Slasher
5×05: “Everybody”s Darling”
Directed by Adam MacDonald
Written by Ian Carpenter & Aaron Martin

* For a recap & review of 5×04, click here.
* For a recap & review of 5×06, click here.
It’s Valentine’s Day, so mail is being delivered to plenty of happy ladies. At the Botticelli house, Viviana’s excited to get chocolates delivered until she realises they’ve been sent by Basil to Verdi. This just makes her want to sell off her little sister quicker. Across the city, Crenshaw and Rondeau are waking up together, discussing the magician’s next plans. For now they’re just enjoying being together. Salomé hears them in bed together while outside the door. Salomé weeps silently and lays Crenshaw’s meal next to the door.
Regina’s on the street handing out apples and realising that papering over problems “with a new pattern” isn’t the way to actually help those in need. At that same moment, she and Pastor May are shocked by a scream that alerts everyone on the streets of Supt. Kashtinsky’s brutal death, his corpse found under a sheet after being dragged across the city. A little later, Dt. Rijkers and Dr. Israel are on the scene having a look at the corpse. The doctor can tell Kashtinsky was dragged, likely by a wagon. The corpse has been left dressed as cupid, an arrow shooting through the heart. Another note accompanies the gruesome tableaux. Dt. Rijkers tells the policemen on the scene to keep an eye out for a cart and a horse that might’ve been involved.

At the Botticelli house, Verdi’s surprised by Basil dropping by to see her. She has no clue about any chocolates sent to her. Garvey assumes it was a delivery mistake. He wants to give Verdi “the stars and moon,” or just some chocolates. Verdi refuses to be his Valentine, yet Basil doesn’t stop pushing. She says that their relationship can’t happen. That doesn’t stop him. Basil tries to tell Verdi to think of her own “womanly needs,” but she again refuses to betray her sisters. She tells him to leave. All the while, Viviana’s nearby listening to her younger sister. Will that do anything to help Verdi? Or is Viviana totally devoid of a heart? I’d probably bet on the latter.
Dt. Rijkers brings the fabric he ripped from The Widow to Regina, asking for help to find out its source. She takes him to a shop where they look for answers. Apparently the fabric is very expensive fabric. But the shop’s owner has used it before to make a garment for Salomé. Flashback to 12 years ago. Salomé was just another ladyboy on the street alongside Margaret. Soon they were joined by Alistair, looking for a bit of rough fun. He was turned down by Margaret, and Salomé took Simcoe into an alley for a fuck. This is the same time that Salomé was given brutal scars after requesting payment for services rendered.
In present Ripper timeline, Salomé’s seeking bids on Verdi’s virginity. Crenshaw walks in on it and questions whether he’s being kept out of profits Salomé is making. But Salomé passes it off, calling it a little post-show visit from some admirers. Crenshaw lets Salomé know that the detective’s dropped by. Rijkers is there to collect one of Salomé’s kimonos, given the new lead. Rijkers has to rush outside when a copper is beating on a street kid. He stops the copper but the man remains defiant.

At the police station, Basil shows up to complain about things. He’s left weakened without Eddie.
Flashback to 12 years ago. Salomé was having the facial wounds treated by Dr. Israel, promising to make Alistair a “dead eunuch” if they could. This is also when Crenshaw offered to let Salomé stay without paying. He wanted to offer Salomé protection. Crenshaw didn’t want flesh in return. He only wanted to help Salomé and for Salomé to recover from what happened. He suggested Salomé be his new “female impersonator,” since his former one got “deported back to Cyprus.” In present Ripper timeline, Salomé reports to Venetia that they didn’t get very high bids. More potential cruel plans are hatched, like having Verdi stitched back up and pimped out again. Disgusting! Let’s hope that either The Widow kills the older Botticelli sisters, or they meet their end in another way. We see Venetia go talk to Basil, delivering the photographs of Verdi. She’s going behind Venetia’s back to get things done. Basil acts as if he’s not interested, but it’s certainly a lie, a way for him to keep kidding himself that he’s a gentleman of some kind. Later, he shows up at the Botticelli house, willing to go through with Venetia’s plan and delivering a bag filled surely with a payment. Verdi has no other choice but to go along with Garvey to her “new home” as his soon-to-be wife. She doesn’t like being bought as any other commodity, like “a cow, or a carpet, or a loaf of bread.” He sees it as an act of grace. He believes himself Verdi’s saviour.

Rondeau’s having his injured foot washed by Crenshaw; a Jesus and Mary Magdalene moment. He tells Crenshaw that he’s sure Verdi is being sold off into “sex slavery” by her sisters. It dawns on Crenshaw that it was Salomé, after the meeting earlier. He goes to Salomé and orders not to have anything to do with the sale of Verdi. He finds it hideous, forbidding it. He distinguishes between selling women “who want to be sold” versus selling a woman who doesn’t want to be sold. Salomé doesn’t care about a “useless little rich bitch.” This is when Crenshaw decides to kick Salomé back onto the streets. He goes so far as to call Salomé a “disgusting faggot,” and Salomé retaliates by stabbing him in the heart; a literal heartbreak for a figurative one, a poetic act of revenge. Salomé gets no time to feel any remorse or to reminisce any longer. She has to go onstage. When Salomé does, everyone’s terrified to see that Crenshaw’s head has been placed onstage to shock them all when Salomé goes for a big reveal. A while later when Dt. Rijkers and Dr. Israel see this latest murder scene they realise that the note left behind is devolving in language from the previous ones. Is this a clue? Or is The Widow’s patience thinning?
Salomé is full of guilt, smoking on the pipe when Rondeau’s leaving. The magician has a drink, toasting Crenshaw as “a kind–hearted rogue, a dashing gent” and “everything one could want in a man.” It’s a lot for Salomé to bear hearing. Rondeau asks if Salomé believes in “demons of vengeance.” He doesn’t understand how Crenshaw could’ve been killed. Salomé’s sick of hearing about it all and yells at the magician to get out, which he promptly does. Salomé’s wrapped up in a drugged whirlwind of guilt when there’s a glimpse of The Widow stalking the halls.
Flashback to 12 years ago. Salomé was telling others about high-class clients when Margaret refused to get a drink. Margaret brought up Salomé being a whore. She said was doing “honest work” and not having to “take it up the wall” like Salomé, receiving a slap in the face for it. A slight fast forward to Salomé and Basil in that room with Margaret, as Alistair arrived to do who knows what.

In present Ripper timeline, Salomé hides while The Widow looks through the room. The Widow soon leaves again, so Salomé creeps out, but TOO soon. The Widow uses a needle to drug Salomé. When Salomé comes to he’s tied up. Later that night, Dt. Rijkers goes to look through Salomé’s room. He sees the mess left behind in The Widow’s wake, including a bloodstain on the rug. In some dark room, Salomé’s given more injectable drugs, as The Widow produces a small bone saw before cutting into Salomé, who remarks how it “tickles.” The Widow goes on sawing until one of Salomé’s arms is cut off and sitting in a bucket. Then the killer starts on the other arm.