Damien - General Discussion

[Neurochick]

That's it, I'm out.   The scene in the veteran hospital was unimaginative, cliched and annoying   I've seen scarier stuff walking through Halloween "haunted houses" run by teenagers.  The dogs are overused and God help me I'm haunted by the image of Barbara Hershey slicing into her cellulite and experiencing a spontaneous orgasm from a couple episodes ago. 

 

The episode that freaked me out was the one after.

 

I'd stopped watching this show and then this weekend, I watched two episodes in a row.  It's not that the show is scary, it's massively fucked up and I kind of like it.

 

Plus Bradley James gets better looking with each episode (how does he do that?)

Edited April 19, 2016 by Neurochick

[Tony]

Yup, that scene at the end was pretty memorable.

 

I'm liking the dark side of Damien more and more, so I'm glad they're developing that further. However, I'd still like him to be a lot less emo. Brooding is good, but the emo gets old quickly.

 

I'm also waiting for the asshole detective to get his comeuppance. I'm guessing this is because he's doing his investigations for the most part behind Damien's back and you only get bestowed an awful death if you're in Damien's radar when you try to cross him?

[Kanner]

Whew! That scene with the knife was so intense and spectacular. I really like this show. The Damien/Ann scenes continue to be the best parts. There relationship is so interesting. He hates her but she had been giving him the most honest answers. I love how he can never stop her from coming into his apartment.

Action Damien is great. Suicide didn't work so it is time to get to work. The threat to John by leaving the ax was a stroke of genius. It really shows his potential to be the Anti-Christ.

[portfino]

The last two episodes have been much better (although why they wasted five episodes on wheel-spinning is a mystery), but it's still a three person show - Damien, Ann, and John. That's good enough I suppose, but given the other problems with the show, it would really serve it well if the supporting characters were interesting.

 

I know they "want" you to be rooting against the detective, but I'm just annoyed by him.

[placate]

I think there might be something wrong with me. I found the goat sacrifice worse than all the human deaths that happened.

[Sonja]

The last two episodes have been much better (although why they wasted five episodes on wheel-spinning is a mystery), but it's still a three person show - Damien, Ann, and John. That's good enough I suppose, but given the other problems with the show, it would really serve it well if the supporting characters were interesting.

 

I know they "want" you to be rooting against the detective, but I'm just annoyed by him.

 

I agree. I'm wondering if this is going to be even more so from now on after Damien rejected his friends or if they are going to be built up as the 'good' side of things with their research and get more to do.

 

If they wanted us to root against him, they were doing just fine until they decided to humanise him by having a child and an apparently very caring partner who will be affected if something happens to him. He's also not nearly likeable enough to root for him as the good one in the equation.

 

Quo vadis, show?

[Snaporaz]

I was a little confused by this episode. Does Damien have some kind of multiple personality disorder? I can't believe the Damien we've been introduced to in this series would, as a teenager, stand back and enjoy watching a classmate set himself on fire, let alone egg him on to do it. The teenage Damien from Omen 2 was an arrogant prick, so I could imagine that Damien doing it. But this Damien saves kids from subway trains and bonds with injured veterans. It's like the young troublemaker Damien people describe is a completely different person than the adult Damien we see here.

I think there might be something wrong with me. I found the goat sacrifice worse than all the human deaths that happened.

Me, too!

I also found the goat sacrifice to be kind of a devil worship cliché.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Snaporaz

[Dobian]

I agree that the show is getting a little more compelling, though it still has issues.  So much of it is just uneven or contradictory.  Why does Damien's girlfriend get killed in the first episode after he sends her away, but he sends Simone and Amani away and nothing happens?  For the first half dozen episodes, Damien has been portrayed as this nice, somewhat noble, emo guy who happens to be the Anitchrist.  Now we learn stories where he's more like the kid in Omen II.  Why is Shay getting stalked by dogs and supernatural warnings when he is deliberately investigating Damien, when that guy got escalator-faced a couple of episodes ago just because Ann pretended he shoved her?  Shay should already be dead, the Devil never gives warnings in the Omenverse (unless you're "lucky" enough to take a picture and see a nice gash around where you're going to get it), people just get ganked.

 

The one thing I find lacking are the Satanist characters.  In Rosemary's Baby it was great how you had these characters who seemed like nice decent people on the surface but who were sinister and diabolical underneath.  You'd see Miss Baylock in the Omen and your blood would run cold.  But I haven't met characters yet in Damien who evoke the same reaction.  Ann is still more of a creepy cougar in her devotion to Damien than a scary Satan worshipper.  Lyons still comes across like the family lawyer, though at least he got to slaughter a goat this week.  I want these people to scare me even more than Damien does.

