666 Park Avenue – “A Crowd of Demons” Review/Recap [Spoilers]
Christopher John Falcioni ’16 & Kristina Carroll ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff
We begin on Halloween night in 1929. In the Drake, there is a man walking into the elevator, and he tells his friend that he performed “the ritual”, which now means that they have blood on their hands. Although we have no idea what this ritual consists of, we also learn that the stock market has just crashed, and are therefore left to assume that it has some connection to the work of the devil, and the two mysterious elevator men. When the man comes home at night to his wife and daughter, he says to his wife, “In Heaven, you will be truly happy.” Like always, the worst possible thing ensues, and he proceeds to stab his wife repeatedly. His daughter, who made a dash up the stairs and dove underneath her bed (hint hint…), made it out alive, but not before having a final word with her mother, who, dying on the floor, hands her a pendant and tells her to keep it safe. So, why is this important? Because these are not just random people—the crazed murderer is the Smoke Monster and the little girl underneath the bed is the same girl that Jane has been interacting with in the past couple of episodes. And as if things were not connected enough already, we also realize that the pendant given to the little girl is the same one that Jane wears around her neck.
We return to present day at the Drake, and Henry is being hailed as the city’s hero for saving Commissioner Pike at last week’s shooting. While several reporters are interviewing him, he is told that his account would make a much better news story if he does not reveal to the public that he is in a relationship with Jane, and instead pretends to be single. He is also encouraged by Laurel Harris to run for mayor, or even possibly the president, thus “stretching his 15 minutes of fame to a lifetime”.
Meanwhile, Brian walks into his apartment and finds his wife Louise lying shirtless on her couch with a stranger massaging her stomach. Despite the fact that Louise introduces the stranger as being hotel resident Dr. Scott, who offered to help Louise recover from her elevator injury after he saw her wincing in pain in the elevator, he is still skeptical. And quite frankly, he has the right to be, because he knows very well how easy it is to be tempted by others living at the Drake. He then finds out that Louise is intending to set the doctor up with Alexis, the girl who has been distracting him outside of his window.
Something interesting about this episode is that Gavin and Olivia are surprisingly not in complete control. In the beginning of the episode they are out shopping, when he gets a text message saying, “You’re going to pay.” Almost immediately after he receives this message, Olivia is nearly run over by a very suspicious black car, and she almost becomes the second Doran in a car crash. This is the first time that we’ve seen Gavin receive a threat, and it’s definitely hard to imagine that there is somebody with even more power than him that will eventually be introduced into the show.
Back at the Drake, Jane and Henry are preparing their Halloween costumes, when they find out that Gavin and Olivia have already picked out special costumes for them to wear to the party. Henry is the “new sheriff in town”, and Jane is Tippi Hedren from the movie “The Birds”, which is ironic after having been recently attacked by the flock of birds that emerged from the Drake’s walls. At the party, Alexis confronts Brian while his wife is talking to Dr. Scott, and she tells him that Dr. Scott has examined her several times. Brian, obviously shocked because he assumed that Louise and Dr. Scott had only just met earlier that day, races for his room to see what exactly is going on between the two of them, but not before Alexis sends a message from Dr. Scott’s phone to Louise, telling her to come upstairs because he “wants” her. Gavin is also at the party, and he asks Tony the bellhop to keep Olivia safe, because apparently he still feels threatened.
Jane and Henry come down the elevator to the party with the Smoke Monster, who compliments Jane on her necklace. Thinking nothing of it, she smiles and politely thanks him before entering the party. As he turns around expecting him to follow her into the hall, he creepily remarks that he is not getting off. Then, he travels all the way down to the basement, where he finds a picture of his family and a hatchet. This, my friends, is the definition of trouble. Eventually, he makes his way to the party, and intentionally bumps into Jane, causing her to spill her drink all over herself. Happy that she has an excuse to change out of her dreadful costume, Jane hurries back to her apartment.
Now, in a normal show, Jane would have gone up to her room, changed into her sexy red devil’s dress, and returned to the party all in one piece. But this is 666 Park Avenue, and in the Drake, there’s no such thing as “normal”, especially not on Halloween. So when she finds the creepy little girl standing in the middle of the room, she is determined to find out who she is and what she wants from her. Finally, the girl says something informative, telling Jane that “he got out”, meaning her father, the Smoke Monster. Jane immediately turns to the suitcase that has been violently shaking for days in her room, and sees that it has been opened. At first glance the suitcase appears completely empty, but Jane finds a secret compartment that contains an article, which reads “Family Tragedy, Husband Kills Wife”. Finally, we are able to put names to the two most mysterious characters in the show, as we learn that the little girl is Jocelyn, and her father, the Smoke Monster, is named Peter Kramer. Suddenly, Kramer appears in Jane’s room, and she goes into a state of panic. Commence the screaming.
Kramer attempts to attack Jane with the hatchet, and she just barely escapes to the hallway, where she finds a man in costume heading to the party. She asks to borrow his phone, dials 911, and starts to explain her situation. Right when the man realizes that Jane is being chased by a murderer, he is killed by Kramer himself and drops to the floor in a pool of blood. She crawls into a laundry elevator, but all hope for her is lost when Kramer snaps the cord, creating a Tower of Terror-esque moment and another cringe. However, Jane miraculously escapes in time, and is nowhere to be found when the elevator comes back down.
But Kramer is not the only one harming the residents of the Drake. A group of people with gas masks also makes an appearance, and they make Halloween night at the Drake even more hectic than it already is. They also have hatchets, and use them to literally “cut the power” in the hotel. This is a problem for Louise and Dr. Scott, who as a result are trapped in an elevator. While they talk to each other in the elevator, Dr. Scott tells her that he knows her secret—that she is not in pain at all, and is only using him to get pills in order to feed her addiction. What happened next was definitely a shocker: Dr. Scott tried to kiss Louise, and (thankfully) is pushed away by her as she screams that she loves her husband.
Despite Tony’s efforts to protect Olivia, he fails to obey Gavin’s orders. While Olivia is giving a tour of Kramer’s apartment, she is captured by the men with gas masks. Gavin finds Tony in the process of being hung, and rescues him just in time. He is then sent to the party to check on the guests. Gavin finds Olivia on the terrace, completely safe and unharmed. It is clear at this moment in the show that Gavin, despite his evil personality, truly loves Olivia. However, Gavin is still in trouble, as the mysterious dragon box that he kept hidden in a safe in his office has been stolen and replaced with one of the gas masks.
Once again, it is the very end of the episode that is the most shocking, and definitely the scariest. Jane is cornered by Kramer, and thinking that she is his daughter, he recites the line, “In Heaven, you will truly be happy,” before taking one final swing at her with his hatchet. She moves away in the last instant, and causes him to strike the wall, which unleashes the flock of birds again. The birds surround him, attack him, and he disappears. Then, his hatchet and the man that was killed by Kramer are both sucked into the ground as a starling bird perched on the handle flies away, leaving no evidence of the murder. The episode ended with Brian punching the Doctor, Jane and Henry being reunited, Kramer being sucked into the ground (though we’re still not sure if he’s dead or alive…), Gavin holding the smoke mask, and Jane touching her pendant.
This episode was definitely one of the scariest and most eventful episodes of the season. The only complaint that we had was that Nona did not make a single appearance, which was slightly disappointing, because her psychic powers would have added an interesting element to the story. And what of Kaminsky, our other resident murderer? But other than that, this was a great episode, and it’s going to be difficult to outdo.