When Red Lanyard suggested this show to me. He did so by telling me that it was more about a family and them breaking apart following their traumatic childhoods…especially Luke.
Luke’s story is one of true tragedy. He’s the most broken of the kid’s we’ve seen yet and we come to learn that his coping mechanism is Drugs. He’s been in and out of rehab throughout most of his adult life and when we meet him in the show, he’s 90 days clean.
Red could tell you better than I can, seeing as he’s a Mental Health Professional but I can personally say that as a former bartender, I’ve seen some people like this. Most of them haven’t gotten better to the best of my knowledge and keep going back to their old ways. I’ve seen some get clean and it’s been one of the prouder moments of my life was to see my friend return to a true state of happiness without using. This episode unfortunately shows the inbetween of that and according to Red, it shows it in a brutally honest fashion. It’s not pretty, it’s not quick, but it is possible.
The episode itself does a really good job of mixing the horror in with what’s real. Luke alludes to the fact that he uses to keep the ghosts away and throughout the episode he continues to see one from his childhood that keeps following him. The idea of a Ghost being the manifestation of an addiction was a beautifully well done part of this episode.
This leads to the reveal about him and Nellie being Twins which they’ve referenced but haven’t officially said until this episode. Which explains the solid connection that he and Nellie have and in the last few minutes of the episode you realize three things :
1. His coping mechanism of counting to 7 is something that he showed to his sister when he was a kid. He originally used it to try and keep the ghosts away.
2. By using that coping mechanism we can assume that his driving force for getting clean was Nellie. Even if it was subconscious.
3. The shows delivers a massive gut punch when you realize this one : Luke keeps saying that he feels so cold even though he didn’t use. His arms and legs are numb. It’s because Nellie is his twin and he’s feeling what she felt when she died.
This episode is genuinely heartbreaking in so many ways. You effectively have a boy who’s dealing with the loss of his mother and the horrors he saw then he grows up with this addiction and now has to come to terms with the death of his twin sister. There’s a reason I had to wait before watching the next episode. It’s very well written and beautifully done but it is truly tragic.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen does an excellent job with this episode which is largely carried by him and I’m excited to see what else he does not only in this show but throughout the rest of his career.
Also, it’s at this point that I’d like to take a moment and remind you that there is absolutely nothing wrong in admitting you have a problem and need help. All of us at the Fandom Correspondents strongly encourage anyone who is hurting or struggling to seek the help they need. The following links have numbers that you can call for different afflictions whether it’s substance abuse, suicidal tendencies or even if you just need to talk to someone about what you’re going through. None of us can make it alone. All of us believe in you.
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help-now/#
https://psychcentral.com/lib/common-hotline-phone-numbers/
