Swamp Thing season 1, episode 3 review: He Speaks

Swamp Thing continues to drag us to the bottom in episode three.

Previously on Swamp Thing, Abby and Matt Cable had ventured into the heart of the swamp, looking for Susie Coyle, but instead befell a grizzly murder scene which left the young Miss Coyle on the run from the killer. Unfortunately, for her, it would be the assailant who ran afoul of the Swamp Thing, who dispatched him in a rather bloody fashion, allowing Susie to be saved by a frightened Abby Arcane.

Elsewhere, we find out that Avery Sunderland revealed his nefarious plan to use the power of the swamp, with the help of Dr. Jason Woodrue’s accelerant to create a vast array of pharmaceutical opportunities, but the accelerant is causing more people to get the dreaded Green Flu.

Ramping Up

If you didn’t know going in that you would only be privy to 10 episodes of this program, you would definitely be moving to some kind of large confrontation. There are so many moving pieces in this show at any given time that you never know what is going to happen. And that is one of the show’s real strengths: the ability to keep quite a few things going at once and keep the viewer interested and involved in what’s going on.

For the audiophile in us all

All of the shows on the DC Universe streaming service have been amazing for many reasons. One of the bigger elements that makes Swamp Thing such an amazing program isn’t just the story, the special effects or the acting. It’s also the music and in episode 3 it’s really driven home quite a bit. The deep dark stings of the strings really sell the underlying dread almost every second of this episode brings. From Swamp Thing versus a denizen of The Rot to the final shot of the episode, the music does way more than just amplify what’s going on. It’s almost a character in and of itself.

Derek Mears

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The man that is Derek Mears could warrant much more than a few lines in this review. From being Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th remake to being the classic Predator in the film Predators; Derek is one of the best stunt/character actors in the business today, and that, for starters, makes him perfect for the role of the titular Swamp Thing. He adds an amazingly versatile nature to the Elemental (that’s something that will come up later) that really showcases the human side of the green behemoth. One scene in particular really comes across without any dialogue, which is ironic considering the episode is called “He Speaks”.

There is this tender moment when Swamp Thing picks a piece of glass out of Abby’s hair, as he did in the first episode, which showed that Derek Mears has captured the sensitive side of the monster, as well as his incredibly destructive side. Despite the show being named after his character, he’s in no way the main character of the program but, because of Derek’s portrayal of the monster, he steals every scene he’s in, especially in this episode.

This episode, above the others but not taking away from them, showcases the kind of amazing show the DC Universe streaming service could have had on its hands. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow for further coverage of upcoming episodes.