Dead of Summer, “Patience”, Review!

Jondee here at Camp Stillwater,

The creators of Once Upon a Time, Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, are collaborating with fellow producer on Once, Ian B. Goldberg, to bring some terror back to summer camp. The premiere has debuted on Freeform. It opens at Camp Stillwater, Wisconsin, in 1871, a black piano player (Tony Todd) when men come in with guns. They drag him off and we sees bodies in the water. Then we get Janet Jackson’s “Miss You Much”, with “Summer 1989” and “3 Days `Til Camp”, an uncertain girl, Amy (Elizabeth Lail) walks up to a bus. She is caught on video camera by a young black kid, Joel (Eli Goree). Joel talks to a boy with turned up collar, Alex (Ronen Rubinstein). Walking up to them is the gay kid, Blair (Mark Indelicato from Ugly Betty) who is wearing The Cure shirt, and walks up with his friend, Carolina better known as Cricket (Amber Coney). A car races up and out steps Jessie Tyler (Paulina Singer). It flashes back to “4 Months Earlier”, she heads over to her new school. The bus arrives and everyone is excited except new girl, Amy. Head counselor, Deb Carpenter (Elizabeth Mitchell) greets the group. A grunge kid, Drew (Zelda Williams), walks up having missed the bus and Deb has him stamp out his cigarette. They hears a clang and Amy frees a rat from a trap. The gardener, Dave (Darren Moore) is angry about the trap. Flashback to school, Amy is next to a partner who warns her about Margot Tate (Morgan Taylor Campbell). Amy goes to partner with her, but she’s unimpressed. Night, she walks to the camp fire, Drew walks off. Joel tells a scary story when Amy is scared by another kid. They call out “Not it!” pointing to their nose which makes Amy go into the woods. She see a deer and then a tire swing at a tree. Dave startles her with a warning. The girls sneak into the boys room armed with water guns and spray the boys. Deb sees Joel watching her. The others hear a scream, it’s Jessie out in the woods, she sees the deer with its belly sliced open. Deb later sees it and Amy wants her about Dave. Lunch time at school, Amy finds a table next to Margot. Her snob friend gives her a card with a picture of a pig to give to her seat partner. Sad. Margot agrees to meet with Amy.

Night at the camp, the others get ready to go swimming in the lake. Jessie undresses to her bra and panties, and the others follow. Joel films Amy and sees the piano player behind her on the camera. She is thrown into the water and sees a dead body. A police car rolls up to the camp, Sheriff Heelan (Charles Mesure) and his deputy, Garrett (Alberto Frezza). He reassures everyone. Jessie tries to talk to the deputy. Amy goes out to get water and Cricket gives her a flashlight. Garrett is there in regular clothes and takes her on a shortcut to Dave’s cabin. They walk past a mossy hole in a tree streaming with blood. They enter Dave’s cabin, Garrett finds a latch, and opens a secret door. This leads to a room with Satanic items. Amy coughs and gas fills the cabin, turning into flames, Amy is pushed out, finds an axe and breaks in to free Garrett from the burning cabin. The sheriff returns, Garrett shows him a map, turns it and there is a skull, with the camp in the middle of it! Deb uses a shovel to uncover a box. Drew looks out the window to see a little girl with a red balloon, shivers. Joel starts talking about the Wicker Man (1973) movie. Joel answers a call from Jessie’s mom when the power goes out.

Amy is chosen to flip the breakers and Alex goes with her. Alex goes in for the kiss, Amy flashes back to seeing the camp brochure with Margot. She goes for a kiss and then sees a ghastly face and then hands reaching out to her! Amy shrugs it off. It’s “1 Day `Til Camp Opens”, Garrett is still worried, but Deb is working to open the camp. Amy is at the lake looking at a bracelet. Flashback to Margot and Amy getting ready to go to a party. Amy hears a noise, it’s a tether ball clanging against a pole. A ghastly woman is there and Garrett checks on her, while the woman is still there. The bracelet is on Margot at the party where they are drinking. Amy keeps running. Hands reach up from the dock to grab Amy. The party is broken up by cops. Margot runs to her room followed by Amy. Margot opens the window and falls, Amy holds onto her, but her bracelet slips off her hand, and she falls. Garrett reaches Amy and she is crying since Margot was meant to be at the camp. The others plunge into the lake. She jumps into the lake and the camera on a chair records everything. Deb takes out the box and sees Joel recording her so she closes the blinds. Drew is revealed to be a she and readies for a shower. Jessie walks up to Garrett and confides that she knows him, she was his first girlfriend, Braces. The lake bubbles. They watch the video playback. Amy is quick enough to not volunteer to clean the dock, it’s Jessie. Joel stops the playback, the screen flickers and shows the piano player. This series has some genuine creepy moments not just monster scares like other shows and ties into the character’s back stories really well. Five Bracelets out of Five!