Synopsis of 3×09: The Geckos pursue Amaru to a mysterious Western town, where she plans to reclaim her true form and open the gates of hell.
Can we talk about how much I love it when this show just indulges in the wild west theme? From Dusk Till Dawn has always been good at taking an aesthetic and going full bore with it. Everything is done in excess and it works perfectly. There is something sincerely enjoyable about that.
In the penultimate episode, there’s no lack of action at all. It’s a race to stop Amaru from taking over and it does not go well. Venganza is taken to Amaru by Freddie, in what turns out to be part of Seth’s grand plan. We find out some interesting little tid bits this episode, like the fact that Venganza and Amaru used to be lovers and that the jaguar warriors will be loyal to those who defeat them in fair combat.
Before Amaru can lament killing Venganza, she finishes the job for her and kills herself. This leaves Amaru with everything that she needs to complete the ritual to get her body.
Meanwhile, the team gathers together outside of the town of Matanzas. Again, I appreciate how much they embraced the aesthetic. With the whole posse riding up in their bikes and cars along a flat desert landscape, everyone donning black, with the culebras complete with masks. I even loved Richie’s ridiculous Death Eater mask.
The episode breaks the team up once again. Seth and Richie face off against some cowboy zombies while throwing out movie references at each other, but they can’t seem to come up with any movies where the whole team doesn’t die at the very end. Sorry, Seth, the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid freeze frame definitely means death. It’s a great call back to season one’s Gecko brothers, who had the ability to make light of nearly all bad situations with their humor and snark. But even the brothers can’t stay together forever, and with the arrival of Zolo, the jaguar warrior, Richie bites the bullet and drives himself out into the desert with Zolo on his tail to draw him away from the fight.
This leaves Seth to face off against the remaining zombies and then Brava. We’ve seen the guy survive an explosion before, but can he survive TWO? The answer is no. It’s a little anticlimactic, despite the pomp and circumstance, I much more enjoyed watching him catch a bullet in his gun in mid air and shooting a cowboy zombie than the former. Especially with such an emotional speech between the brothers, worried that they wouldn’t get their freeze frame in the end, Brava died without much of a fight.
Richie lures Zolo out to a fight and eventually bests him by outsmarting him. It’s kind of interesting how this episode turned Zolo into a more neutral character, especially since the jaguar warriors had always seemed so nefarious in the previous episodes, but after Richie defeats him it seems like we’re getting more of an alliance between the two?
Meanwhile, Carlos encourages Santanico to embrace her identity as La Diosa after showing her that Amaru is turning the culebras into slaves for her. I like this role for him more than the one of the snake in the grass. Despite his failings, he seems genuinely determined for Santanico to see her worth as Diosa to the culebras.
Finally, the team — sans Richie stuck out in the desert with Zolo — meets up in the church where Amaru begins her ritual. I’m still a little confused as to why Maggie and Billie had to be involved since they did nothing but stand there as Amaru was basically bleeding herself dry. Maybe I missed something in the mythology, but regardless, the ritual is complete as an eclipse starts. Kate falls to the ground barely conscious, while Amaru forms in front of them in a new body of her own.
Uh oh.
English