Hemlock Grove Recap: “Jellyfish in the Sky”

by Queenie Thayer:

Hemlock Grove Recap: “Jellyfish in the Sky”
Original Release Date (Netflix): Friday April 19, 2013
Season 1 Episode 1

I don’t know about you horror fans, but I was stoked the moment I heard about Hemlock Grove. A Netflix original series for us, with all 13 episodes airing at once! Woo hoo! So I’m here to bring all the goods on the show to you readers. Let’s go on a journey into Hemlock Grove together and try to not get killed by the monsters that lurk within.

Like all good shows, the first episode sets us up, shows us the world we are playing in and the major players we should keep our sights on. Wander with me as we meet the people of Hemlock Grove.

The first person we are introduced to is Roman Godfrey, who opens the show sitting in an ice cream shop waiting for a girl. The way he sits there, holding his cone with a huge dollop of ice cream is odd and funny. He’s almost child-like in that moment, until you see what he does with said green-dressed girl.

After Roman satisfies himself “tres kinky” styles, he pays her off and kicks her out of his car.

The scene changes and we meet a cheerleader named Brooke BlueBell who looks to be training a group of small munchkins. She is being watching closely by Roman, who even waves at her.

Next we are taken into a classroom, where an attractive teacher named Ms. Banksy talks to “Ms. Bluebell” and the rest of the class about particles. After the lecture is over Brooke approaches her and is given a book, with a note inside. The look exchanged says more than words could. There is something between them both beyond student and teacher.

Brooke is now driving and it’s dark. She stops at a crossroads and waits for the train to pass while texting Banksy. Suddenly her car is jolted violently, almost like it’s shoved by something large. She screams and is jostled around inside. She falls out and rolls down a kill, until she runs through a tunnel and into the woods. Then we see the girl running, until she ends up inside a dog house in what appears to be a big yard. She is shaking, freaked out and her eyes are wide. Her nails are literally torn off by the strength of this thing pulling on her. The poor girl is doomed, and within moments she is dragged half out of the doghouse and her guts are torn out. Bansky gets to hear her die, when Brooke redials her in her death throes.

The best part of this scene is she doesn’t die right away. We get to see her lie there, still conscious but unable to speak or move, as something off screen rips into her.

And this is how it all starts folks. Roll the beautiful title credits, and on with the show!

Now we are introduced to the gypsy’s. Peter and his mother Lynda Rumancek drive up to a large trailer home out in the woods that once belonged to an uncle Vince. The name Rumancek is even on the mailbox. It’s a pretty beat up place, with plenty of beer bottles lying about. Lynda and Peter gets to work cleaning, and they see their neighbors in the distance. Lynda finds a silver box with some strange vials in it while cleaning saying, “Now we are in business.” While Peter tells her he wants to go into town. What are those strange vials? We will find out soon I hope! While Peter goes outside to hang some herbs over the door, we see a strange girl watching him as he leaves to go downtown.

Now we get some scenery shots, to show us the creepy small town we’ve been thrown into. Shots of the train, houses, a big industrial complex, etc. We are then brought back to the Rumancek’s, and Peter is showing off a nice leather jacket he stole. She smiles and says, “You’re mommy’s little thief,” as he hands her some pearls he stole. He praises her on her cleaning skills as she shows him where their “tools” live.

When Peter hands Lynda the necklace she says, “You know what they say about pearls before swine?”
But doesn’t finish her statement. She says she’ll tell him later and offers him food she cooked. Pork chops. *smirk*

They pour some drinks and toast their new home, talking in a foreign tongue. After dinner, Peter rests in a hammock outside, dreaming. His dreams are very strange. Images of jelly fish glowing and floating in a dark sky, a snake eating its own tail, and another snake striking out. He awakes with a start to find he’s being watched by a girl. When he yells at her in a foreign tongue she calls him out as a gypsy and he replies with, “you’re a stalker.” They talk for a bit and she tells him she’s a novelist, and that she’s been watching him. We get a little bit of Peter’s past as he says he’s a half breed and talks about his grandfather Nicolai. And Vince died of alcohol poisoning, which is how Peter and his mom got the house.

He girl notices the pentagram on the tree and asks if they worship the devil. Peter explains what it really means and also adds, “Plus, it’s fucking Metal.” Which I thought was pretty cute. The girl then questions him and asks if he’s a werewolf. She points out his fingers, saying that Peter’s index and middle fingers are the same length, a legend she probably read somewhere. Peter looks at his hand and teases her, saying he is a werewolf. “I prefer sexy manbeast.” Their conversation is broken up when a cop drives by and waves at the girl. Later we will come to know this quirky, curious girl by the name Christina.

Then we get to meet more of the Godfrey’s. Olivia is a strange, seductive woman who is Roman’s mother. Their relationship seems rather close, and she pampers him quite a bit. But there is always a catch with Olivia. We see them in their manor together as Roman is awoken by Olivia, and she tells him she wants to take him shopping. He tells her he had made other plans with his cousin Letha, but she tells him to cancel them. She manipulates him into going with her, despite her claim of, “you’re an adult, if you’d rather spend time with your cousin over your mother, just say so.” And she puts her cigarette out on his clothing.

Charming.

Of course right after while getting new clothes, she tells him she has a surprise. He smiles when he sees what it is. Then we meet his cousin Letha, as she and her parents set up for dinner. She gets a call from Roman and finds out that Olivia rented out Pennsylmania, a local amusement park for them to play in later that night. The Godfrey’s must be rolling in cash to pull off such things…

We watch the two play to their hearts content in an amusement park all to themselves. Letha makes a comment about the people working there. “What do you think they think of us?” Roman just answers, “Who?” and they head home, ready to start the new year of school.

