and gets in the car with Peter. They drive off to Destiny’s place.We see Peter leafing through books as Roman talks to Destiny, asking if she can see Shelley anywhere. Destiny says no, but Roman is convinced she’s out there somewhere. “She’s gotta be still out there. SHE IS!” As he says this, Destiny replies back, “Then continue giving her your faith. I’m sure it will comfort her on her journey. “ He tells her he’s going to find her because she needs him and Destiny says back, “Are you certain she’s the one who needs you?” Looking stricken, Roman just nods.
A weird gust of wind flips through the book Peter is reading and he gets a look on his face. He pulls his phone from his pocket and waits, as within seconds Letha calls him and tells him its baby time. He sounds like an ecstatic father as he rambles at her happily, “Baby, my heart has no words! You’re smile makes the flowers grow, and your tits make them bloom. I love your ass to pieces and anything that pops out of you. This is the best news I’ve heard all year.”
Letha laughs and says she will see him at the White Tower.
Peter tells Roman its birthday time. They get excited, but before Roman leaves with Peter, Destiny grabs his hand and says, “To be still in the turning world is the warrior’s greatest feat.”
The boys leave to meet up with Norman and Letha. As they wait in the waiting room, Roman brings out two cigars for them to share. Peter makes a comment about not smoking and Roman shrugs it off saying, “I’m gonna own the place. Who’s to stop us?” They lite up and enjoy the moment, smoking in silence for a time. Roman breaks the silence and says out loud, “Uncle Roman.” Peter laughs and says, “God help us.” Peter asks if Destiny helped much, and Roman shakes his head no. Peter asks, “You completely sure she’s still even out there?” And Roman says yes. He’s certain. “It’s like in the fall, you know, the dreams we were having? I see her sometimes in dreams. “Peter nods, and Roman confesses it’s not quite dreams. He’s being using his mind trick on himself. This surprises Peter, and we see a scene of Roman doing it. Convincing himself in a mirror at home he sees her. He says he sees a white angel, and the angel is her. “She’s trying to tell me something but I can only just hear her. What she’s saying is you must make your heart steel. What do you think it means?” Peter doesn’t answer, probably because he doesn’t know what to think of it. But he does think about what Destiny said about seeing a conversion of Roman’s fate and heart line. How he is going to face the hardest choice of his life and whoever is in his shadow will share in the consequences.
Peter decides to deflect instead of answer, using humor and asking him if he can make himself cluck like a chicken. Roman scoffs at him and they laugh it off, but honestly Peter doesn’t know what to say. Roman says, “In the chapel, when you did what you did, how were you not afraid?”
Peter responds with, “I have never been more afraid of anything in my life. I couldn’t have done it if I didn’t have you there with me.” Roman laughs and Peter touches him affectionately. Then Roman slides into his seat and says, ‘Fucking Angels.” As the two of them laugh loudly.
Next we see poor Letha suffering through childbirth, and she doesn’t look good. Two nurses are caring for her, as Dr. Pryce washes his hands knowingly. A nurse comes out to get him, as Letha cries out in agony, saying she doesn’t want it. Pryce watches her struggle as he enters the room, his face a mask of horror.
In the waiting room, Peter gets up suddenly, the two boys having lain down on the couches. Peter stands with Roman and stares into the hallway in the direction of Letha. A code omega goes off in Maternity one. Norman walks in to Letha’s room now, and sees her dead body, wide open legs, and blood everywhere.
Norman freaks out.
In the hall nearby, Pryce is staring at a wall, trying to compose himself. A guard comes up to him about the disruption happening in Letha’s room. Pryce doesn’t care. He waits for Norman to come and get him. He tells the guard to tell Norman where to find him.
Then we see Roman walking towards the door that leads to the maternity. As he does he hears over the PA the patient in Maternity one is deceased. Peter stands there in shock as Roman walks away, angry and crying.
Next we see Norman holding Letha’s dead body, and approaches Pryce. He tells him in a broken voice, “ I thought she would be safe. Safe with you.” Pryce says sadly, “It was unavoidable.”
Norman pleads with him and tells him to do it, to bring her back. Pryce responds with, “Norman, perhaps you should sit down.” He shakes his head, and demands Pryce bring her back. Pryce says, “She suffered a massive post-partum embolism. I’m sorry, but…” “She’s getting cold,” Norman says painfully, “Look, just bring her back. You think I’m being irrational. I’m not. I’m in full possession of my faculties. Just bring her back! I’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!”
