Episode 3.5: Blakeout

Spoilers for "Blakeout" just after I work on my math homework. Let's see, DRUNK + BLAKE = ?


This episode opens with Blake in the same place the audience is: desperate to know what happened with Blake and Zach the night before. Blake stumbles through the Season 1/2 house, so we know this isn't present day, and it sure doesn't feel like reality. Zach gives the show a shoutout, and further taunts Blake. But is it really Zach?

After a series of quick shots (Blake's repressed memories? Or just events from the night before?), we cut to Blake waking up on the floor, talking to Max as Azazel, who chastises Blake for not remembering and failing to put all the pieces together. Geez, Azazel! First you want Blake to take up drinking, then you're mad that he doesn't remember...stick to an agenda! But in the midst of Max as Azazel's torment, Chad enters and exits, informing Blake and the rest of us that Melony was attacked the night before, with no mention of Zach. Next, cut to the first of many flashbacks:

• Flashback #1: Some time back in the Season 1/2 house, Adam showed Blake a stack of files and told him that they needed to talk.

Blake fails to see the connection between that flashback and the current situation, which leads us to,

• Flashback #2: Blake threatened Melony with a knife in the laundry room (possibly the night before).

Max as Azazel seems impressed by Blake's emergence out of amnesia, and we get

• Flashback #3: Vanessa criticizes drunken Blake's bad breath, and Blake seems to be brandishing his largest alcohol vessel to date when he wields the same knife in Vanessa's face and tells Vanessa of his intention to talk to Melony.

Cut from Blake, and we see that Brittany is in town and learn that Zach has been missing for a month. Then Brittany kidnaps Vanessa, and I wonder why Brittany is ever able to convince me that she is trustworthy. But I love her so much, I don't care.

Chad confronts Gina about Gina's fanatical desire to tie all tragic events together in a sinister package. Then we see Blake in the shower, where he recollects

• Flashback #4: Blake argued with Melanie in the laundry room.

Once out of the shower, Zach appears again. Knowing whether or not Zach is dead is crucial, since if he is dead, he is Azazel, and if he is alive, he is Gabriel, who only takes on forms of the living. This creature seems intent on convincing Blake that he (Blake) is the killer, and Blake seems pretty convinced that he (again, still Blake) isn't.

Brittany's plan in all of this seems to have been to get Vanessa to tell Chris some crucial piece of information that will, Brittany believes, get Chris to take her back, even though Chris probably still has feelings for her. Poor Chris is still being haunted by Martha as Gabriel, who seems like she may have a crush on Chris herself, with as much time as she spends with him. She, like the phantom Zach, wants to convince him of Blake's guilt. Speaking of, the episode cuts back to Blake and phantom Zach at Vanessa's door, and we learn of

• Flashback #5: Basically, Flashback #3, but now revealing that Tim was also in the room.

We then cut to a scene between Gina and Chad, where Chad seems either a) to really care about Melony, or b) to be really good at faking care for Melony. Blake continues his phantom Zach-guided quest and he talks to Tim, who wonders where Vanessa is, and didn't know that Melony was attacked. Meanwhile, Martha as Gabriel continues to push Chris in Blake's direction, and Chris doubts Blake's physical and moral ability to be the killer. Well, maybe just physical ability. Brittany interrupts, but then we flash back to Blake and Tim, and we further flashback to

• Flashback #6: Tim witnessed Blake saying that Melony had to pay for ruining his life.
• P.S. Tim has a pageboy cap.
• Flashback #7: Tim witnessed Blake saying "This is where it happened. Zach. He's gone. I made sure of that."

So Tim thinks Blake killed Zach, but Vanessa thinks Blake didn't do it, because Vanessa hopes that Zach is still alive. Back in Chicago, Vanessa has refused to go up to Chris's apartment, and is confronted by Martha as Gabriel (who tells Vanessa that she last spoke to her as Zach), who is frustrated by Vanessa's progress.


In the meantime, Max as Azazel tells Blake that "he [Blake] did it all." We then learn more about what happened the night Blake pointed a gun at Zach in

• Flashback #8: Zach takes the gun away from Blake, and confronts him about the piece of paper Blake dropped in Episode 3.3. We learn here that that paper contained a list of reasons why Blake thought that he (Blake himself) was the killer. We also learn that Zach has suspicions that Blake is right.

Blake doesn't agree with any of them, though. Back in Chicago, we learn that Brittany may be slightly homicidal and little more obsessed in a love-crush way, and she tells Chris that Vanessa can back up this motive for her stalker-like tendencies. But Vanessa is less interested in that, and more interested in Laura, who Vanessa recognizes as very Sarah-like in appearance. Vanessa's absence does not add to Brittany's credibility.

In the hospital, Gina and Chad encounter Gina's maybe-so-beau Ben near the vending machines. Ben is pretty sure he went to high school with Chad, and Chad seems really squirmy about that accusation.

Martha as Gabriel seems too lazy to get out of the car, so she just talks to Brittany, who is the next one in the car. She seems almost as desperate as Erin to do what this creature says, but her motivation is borderline creepy obsession with getting Chris back.