 

Edit: Saw Snaporaz' Omen 2 comment after I posted, glad others noticed the same thing!

Edited April 22, 2016 by Dobian

[portfino]

I was a little confused by this episode. Does Damien have some kind of multiple personality disorder? I can't believe the Damien we've been introduced to in this series would, as a teenager, stand back and enjoy watching a classmate set himself on fire, let alone egg him on to do it. The teenage Damien from Omen 2 was an arrogant prick, so I could imagine that Damien doing it. But this Damien saves kids from subway trains and bonds with injured veterans. It's like the young troublemaker Damien people describe is a completely different person than the adult Damien we see here.

 

The idea that Damien just has bad things happen around him is so central to this show that I have no idea why they backtracked like this. It undermines the story they're telling and for very little gain.

[Neurochick]

My problem is that I liked Kelly better than Simone, ugh what is the point of her character?

[Canada]

Well, that was monumental crap.  It's now time for me to give up on this show.  I can't even watch it properly, since most scenes are too dark and I can't see what's actually happening on the screen.

[Kanner]

This just gets better and better with each episode. I am really liking Damien's struggle.

His realization about Powell's actions and the look on his face when he closed the door. The calm and then the brutal violence was well done.

I was shocked by the doctor. This was a great way to show how seemingly normal people can be affected by Damien.

[Kanner]

Loved it. The Damien/Greta scenes were well done. I smiled when her told her not to look at him that way. Poor Veronica. What a horrible way to go.

Loving Amani's loyalty. Can't wait for the finale. Has he fully embraced his destiny or is he just tired of everyone else's crap?

[AmazingGrace]

Love this show. Hope it gets a season 2. 

[Infie]

From A&E: Damien makes the ultimate sacrifice as Rutledge and Lyons target Damien's circle.

[oakville]

Very scary finale. It reminded me of the ending of Omen : The Final Conflict.  Damien's turn to the camera reminds me of the ending of the initial movie. Poor Hershel (Lyons) . He got beheaded on TWD & mauled by the Rotties tonight. It was dark , so it was hard to see what was happening. I hope the show gets renewed.

[Neurochick]

I'll say it again.  Bradley James gets hotter each episode.

[Kanner]

Does it make me evil that I was cheering Damien taking those mercenaries out?

I didn't see Shay converting coming at all.

I hope Amani is not dead.

Just when it gets more awesome, it's over. I hope it comes back.

[Neurochick]

I'm fine with this being the only season.   I thought that ending was awesome and a second season might ruin it.  The finale was excellent!  Suspenseful and Bradley James is not only super hot, but a good actor too.

What got it for me was when Shay knelt to Damien at the end, since he really was the one who caused the whole thing, by him being a trigger happy asshole cop, he shot an innocent woman.  

Interesting the reason Damien finally accepts his fate is because he wanted so save Simone's life, thus giving up his life to save another.

What I thought was interesting about this show were the extremes, the people who really wanted Damien to accept who he was and the people who wanted to destroy Damien.  I thought that both sets were wack jobs.

[Lostinthehouse]

I didn't think Shay knelt to Damien in conversion to belief in him.  I thought he just dropped to his knees in disbelief at all the crowd kneeling in respect to Damien.  Combine that with the fact that he just saw a woman he shot dead spring back to life.  Shock and horror caused the weak knees IMO.

 

Frankly, I hope this stupid series is done for good.  I hung with it because it got the primo spot following Bates Motel, and hated myself every week because I wasted an hour watching it.  Good riddance.

[Neurochick]

10 hours ago, Lostinthehouse said:

I didn't think Shay knelt to Damien in conversion to belief in him.  I thought he just dropped to his knees in disbelief at all the crowd kneeling in respect to Damien.  Combine that with the fact that he just saw a woman he shot dead spring back to life.  Shock and horror caused the weak knees IMO.

 

Frankly, I hope this stupid series is done for good.  I hung with it because it got the primo spot following Bates Motel, and hated myself every week because I wasted an hour watching it.  Good riddance.

Gee, if I hated the show that much, I wouldn't have bothered with it.  Life is too short for me to watch shows I hate.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Neurochick

[Chicago Redshirt]

I read it as Shay giving in to Damien rather than just being shocked. It reminded me of the line from the Bible: "Who can stand against him?"

