Last episode had the return of Avery Sunderland and the capture of the Swamp Thing! The title of the episode is a well known name of an Alan Moore Swamp Thing issue, #21 (1984). At the Woodrue house, Caroline wakes up to see Jason, she says his clothes are muddy. Jason is excited for his “specimen” and wonders why she is troubled. Caroline said she had a nightmare. At the Sunderland Cement Company, cars and trucks roll in as Caroline describes her nightmare. They are setting up a lab. Jason sets aside her medication. The workers reveal that the frozen figure is the Swamp Thing what Caroline says in her dream was a monster! Morning, Abby shows Liz at Delroy’s evidence of the capture. She suspects Jason Woodrue because she gave him a tissue sample. Abby needs Liz’s help. Liz brings up when they were younger, Abby stood up for her, and Liz’s first story was the rude man.
At the lab, tinted green, Avery enters to check on the Swamp Thing. He reaches out, but is warned by Jason. Woodrue remarks the lights inhibit plant growth. Jason wants to be alone to do his work. He shuts down the nitrogen to “thaw out” the Swamp Thing. Daniel wakes to find the mysterious “Studio Guy.” This is the Phantom Stranger that was explaining Swamp Thing about the Green. His role as a Devil bargaining with Daniel is too active a role for the character. Daniel is transported to a building where Liz and Abby knock over a pipe. It brings the attention of a team of guards armed with guns. They check the room where Abby and Liz were hiding. They come out with their hands up. Liz is shot and then Abby! Daniel is in his hospital bed. The “Studio Guy” tells him he is seeing the future and it is one possible future.
Abby and Liz knock on the door of the Woodrue house and Caroline answers. They have questions about her husband. She brings them in and the tea kettle is steaming, she has forgotten it, Caroline is confused. Liz checks papers that are on the dinner table. Abby notices that she hasn’t taken her medicine. There is a footprint of the swamp on the kitchen floor. Liz takes one of the papers from the table. They leave and Abby says she suffers from Alzheimers. She is not acting like a doctor, Abby should bring hospital personnel to take Caroline to be watched over and treated at a hospital. At the lab, Jason is analyzing his patient, the Swamp Thing, and begins to cut into his chest! It does not seem he is using proper tools to cut through a chest cavity, probably he needs a bone saw. He tries pulling apart the layers of the Swamp Thing when he wakens and shouts in pain!
At the hospital, Liz shows Abby the photograph which is plans for a mobile lab. Liz checks the records of Sunderland on the computer. She finds a cement plant and it matches with the photo! On the operating table, Woodrue has strapped down Swamp Thing, he says he “fells it all.” Woodrue has removed enough layers to get at organs and holds what looks like lungs and then a heart. This seems like the old magician’s trick with a person’s head sticking out, but the body is fake. Jason is amazed that the organs have no function. The Green has replicated what looked like Alec Holland. Jason says the mutagenic plants replicated Alec, “You’re a plant that thinks it’s a man.” Daniel asks about the future, the Phantom Stranger mentions Blue Devil, he breaks from his restraints. The Stranger puts on his hat to leave. Daniel wonders about his purpose. He pulls the sheet to reveal the Blue Devil mask. He holds it up, then a blue light shines through it causing Daniel pain and he transforms!
SWAMP THING - - “The Anatomy Lesson” - - IAN ZIERING - - Photo: Fred Norris/ 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. - © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Maria is making a cell phone call to Mr. Ellery. Avery confronts her. He brings in Dr. Dennis Barclay (Jason Davis), psychiatrist, and two workers join them to take her away to a van. Delroy checks on Matt Cable drinking outside of the bar. He mentions the argument with her mother. Matt only wants to drink. At the swamp, they find the mobile lab, and Liz tells about the way in the back of the building. They have flashlights looking around the abandoned building. A weedy path leads them to the Swamp Thing. They hear voices. A pipe is kicked over so Abby and Liz hide in a room. The vision is coming true. The security team has their guns drawn. Abby cuts the power sending the building into darkness. Jason continues cutting into the Swamp Thing. The team searches the room. A blue flame burns two of the guards. Blue Devil! We have Daniel transformed. He can turn around what was in his vision. The others search until one is struck by the Blue Devil that blasts a guard with his eyes. He sends blue flames from his mouth at another. A worker tries to evacuate Jason to a lab in northern Maryland.
The dark lab, Abby and Liz are still in the room, a crazed guard mentions the Devil, when he is pulled back. They see a massive figure of the Blue Devil in flames. Abby and Liz rush to the mobile lab and see that his organs are pulled out! Abby cries when Swamp Thing’s hand reaches for her. She tries to remove his restraints. He calls out for light. Abby switches on the lab light which rapidly reforms his organs and skin! She asks him who is responsible. Swamp Thing says it was Woodrue and Sunderland. He starts walking back to the swamp and find the truth. Liz and Abby follow him over the bodies of the guards and Daniel revives as a human realizing what he has done! In the swamp, Abby tells Liz that she has to follow him. Matt is drinking while driving and is able to pay attention to driving narrowly avoiding a car! At that point, he should pull over to the side of the road. He crashes! Delroy should never have let him drive. Then, we have Abby and Liz trying to free the Swamp Thing, but he still has to realize the truth! The problem with this episode is the title which invites comparisons with Alan Moore brilliant, lyrical story that revealed more to the horror character. A more far comparison is does this episode work with the rest of the series and the answer is yes, it is an average entry. This episode brings in the supernatural, the true nature of the Swamp Thing, and Daniel as the demonic hero!
Three Vines out of Five!
#SwampThing, #TheAnatomyLesson, #DrBarclay, #JasonDavis
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