When school starts Roman spots Peter as he walks on school grounds and we see Peter and Christina share a moment. Christina is stand-offish, which is rather strange. But what is stranger is what happens when Peter gets inside the school.

While at his locker we see him spot a student come down the hall that is very, VERY different than the others. She has a cell phone dangling from her neck, but her hands are bound and her head is lowered. What’s even stranger is she is GIANTIC. She walks like she is The Monster from Frankenstein and kids are mocking her for it. Peter is very curious about her. This girl is named Shelley, and is Roman’s sister.

Now, when Peter gets home he tells Lynda about Roman, calling her an upir. What I find strange is he says his sister isn’t upir.

When Peter tells her that they are the Godfrey’s Lynda tells him, “The Godfrey’s are my business. Stay away from them.” And she is very serious about this. Peter can tell. Whether he listens to her warning or not, I’m sure the series will reveal. Now we start seeing the weaves that bind the key players together, even if we don’t quite understand what they mean yet.

And the ending of that scene leads into the Godfrey’s themselves, talking about the gypsies. Roman informs his mother about the “new kid” and Christina, spreading rumors about him being a gypsy and how he lives in the trailer by the river. This upsets Olivia and she calls them filth. After dinner Shelley sneaks away up to her room, and we watch her sit in front of a mirror, taking off her wig, revealing her true face.

And it’s quite a sight to behold.

We are then given a little taste of the Godfrey family drama. The scene changes and melts into a rainy night where cars are parked alongside a huge corporate building labeled GODFREY. Two men are talking, heatedly. We are introduced to Norman, Letha’s father, and we see Olivia’s husband J.R. He seems delirious, and talks about his legacy talks about Shelley and calls her an abortion, and talks about Olivia and how “I brought evil into our house.” I assume he’s referring to his wife in this statement, because he says also, “she looks like a woman and fucks like one too.” INTERESTING…

“Help me destroy her before she destroys our family!” Norman tries to talk sense into him but then he leans in and whispers, “I know you are fucking her.” And drives away.

He goes home and goes upstairs to where his kids and wife sleep. There we see a cradle bathed in weird light. He approaches the cradle and the weird breathing for a moment stops, and then starts up again. He then goes to his son Roman’s room and kisses him on the head, saying he’s sorry. After that, he confronts Olivia.

The Godfrey’s sound pretty messed up. What’s even more messed up is that after J.R. fights with Olivia, asking her what she is, he kills himself, and not her. For a moment, it really looked like he would kill her, but somehow she turns it on him. Before he died she tells him that Roman will always be hers. That he was “…born with the caul.” Roman just looks down at his dead father calmly as Olivia picks him up. “It’s alright Roman. You’re so much stronger than he was.”

Norman does still visit the family, and we see this as he visits Olivia in the garden. They talk business and family matters while Roman is in the bath getting high.

Finally a runner finds the body of poor Brooke, and the cops are called to investigate. Peter walks by and the Sheriff calls him over and asks if he knew the girl. He didn’t of course, but it makes them suspicious because he was walking by. They believe a large animal tore her up but they don’t have enough evidence.

After we are shown shots of the town again, with a voice-over describing Brooke Bluebell and her death. All the shops are closed and things look like a ghost town. Roman comforts Shelley who cries into his arms. Kinds around the school are sobbing and holding each other. Peter is teased by a girl who says, “I bet you know something about it you gypsy creep.”

So The Sheriff asks Norman if Dr. Pryce could look into it. Dr. Pryce is a very creepy and strange man, who comes out of an off limits area wearing long rubber gloves. Compared to the rest of Hemlock Grove, this complex is very clean, sterile and state-of-the-art. Dr. Pryce looks at some photos of the crime scene and says what everyone was thinking, an animal did it. Norman doesn’t like Dr. Pryce at all. There is a lot of hostility between the two.

We are brought back to the school and over the PA the students are told that there will be a Vigil for Brooke at Penrose High Stadium, and Peter watches Roman get drugs from a student. We see Peter go home to the trailer and stamp out a paw print in the mud. Peter asks his mother if an upir did it, but she says that it’s not their style…usually.

The scene changes and Olivia is not talking to Roman, telling him his sister would like to attend the vigil. He doesn’t seem to care about his sister’s feelings, and says he’d rather pass. Olivia asks him if he knew her. “I didn’t think there isn’t a pair of pom poms that aren’t in your purview.” Which of course he DID know her, as a scene that follows soon after shows him looking at pictures of her.

After her talk with her son, Olivia takes some time out for herself, and we see her using similar vials as the ones Lynda got excited over finding in Vince’s house. Hmm…very interesting.

After Roman looks at the photos, we see a bunch of paper lanterns being sent off and Peter is touching the ground here were Brooke died. He looks up and sees the paper lanterns and remembers his dream. Roman asks him what if felt like killing that girl and the episode ends.

DUN DUN DUN!

I have to say, it’s a pretty good start to the show. Just enough hints of the strange to keep me curious and lots of interesting people plotting interesting things. Gypsies and monsters folks! My kind of show!

Let’s see what the next episode holds…What is in upir? I guess we all will find out later in the series huh kiddies? It’s brought up a lot in this episode and made me hella curious. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.

DarkMedia contributor Queenie Thayer has been an avid fan of horror all her life. She’s a published author of both horror and fantasy. Her recent contribution is in a collection called Ages Of Wonder, published by DAW books. She also enjoys blogging, and is known in the crevices of the internet as Kweeny Todd, the Demon Blogger. There she shares her obsession with the macabre and the monstrous. She’s also an aspiring filmmaker, and is trying to get her short film Red Handed off the ground. You can find out more about her through her blog and Facebook fan pages: KweenyTodd and RedHandedMovie.