A lot of things to nitpick and question:

Why did Herschel want to kill Amani? And why did he actually kill him? He goes from one second saying, "I'm only keeping you alive as leverage." to just killing him and dumping the body. Seems killing the Antichrist's bestie is not a rational move.

Why did Damien go to the sick freak's trailer, and what made Rutledge deduce that's where he was?

Why did Simone stay with Damien, other than plot dictated it? And are we supposed to think she wasn't freaked out very much by all the stuff she saw, or is that just the fault of the actress being prettier/hotter than good?

How come people were so bad at killing Head Nun?

Why didn't Damien take one of the many vehicles of the mercs he had slaughter themselves instead of walking? Why didn't Damien kill Herschel then rather than later?

 Despite its flaws, I do hope it gets another season so that we can have Damien as full-on evil, not just the Diet Coke of evil.

[Dobian]

After watching this episode, now I know why his name is Damien THORN!

[Dobian]

What I don't get is Herschel (Lyons) gets fed to the dogs in the end, but in the promos all season you see a smug Damien standing with him and Rutledge as she says, "Welcome home, Damien."  Well, Lyons never lives to welcome Damien home, so...huh?  Maybe they can revise the promo next season where Rutledge is welcoming Damien home while right behind them a Rottweiler is gutting Lyons, lol.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Dobian

[AlwaysWatching]

Hmmm, maybe TPTB thought they were not going to be renewed.  This episode did feel a bit different to me from all the eps before.  It had a rushed, let's tie this up in the neatest bow we can, feel to it.  I also started watching this because they were messing with the time on Bates Motel and I didn't want to miss any of "my most favorite show!".  Funny thing is, that I got hooked on Damien from the first ep.  I do think it was, ah, Bradley James? as Damien.  I wanted to post every week about how I was surprised at how well made this take on "The Omen" franchise turned out.   There was one ep that was actually scary as heck to me and I am not a believer in the anti-christ.

But, it was a good ending if the show is canceled.

[Snaporaz]

There were only two real cliffhangers (besides the biggest one, being Damien himself) : That "Seal Team Six" leaving from the Vatican with their incomplete set of daggers, and whoever was trying to claw their way out of the grave (Greta or Amani). So this could have served as a series finale, if necessary.  

I don't believe that the bible is meant to be taken literally, but in the show's world, that is how it is taken.  So what I don't understand is why the Vatican is trying to stop Damien?  If the prophecies say that the anti-christ paves the way for the second coming, then you can't have the second coming without Damien doing his thing.  I would think that the Vatican and Armitage Global have the same agenda, even if it is for cross purposes.  It all has to play out the way it's supposed to, right?  It's the same as evangelical Christians being such strong supporters of Israel.  Their support has nothing to do with Israelis, and everything to do with their belief in end-time prophecies.

I'd like to see a second season.  The show had some flaws, but I thought it had a good pace and plenty of creepy moments.  Even though I was never a big fan of the movie, I enjoyed this show for the most part.

[Dobian]

13 hours ago, Snaporaz said:

I don't believe that the bible is meant to be taken literally, but in the show's world, that is how it is taken.  So what I don't understand is why the Vatican is trying to stop Damien?  If the prophecies say that the anti-christ paves the way for the second coming, then you can't have the second coming without Damien doing his thing.  I would think that the Vatican and Armitage Global have the same agenda, even if it is for cross purposes.  It all has to play out the way it's supposed to, right? 

Maybe it's as simple as, they want the final prophecies to play out, just have them play out in some future generation so they don't have to deal with the apocalypse, lol.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Dobian

[jelaine]

14 hours ago, Snaporaz said:

 So what I don't understand is why the Vatican is trying to stop Damien?  

Because how much power will the Catholic Church have once the Second Coming occurs?  I'm very much not an end-times Christian, but I get the impression that there will be no churches at all when the rapture occurs.  And how embarrassing would it be to be pope or a cardinal and not be taken up?

Edited May 12, 2016 by jelaine

[portfino]

Let me say at the outset, that no one could have succeeded given the cards Mazzara was dealt, regarding the expansion and network shift. I read an interview that he was running two separate writers' rooms. In addition, he had with notes from A&E and Fox. Not that these notes were bad or interfering, but just that they were another layer. Also, the show had very spooky imagery and some nice performances. If the show does get a second season, it would be interesting to see what Mazzara would do with a clearer path and, like everyone, lessons learned.

