Summary
“The Eternal Enemy” is an action-packed installment fitted with some juicy plot twists and big reveals. The camaraderie between the teens is genuine and heartfelt, while the unveiling of these secrets causes some unexpected drama in the club. This is the perfect setup for an exciting finale.
In the penultimate instalment, the showrunners lay out some shocking twists and reveals as the series races towards its eagerly anticipated finale. “The Eternal Enemy” addresses the healed patient whom Dr. Stanton was informed about previously. The episode also explores Shasta’s overall plans with regard to Brightcliffe and finds time to develop Spencer’s character further, with the teen narrating his own midnight tale.
The previous episode hinted at the identity of the healed patient, with Dr. Stanton revealing the individual’s gender. In the opening moments of episode nine, we are shown who the lucky one is. Sandra is told that her body is healing and she can now go home. Stanton clarifies that Sandra doesn’t have terminal lymphoma anymore. Sandra is utterly stunned by this news and doesn’t quite know what to say.
Juxtaposing that positive opener, in the next scene, Kevin wakes from a terrifying dream. The last time we saw him, he was wandering around the basement level, and Ilonka has since brought him back to her room. Kevin confesses that he has been sleepwalking more frequently and continually finds himself waking in the basement, even finding himself in that creepy bed they found down there. He admits that he has awful visions just like Ilonka. They discuss the appearances of these ghosts that haunt them both. One was an old man in the mirror, the other a lady with cataracts.
Ilonka decides to host an emergency meeting to address these concerns. She rounds up the Midnight Club members and finds Amesh in Natsuki’s bed. This cute little moment is sure to bring a smile to your face as the bashful teens unknowingly announce their romance to the world. Ilonka brings the gang to the library and explains what she and Kevin have both witnessed over the previous weeks. Cheri calls this folie a deux (a shared delusion), whilst Spence blames this shared hysteria on fever dreams and the duo overdoing their meds.
All the other teens deny seeing any ghosts, and Spence reiterates that they need solid proof; the pact was all about providing undeniable proof from the afterlife. Ilonka butts in, explaining that they do have proof, the ritual worked. She believes that one of us is cured, admitting that she suspects that it is her. I love how Ilonka has rapidly evolved from a logical, star student into this delusional hippy. Here, she seems her most unhinged yet as she rants about being spared. The others can clearly see that Ilonka has lost her mind, but don’t quite know how to help her.
Sandra finally reveals that she is the one who is cured, but it wasn’t a miracle, just a misdiagnosis. The ritual didn’t work. Ilonka retorts about Spence hearing voices, and again, Sandra shuts this supernatural event down as well. She confesses to orchestrating this prank. She used the intercom to communicate with Spence, trying her best to give him some hope, so he wouldn’t lose faith. Sandra apologizes for everything and leaves. Ilonka is soon to follow.
Ilonka bumps into Katherine in the foyer and lashes out at Kevin’s girlfriend. Katherine wanted to thank Ilonka for the great job she did on Kevin’s makeup for the prom and asked for directions to the beach. Ilonka goes ballistic, bringing Katherine to tears. Ilonka has finally transformed into her old roommate and is now aggressive and disillusioned, just like Anya was. She rushes off to tell Shasta the bad news.
“The Eternal Enemy” is all about reveals, and Shasta has her own for Ilonka. I had a sneaking suspicion that Shasta was hiding her identity, but this twist completely passed me by. Shasta is Julia Jayne, the hospice patient who was miraculously healed all those years ago. She wants to return to Brightcliffe to perform the ritual once more and save Ilonka’s life. They plot to infiltrate the hospice that very night, after the Midnight Club’s rendezvous.
Meanwhile, Mark introduces Spence to his activist friends, and later that day, it is Spence’s turn to tell a story. The library seems unusually empty, but Sandra and Ilonka eventually show up. They both apologize for their earlier outbursts and the gang hugs Sandra, spouting how happy they are for her. It’s great to see the camaraderie between these teens, although Ilonka seems a bit of an outcast now. She says sorry to both Kevin and Sandra, then Spence launches into his story.
Spence’s tale is about time-traveling robots, reminiscent of many sci-fi flicks of the era. In his story, lonely student Rel falls for a genius tech protégé called Christopher. Rel records The Terminator on VCR and asks Christopher to watch the film. Unfortunately, he’s somehow recorded the news instead, and this recording predicts the future. They use the tapes for good and save a life, but eventually the entire plot unravels. Rel is, in fact, a cyborg from the future, whom Christopher would one day come to create. Rel had a defect, and so Christopher tried to rid future robots of their emotions. Rel concludes that human emotions are not defects. In the real world, the friend who caused Spence’s illness was called Christopher, and he reflects that they weren’t defective, they were perfect together. He concludes by wishing Sandra all the luck in the world, hoping that she has a bright future, for all of us.
After the story, Ilonka waits until 3 am and invites Shasta into the hospice. Shasta and her three female friends take the elevator to the basement, where they perform the ritual. Ilonka is highly suspicious of Shasta’s strategy. There are no sacrifices, and Shasta is the one sitting in the center, not Ilonka. The women drink an unknown tea, and Ilonka is offered a cup too. She hesitates, whilst the others drink. Shasta orders her to drink it, but Dr. Stanton arrives in the nick of time, begging her not to. The women then start to cough and splutter, collapsing on the floor. Shasta rushes over to force Ilonka to drink, and she bangs her head against the wall in the process, passing out from the head trauma.
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