Of course the man is saying this with his dead daughter in his arms and tears streaking his face.
Pryce gently and carefully takes the girl from his arms, handing her off to the guard still standing there. Norman asks if he’s gonna do it now, and after the girl is carted off Pryce tells him, “No.” and watches as Norman falls apart completely. Pryce sighs and tells him she’s too old, and that he might have more luck with the baby. But Norman yells back, “Fuck the baby. SHE’S my baby.”
Pryce goes down to sit with Norman on the floor, and like a man uncomfortable with too much emotion says sadly, “I’m sorry Norman. I’m not God.” And Norman sobs deeply.
The following scene is back at the Rumancek’s trailer, as Lynda tries to comfort Peter. She asks him if he’s ready, while he sobs and shakes his head no. Lynda tells Peter about a vision Nicolae had while she was pregnant with Peter. She says the vision told him that Peter would have a long life, and that filled him with sadness, because it also meant that a life that’s long and well lived would be filled with pain and darkness that can’t be understood by those that live day to day like it’s any other. “You loved her, she loved you. And you’re never going to be the same again. And these are all good things.” Peter gets up after that, and goes to the washroom. He stares at himself in the mirror for a long time, then takes a pair of scissors and cuts his hair off.
The next scene is Pryce at his glass desk, weeping quietly to himself. He rocks a little back and forth in his chair, until he snaps. He gets up and smashes his fists through his glass desk in a fit of rage.
Then we see Roman up in Shelley’s old room in the attic. He’s sitting on the empty floor, just staring off into the distance. Olivia comes up and asks him what he needs. With a grief-stricken face he looks at her and says Peter’s name. She sighs and drives him to the trailer…
Only to show poor Roman that Peter is gone.
He looks around the trailer, realizing Lynda and Peter have taken off. The place is empty, bare, like no one lived there. But he finds Peter’s hair in the sink. Olivia waits outside, and we get her telling a story to the audience.
A story that reveals more about her past and the link between the gypsies and the Godfrey’s. I won’t give it away, but it’s a great reveal that explains why she had such hatred. She also knew this lesson had to be Roman’s this time. While Roman cries over the loss of his friend Olivia says to the audience, “A gypsy, is a gypsy, is a gypsy. They will steal the rings on your fingers and the love from your heart. As he discovered history’s cruelest nature, to repeat, I was there waiting for him. I was right there.”
We see the scene change and her waiting by the closed door of his room, looking concerned. She then leaves and we see the scene change, and Norman is now packing up and leaving Marie. He drives off and ends up on Olivia’s doorstep. She lets him in, wraps him in her arms and they hold each other for a long time.
The three of them have dinner together, and Olivia seems to be the only one who’s somewhat content. She finishes off a bottle of wine and decides she should order another bottle. Then we see her bring Norman through the house. She lifts his face to look at her and tells him, “It’s time for you to go to bed.” He doesn’t even say a word, and just obeys her, going off as she watches him climb the stairs. She smiles, widen plans behind her eyes.
Next we see Roman sitting in the abandoned pool room, playing music loudly and smoking as he sits in a chair in the empty pool. Olivia comes in with a sparkler and says to him, “Happy birthday darling.” He gives her a dirty look but says nothing. She then asks, “I was wondering if I might ask you to join me in the attic.” He asks her why and she says with a smile, “There’s something I’d like to show you.” He tosses the cigarette away and sighs, going off with her upstairs.
When they enter Shelley’s old room, he sees a black covered cradle and candles all around it. He asks her what is going on, and she touches his face and tells him, “Remember.”
Suddenly, memories flood through Roman. We see a flash of his sister Juliette’s funeral. Olivia is talking about her disappointments over the years. We see her snap Juliette’s neck as she says, “So many others came, none with the mark. Until finally he came.” We see Roman being born, and he has a strange skin over his eyes. “He was born with the caul. He will always be mine.” We see her in bed now, eating that strange flesh that came off her sons face. “That luminous red caul I peeled from his wrinkled skin myself and consumed with the humblest of gratitude.” We see her now devour it hungrily, like a starved animal. Then she says, “And finally, the truth of your birthright.” And we see Letha at the dance. Things start to fall into place. We see her say it was an angel that impregnated her. Then we see the vision she had of the angel again. Then we get a flash of Roman giving her a massage at the event for his father. We then see her getting the ring from Peter, the one with the snake eating its tail. Then we see them together at the amusement park before school started. We see her and Peter make love and Roman get jealous and angry. We see him after he raped Ashley, him with Peter at the White Tower while Letha is giving birth as he says, “Fucking Angels.” And we see Francis pointing at him, saying it was him.