 

That said IMO there were 3 issues hobbling this show:

1. Damien being passive. Active doesn't necessarily using powers, but he should have done something. I think in the first seven episodes, he attempted suicide and took photographs outside Armitage. Most of the investigating is by Simone and Shay. The plotting is done by Ann. Why wasn't there more investigation of Armitage? Why didn't he try to run away? Why didn't he try to trick Ann into thinking he accepted his destiny while just paying lip service? These are just off the top of my head. It's tough to be invested in a character who just has things happen to him.

2. Supporting Characters outside Ann. They tried to do too much here and so wound up with very thin characters. The Vatican fighting him. Shay investigating him in a "normal" way. His friends. The Satanists. This would be too much for a 22 episode season, and the attempts to meld them were a mixed bag.

3. Stakes. This is ironic considering the show was about the apocalypse. But it was unclear what would happen if Damien refused, which is pretty basic.  There was no idea what Armitage's plan was to put a war photographer to rule of the world or even the first step. Related to the above point, Damien's defining choice is based on his dead ex's sister, a relationship which had not been convincingly developed.

The first problem has the easiest solution because now Damien has accepted his role, and that actually solves the third problem somewhat because you can throw obstacles in the way of a Damien who wants to rule the world. But they need to get a handle on what the supporting characters' goals are and why.

[toodles]

On 5/10/2016 at 11:33 AM, Kanner said:

Does it make me evil that I was cheering Damien taking those mercenaries out?

I didn't see Shay converting coming at all.

I hope Amani is not dead.

Just when it gets more awesome, it's over. I hope it comes back.

I really like this show.  I thought it awesome too.  I sure hope it comes back.

[Anela]

I'm going to have to watch this again. The show has improved

Edited May 18, 2016 by Anela

[Anela]

I started watching because I like Bradley James, and I loved the Omen movies, when I was younger. I liked this series more than I liked other things (which I continued to watch, anyway - I don't know why, since I'm not big on hate-watching). This felt like a series finale, to me, but I am curious as to what they have planned for another season, if they get renewed.

I don't understand why they killed his best friend - or why they made him help the nun into the grave (I loved how he was so gentle with her, and she went along with it, and then hugged him when he was shot and dumped in there, too). They have no problems killing others, so why make him help her in there at all? And killing his best friend was not a good idea - I didn't mind seeing Hershel die tonight, he was willing to kill others, and help Satan. 

I also think they all seemed crazy. I'm surprised that Anne expected a peaceful death for her daughter. She's been a bloodthirsty crazy lady all season, just wanting Damien to kill someone, and helping him along. 

I also didn't think Shay converted. I thought it was shock, and relief/amazement that the woman he'd accidentally killed, was alive. I guess he did see Damien save her life, so maybe I'm wrong, and he did convert in some way, after all. Where did all those people come from? It looked like they'd all been lurking in the trees, just waiting for that moment.

 

(Also: I've been thinking about re-watching a few things, because I keep missing things that I later find others talking about.. but I would partly watch this again, just because I'm shallow, and like Bradley James.)

Edited May 18, 2016 by Anela

[BetterButter]

A&E cancels Damien, ending America’s love affair with the Antichrist

[Bec]

I didn’t even know about this show until just now, and even though I already know it got cancelled I had to watch it right away.

Mostly, I have always wanted a version of Good Omens with the Anti-Christ all grown up. Sadly this is not it.

Imagine heaven and hell just waiting with baited breath for Damien to get the ball rolling on the end of days, and he’s just too busy goofing off to care about fulfilling his destiny. And every day, angels and demons keep coming at him like “Come on, you’re an adult, do it already.” And he’s just all “Nah, I don’t wanna and you can’t make me.”

It would make him kind of relatable as someone who simply doesn’t want to do what is expected of him, and consequently gets a lot of flack from his dad (and assorted other busybodies) for being such a disappointment.

I would watch the hell out of that.

This show? I like it well enough to keep going, lackluster as it may be.

[Bec]

Come on, this show is fun if you do a running commentary during it. No one’s watching this with me, but I’m talking to myself anyway. Heh.

Whenever they show those “vicious hellhounds” I coo “who’s a good doggie? Yes you are! You’re a good doggie!” They do not look menacing at all. It’s unintentionally hilarious!

It also amuses me that, even after nearly getting murdered by some dude with a dagger, Damien just went ahead and followed some creepy lady home. He doesn’t seem concerned when she pretty much admits she’s been stalking him, afterwards he even follows her into her creepy dungeon complete with serial-killer-style shrine.

