This series was so good that I watched it once by myself, and again, recently, with my best friend and her boyfriend. After I finished this series for the second time, I thought it was time to delve into all the little Easter eggs and connections I made while also trying to take in the thriller of this story.
Before we start, I want to say to Hillman Grad Productions and Little Marvin that is was an EXCELLENT piece of cinema. While I didn’t watch the first season, and was told in certain terms to not go back and watch, it would seem that the consensus is that this season is miles ahead of its predecessor. I read the events that happened in the first season, and would say to you, future, past or present viewers, don’t go back there. We will talk about the ending in this post, and yes, it relates to the first season, but do not go back there. Got it? Ok. To Luke James, Pam Grier, and Deborah Ayorinde…Y’ALL MADE THIS SERIES! Yes, they need the material to be great, but I feel like, and especially with James, that they took what was on the page and elevated it to something thrilling, creepy, and educational all at the same time. There’s so much to unpack, and I think that is due to the performances of this big three.
Alright, let’s dive deep into Them: The Scare.
I read so many articles about the series, especially the ending, and found it interesting that no one talked about the obvious. (Maybe it was only obvious to me.) The twin experiment. I’m not sure where I first heard about the twin experiment that explores nature versus nurture, but I think this series does a fantastic job of exploring that study in, for a lack of a better term, a thrilling way.
I found a more recent article surrounding this study. Dr Haeme Park and Associate Professor Justine Gatt, who hold joint positions at UNSW Psychology and NeuRA, looked at how both emotion and cognition are influenced by the environment and genetics, using functional MRI (fMRI) scans on twins. At the end of the article, Dr. Gatt says, “Understanding how much of our life experiences influences certain processes versus the influence of genetics is important when knowing what factors we can change and control, which is particularly significant for people with mood and anxiety disorders.” He goes on to say, If someone has a tendency to attend to negative stimuli more than positive, and we know that there’s an element of environment contributing to that, with intervention or training, it’s potentially something we can target and improve for the better.”
Going back to the series, that is exactly what Edmund was trying to get his adoptive dad to understand. The book he wrote and the studies he conducted were probably a result of dealing with Edmund as a child, and based on Edmund listening to the book, he figured his dad now had the knowledge to fix him where he didn’t in his adolescence. Furthermore, it is a nice juxtaposition between the twins and their behaviors, and because this is a show surrounding black people and some of their traumas, it is also a commentary on black men and women. Edmund, the little black boy, was always in a position where love was snatched from him. His mom gave he and his sister to Ms. Mott. Ms. Mott was terrible, but here comes Athena to take the kids from this terrible situation. BUT, based on her underlying trauma with this child being attached to her husband dying, gave Edmund back. Another family, a white one, takes him in, and they’re a little better. They pour into him by putting him extracurricular activities (I’m assuming sports because he is black and they seem like they adopted him so they could have a black child to show off) and trying to deal with his mood swings to no avail, so they cast him away. He wants to be an actor, but that is also not panning out. Cast directors are rejecting him. Then, he meets a woman who genuinely likes who he is as a person. The entity (and I will get to that part of the story soon) ruins that for him and his career at the same time. Edmund, in the end (much like many black men in America) is left by himself and with nothing. No resources, no one that wants him, and no love. Dawn, in the other hand, has her parents, who kept her, a husband (at the time he goes to see her), a son, a job, and a happy childhood into adulthood story. There is not trauma on her end because she, the girl, was easier to handle for Athena. Because Dawn has none of those memories of the past, Edmund is left with all that trauma, his and hers, to manage by himself, which drives this entity to him. I don’t know if this part of the storyline was intentional, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it was since both seasons deal with black, unresolved trauma. It exposes what can happen when you give love and care to someone and what happens when you leave that person alone with their own unresolved feelings and thoughts with no help.
Let’s get to this entity. My best friend and her boyfriend, who I argue with all the time about stuff like this when we finish a movie or series, do not agree with me, and I will get to their theories and thoughts at a certain point. Who knows! Maybe I won’t. LOL. I believe in ghosts and am also terrified by ghosts. Accept my fear and don’t use it against me. I know the counter arguments and I don’t care.
