For being known as the "Bright One", you'd think Satan--and his followers--would clean up a bit better. Asteroth (and actor Fritz Weaver) has distracting warts on his face. A possessed Ryan is all yellow-eyed and creepy-acting. The Satanists who wandered into the village are mostly punks, and the blind beggar (who disappeared in pt 2) was just creepy. Get a better PR agent, Lord of Darkness. A little wart removal, and some contacts, and your followers would be a lot more appealing.
Ditto for all the messages of violence. "Die in Satan's hate!", indeed. As I noted in my review of "Coven of Darkness", Lysa presumably knows that Satan screwed Lewis on the deal. The new season 3 opening intro reminds us of this. And yet she's still a Satanist. You know, if your big boss screws your commander, I wouldn't keep following the big boss. The more you know.,,
A lot of what is going on is left unstated. Asteroth possesses Ryan, and I guess the prophecies require that a new disciple kill Adele. Couldn't Asteroth recruit someone willing to be a new recruit and have them kill Adele? Instead Aseroth gets Ryan, who is a forced pawn and Asteroth's pawn. And Satan's entire plan goes up in smoke because Asteroth dragged Ryan into the whole scheme, and then Ryan sacrifices himself to save Chris. Yes, this gives John D. LeMay lots of chances to weep and wonder why he doesn't understand. And "Evil plants the seeds of its own destruction" and all that. But it still seems short-sighted.
By the same token, couldn't Lucifer find a Satanic child that wanted healing? Yes, I suppose he has to corrupt God's followers. But Evil seems really, really stupid and its plan overly complicated here. And if Asteroth heals Chris so she'll accept Lucifer's power, why doesn't he think she would just accept Lucifer's gifts and deny him. That's what she would do if she were as corrupt as Asteroth. But I guess Asteroth knows that Chris is a 'true believer" and will never turn away from God. Okay, Lucifer withdraws his healing when Chris refuses to praise him, but she doesn't know Lucifer would do that.
Maybe Weaver-as-Asteroth is supposed to be just that seductive. And Weaver tries to sell the part, really he does. But he comes across as a child molester more than anything. I wouldn't trust Asteroth to hold a kid's bag of candy, much less hope that his promised healing sticks.
Also, when Chris refuses to praise Lucifer, Asteroth says that he'll kill her and then Lucifer will resurrect in her body. So... why didn't he just do that in the first place. There's no downside mentioned for Lucifer and Asteroth going with Plan B.
But Good is short-sighted, too. Instead of going to Micki to tell her about how he killed Adele. Ryan breaks into Jack's hospital room and tells his _comatose_ friend that he killed. Jack is asleep, and ain't going to do anything. Find Micki, or a church, or someone who is awake! Yes, Deroux and the police probably believe Ryan was possessed. But Micki knows better.
It becomes particularly ridiculous when Ryan asks the unconscious Jack why he couldn't stop Ryan from killing Adele. Because... Jack was unconscious, due to Asteroth shoving him down a flight of stairs before Ryan even arrived in Marie-Mere? Just spitballing, here. Yeah, Ryan has been through a lot. But clear thinking clearly isn't his forte.
You also wonder why Micki is so keen to call on Johnny for help. Other than that Monarque is becoming the new young male protagonist, and Le May is on the way out. Micki hated Johnny's guts back in "Wedding in Black". And for good reason: Johnny was a stalker-ish sleaze-ball. She mellowed toward him in "The Prisoner", and by this episode, she seems to have done a 180-face-turn on him. It's hard to overcome Johnny's first impression, and the production staff doesn't try. They just turn him into a nice guy that the other regulars like, when he didn't start that way as far as Micki is concerned or how he was presented to the audience.
Also, the production staff seems to think we the viewers don't remember part 1. So when Jack hears the prayers while he's in a coma, he has flashbacks to part 1. Do we really need these? And why do prayers of healing cause flashbacks to one's injury? Much of Lucifer's plan seem to be based on the trope, "Because Evil is Stupid."
Those are all minor nits, that are mostly noticeable only if you've seen previous episodes. As a standalone, "The Prophecies Pt. 2" doesn't rely on either part 1, or previous episodes, to tell its story. On its own it has a nice "feel" to it, apparently due to the filming on location in France. Or the use of stock footage of Adele's pilgrimage and/or stand-ins in Canada for the village of Marie-Mere.
Weaver is always good, and LeMay is good as Ryan in this, his last appearance.
As with most episodes, the artifact-hunting trio don't do much and therefore the actors playing them don't have much to do. God Himself gets involved and puts the burn on Asteroth, who makes an ash of himself. You wonder why God didn't get involved sooner. Ryan kills Adele, and she stays dead.
And for all of God's omnipotent power, apparently he can't heal Ryan without reverting him to his younger self and stripping him of his memories. Ineffable power and all that, I guess. So the ending is very touching, but doesn't make a lot of sense except to get Ryan/LeMay out of the show.
