8/10
If I die before I wake...
22 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Micki and Jack must pay another visit to the Penitites after discovering the quilt she brought back was fake. The timing couldn't be more perfect as Effie Stokes gets a taste of her own medicine and has the quilt used on her. It's new owner is now Reverend Grange, Ryan's future father-in-law who is not exactly welcoming him with open arms...

The conclusion to the superb "Quilt of Hathor" is also terrific, just not as good as the first part. It kind of loses a little steam with the deliciously evil Effie being taken out of the picture early in the episode. Josiah with the quilt just doesn't seem to be as much fun. His dreams are rather straightforward and lack the imagination of Effie as they're mostly never shown. This was probably most likely due to time and budget constraints and elimination of possible redundancy because we already know what the quilt does. Josiah, though he had good reasons for using the quilt, didn't have quite the nastiness of Effie either.

The special effects are more sparsely used but still very effective. The greatest moment is when Elder Florence claws her own eyes out after Effie skewers them in a humorous, yet disturbing dream sequence. There's also a decent use of effects during Effie's final dream where the setting switches back and forth between her dream world and Josiah's.

The plot and resolution hold up really well if you can overlook one thing: If Josiah really hates Ryan that much, why doesn't he just use the quilt on him as soon as he gets it? Instead he waits till the very end, even trying to have him burned at the stake first. The other problems with the plot are fairly minor. Josiah is rather quick to believe in a cursed quilt, but this is a problem present in many other episodes. Elder Florence, like Sarah Good before her, confronts Effie about the quilt and foolishly walks away to let her use it.

Regardless, they did a pretty good job keeping things interesting and provided a worthwhile ending for their first two-part episode. Carolyn Dunn is also granted the rare honor of being possibly the only one of Ryan's girlfriends not to get knocked off by a cursed antique.

As a whole, "The Quilt of Hathor" really showed that this series could turn out some really great episodes. The show had really hit its stride and would remain pretty solid until about the end of season two.
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