Any who, because of this fear and belief, I saw this series very differently than my counterparts. Here’s what I saw. The show did a VERY good job at establishing who Edmund was a “normal” person, for lack of a better term. He was a mild mannered, meek, weird, sweet, and smart man. Terrible actor as well. This is important for a later point. Does he have a dark side? Yes, but it is understood, based on my observations, that what I described is who Edmund is normally. Now, when his fears, sadness, anger, and such start to boil over, this entity appears. Now, I will say that either this entity is a manifestation of Edmund trauma OR it could be a demon that existed and just morphed itself to what made Edmund comfortable and strong which was the Raggedy Andy doll his birth mom left him with. I think Little Marvin and his writers were geared more towards the first of the two options I gave. With that being said, it was clear, TO ME, when we saw Edmund and when we saw the entity taking the reins. The entity, for Edmund, was what he wish he could be or it at least gave him the confidence and self love he lacked. When the entity had him or was around, he was a better actor, he didn’t stutter, he was very assertive and sure of himself. Think of the scene with the police in the interrogation room. When they started to speak with him, he was looking at his thighs, or the table. There was no direct eye contact and his body language reminded me of a small child who was in trouble. As soon as he looked in the mirror, and we know mirrorland is where this entity lives, how it moves, and how it interacts with its victims, the switch flips. The other officers outside of the interrogation room see him reciting those same lines…terribly on his tape. Go back to when he was on the date with Rhonda. The beginning of the date was fine until he went in his room or in the bathroom (WHERE WE HAVE SEEN AN ABUNDANCE OF MIRRORS) in his slasher costume. Think to how he spoke to Rhonda…and then all of a sudden, the switch flipped again. I’ll point out one more scene and then wrap it all up (for this thought. Not on the whole series.) When he was holding the knife as the pig character at work, if you recall, when his boss fired him, he kind of snapped out of this daze and was trying to say that he didn’t even know what was happening. And I think the biggest tell-tale sign of the entity playing and praying on Edmund is the very end of that scene (And PLEASE GIVE LUKE JAME HIS THINGS). EDMUND cries because he’s, again, lost something. THE ENTITY smiles because Edmund REALLY doesn’t have anything at this point. The manipulation is strong with that one at that point. That, for me, is pivotal in the storytelling because this is how I, personally, know when it is Edmund and when it is the entity.
Da Tap Dance Man….like I said, don’t go back to season one. If you happen to read this writers and/or Little Marvin, I am sorry. There was too much going on in that first story to really get to the point where we are in this story. This season did a phenomenal job of taking what was too much in the first season and simplifying it. If there is a season three, do more of what you did in this season and not in the first. Da Tap Dance Man, from what I read, was the ring leader entity in the first series. I believe he was attached to the father and was revealed to be a white man in blackface, which makes sense because that is why we have blackface. Anyway, the third season will obviously be a journey for her to find out where her and her brother come from. It’s too late to say they will find out who they are because they lived their lives and a journey to the past will not change who they are. It will just inform them of where they came from and they can adjust accordingly. Da Tap Dance Man represents racism which is the backdrop of this season and was a focal point for shaping the first season. I don’t like that they left us with Da Tap Dance Man because if the series is about facing unresolved trauma head on, how do we as black people do that in the world we live in now? My best friend, her boyfriend, and I think the next season should be set in the Trump presidential climate because all of what was being addressed and combated in seasons one and two will come full circle in that era of American history. There really is no way to get rid of Da Tap Dance Man unless black people, in this series, just start killing white people because their racist which doesn’t solve anything. And it’s not like we can have a group discussion with the Klan so….yeah…this is where you lost me, Little Marvin.
My peoples thought it would be better if Edmund turned into a serial killer and never committed suicide. I beg to differ because, based on the theme, you’d have to move a lot of things around. I love every bit of the misdirection I got from watching this series. I love when I watch a series and think I know when they’re trying to get to me to look in the other direction, but I’ve watched enough shows and movies where it can be both in your face and real obscure. This season kept me wondering which direction I was going in and in a good way.
What are your thoughts? Did anyone watch season one and can tell me their thoughts about both?
