Vampires love it when a plan comes together.
We've reached the final three episodes of the second season of the television series based on the 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn, and with The Blair Witch Project director Eduardo Sánchez back behind the camera (he previously directed the season one episode 'Mistress' and the season two episode 'In a Dark Time'), working from a script by From Dusk Till Dawn veterans Álvaro Rodríguez (he wrote the episodes 'Place of Dead Roads' and 'In a Dark Time', as well as the film From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter) and Marcel Rodriguez (the episodes 'Let's Get Ramblin'', 'La Conquista', and 'Attack of the 50-ft. Sex Machine'), season two finally appears to be getting to the climactic action.
Like the episodes 'Attack of the 50-ft. Sex Machine', 'The Best Little Horror House in Texas', and 'Bring Me the Head of Santanico Pandemonium' before it, this episode takes its title from a popular film, in this case Martin Scorsese's controversial 1988 movie The Last Temptation of Christ. As it plays out, you may start to think the decision to give this episode that title was solely based on the fact that career criminal turned vampire Richie Gecko (Zane Holtz) is, ever so briefly, crucified in it. Some irreverent blasphemy likely to offend certain members of the audience. But hold on, there's more to it than that.
Before we get to the crucifixion, however, the story is partially dealing with a prophecy in the mythology of the snake-like vampire creatures the Culebras. They have all the information they've been seeking for this entire season, they know exactly how to fulfill the prophecy of a thirst quenching storm of blood. How dangerous will it be if they fulfill that prophecy? Well, that's something that they haven't really been too clear on. In fact, one of our protagonists - Madison Davenport as teenage Kate Fuller, whose brother Scott (Brandon Soo Hoo) has recently become a vampire - is so convinced that it's not such a bad thing that she has even gotten actively involved in helping make it happen.
So involved that she even takes part in the sacrifice of an innocent person to get things to the next step. That's not really something I can condone one of our heroes doing. Whether the prophecy is a world ender or a dud, that was a bad move, Kate.
Meanwhile, Richie Gecko, his brother Seth (D.J. Cotrona), their female companions Santanico Pandemonium (Eiza Gonzalez) and Sonja Lam (Briana Evigan), and Texas Ranger Freddie Gonzalez (Jesse Garcia) are, at long last, conducting their raid on Jacknife Jed's, an establishment run by vampire leader Lord Amancio Malvado (Esai Morales).
The group has been fortified by the tragic death of the Gecko brothers' Uncle Eddie, which was a sad and disappointing moment in the previous episode, as I was hoping to see actor Jeff Fahey stick around in this series for much longer. Richie had even offered to save Eddie's life by turning him into a vampire. I would have loved to have seen Fahey's Eddie running around as a badass bloodsucker! Oh well.
Given the fact that Richie gets crucified, you know that this heist/hit the Geckos and co. have planned does not go smoothly, but that's something we could be sure of from the beginning. They've got more episodes to fill here.
Characters are getting stuff done, there are twists and turns, and the episode moves along at a breezy pace, so I found 'The Last Temptation of Richard Gecko' to be an enjoyable chapter in this story. Things are starting to come together in a satisfying way.
