I'm not sure what author Christine Foster was smoking when she wrote this. This was her only script for the series, and she seems to think that Druidism = Satanism. Or at least the production staff did. Watch the episodic promo, which pushes the Satanic elements.
It's also last in the season, which is when the series seems to hit the Satanic beats particularly hard. See last season's "Coven of Darkness" for one example.
Yes, the episode doesn't go the direct Satanic route. But the older Druid priestesses practice human sacrifices and drink from a human skull. Plus... they're using a cursed Satanic object. Maybe this is all a historically accurate representation of Druidism. But it doesn't portray it very favorably, and portrays it rather... Satanically. I don't expect Druids to be portrayed in an absolute shining light, but they're brought in here just to be a substitute bunch of Satanists.
Plus there are plenty of crows cawing in the background, which is never a good sign. And the head doctor, Sybil Oakwood, has a strong Irish/British accent. That's not a good sign, either. Plus... the show is about Satan and cursed objects, and how the trio go up against evil. Does anyone expect Druids to turn out to be anything more than villains?
The script itself is nothing. The head Druid, Sybil, is evil through and through. Johnny gets to be Action Johnny, exploring the sacrificial cavern. He doesn't do much, and he still has no characterization besides "Generic Male Lead". None of the regular have much to do in this episode. Micki and Jack insist that Johnny is off-base until halfway through the episode, although you'd think by now they'd know that a cursed object is _always_ involved.
Yes, Jack apologizes to Johnny at the end for not listening to him. But it's never made clear why Jack _didn't_ listen to him.
There's lot of evil imagery: crows cawing, the Druids at night chanting, sacrifices, and Gale Garnett is good as the evil Druid. There's just nothing special about this episode, and it's all "seen it, done it before" that we had in episodes like "Coven of Darkness". And the script tromps all over real-life Druidic practices to inject an "evil" Druidic cult into a show about... well, evil. Yes, that's what the production staff is obliged to do. But why use Druids for evil?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
It's also last in the season, which is when the series seems to hit the Satanic beats particularly hard. See last season's "Coven of Darkness" for one example.
Yes, the episode doesn't go the direct Satanic route. But the older Druid priestesses practice human sacrifices and drink from a human skull. Plus... they're using a cursed Satanic object. Maybe this is all a historically accurate representation of Druidism. But it doesn't portray it very favorably, and portrays it rather... Satanically. I don't expect Druids to be portrayed in an absolute shining light, but they're brought in here just to be a substitute bunch of Satanists.
Plus there are plenty of crows cawing in the background, which is never a good sign. And the head doctor, Sybil Oakwood, has a strong Irish/British accent. That's not a good sign, either. Plus... the show is about Satan and cursed objects, and how the trio go up against evil. Does anyone expect Druids to turn out to be anything more than villains?
The script itself is nothing. The head Druid, Sybil, is evil through and through. Johnny gets to be Action Johnny, exploring the sacrificial cavern. He doesn't do much, and he still has no characterization besides "Generic Male Lead". None of the regular have much to do in this episode. Micki and Jack insist that Johnny is off-base until halfway through the episode, although you'd think by now they'd know that a cursed object is _always_ involved.
Yes, Jack apologizes to Johnny at the end for not listening to him. But it's never made clear why Jack _didn't_ listen to him.
There's lot of evil imagery: crows cawing, the Druids at night chanting, sacrifices, and Gale Garnett is good as the evil Druid. There's just nothing special about this episode, and it's all "seen it, done it before" that we had in episodes like "Coven of Darkness". And the script tromps all over real-life Druidic practices to inject an "evil" Druidic cult into a show about... well, evil. Yes, that's what the production staff is obliged to do. But why use Druids for evil?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?