Blake consults a TA, who basically affirms that it's possible for Blake to kill people while drunk, so that makes just about everyone, save Vanessa, seem justified pointing toward Blake as the killer. The TA then makes an ambiguous phone call to someone who has been inquiring about Blake as well. Speaking of Vanessa, she learns that Laura (who looks like Sarah) has met Blake, and seen both Sarah as Azazel and Blake as Gabriel. Then Brittany comes through for Martha as Gabriel, and calls Vanessa to stop her from revealing too much information to Laura. Vanessa and Brittany reconvene in the car.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Ben reveals that Chad's name is "Chad Meyer," and he says he understands his desire to hide his name based on something he (Chad) did during junior year...something that Gina would have a lot of questions about. Ben's "soon-to-be-girlfriend" comment is a touch too creepy for my taste though. Oh Ben, you showed so much promise...

Back in Chris's apartment Martha as Gabriel alerts Chris to a voicemail from Gina, which Martha as Gabriel convinces Chris is probably Blake's fault. Back in the car on street level, though, we get an additional illuminating

• Flashback #9: Vanessa knocked Blake out with his oversized bottle before Melony was attacked.

Brittany doesn't care about Vanessa's opinion, since she wants Chris back, and Martha as Gabriel has convinced her that she will get just that if she further implicates Blake.

In the hospital, we learn that Melony wasn't stabbed, but rather hit or fell down. We further learn that Chad suspects that Blake might have been able-bodied enough the night of prom to have hurt someone (Jenny is unnamed). The guys figure out that they both have information on each other that Gina would probably want to know, but Blake threatens Chad anyway.

Back in Chicago, Martha as Gabriel continues to harass Vanessa (who seems completely disinterested as she reads Cosmo), and Sarah (the ghost, not Azazel using her form) talks to Laura, which probably won't make Gabriel happy, and Sarah apparently needs Laura's help.

Erin! Erin and Blake talk, and Erin reveals

• Flashback #10: This seems to be a continuation of Flashback #1. Adam tells Blake that Blake seems guilty, and Blake vaguely threatens him in retaliation.

Adam apparently suspected people other than Blake, but Erin won't say who. Erin does provide

• Flashback #11: Blake was passed out on the couch after Melony was knocked out, but Erin still thinks Blake is guilty (both for attacking Melony and in general).

Melony is now awake and she wants to talk to Blake, who just left to be bombarded by Zach as something and Max as Azazel. These two seem to be working together pretty well, which is odd and noteworthy. Brittany follows through on her promise to Martha as Gabriel to push Chris in Blake's direction, and even though Chris seems willing to go along with that thread, he remains unconvinced by Brittany herself.

Back in the hospital, Melony reveals

• Flashback #12: The Blake/Melony Laundry Room Fight was actually pretty tame, and Blake was really just acting pretty stupid. He dropped his knife in the laundry room and left. As Melony bent down to pick up the knife, someone hit the lights, and when Melony inspects the fuse box, she gets knocked out with a really wet, gross sound.

A last interaction between Max as Azazel and Martha as Gabriel reveals that Gabriel has been portraying Azazel in Zach's form to Blake, and the two of them are working together for the first time in a long time. This is all very interesting and puzzling. They both seem to have it out for Blake, even though Blake is not the killer. They do worry that he will figure out who the real killer is before he gets what is coming to him.

In the final montage, we learn that everyone is mostly where we left them, although Blake is continuing his pursuit of larger and larger quantities of alcohol, with the oversight of both Max as Azazel and Zach as Gabriel. The final reveal is that ZACH IS ALIVE! (which we already knew, since we were told that Gabriel had been impersonating Azazel using Zach's form. The only reason for Gabriel to have to impersonate Azazel would be to pretend someone was dead, when in fact, that person was alive.) Also, Zach can take Blake when it comes to fisticuffs.

Wild Speculation

• Good and evil have never seem less clear cut than they did in this episode. Gabriel and Azazel seem to share the agenda of implicating Blake, which is intriguing. It also may clear Blake as the killer.
• Chad is still lying. Whatever he did junior year of high school, it's something that Ben didn't run right to the police to disclose, so it can't be 1st degree murder, but it's something bad enough that Chad wouldn't want Gina to know it. But why would that be? Is it connected to the other murders?
• Vanessa seems like the most trustworthy person thus far.
• Brittany seems to be unraveling just as badly as Erin, although Erin works for Azazel and Brittany for Gabriel.

Non-Sequitors

• I cannot tell you how relieved I was that Zach was not dead. I love him! If Zach has to go, I want it to be him pulling some crazy stunt like at the end of season 1.
• Gina is taller than Ben.
• Erin, in keeping with her personal life downward spiral, eats peanut butter out of a cup with a spoon.
• One of my favorite moments of this episode was when Blake and Chad were commiserating about Gina's bitchdom. Hee!
• I still 'ship Vanessa/Zach. How about everyone else? Vanessa/Zach or Vanessa/Tim?
• And how about Brittany/Chris? I think Brittany just cannot be trusted...ever.
• I also don't think Melony and Blake make a great couple, but maybe other people think differently?
• Hats! This was a great episode for awesome headwear, and though I doubt it means anything, I've highlighted them in the blog photo.

How about everyone else?