Paranormal season 1, episode 3 recap – “The Myth of the Guardian of the Cave”

This recap of Paranormal season 1, episode 3, “The Myth of the Guardian of the Cave”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.

You can check out our spoiler-free season review by clicking these words, and check out all of our Paranormal coverage by clicking these ones.

Huwaida is still comatose as we rejoin Paranormal episode 3. Refaat is becoming something of a local celebrity thanks to having foiled the pharaoh’s curse, but he’s still sitting at his fiance’s bedside, wearing her awful tie, and keeping her abreast of everything that’s going on. None of the doctors seem to know how to proceed, but Refaat is hoping an upcoming medical conference might provide answers.

Reda arrives to visit and ends up talking with Refaat about Shiraz’s old house — it turns out someone has bought it and wants to tear it down, which can’t be a coincidence given the recent uptick in ghostly goings-on. It’s nice to see Refaat and Reda interact here, the brothers falling asleep on each other’s shoulders as they wait. In his head, Refaat wonders why a ghost would be haunting him now. Jealousy over Huwaida? In that case, why not jealousy over Maggie, back in the day?

The medical conference is being held in Tripoli, Libya, so he and Maggie travel together. Ramzi thinks the antidote for the curse is in Libya — a certain flower, silphium, which Refaat is almost embarrassed to admit he’s even considering. The same plant comes up, though, during the conference, which is held by Refaat and Maggie’s old colleague, Louis. That’s who Refaat asks about the near-extinct flower; apparently, it can be found among a certain tribe, so they all head out into the desert with a safari guide, even though the guide can only take them to the border of tribal lands and drives away very quickly having done so.

When the three make camp, Louis pulls out Tarot cards, which never bodes well, but Refaat, naturally, is skeptical. Before the third card can be drawn, the tribe appears on a nearby ridge. They insist the silphium plant is extinct, and that if they don’t leave this land in the morning, they’ll be killed. Once they’re gone, Refaat draws his third card, which suggests he has a fear he must overcome. They’re interrupted by Ezz El-Din, a turncoat tribesman who reveals he has what they want, but for a price.

The tribesman leads the trio to a cave, entry of which is determined by a mythical custodian — there is apparently a longstanding pact. But rather than wait for the negotiations to take place, some dynamite does the job instead. Exploring the cave proves a little fruitless; when Refaat, Louis, and Maggie emerge, they find giant footprints in the sand and the savaged entrails of Ezz El-Din strewn everywhere.

It doesn’t take long for Paranormal season 1, episode 3, “The Myth of the Guardian of the Cave” to do away with any sense of ambiguity around this show’s supernatural elements, since the titular guardian is promptly revealed to be a giant gorilla, brought to life with not terribly convincing CGI. It pursues the trio for a brief moment before falling, dopily, into quicksand. Nevertheless, though, Louis’s tarot cards insist they’re still in danger and they’re all going to die — Refaat, presumably believing that a giant mythical ape is much more plausible than a silly card game, insists on going to the cave regardless.

On the way, they find more of the tribe, dead or dying, one of the survivors claiming that freeing the custodian has doomed them all. On the dunes, Refaat sees Shiraz and begins to follow her. How, exactly, is all this related? Or is it all just a product of a wavering psyche? Nevertheless, Shiraz leads Refaat back into the cave, through more of the custodian’s footprints, leading in rather than out this time.

Refaat finds the Silphium. He also sets a long fuse to more explosives, ready to collapse the cave, but hears Maggie’s voice inside. While he’s looking for her, a finds a baby gorilla in a pile of rocks — the custodian wasn’t protecting the flower, but its offspring. Refaat lays the child at the custodian’s feet, presumably to show he’s no danger to it, and the custodian leaves him be. He and Maggie race outside, Refaat believing he had put the fuse out, just in time for the dynamite to explode behind them. In one trip, these three have killed an entire tribe, a mythical guardian and its tribe, and collapsed a magical cave of legend. That’s a pretty questionable outing for a show’s so-called heroes.

Back at the hotel, Refaat requests another Tarot reading from Louis. The first card suggests he’s going to lose someone he loves. The second symbolizes dreams and the subconscious and could mean that his dreams hold the answers. He doesn’t turn over the last card since Maggie interrupts, but Louis turns and looks at it after he’s gone.

With the Silphium, Huwaida is brought out of her coma. She wakes, bleary-eyed, to see Refaat standing over her. While she and Raeefa pack to leave, she finds the apology note from Refaat and the ring he left with it, as we see him walk away down the hospital corridor.

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