'Stan Against Evil' Recap: 'Life Orr Death'

Written by Scott Edwards

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

‘You’re gonna explode, uh-ha.’
- Stan

No longer fearing his impending doom, Stan is ready to move on in life, at least a little bit. Taking his hero's life motto to heart, Stan will no longer wear a helmet to protect himself from evil, just like Bobby Orr did on the ice. Seeing that her father is ready to pack up her mother’s sewing room, Denise is curious as to what will be done with the free space. Wanting to finally build his hockey shrine, there is nothing stopping Stan and with his prized Bobby Orr stick as the centerpiece, he can think of nothing better, but there is one small problem...Claire donated all of Stan’s hockey stuff to the church before she passed away.

Needing to rectify this as quickly as possible, Stan makes his way to the church to find a new priest in charge for the week. Father Donovan is keeping an eye on the town for Father Michael as he is visiting family, but that does not matter to Stan since he only wants his hockey stuff back. Trying to use his former authority against the priest, Stan comes up short and a call is placed to the Sheriff’s office. Rushing down to try and keep Stan from beating up Father Donovan, Evie is given the best news of her day, that she can get the stick from the basement and be on her way, but what she does not know is that Father Donovan is not who she believes him to be.

Searching the basement of the church for Stan’s little piece of history, Evie is shocked to see that Father Donovan is chanting something strange. Before she knows what to do, Evie is sent to the world between worlds, a place where the dead lie in wait to be conjoined to a demon for their evil deeds in the town. Being chased by the hooded ones, Evie runs into Abigail Goodwin, one of the women burned at the stake for being a witch who was also innocent. Finding out more about her surroundings, Evie starts to understand that her time is limited and she may soon be leaving her daughter an orphan. The only way to escape her new realm is to have someone kill the demon priest who has taken his place in the church, which is all well and good, but without a way to contact the outside world, her only hope is that Stan’s patience runs out and he comes looking for the stick.

A day has passed and Stan is still without his prized possession. Calling Deputy Leon to find out what is going on with Evie, he finds out that she has not shown up to work yet. Bringing Denise as a distraction for Father Donovan, Stan has a plan of his own to get his property back. Being able to sneak into the church's basement, the former Sheriff stumbles upon something unsetting as he sees the lifeless body of Father Mike on the floor. Being subdued for a moment, Stan is able to get a call into the station to have Leon come down locked and loaded to kill the Father Demon, but that is not the way to kill the beast as a shard of wood must pierce the heart of the demon to send it back to hell and with hockey stick in hand, there may be no other way to save himself and the town from its impending doom.

Just when I think I can’t be blown away by another story in this series, this episode goes ahead and leaves me in awe. I loved how Evie gets put into a different world and understands quickly that her life may be ending sooner than expected, and finds herself distracted from what she will need to do to get back to the land of the living. The appearance of a wrongfully accused witch is a first with Abigail, and it would be nice to see her show up in future episodes, since she might be able to help us learn more about what is happening to the 168 remaining souls in the other realm. Denise continues to have impeccable timing when it comes to getting her father’s back and is just as innocent as ever. Stan’s temper stays a little more in check this go round...as long as you are not talking about his hockey stick or Bobby Orr or killing a demon or, well, you get the point. Deputy Leon showed his 'cop wits' the way I expected him to, maybe he will be able to pull the trigger in an episode to come, although he is not the sheriff and nobody is trying to kill him.  Stay Scared.

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