Midnight, Texas Review: Bad Moon Rising (Season 1 Episode 2)

As it turns out, Manfred is Midnight’s last hope — and I’m not exactly convinced that he’s up to the task.

Midnight, Texas Season 1 Episode 2 deals with several problems at once, introducing a few different “Big Bads.” It also shows viewers more about what exactly the mysterious residents of Midnight are capable of.

In terms of structure, “Bad Moon Rising” goes with a standard cold open into the middle of the action, paired with a “rewind” to 24 hours before the opening moment. In this case, the hour starts with Manfred and Creek seeking refuge in Manfred’s increasingly beat-up trailer while a mysterious something roars outside and threatens them.

As it turns out, that “something” is the Reverend — or, more accurately, the Reverend in his “were-tiger” form.

Oops.

I can’t say I’m going to miss Officer Gomez all that much. Sure, it’s sad that she gets horrendously torn apart by a vicious were-animal… but it’s also kind of ridiculously stupid that her reaction is to open up the hatch keeping the Reverend safely locked away.

Seriously! You hear mysterious roaring sounds — the sounds of something that is obviously dangerous — and your reaction is to go down to investigate, solo, with only a single handgun? Bad move, Gomez.

I also didn’t particularly like her after seeing what she did to Bobo in the jail. Granted, Bobo is able to fight his way out of being killed by the Sons of Lucifer, but it’s still super sketchy that Gomez throws him in the room with all those idiot bikers to purposely “rough him up.”

Thankfully, the Sheriff has more sense and suspends her after that stupid move.

Speaking of Bobo: I appreciate that Sheriff Livingstone veers away from the bull-headed and prejudiced sheriff cliche and actually listens to Manfred when he comes to the Sheriff with his vision of Aubrey’s death. The Sheriff listening to what Manfred says leads him to clear Bobo of any wrongdoing.

That leaves Bobo out of the slammer and (close to being) in Fiji’s arms when tragedy strikes at the Sheriff’s office.

I can’t say I was expecting the Sheriff’s car to blow up with him inside, courtesy of the Sons of Lucifer. This is an interesting development, as the biker gang makes their villainy more and more blatantly obvious — especially since Manfred’s vision seems to confirm that one of the biker gang is Aubrey’s murderer (key word: seems).

I don’t think the Sons of Lucifer will be the primary villains this season, though, regardless of their involvement (or lack of involvement) in Aubrey’s demise. At this point, they seem more like minor pests, compared to the creepy demon lurking under Manfred’s floor — which has now apparently attached itself to poor Fiji.

So far, Fiji is one of my favorite characters on the show. She’s super sweet and bright and cheerful. It’s no surprise that she volunteers to help Manfred out with his pesky ghost infestation problem. Unfortunately, she winds up getting in way over her head.

The ghosts are easy-peasy to exorcise, but the mysterious glowing red force, not so much. On the bright side, the visual effect of Manfred using his ancestor’s old dried skull to get the demon away from Fiji is the perfect mix of hokey-hilarious and cool.

This section of the episode begs so many questions. What is this creepy creature? Why is it now attached to Fiji? What does that mean for her? Is the demon (or whatever it is) somehow related to the larger apocalypse prophecy that Joe told his concerned boyfriend about?

I’m guessing yes on that last one.

According to Joe’s prophecy, the notoriously-thin veil between Midnight and “the other side” is growing more and more thin as time goes on and as more evil comes to the town. This issue is also causing “side effects” in the town’s various otherworldly residents — like the Reverend, who notices that he is more ravenous than usual while in his were-state.

Soon, the veil will rip entirely — unless Manfred can lead the residents against the incoming darkness and seal the veil forever. But like I said, Manfred is still a little doofy, so I’m not too confident in his abilities as the savior of the world quite yet.

Stray thoughts:

• So far she’s pretty pointless, but I am continuing to find Manfred’s dead grandma a fun source of comic relief.
• I’m very excited to see more about Olivia and Lem, both separately as characters and the beginnings of their relationship.
• On that note: Arielle Kebbel is so fierce in this role. SO MANY GUNS. I love it.
• At what point will Bobo stop being so clueless about Fiji’s love for him? Now that he’s acknowledging that the woman he loved (Aubrey) was never what he thought she was, that should (logically) free him up for new romantic entanglements.
• I still don’t care about Manfred/Creek. (Like, at all. Sorry.) But I guess it’s cute that they finally have their first kiss, after so many false starts.

What did you think of this episode of Midnight, Texas? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

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