I would have ran away when my self-confessed stalker whipped out a dagger identical to the one that I was nearly killed with just moments earlier. But maybe that’s just me.

With such sense for avoiding danger, he would be so dead by now if he wasn’t only killable with a special magic dagger.

[Bec]

I think they were trying to take a page from the Angel playbook by making the meeting about Damien so corporate. Corporations are evil, see? Okay, we get it, show.

Didn’t the last part of The Omen have some some guy who is being addressed as “Mr. President” taking little Damien by the hand? That sort of implies that the president is the one who takes him in after his parents died. So he would have lived in the White House for a bit. Guess the show is going with that. I like to imagine that he lived with Bush senior.

I’m getting the sense that Damien killed that Troy guy. He has some kind of “I think it, it happens” power. And he’s not aware of it, much less know how to control it, so he might be accidentally killing people with his powers. That’s my theory for now, anyway.

Or, considering that apparently there’s all these different powerful forces trying to manipulate what happens with the Anti-Christ, maybe it’s not all one side causing these deaths around Damien. Maybe these factions all kill whenever it suits their agenda. So Damien is not doing it, but he is the reason it’s happening, which is why Ann says he’s to blame for all these deaths?

That scene of the statue bleeding reminds me of The Exorcist, and just makes me think: man, things that would have been considered super scary in the 70s sure seems tame now.

Ann’s internal dialogue when she sees Damien’s birthmark: “Damn, my thigh scar is way off from what the Mark of the Beast is supposed to look like!”

[Bec]

I just can’t take anyone saying “I’ve been in the shit” seriously. I mean, it’s the kind of thing people say when they’re either kidding or being a bragging idiot. “Yeah, I’ve been in the shit.”

Oh man, the dialogue on this show is so cringe-worthy. Still enjoying the performances. They’re doing what they can with this script. This terrible, terrible script.

[Bec]

Well that was dreary. Jeebus, this show takes itself seriously.

Show has been dropping hints that Damien is going to try to kill himself ever since that scene with the razor in an earlier episode. I totally thought he was about to cut his wrists then, but he was only shaving that time. Hee.

Show keeps finding ways to make Damien take his shirt off. Show knows which side its bread is buttered on.

It would have been a lot easier if he just waits for someone to come at him with one of them magic daggers and just be like "have at it". Speaking of that, whatever happened to that church lady trying to steal a magic dagger from... was it the Vatican? I thought she was going to kill that priest who's stopping her. Like "I have a confession - I'm going to kill you" *stabbity stab*

But nope, just stopped at confession. Hmm. Well, maybe the stabbity stab part is in the next episode.

[Bec]

I started to think "this is all a dream, isn't it?" around the time what's-her-name (Kelly's sister) started acting weird with those bloody steaks. I really should have clued in earlier when she made out with Damien. I did think it was weird that she seemed to like him so much better all of a sudden. But then I brushed it aside, because, well, look at him. Who wouldn't want to make out with that?

Man, the lady they cast to play Damien's "mother" really does kind of resemble the actress from the original. I had to imdb it to confirm it's not really her (she would be 80 years old now if she was still alive).

[Bec]

So... were they trying to pull in some of Bates Motel's audience with that shower scene? That flower shop guy is like a version of Norman Bates.

I did like the idea that if one Anti-Christ dies, another takes his place. So basically killing him is futile if the goal is to stop the end of days from ever happening. It can only be postponed, not completely stopped.

It opens up some interesting story possibilities like maybe groups that think he's not doing a good enough job of ending the world would want to kill him so that they can get a new Anti-Christ that's better at bringing about the apocalypse.

[Bec]

So Damien basically has an evil influence on people, without even intending to have an evil influence on them? Then even trying to be good is no use, this power is out of his control. Interesting idea. Though this begs the question of how come most people Damien comes into contact with don't fall under the "it's all for you, Damien" whammy and become his almost mindless devotees? Why are seemingly only a few individuals susceptible to it?

Damn, bit by bit I'm getting more into this show. To think, I started off just wanting to MST3K my way through it.

[Bec]

I don't get what the nun was trying to do. Did she think Damien could be cured with an exorcism? He's not possessed, he's part devil.

So, that totally didn't work.

Or maybe Team God was trying to get Damien to go full Anti-Christ because it's part of God's will.

In which case... it totally worked?

[Dobian]

Forget the Daggers of Megiddo, the antichrist was destroyed by the ratings.