American Gothic (TV Series) Dead to the World (1995) User Reviews

Another Dark Episode

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 1 September 2014]

Gail visits her former friend Holly and her mother Janice Gallagher shows her perfect bedroom and tells that she died in a car accident but her body was never retrieved. Gail decides to investigate and she pulls the car out of the river with a tow truck and finds that there is no corpse inside. Further she notes that Holly was not driving the car. Her further investigation shows that Holly was dating the Sheriff Lucas Buck and Gail connects the dots. Meanwhile Buck tries to corrupt the friendship of Caleb with Boone in a bow and arch contest.

"Dead to the World" is another dark episode of "American Gothic". The poor nurse paid her price for being seduced by the evil and omnipresent sheriff. Caleb once again is tempted by the evil but he still resists in the end. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Dead to the World"

Can Buck get between Caleb and his friend?

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 25 September 2016]

Opening in 1985, just after Caleb was born, we see Nurse Holly Gallagher going on a date with Lucas Buck; he has asked her to get him a copy of Caleb's files and when she realises that the sheriff's curiosity is more than just professional she tells him that she won't keep the fact that Lucas is Caleb's father a secret; Lucas then drives the car off a bridge and it is assumed that she is dead. Gail tries to find out what happened to Holly, her childhood friend and ends up discovering a shocking truth before being taken for a ride by Sheriff Buck along the same road. While this is going on Caleb and his friend Boone are practicing for an archery competition; Boone is better but the sheriff is intent on helping Caleb; first he goads him into killing a crow then provides him with an expensive new compound bow. In a third plot strand Deputy Ben is having problems; he confronts his ex-wife's abusive new father but only ends up being assaulted. He says he can handle the situation but Buck makes his presence felt with grisly consequences.

This was another darkly enjoyable episode with a nice twist part way through. Lucas continues to be a malevolent presence as his actions in all three plot strands show. Gary Cole impresses as he makes this character believable unpleasant rather than being a mere pantomime villain. The stories are all interesting and for the most part end well; most notably Caleb's story where we see him choose friendship over the win at all costs attitude advocated by the Sheriff. There are some lighter moments; I couldn't help laughing when teacher Selena Coombs includes Confederate general Robert E. Lee in a list of great peacemakers such as Martin Luther King and Ghandi… something even the children picked up on. Overall this was another impressive episode.