Main cast: Reid Scott (House Representative Evan Miller), Sarah Jon (Mai), Mai Delapa (Mai’s Mother), Michael Rooker (Beau), Cristian Gonzalez (Police Chief Evan Foster), JR Rodriguez (Carl Fenston), Rey Hernandez (Jeremy), and Joshua Mikel (Cliven Ridgeway)
Directors: Greg Nicotero and John Harrison

Well, we’ve come to the final episode of the third season of Creepshow, and really now, has the party ever started? I try to recall the past episodes of this season, despite having watched them recently, and draw mostly a blank. Sure, it could be dementia approaching, or Alzheimer’s disease for all I know, but while this season seems more expensively made then the past two, the quality of the episodes is more or less the same for the most part.

Oh yes, this episode. The theme seems to be anarchy and a big middle finger to the establishment, with the first segment a pretty amusing capture of the disillusionment felt by many progressive folks that realized now that they didn’t really vote in the people they thought they were into power; they voted against Orange Man Bad, which is of course a valid thing to do, but they didn’t pay too much attention to the type of the folks they voted in along the way. Now, many of these progressives are dismayed by how, er, certain people they thought would move the DNC toward socialism are instead just towing along with the established party line.

Well, that theme and the fact that a key character in both segments is named Evan.

So, Drug Traffic. Presidential candidate Evan Miller joins an incoming bus full of people on their way back into the US after buying cheaper drugs at Canada, along with his entourage and a camera crew, because this is going to be a nice photo op and a chance to drum home his call for cheaper drugs and universal health care in the country. His presence irks Beau, a border security officer banished to his current outpost because his views are deemed too communist for his colleagues.

Well, things go spectacularly wrong when Mai and her mother are separated because Mai’s mother (played an actress called Mai because hey, why not) has drugs meant for Mai that are considered suspicious and illegal. Well, too bad, because Mai’s mother is hoping that the drugs she’d purchased may help with her condition… whatever it is. While those drugs may or may not work, Beau keeping her away from those drugs only see Mai eventually transforming into a glorious monster that starts to munch on everyone. This forces Evan and Beau to join forces to try to stay alive and contain the monster.

This is a segment of people being utterly dumb and annoying, and the special effect is unintentionally hilarious. Also, there is a huge plot hole: why is Mai not taking those drugs the moment her mother purchased them? What, does the label say to consume only inside American borders?

However, I can get behind the other key message here, though: people that waste everyone’s time by forcing their political viewpoints on them may end up doing more harm than good. Evan thinks he’s an ally to people of color, but only if those people of color conform to his viewpoint of what they are supposed to be (he is aghast when Mai’s mother reveals that she can’t read Chinese, for example, because to him, all Asians are supposed to be better at their native language than English). That’s a shockingly accurate portrayal of many white so-called allies these days. Plus, it’s apparent early on and the segment later confirms it: Evan is just saying progressive viewpoints because his handlers believe that it’s key to winning the presidency, and he just wants to be President because it beats being one of the peasants.

Beau may claim to be a communist, but his views are actually more in line with the progressive left of America today, and I’m not sure whether this is an intentional message from the people behind this segment. It’s hard to tell, because the competency of the Creepshow crew is always suspect. I mean, they are using a flesh-eating, kid-slaying monster as a vehicle to drive their key messages, and that says a lot about their brainpower.

Still, I can get behind the key messages here: everyone needs better access to affordable drugs, with the prices of prescription drugs being capped, and screw the two party system. Also, Michael Rooker is as always awesome to watch, as always, and I think he saves this episode with his presence alone.

Next segment is A Dead Girl Named Sue, a black and white sequel of sorts to Night of the Living Dead (yes, that movie) in the sense that the events here take place during the events of that movie. A police chief tries to protect a man accused of all kinds of heinous crimes against a mob, only to learn in the end that the law only protects the wealthy and those in power, so yes, mob rule all the way.

The tie-in to Night of the Living Dead is actually unnecessary and is just one of those production distractions this show loves to hide the fact that there is nothing interesting here worthy of note. In fact, the tie-in works against the premise, as I don’t think a zombie apocalypse is the best setting for these people to preach about going all vigilante on the rich and famous. If the premise had been a one-off affair, unrelated to some global disaster, then the key message will make more sense. This is why I always say that the brainpower and competency of the folks behind this show are on the wonky side.

The plot is threadbare and takes way too long to unfurl, and most of the segment is just a showcase of black and white production values. Still, Joshua Mikel chews the hell out of the scenery, pardon the pun, and he actually makes this segment far more watchable than it otherwise will be. Seriously, look at his facial expressions—he alone carries the entire episode just by making those faces, heh.

So that’s one more theme for this episode: heavy handed, rather inept social justice messages pretending as horror shows saved by one of the lead actors. Thanks to them, this episode turns out to be more entertaining than it should be!