S01.E08: The Dawning

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Suzanne follows Mae to the Amontown compound, where the Dodd family and their followers prepare for a deadly ritual. The Mathises seek a fresh start.

Original air date 2022.09.02

[twoods]

I guess this is what Suzanne gets for picking creepy Mae over her own family. I feel bad for her daughters. So Mae manipulated everyone so she can get saved by Mae and be the new daughter? How creepy is that shit?

Edited September 11, 2022 by twoods

[Vivigirl10]

Nobody watched??  It was a combination of intriguing and some plot holes and some easy to make fun of/ridiculous spots. 

Did Mae conjure the over the top acceptance from her classmates at the alter of the dead crow?  She manipulated all that, correct?  Because even in 2022, the school immediately embracing a weirdo/awkward kid from a questionable background seems a bit much.  Not to mention, publicly cheering a girl with a pentagram carved on her back.  Her crowning as Harvest Queen was completely Carrie-esque with a very different outcome.  

Suzanne completely sucked at her profession, if you ask me.  Any Mom should know that taking away your teenage daughter's room, giving away her clothes and insisting she befriend a sudden unexpected (unwelcomed?) occupant in her home is asking waayyyyy too much.  She seemed to do it without an ounce of understanding to Jules.  She catered to Mae at the complete detriment of her family.  She violated HIPAA.  I think she got what she deserved in the end. 

Unless Mae manipulated Suzanne through the alter of the dead crow, as well?  But if she did all that with her satanic powers, that means the cult wasn't just an unhinged group, that means they actually had mystical powers and that's on a whole other level.  So which is it? 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

9 hours ago, Kiki620 said:

Nobody watched??  It was a combination of intriguing and some plot holes and some easy to make fun of/ridiculous spots. 

Did Mae conjure the over the top acceptance from her classmates at the alter of the dead crow?  She manipulated all that, correct?  Because even in 2022, the school immediately embracing a weirdo/awkward kid from a questionable background seems a bit much.  Not to mention, publicly cheering a girl with a pentagram carved on her back.  Her crowning as Harvest Queen was completely Carrie-esque with a very different outcome.  

Suzanne completely sucked at her profession, if you ask me.  Any Mom should know that taking away your teenage daughter's room, giving away her clothes and insisting she befriend a sudden unexpected (unwelcomed?) occupant in her home is asking waayyyyy too much.  She seemed to do it without an ounce of understanding to Jules.  She catered to Mae at the complete detriment of her family.  She violated HIPAA.  I think she got what she deserved in the end. 

Unless Mae manipulated Suzanne through the alter of the dead crow, as well?  But if she did all that with her satanic powers, that means the cult wasn't just an unhinged group, that means they actually had mystical powers and that's on a whole other level.  So which is it? 

How much was Mae's ability to manipulate people vs. the power of the crow altar / her being the chosen one is really up to interpretation. Her father chose her for the sacrifice because she was supposedly willful, etc.  Did that really mean that he saw her as dangerous because of her ability to get others to do what she wanted and he saw her as a threat? 

Suzanne did ask a lot from her family without checking with them first.  What stood out to me was at the end, with her mother dead and the police understanding what had happened, it would have been the perfect time to send Mae to Fernwood to get deprogrammed and taught how to live in society.  Instead she ends up with Suzanne who again sacrifices her family for this girl she barely knows. 

Suzanne does suck at her job and needs serious long term therapy.   We see that she is going now, but she really needs to address her savior complex and inability to really see what is happening with people once she makes a decision to save them. 

[Madding crowd]

I thought the cult dad was after his daughter’s kidney, otherwise what was the point of showing him on dialysis? Also thought he was just making up everything to keep the people in line. 
So Suzanne gets the big house for her and Mae and the dad and three daughters have to live in an apartment ? Doesn’t seem fair. They were inconsistent in how they portrayed Mae. Sometimes she was sweet and other times conniving. If she wanted to stay with Suzanne why did she go back to the cult? They could have killed her before Suzanne arrived or killed Suzanne. Overall I liked the series but the first couple of episodes were slow and the last two rushed.

[paulvdb]

I was sympathetic to Mae in the beginning and wanted her to overcome her upbringing and become part of the family. But by the end she seemed more like a psycho stalker from a Lifetime movie. Complete with shrine dedicated to the object of her obsession.

[Blue Plastic]

I'm so ticked off that I wasted time on this crap. The first few episodes interested me enough to keep going, but the last couple of episodes were kind of goofy with so much emphasis on the cult itself and the sad ending with Suzanne giving up her husband and daughters for creepy Mae.

I thought Suzanne had started to realize that she was transferring her issues onto Mae and trying to save her younger self by helping Mae. They showed her continuing with therapy when she had been resistant at first, as if she realized that she had issues that she was trying to fix by obsessing on Mae. But apparently the therapy was not helping.

IMO the writers didn't want to make it a super pat and Pollyanna ending, so they didn't show Mae getting sent to Fernwood and the Mathises going back to their lives. And they wanted the twist that Mae switched out the bouquet colors herself. So they gave us that really sad and creepy ending.

I don't think the supernatural stuff was really *doing* anything. It can be interpreted either way, but to me Mae's little altar was just a way to show what she wanted to happen, not that Lucifer was actually granting her wishes. But it makes NO sense, even in her twisted little mind, that she would go back to the cult and risk death just to find out if Suzanne would come for her.

[mmecorday]

What a disappointing and unsatisfying ending. I'm not mad at myself for watching the whole series -- it did have its moments -- but the ending was just a bit too pat and more depressing than chilling. 

[Peanut6711]

The Pros: This kept me engaged. Each episode ended making me want to watch the next. The premise was interesting, and it had a lot of potential.

The Cons: The suspension of disbelief is off the charts!  I couldn't decide if the author was just a sloppy writer or immature and ignorant of real-world logistics, laws, and procedures and has never heard of Waco.  I mean, seriously….a minor with a pentagram carved on her back, who's escaped an insular religious cult and is likely in mortal danger, not to mention emotionally damaged and psychologically compromised, is simply brought home like a lost puppy by the hospital psychiatrist who is insensitive to her own family’s cares and concerns, particularly her middle daughter whose own safe space she disrupts. Instead of getting some serious deprograming and intensive therapy, cult girl is given her own cell phone and enrolled in a modern public high school where suddenly corn husk doll making skills are all the rage and satanic scars are the new badge of victim empowerment. This was all eye roll worthy enough, but by the time one county detective shoots another county sherif on the cult's grounds, where a massive fire, religious sacrifice, and attempted murder are also taking place, and not only have the state police still not appeared and raided the premises, but it’s weeks later till a search warrant is ready, at which point it’s then served by the newly minted cop and the detective who discharged his weapon as if internal affairs, the state police, and possibly even the FBI don't exist. Don't get me wrong, I know the detective is the good guy and I was rooting for him, but police policy and procedure and that legal good stuff. Meanwhile, the secret secluded agrarian cult who have a penchant for fire stronger than Beavis and Butthead and who are so desperate for their bounty and whatever all else their satanic wannabe Amish paradise village is lacking yet have the money, means, and power to control and pay off multiple police officers, lawyers, and judges have now quietly disappeared into the night lit by their burning church and led by their dialysis machine toting leader who they still think is groovy much like how starving North Koreans revere Kim Jong Un.

Edited April 17 by Peanut6711