Slasher
5×07: “Divine Secrets”
Directed by Adam MacDonald
Written by Ian Carpenter & Aaron Martin

* For a recap & review of 5×06, click here.
* For a recap & review of the Season 5 finale, click here.
Georges remembers Terrence fondly and recalls them running through the streets together. He remembers their intimate moments together. It’s all interrupted when Terrence’s head twists around Exorcist style, becoming Margaret’s head. All that guilt comes back for Georges, who denies playing a part in Margaret’s murder. Soon, Georges wakes from his nightmare back into reality; a reality in which he’s still on The Widow’s list to be tortured and murdered. At the hospital, Rijkers sees the horrific scene left behind after Dr. Israel’s body was fried using metal and electricity. He’s angry that The Widow could’ve even gotten in there, apparently an issue due to a copper being ill the night prior. At the jail, Basil’s let out because he clearly didn’t kill the doc, and he finds out about her nasty death. He’s pissed off that Rijkers hasn’t solved the case. It seems some of the other cops are, too.

At home, Basil’s received warmly by Verdi. She’s obviously trying to make the best of a bad situation. She still refuses his physical advances and smartly plays upon his better nature. Things are going well on that front for now; hopefully it continues. At the hospital, Rijkers goes to see Regina, who’s sitting with Pastor Andrew. The pastor will heal up eventually, but Regina feels terrible, especially after her husband’s already been murdered, too. Rijkers shows Regina the new poem left behind by The Widow, ending in the lines: “You played your part / Now I‘m coming for you.” She also mentions the first part of the poem may actually be directed at Rijkers, yet the cop thinks The Widow already had a chance and didn’t take it, so that could mean he’s safe. There are only a few people left from the party that fated night. Rijkers is curious if there might’ve been any staff at the party who could potentially be the killer. In the meantime, Georges has another show coming up and Rijkers wants to be there in case of any strange events. Speaking of the magician, he’s out digging up Margaret’s grave, looking to take some of her bones for a spell. He wants to be rid of her forever. But he’s very upset after digging up the grave… is her body gone?
Verdi receives more nastiness from Viviana about having her hymen resewn and getting whored out for more money later when Basil inevitably gets sick of her. She tries shrugging it off and takes a tour of Georges magical backstage area with Mr. Garvey. They’re soon joined by the magician himself, who hauls Basil aside to let him know that Margaret’s body is gone. Georges thinks maybe Margaret “dug herself up” and is out there walking around, but Basil knows this is nonsense, believing it was probably The Widow who dug the body up just in the name of causing havoc. Basil tells the magician to pull himself together to perform his show, however, Georges is lacking an assistant; Shanika is taking off. This is when Verdi suggests her own sister Venetia take Shanika’s place.

Onstage that night, Georges suggests a “deadly ritual” for such dark times. He wants to help cleanse the city of The Widow’s terrors. He hopes to banish the killer by proxy through his performance. It’s a perfect time for Rijkers to notice The Widow watching from the back of the theatre. The cop chases the killer, but the latter quickly, easily slips away into the streets. But Rijkers keeps chasing anyway. Eventually he and the killer face off in a graveyard. The Widow, again, chooses not to kill Rijkers, leaving him vulnerable but alive. At the very same time, Venetia’s getting sawn in half for real by Georges and nobody’s the wiser, even the magician. Blood pours out of Venetia onto the stage, as Verdi watches on happily. The magician says The Widow has been banished to Hell, only then realising that Venetia’s been killed for real.
Afterwards, Georges says Venetia didn’t slip into the false cabinet. He sees that the cabinet is still locked. Rijkers arrives to survey the scene. He finds the key for the cabinet on Viviana and arrests her for Venetia’s murder, albeit to the serious protest of Viviana herself. Was this all orchestrated by Verdi? Right now, Rijkers is sure that Viviana is the Widow. The magician heads back to his tent angry and winds up in the clutches of the actual Widow. Flashback to Georges strangling Margaret in some kind of sick magic ritual. He strangled her until she nearly died, passing out, and then she woke again, only for him to strangle her once more. When Georges comes to he’s got a rope around his neck being tightened more and more by The Widow. He accepts his fate, saying: “I deserve this.” Then The Widow pulls the rope a bit tighter, crunching Georges throat and killing him.Rijkers walks Regina home, as they talk about The Devil’s Elbow. The conversation turns to whether Regina might marry again, someday in the future. Regina says she knows Alistair would want her to remarry eventually. She says she certainly isn’t interested romantically in the pastor. She and Rijkers arrive at the Simcoe house and they say goodbye for now since the investigation appears over. There’s so obviously a romantic connection between these two. That’s why they’re heading into Regina’s home together to see what happens in the candlelight. In a carriage home, Basil tells Verdi he knows what she did to her sisters. It isn’t that hard to figure out. Basil knows Verdi rigged the false cabinet’s lock and then planted the key on Viviana. Verdi admits to doing it. She fantasised about getting rid of her sisters, but she feels bad now about the gruesomeness of what happened to Venetia. She wants to give herself up to the police, yet Basil says her sisters were horrific; this was perhaps the only way to be free of them. He says he admires her: “Only fighters survive in this world.”
In jail, Viviana’s treated exactly like she treated her own sister: a prisoner.

After Rijkers and Regina make love, he lies there falling asleep.
We see memories of the fight in the graveyard. We also see a telling bruise on Regina’s wrist.
Is Regina actually The Widow?