All right, so I will avoid talking about spoilers, so no worries there. Let’s get started!
I don’t think I have to say this again, but Crystal Reed is once again great. Her story in this episode was the best part, since hers involves Swamp Thing actually speaking. He helps her start making a treatment for the sick people and protects her from a reanimated corpse. Remember that bad guy he killed last episode? Well, a bunch of insects got in his body and started using him to start attacking people for some reason. The way how Swamp Thing deals with it seems to confirm this was the work of The Rot. This is a new addition to the mythology, introduced during the New 52, so I don’t have a lot of familiarity with it. But from what I can gather, it is like The Green but for Death and Decay. This addition so soon feels like it came out of left field, especially since it looks like it won’t an appearance again in future episodes. But no doubt there were probably plans for it for potential future seasons. But again, Abby and Swamp Thing’s plot is the best part. And he speaks! The way he speaks is also very faithful to the comics.
The Sunderland plot is a little mixed. When it was Maria, it was interesting. With Avery, it was more standard, but due to the charisma and the brutality in the final scene was interesting enough to keep me engaged. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they just confirmed he has some sort of connections to The Conclave. That might be interesting if it comes back in a future episode. The Xanadu/Kassidy scene has me very intrigued by what may be coming next.
Overall, when it wasn’t focused on Abby/Swamp Thing, it did feel like it was going a little slower than usual. That isn’t necessary bad, and it is to be expected with a show like this. But when compared to the previous two episodes, I didn’t like this one quite so much. I did enjoy it pretty well, but that’s mainly due to the Abby/Swamp Thing story. It is certainly worth the watch though.