American Gothic (TV Series) A Tree Grows in Trinity (1995) User Reviews

The Evilness of Lucas Buck

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 25 August 2014]

Caleb flees and misleads Sheriff Lucas Buck that is chasing him with his men, dogs and Gail. He sees a burial and discovers that his father is dead and buried side by side with Merlyn. He finds a moribund man trapped in an abandoned house and seeks out Dr. Matt Crower to help him. Gail identifies the man as a missing journalist. Meanwhile the coroner forges the autopsies of Gage and Merlyn reporting as informed by Lucas and he is haunted by Merlyn.

"A Tree Grows in Trinity" is the sequel of the excellent pilot with a story that only shows how evil Sheriff Lucas Buck is and how compromised Selena Coombs is with Lucas. The manifestation in the morgue is the scariest part of this show. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Tree Grows in Trinity"

Caleb goes on the run

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 15 August 2016]

After his confrontation with Sheriff Buck, Caleb Temple goes on the run; he manages to evade Buck's deputies and their tracker dogs. While this is going on the coroner is doing the autopsies of Merlyn and her father… at least he is meant to be; in fact he just accepts the Sheriff's account of what happened and clears them for burial. Dr Crower later confronts him and it becomes clear that he is frightened of Lucas Buck… with just cause. Later on Caleb finds a man tied up in a remote house; he is frightened and flees. Soon he sees his late sister and she tells him that the man needs his help. It turns out that he is a reporter from Miami who had been investigating the unusually high number of missing persons cases in Trinity.

This episode impressively builds on the great opening episode; revealing more of the story and providing character development. It also confirms that the apparition of Merlyn was not merely part of Caleb's imagination. Not only does she talk to Caleb again she also manages to terrify the coroner. This scene, and a couple of others, feature special effects that look a bit ropy by today's standards but are still nicely creepy. Lucas Black continues to impress as young Caleb and Gary Cole's Sheriff Buck is becoming even more sinister. Overall another fine episode that serves to pull the viewer deeper into the series.