Then finally, we see him as Letha saw him, an angel who came to her. Who raped her.
Roman’s lip quivers as all the pieces come together.
He slowly approaches the little girl in the crib and his mother. Olivia says, “She’s waiting to meet her father.” As Roman yells at her, “What are you?” She hushes him and says with a smirk, “What are we?”
She pricks the baby with a needle and shows it to Roman as she tells him coldly, “You know what you have to do.”
Roman cries out in denial, refusing to give in to her. He leans against a wall and slides down to the floor weeping. Olivia isn’t fazed. She just looks at him flatly and says, “You cannot control the hunger,” She licks the blood off the needle. “Let it take you.” He screams at her, “NO!” and runs to the mirror. He chants over and over what Shelley told him about making his heart steel. Olivia just responds with, “Clever boy.” As she watches him try to avoid her. He hears the baby cry and wanders toward it, looking at it in the crib. He licks the blood off his face a little too hungrily. He pulls out a razor blade as he glances at his mother through the curtain on the crib, and for a moment, it’s unclear what he will do. Then he says, “You are a warrior,” and shakes his head at his mother, “You won’t win.”
Then he slices into his own arms.
He falls to the ground, bleeding to death from wounds that go all the way up to his elbows. Olivia goes to him as he dies, and just cradles him. She tells him she loves him and sings to him as he dies. The blood trickles down the floor, and crawls along the walls in patterns.
We see Olivia’s own death to unlife now, as he father finds her after she cut off her tail. She’s bled to death, and when he touches her back she reawakens, pale skinned, and with fangs. He tells her, “Welcome back my treasure.”
After that vision, Roman reawakens. He also looks very pale. Then Olivia tells us in a voice-over, “To rise, a victim of your own hand. It is the way of our kind.”
Roman looks over at her and Olivia smiles. Then he glances back at the crying baby. He inhales deeply, and looks down at his now healed arms. But he bears scars on each one. He goes to the crib again, looks in as Olivia looks over his shoulder and tells him, “Darling, I always win. You’re not a warrior. You’re a dragon. Do it.” Roman tilts his head, swallows, and looks over at her darkly. Before she can even react, he bites into her with fangs in his mouth. They fall to the floor as he feeds off her and she screams. The scream is inhuman. Of course, it’s also slightly erotic as well. She moans and he releases, stroking her face as she tells him how proud she is of him. He kisses her, and deeply, not some mother son kiss, and then bites out her tongue. He spits it out in rage and tells her, “You talk too much.”
He then leaves her there, wandering away to stare at the wall with his blood all over it. He hears Destiny’s voice in his mind, telling him to make his heart still, as he sees the blood wings painted on the wall, left behind by his death.
He raises his arms.
After all that, Roman goes downstairs, cleaned up in a suit. A changed man. Olivia’s voice over tells us, “The crown, like everything, has its price. I only hope you’re ready for it.”
Next we see Clementine’s brother, Michael, meeting up with the bishop of the Order of the Dragon. The bishop is about to eat, when he looks up from his Sudoku to see Michael there. He tells her brother he’s got a job for him. He found the people who killed Clementine. He shows him Roman Godfrey, tells him that he did it as he digs into his supper.
Then we see a scene with Sworn making plastic explosives. He’s listening to police scanners as he does so.
Then we see a scene with Pryce as he looks down at Olivia’s corpse in a body bag and tells the people who brought her in, “I suppose we could find room.” He smiles.
Then we see Peter and his mother driving along the road. Peter is completely bald. He looks out the window and for a moment, thinks he sees Shelley along the road. He also gets a glimpse of her as the beautiful thing Roman saw her as in his coma. They lock eyes as the car drives by. He smiles a little.
Things fade to black briefly and then we see the box that holds the special project in it. The camera pans in closer, and closer, until we see what’s inside.
And it’s a creature in a cocoon that looks slightly human. It opens its eyes.
And that readers, is the finale of Hemlock Grove! Ended on a cliffhanger as always, and with many things still left unfinished.
What a series! I really enjoyed it, even with all its flaws. Really loved how Roman was turned. I think it was done really well. Never mess with Vampire families huh gang?
How did you like the series? What do you think could have been done better and what did you like? Please share with me in the comments. I’d love to hear your opinions.
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