Overall, "The Prophecies" does what it's supposed to do. Crank up the threat a level (even if Satan seems more interested in walking the earth, than getting revenge on the trio thwarting his will), and get rid of Ryan. And it looks nice doing it, and has good performances by those who are allowed to perform.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Ditto for all the messages of violence. "Die in Satan's hate!", indeed. As I noted in my review of "Coven of Darkness", Lysa presumably knows that Satan screwed Lewis on the deal. The new season 3 opening intro reminds us of this. And yet she's still a Satanist. You know, if your big boss screws your commander, I wouldn't keep following the big boss. The more you know.,,
A lot of what is going on is left unstated. Asteroth possesses Ryan, and I guess the prophecies require that a new disciple kill Adele. Couldn't Asteroth recruit someone willing to be a new recruit and have them kill Adele? Instead Aseroth gets Ryan, who is a forced pawn and Asteroth's pawn. And Satan's entire plan goes up in smoke because Asteroth dragged Ryan into the whole scheme, and then Ryan sacrifices himself to save Chris. Yes, this gives John D. LeMay lots of chances to weep and wonder why he doesn't understand. And "Evil plants the seeds of its own destruction" and all that. But it still seems short-sighted.
By the same token, couldn't Lucifer find a Satanic child that wanted healing? Yes, I suppose he has to corrupt God's followers. But Evil seems really, really stupid and its plan overly complicated here. And if Asteroth heals Chris so she'll accept Lucifer's power, why doesn't he think she would just accept Lucifer's gifts and deny him. That's what she would do if she were as corrupt as Asteroth. But I guess Asteroth knows that Chris is a 'true believer" and will never turn away from God. Okay, Lucifer withdraws his healing when Chris refuses to praise him, but she doesn't know Lucifer would do that.
Maybe Weaver-as-Asteroth is supposed to be just that seductive. And Weaver tries to sell the part, really he does. But he comes across as a child molester more than anything. I wouldn't trust Asteroth to hold a kid's bag of candy, much less hope that his promised healing sticks.
Also, when Chris refuses to praise Lucifer, Asteroth says that he'll kill her and then Lucifer will resurrect in her body. So... why didn't he just do that in the first place. There's no downside mentioned for Lucifer and Asteroth going with Plan B.
But Good is short-sighted, too. Instead of going to Micki to tell her about how he killed Adele. Ryan breaks into Jack's hospital room and tells his _comatose_ friend that he killed. Jack is asleep, and ain't going to do anything. Find Micki, or a church, or someone who is awake! Yes, Deroux and the police probably believe Ryan was possessed. But Micki knows better.
It becomes particularly ridiculous when Ryan asks the unconscious Jack why he couldn't stop Ryan from killing Adele. Because... Jack was unconscious, due to Asteroth shoving him down a flight of stairs before Ryan even arrived in Marie-Mere? Just spitballing, here. Yeah, Ryan has been through a lot. But clear thinking clearly isn't his forte.
You also wonder why Micki is so keen to call on Johnny for help. Other than that Monarque is becoming the new young male protagonist, and Le May is on the way out. Micki hated Johnny's guts back in "Wedding in Black". And for good reason: Johnny was a stalker-ish sleaze-ball. She mellowed toward him in "The Prisoner", and by this episode, she seems to have done a 180-face-turn on him. It's hard to overcome Johnny's first impression, and the production staff doesn't try. They just turn him into a nice guy that the other regulars like, when he didn't start that way as far as Micki is concerned or how he was presented to the audience.
Also, the production staff seems to think we the viewers don't remember part 1. So when Jack hears the prayers while he's in a coma, he has flashbacks to part 1. Do we really need these? And why do prayers of healing cause flashbacks to one's injury? Much of Lucifer's plan seem to be based on the trope, "Because Evil is Stupid."
Those are all minor nits, that are mostly noticeable only if you've seen previous episodes. As a standalone, "The Prophecies Pt. 2" doesn't rely on either part 1, or previous episodes, to tell its story. On its own it has a nice "feel" to it, apparently due to the filming on location in France. Or the use of stock footage of Adele's pilgrimage and/or stand-ins in Canada for the village of Marie-Mere.
Weaver is always good, and LeMay is good as Ryan in this, his last appearance.
As with most episodes, the artifact-hunting trio don't do much and therefore the actors playing them don't have much to do. God Himself gets involved and puts the burn on Asteroth, who makes an ash of himself. You wonder why God didn't get involved sooner. Ryan kills Adele, and she stays dead.
And for all of God's omnipotent power, apparently he can't heal Ryan without reverting him to his younger self and stripping him of his memories. Ineffable power and all that, I guess. So the ending is very touching, but doesn't make a lot of sense except to get Ryan/LeMay out of the show.
Overall, "The Prophecies" does what it's supposed to do. Crank up the threat a level (even if Satan seems more interested in walking the earth, than getting revenge on the trio thwarting his will), and get rid of Ryan. And it looks nice doing it, and has good performances by those who are allowed to perform.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?