Dead of Summer Review: Home Sweet Home (Season 1 Episode 9)

“Home Sweet Home” is easily the most satisfying hour of Dead of Summer that we’ve gotten so far. It also would have made a very fitting season-ender, in my opinion – granted, I’m a super morbid person, and this would have been quite a dark and morbid ending. Not very Freeform. But still.

That said, I’m very excited to see where the writers go from here. There are several directions they can take, and I’m curious to find out which they’ve chosen to cap off this first season.

It’s immediately striking when we find out – very soon into “Home Sweet Home” – that this is actually another Amy flashback episode. This, I think, is the first hint that something weird re: Amy is going on here.

She’s the first and only character to have two entire installments dedicated to her backstory. It’s especially glaring given that we still haven’t gotten a Blair backstory at all. He’s the only major character who has yet to get a backstory, so I’m assuming something big about Blair is about to be revealed on next week’s finale, “She Talks To Angels.”

Of course, we don’t actually have any confirmation that the finale will focus on Blair – episode photos have yet to be released, and the promo is present events only – so I’m just assuming.

“Home Sweet Home” reveals, through a series of flashbacks both new and already seen, that Amy is actually completely insane. She killed her parents and her brother as a child (because they tried to keep her “caged”), and she also killed her “friend” Margot after she found out that Deb only had room left for one counselor in camp – and Amy needed that spot because she had to be with Malphas at Stillwater.

The latter scene of Margot’s death, in particular, is a spectacular retcon of what we thought we already knew about the circumstances of Margot’s death.

In the closing montage, brilliantly set to “Home Sweet Home” by Mötley Crüe, we discover that Amy is also the one who murdered each of the ritual victims – Cricket, Blotter, and Dave – over the summer.

She’s a pure psychopath. The “good girl devoid of personality is actually the villain” twist is one of my favorites in horror, so I’m a big fan of the direction they went with Amy’s character.

I also love the “possession victim is actually just as evil as the possessing demon” trope – it’s such a fun and unexpected twist on the “corruption of innocence” angle that most possession storylines go with. I’ve loved that sort of twist ever since I first saw it used expertly in that one episode of Angel. (Obviously don’t click that link if you don’t want to see Angel spoilers!)

I mean, just think about it. Objectively, Amy has been incredibly flat and boring all summer. She’s literally done nothing except flirt with Alex and be scared about all of the “scary stuff” going on at camp. This Amy-is-evil reveal gives Elizabeth Lail the chance to really show off her acting chops in a fun, scary, exciting way. Her acting while Amy is possessed by Malphas and after it is revealed that Amy, on her own, is evil, are her best performances all season.

The exorcism scene itself is pretty spooky and great, again largely thanks to Lail’s performance and the creepy atmosphere. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I also think that the exorcism reveals that Amy had not yet been possessed by the demon when she killed Joel? That was just regular, evil Amy working to complete the ritual, in that case.

Is what rushes into the room and destroys Holyoke actually Malphas, only possessing Amy at that point? I’m not sure. If it isn’t Malphas who destroys Holyoke, what exactly happens to Holyoke?

Another aspect of this installment that I love is the reveal of Jessie as the true hero of the season, something that is hinted at in last week’s “The Devil Inside” and definitively confirmed with the events of “Home Sweet Home.” Jessie, unaware of Amy’s true, evil nature, sacrifices herself so that “pure” Amy doesn’t succumb to Malphas. Jessie, unlike Amy, is truly pure and manages to survive the Stillwater pure, demon-destroying water.

Although, I don’t 100% understand how Malphas survives that dunk in the tub of pure water – when Amy resuscitates Jessie, she calls Malphas back into her, indicating that he somehow survives the pure water. Holyoke is pretty clear, before he is destroyed, that the water will banish the demon. Why didn’t that work?

Amy remains behind to finish off Margot’s friend and Deb, and then, covered head to toe in blood, calls to Jessie and the others to tell them she’ll be joining them on their way out of Camp Stillwater.

I literally have no idea where they’ll go from this in the finale – is Amy going to shower and leave camp to continue her reign of terror outside of the camp’s grounds? I can’t imagine that the final showdown will be anywhere other than Stillwater. It’s been the epicenter of all of the action all season – it has to end there, doesn’t it?

Finally, the most intriguing moment of the penultimate installment – right before being killed, Deb spots the Satanist mask that falls out of Amy’s suitcase. Off of Deb’s shocked look, Amy asks Deb whether she remembers now why she reopened the camp and points out that Deb isn’t so innocent either.

What, exactly, does this mean? What happened in 1970 when Deb was a Stillwater counselor – or, what did Deb do in 1970 – that is so significant? Deb is dead, now, so we will likely only find out what happened then if Season 2 is set in 1970.

In which case: bring on Season 2!!

Stray thoughts:

• Did anyone else find it hilarious that Jessie had to be like “Alex, no! Ignore the demon promising you sex!!” when Malphas-possessed-Amy tries to entice him into untying her by offering to “finish what they started.” Like… how is he even considering that/needing to be told to ignore her?! On that note, how is Alex even still alive?
• I continue to not understand what the purpose is of Blair and Drew remaining separated from the rest of the group. It just seems so strange that Alex, Garrett, and Jessie are all present for the exorcism while Drew and Blair opt to leave. They’re all in this together, aren’t they? They spend the entire episode stuck in the bus with the camp kids trying to get the bus to start! So lame.
• Why did Margot’s bitchy friend choose then, of all moments, to show up? Was it really necessary for her to show up at all? I think we would have gotten the picture (Amy is evil) without the addition of that friend – whose name I honestly can’t even remember. Her appearance just seems like a thinly-veiled plot device included so that Amy needs to kill Deb as well, to prevent her from telling anyone about Amy’s true nature. And also a reason for Amy to bust out that spectacular Jordache line.
• The most I’ve felt for Garrett all season is that destroyed look he gives when he realizes that Jessie is sacrificing herself to save them all. Of course, Jessie manages to make it out of there alive, so now I’m rooting for those two to ride off into the sunset together after defeating Amy.
• I rolled my eyes as soon as Deb stabbed Amy and then left the knife in her/didn’t run away. That’s a recipe for immediate death in any horror movie.
• What’s Keith’s deal? Why does he show up and attempt to kill Deb? Was he an evil agent of Malphas all along? Or was he just pissed off at Deb for having brought Amy to camp and unleashed all of this nonsense?

What did you think of this episode of Dead of Summer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Dead of Summer airs Tuesday at 9/8c on Freeform.

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