FEAR ITSELF Review: Episode 8 - "Skin And Bones"
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The eighth episode of NBC's "Fear Itself" is called "Skin And Bones", which was directed by Ernest Dickerson. The episode follows a raging snowstorm, where a farm family is worried about their husband and father Grady, who is stranded with others up in the mountains during the storm. They are worried that he's gonna be trapped up there forever, maybe even could already be dead. A range of emotions anyone would be feeling if their loved one were in a situation like that. Soon however, Grady returns. His family is stunned that he was able to make it down the mountain during the storm, and make it down the mountain and to the house alive. However...while he's still alive, he does look and seem different. Some of the family simply blow it off as starvation from being without food up there for so long. But Eddie Bear, a native american friend of the family warns them to beware of Grady.
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He feels that Grady has changed, and not for the better. That something has taken him over. This soon becomes more and more evident when Grady's overall appearance begins to change, as does his attitude. It's soon revealed that Grady has been possessed by a windigo spirit, and unless his family can find a way to get it out of him, they all will suffer the same fate as the men Grady was with and eventually came to devour while stuck in the mountains. "Skin And Bones" is a pretty creepy episode. It's not the most action-packed, or intense, or high-octane as a few of the others. It really builds up to what it's gonna do. It slowly builds suspense, allowing the viewer to watch Grady become more and more consumed by the Windigo spirit, and turn more and more against his family. There's also a subplot involving Grady's younger brother who Grady's son suspects has been fooling around with his mom, his fathers wife.
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This little underlying storyline kind of makes you think that maybe Grady in some way, wanted the windigo spirit to continue to possess him, so he could get revenge against his treacherous, or thought-to-be treacherous brother. This becomes even more evident at the end of the episode when some of the more grosser stuff goes down, including cannibalism, and alot of dismemberment. But watching Grady slowly turn into this creature, and his family desperately try to figure out what to do with their "evolving" loved one...is the best part of the episode. It really presents a chilling situation, and brings out alot of emotions in the characters. It's definitely one of the darker, and more seriously toned episodes of the eight so far.
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Whether that's for better or for worse you make the call. But I for one thoguht it was for the better. Especially after the dreadful "Community" which aired last week. It was nice that they followed it up with this bounce-back episode. The ending of "Skin And Bones" are the most intense moments of the episode, and is where we really get down to the nitty gritty of things, where deadly confrontations ensue, and it becomes evident to Grady's wife and family that they'll never get their husband/father back and so it's either him or them. "Skin And Bones" is a slow moving episode, so sticking with it till the end is the best approach to take. You won't get anything hard-hitting right away, but if you stick around long enough, you'll get a good story, above average performances, and a strong, dark,and gritty ending to what began as the hopeful scenario of a family saving a loved one.
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