We are officially halfway through the show (unfortunately). And…let’s just dive right in! Some light spoilers ahead.
The Maria/Abby/Ghost “Shawna” plot got intense real fast! So Susie gets possessed by the ghost of Shawna, or more accurately a dark twisted version of her spirit, hence the quotation marks. So as “Shawna” appears, Abby was pulled right back to Maria Sunderland, despite their relationship and try to save Maria, who she actually at one point in the show calls mom. I think that is really telling that despite everything, she still views Maria as family.
The Avery/Woodrue plot was appropriately interesting. Not bad by any means, but in the grand scheme of the episode, it just simply isn’t the best plot line when compared to everything else going on. Cassidy’s plot just gets more mysterious, and I am very curious as to where it goes next considering his ending in this episode.
But now, let’s address the phantom in the room. We have the live action debut of the Phantom Stranger! Now, I haven’t read any of his solo stories, but I am always excited when he appears in a Swamp Thing story. Now, to be completely honest, his depiction in this show…is not what I expected. I was expecting his traditional look, along with his composed and serious depiction like from the comics. His depiction here is clearly not exactly like from the comics. But strangely enough, it still works pretty well. It is a different take on the Phantom Stranger, but it was perfect for his short yet memorable role in this episode. Also, we finally call The Green by name, and we are introduced to a special power associated with The Green that makes sense and is cool to see play out.
This is arguably the best episode of the series so far. Of course, to ground it back in reality, I am cautious about where this will ultimately end up. They cut this from 13 episodes to 10 and cancelled the show all together, meaning we only have 5 episodes left. I hope they find a way to bring all of these plot threads together in a way that makes sense and doesn’t leave us on too much of a cliffhanger. But like I said, arguably my favorite episode so far!