Director – Deran Serafian

Writer – Rob Fresco

The clue is in the title. He Speaks saw our titular creature get to verbalise for the first time since undergoing his transformation into the muck encrusted mockery of a man. And what a voice. Dark, tingling with gravitas and deeper than the Marais swamp, the simple utterance of “Leave her” directed towards the resurrected Munson whilst defending Abby was a series highlight in a show not exactly short of them. Derek Mears’ fills the suit with aplomb, towering over the other characters as a hulking presence, a perfect storm of actor and costume working in perfect synergy.

A resurrected Munson you say? Yes indeed. Despite being ripped to shreds in the previous episode, he’s back. Seemingly reconstituted by a combination of insects and the supernatural, the zombified Munson faces off with Swampy in a match that, while brief, feels like a clash of Mother Nature and science. The little pieces of information imparted so far regarding the true nature of what is going on is intriguing and just makes the wait between each episode seem like an eternity.

The acting plaudits this week must be to Will Patton, as the curtain surrounding the existence of Avery Sunderland is slowly being drawn back, showing the true nature of the man. Not only unfaithful to a grieving wife, but capable of homicide to cover his tracks, this is a truly bad man indeed. Patton is a charismatic screen actor, and despite being hampered with a truly shocking hairpiece, has inhabited the character with tons of malevolence and summering violence. Once again, the nature of his discoveries has yet to be fully revealed and also his end goal, but I feel we shall see a rising body count as the weeks pass, either by his hand or his hired muscle.

We also were given a heartbreaking insight into the life of Mr and Mrs Woodrue. It served to effectively put a fresh slant on Kevin Durand’s character. We know that he has a “Floronic” future in the pipeline, but his motivations here are shown to maybe be less sinister and plain evil. With his unfortunate wife suffering from the early stages of some kind of dementia. Could his character have a Victor Fries-esque story arc, as his nefarious plans and methods are countered by an overwhelming desire to save his wife? I can’t wait to see the conflict in the character start to take form.

An extremely intriguing little appearance for Ian Ziering’s Daniel Cassidy too, shedding a bit more light on his reason for living in Marais. In his exchanges with Xanadu, tantalising tidbits are thrown our way. Is he trapped there? By a curse? A spell? Either way, he is in for a Devil of time…

Did anybody spot a little mention of something very exciting at the end of the episode? As Sunderland was introducing Gordon to his maker, a mention of his involvement with “The Conclave” was thrown out there. No spoilers here for what that could mean, but comic fans will be aware that should this group be given any screen time, then hold on to your potatoes Dr Jones! It could be the conduit to several legendary DC characters making their live action debuts. Let’s wait and see, and keep the faith that somehow this show can live on past the 10 episodes we have to devour……