Slasher
5×08: “Vengeance”
Directed by Adam MacDonald
Written by Ian Carpenter & Aaron Martin

* For a recap & review of 5×07, click here.
Verdi and Basil have at least spent the night together in bed, albeit without the sex yet. She’s still waiting for marriage. That seems fine with Basil, who’s ready to pop the question, too. Verdi accepts Mr. Garvey’s marriage proposal. He wants to be married tomorrow, however, she isn’t so sure about such a quick marriage. He assures her there’s no use in waiting, especially since Verdi’s sisters can’t attend. Across the city, Dt. Rijkers and Regina are waking up together after an interesting night. They have to make up a little story in case anybody sees them. Regina still insists that Viviana is The Widow, but Dt. Rijkers can’t see the logic in it. He’s not so sure anymore that The Widow is actually a woman. He experienced the “foreign skill” of The Widow, and the killer’s power. Regina says that a woman can still be powerful, and someone like Viviana’s travelled the world, so it’s plausible a Botticelli could be behind the serial killings after all.
Back at the Garvey residence, Verdi and Basil are horrified by a surprise in a box: the head of Georges Rondeau. Dt. Rijkers soon arrives to have a look at the head. Basil beats his maid Gladys for allowing a stranger on the premises. Verdi’s horrified, as is the cop. But even Gladys acts like it was her fault, believing she deserved to be beaten. Garvey’s only concerned about his fiancee and the head on his dinner table. Dt. Rijkers discovers another poetic message left inside Rondeau’s mouth, the final line being: “Your heart is next.”
Whose heart? Basil or Verdi?
In the jail, Regina visits Viviana. The prisoner’s on the edge of madness after having her hair chopped off and been made to eat terrible food. Quite the fall from bourgeois life. Regina calls Viviana a “vile, evil, self–centred cunt” after the latter begs for help. Then, she reveals that she is the daughter of Margaret Mehar, putting a knife to Viviana’s throat through the jail cell. She also explains she faked all the spiritual stuff using a trick of the eyes, rolling them back in her head as she tells Viviana the truth. Even if Viviana tells somebody about this it’s very likely that nobody will ever believe her.

Dt. Rijkers goes back to the photos taken at the fateful party. He looks through the various photos taken at different times. He tracks Andrew May Sr. through them. Then he finds a photograph that features a child crawling under a table near the group; no doubt a young Regina. Afterwards, he goes to see May Jr. and asks about the party. He asks Andrew about the little girl from the photo, but the pastor doesn’t know anything. He questions the pastor about whether Margaret had a daughter. But the pastor has no answers; at least not answers he’s willing to give. Dt. Rijkers continues pushing: “Why are you protecting her identity?” But this gets him nowhere, either. All the same, the pieces are slowly falling together.

Dt. Rijkers goes back to see Regina at her home. He shows her the photo with the little girl. He lays his figurative cards on the table, looking for Regina to tell the truth. And so we flashback to the past with young Regina running through the halls until coming up the room where her mother Margaret was being humiliated by Rondeau and the other guests. Margaret was scolded and smacked in the face because her “street urchin” child was running around the house instead of remaining in the kitchen. Poor little Regina. Her mother insisted they were going to get away from there. Later when Margaret was murdered, her daughter was hidden from Const. Rijkers and the police. Then they tossed young Regina out onto the streets with nobody to take care of her. Another worker, Mrs. Tamanaha, told Regina that the world is “unfair” and that she must become strong in order to change it, and she took the girl with her.
Dt. Rijkers doesn’t believe that murder is justice, at least not regular murder (he’s cool with capital punishment), yet he also doesn’t have much pity for the remaining living who did awful things to Margaret. There’s not much sympathy for dead Margaret, or the daughter thrown into the streets, from Viviana. But Rijkers offers Viviana a deal in order to try getting actual justice for Margaret and the things done to her. He wants Viviana to help convict Mr. Garvey. And she’s simply NOT going to do that. She warns that Basil will be “picking his teeth with your little pecker bone and painting his nails with your blood” if Rijkers goes after him. We also see Rijkers get arrested by his fellow white officers. They claim Rijkers is The Widow. It’s all on the order of Mr. Garvey, naturally. Oh, god.

Luckily Rijkers is able to slip out of his cell when nobody’s around. He’s walking in the street when a carriage rolls past: inside, Gladys the maid is being beaten brutally by Basil before she’s thrown into the street. Rijkers rushes to help the maid, who keeps on making excuses for her boss. He wants to help, but Gladys tells him not to bother or she “won‘t live a day.” She doesn’t accept any help yet she tells the cop he is “a true gentleman.” Good men are still few and far between today, though even MORE so in the 19th century.
Back at the Simcoe residence, Rijkers looks for Regina but it seems nobody’s home. There’s only a letter with K on the envelope left for Rijkers. Elsewhere at the church, Basil goes looking for his bride only to be shocked by a skeleton wearing a wedding dress instead. Skip back to 12 years prior, as Margaret begged Basil for mercy. “Spare me,” she pleaded. And nothing worked. Basil was threatened by Margaret and what she might reveal, so he put his hand over her mouth and suffocated her to death while Superintendent Kashtinsky watched on.

Back to the present.
Basil’s confronted by The Widow, but he gets the upper hand a moment, kicking her brutally into one of the church pews. Yet The Widow’s strong. She beats Garvey viciously, as he starts to think it’s Verdi behind the veil. Then Verdi appears; as do Andrew May Jr. and Gladys and Dt. Rijkers. They’ve all surrounded Basil, who tries appealing to the copper. Everyone’s gathered there to allow The Widow—Regina Mehar—some proper revenge. Regina starts to push her fingers into Basil’s eyes, as the others all join in, tearing at Basil until they tear open his head with their bare hands together.

“My vow and my hand will kill you.”