Channel Zero: Candle Cove - S1E3 - “Want to See Something Cool?”

Tweet

Previously on Channel Zero: Candle Cove, “I’ll Hold Your Hand”

Channel Zero: Candle Cove - S1E3 - “Want to See Something Cool?” | Paul Schneider, Fiona Shaw, Shaun Benson, Natalie Brown, Cassandra Consiglio

Since this season is only six episodes, it was very possible that Mike’s arrest last week would finally answer who’s responsible for Candle Cove, the murders, etc., but I didn’t think it would be that simple. “Want to See Something Cool” answers some questions (like Mike’s involvement in Eddie’s death), but left us with several more.

Gary doesn’t take Mike to the station, since he’s not yet under arrest. Instead, he heads out to a secluded property he’d been hoping to buy, then Tim and Daphne arrive. Tied to a chair, Mike has to convince them that he wasn’t responsible for all of the murders and that he had a very good reason for killing Eddie. But first, he needs to get them to admit that Candle Cove did something to all of them, that it isn’t just a myth or the product of their imaginations. That’s not so easily done since both Tim and Daphne lost someone, and Gary almost lost his son and thinks Mike is responsible.

Mike’s confession provides all the answers we get about the murders in the past. Candle Cove influenced Eddie and gave him abilities, which he used to murder the other kids who had been mean to him. Mike killed Eddie to stop him, and he believes it’s the treatment Eddie received from all of them that made Eddie vulnerable to the show and whatever controls it. In a way, Mike is responsible for Gene’s (Tim’s brother) death as he lured the bully to Eddie, but only to play a prank on him. Instead, Eddie made Gene giggle, pretend to be a dog, and then pull out his own teeth before walking off a cliff to his death.

The interrogation scenes dragged for a bit, but the flashbacks within them really worked. Luca Villacis as young Mike and Eddie is so good. In one scene he’s Eddie as he gleefully tortures and then murders another child and he’s Mike, watching it all play out with first amusement and then horror. 

Thankfully, Marla and Jessica break up the interrogation before Mike is killed, which is totally where it was heading, but Tim’s bullet only grazed him.

And then things get really fucked up.

You know the only thing creepier than a gang of homicidal kids? A gang of homicidal kids being led by their creepy-ass elementary school teacher. While a few of Mrs. Booth’s (Marina Stephenson Kerr) students kill and bury Tim as he hides out in the woods, delaying answering for shooting Mike, Mrs. Booth slits Daphne’s throat for “fucking with Mike Painter.” 

But wait; there’s more. The Tooth-Child sneaks into Mike’s house while he and Marla sleep, and then watches from a window as Mike finds his daughter, Lily, standing outside the house in the middle of the night.

Marla may have forgiven Mike and believe his story about Eddie, but it’s super clear this is all tied to Mike. Have we considered that Mike is actually Eddie?