‘Slasher: Flesh & Blood’ Recap – ‘Goldfinger’ & ‘Kindred’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the finale of ‘Slasher: Flesh & Blood’.
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Something that is truly fascinating about slasher stories, is that regardless of how dynamic their plots turn out to be, they always fall back on some fairly specific formulas when they reach the end of their gory tale. In that, the heroes either figure out a way to defeat the supernatural being that is chasing them and do so in an epic manner or the heroes in a more realistic slasher story… decide that they need to stand up and fight the predator that is chasing them and do so in a manner that reveals the killer’s true identity and intentions before they are defeated in an equally epic and gory manner. If anything, these formulas are so engrained within the fabric of the genre, that one had to wonder if by chance… the latter of those two formulas would show up in the finale of the Shudder series, Slasher: Flesh & Blood.
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Largely because, for some time now… the mystery of the Gentleman and his desire to kill the Galloway family with impunity, screams of formula. Since his actions have truly felt as though this particular individual has desired revenge against this family and the only way to stop him would be to understand why in order to properly fight back. But this series, has been eager to do something different within the genre, and it has dug into some incredibly fascinating concepts and themes and rather than let those examinations go to waste or be cast to the wayside for a more traditional and classic ending, the final two episodes in this dynamic show… opted to just outright shock us in the end and bring all the themes and examinations around full circle, after the story decided to toy with us of course.

Because early on in ‘Goldfinger’, it really seemed as though we were in fact, going to enjoy that more traditional ending. For shortly after Aphra was split in two by the Gentleman, making it clear that he had no allegiances… the remaining survivors debated skipping out on the game and just hunkering down until help could arrive. But Grace’s desire to rise to the top of the family’s hierarchy and be compensated for her injuries and the loss of her son, was too great of an opportunity to pass up and well… that led to the more traditional feel in question. Because her attempts to seize the fortune, brought her face to face with the Gentleman and that of course led to her end and once the others figured out how this dude was getting around… they decided it was time to fight back and that led to quite the surprise.

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In that, they were able to catch the Gentleman and learn that he was in fact, Dr. Persephone Trinh. Whom we all thought died in the wood chipper. But we quickly came to learn in ‘Kindred’, that she faked her death. Because Spencer hired her to handle the wholesale slaughter of his family. To of course, teach them a lesson and to weed out the weak because he was as evil as they come and for a moment, it seemed outwitting the good doctor and figuring out a way to survive without playing the game was going to be the endgame for this story. But that’s when this tale took quite the unexpected turn. For Spencer simply murdered Trinh when the opportunity arose and that allowed for a relaxed and gross hunt for the grand prize, which Trinh had apparently hidden inside Spencer’s mostly warm and rotting corpse and that’s precisely when another twist came into play.
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Because for weeks now, the series has been examining the darkest recesses of our souls and how greed corrupts us and brings out the worst in us and that means that this story actually ended in a tragic manner. Because the possibility of walking out of this nightmare with a boatload of cash combined with the darkness that everyone already indulged in… motivated everyone to completely give into their worst instincts. Which motivated Theo to kill Spencer and for he and Liv to indulge in incestuous desires before Liv murdered him in cold blood. Which means she was the winner in the end since she found the prize in Spencer’s rotten corpse and well… it was a pyrrhic victory at best. For Liv was forever transformed by this experience, to the point where her future child will undoubtedly suffer in the same manner as the rest of the Galloway clan once did.

Which means that there is no happy ending to be found in this tale. For evil won and infected the souls of everyone that took part in this awful and twisted weekend and that is quite the brave and bold end to this particular tale. For we expect slasher stories to end with catharsis. But this is no standard slasher story. For this series aspires to be more and that is why this finale deserves our awe. Because it accomplished just that and it really does leave you in a dark place when the credits roll, making this a top-notch slasher story when all is said and done and now that this harrowing nightmare has come to a close, all we can do is hope that Shudder approves this show for a fifth season. So, we can once again see the creative team behind this brilliant series, upend the tropes present within the slasher story to provide fans everywhere with poignant and unsettling tales that put the darkest corners of the human condition on display.

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