Damien
Season 1 Episode 5: “Seven Curses”
Directed by Mikael Salomon
Written by K.C. Perry
Created by Glen Mazzara
Starring Bradley James, Barbara Hershey, Megalyn EK, Omid Abtahi, Scott Wilson, David Meunier, Tiffany Hines
A&E
Air Date: Monday, April 4th, 2016, 10pm

Damien (Bradley James) is in a strange place. One one hand he is bonafide hero; a decorated war photographer who spends his spare time pulling kids off train tracks. Conversely, he’s also the Antichrist… you know that pesky elephant in the room. While Damien appears unwilling to follow his destiny, those around him seem destined to force it on to him. Above all, is Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey) who runs a global enterprise and is a lawyer for the Thorn family estate. She successfully threw off Detective James Shay (David Meunier) with stories of Damien being a personal mess prone to fits of anger and craziness. Although Shay and his family were attacked by mysterious forces at their home, so obviously, they are still viewed as a threat to Damien’s existence.

Spoilers below.

Damien heads into a VA hospital. He sits waiting forever and then bumps into the mother of the small boy he saved from the train. Her husband is there trying to recover from his wounds, which have left him confined to a wheelchair and in constant pain. Damien agrees to meet him and they develop a complicated relationship. Alex (Jose Pablo Cantillo) wants Damien to photograph and document his recovery. The leads to some really introspective dialogue between the two and the writing really takes center stage. Again, this show lives and dies with Bradley James and he is carrying the title role really well.

Alex is being brought into the hospital pool for some aquatic therapy when his wheelchair slips and he’s pulled under. His life is saved, but his spirit is broken and his and Damien’s bond is about to be taken to the extreme, as he asks Damien to assist him in suicide and photograph his last moments. Damien struggles with the morality of the situation and ends up taking a bizarre walk through the depths of the hospital, stumbling onto a circle of scarred former soldiers chanting passages from the book of Revelations, focusing on the number of the beast, 666.

Meanwhile Simone (Megalyn E.K.) tries to dig deeper into Damien’s true identity by searching through his apartment while he’s out, and soon she’s hiding from mysterious men there to grab him for Rutledge. Amani (Omid Abtahi) is still being seduced by Veronica (Melanie Scrofano) and no offense to Amani, but it’s obvious she’s there at Rutledge’s behest. Last but not least, in the Vatican, Sister Greta (Robin Weigert); who was last seen conducting a South American cemetery exorcism, is trying to “borrow” one of the remaining Megido daggers to deliver the final blow to Damien. When she gets caught, she begs to be the one to go and finish the job.

This was a slow but effective episode. Damien continues to be an enigma wrapped inside of a puzzle. Ann Rutledge seems to be losing her patience waiting for Damien to accept his fate, and the people closest to him are unknowingly putting themselves in danger just by association. Bradley James continues to impress as Damien, and I’m really digging the conflict he is going through.

Damien returns next Monday night at 10:00pm on A&E.

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Damien: Season 1 Episode 5 Preview | Mondays 10/9c | A&E

Check out the Season 1 Episode 5 Preview for #Damien, Mondays 10/9c following an all new Bates Motel 9/8c