MovieChat Forums > Brimstone (1998) Discussion > This Friday on “Brimstone” ep 8: “Ashes”

This Friday on “Brimstone” ep 8: “Ashes”


AIRED: 12/18/98

One of the Hell escapees is destroying religious buildings and the guilty one may be someone closer to Stone than he thinks. (And this episode has Mark Pellegrino, so it can't be bad!)


STARRING

Peter Horton ... Ezekiel Stone

John Glover ... The Devil

Teri Polo ... Det. Sgt. Delilah Ash

Mark Pellegrino ... Robert Busch

E.E. Bell ... Mailman

Michael Bowen ... Lee Varner

Nicholas Kadi ... Al Sumaysif

Carlos Lacamara ... Landlord

Scott Lawrence ... Detective Fraker

Wayne Pére ... Rabbi Samuel Weisburg

Breck White ... Cop

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Back at it.....Good episode with nice twist. It moved along well. We get some awesome information in this episode. So Ash is the brains behind the hell bust out....nice....The devil is very unhappy with her as once again we have the aged old story of spurned love. As a great man has told me for many many years, THEY ALL TURN ON YA. Here we have the ultimate they all turn on ya with Ash gaining power over the Devils heart and masterminding the jail break. Now she is on the loose with her gang? Are all the escapees in some way affiliated with her?
And now what's the deal with Stone? He doesn't shoot her, the Devil in my opinion took this very well considering she is the most dangerous of all the escapees. Could stone be considering an alliance with this person he sort of had intimate relations with. It has all become very interesting even though some suspension of belief is in order here. All in all I am going to have award my first 10 of the series, not based on the episode as a whole but because of all back information we received. Stunning.
As I said this gets 10 steamy ashes on the BS scale....nice twist.

http://codenamestone.blogspot.com/

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So the cat's finally out of the bag. (Speaking of cats, it's nice to know Stone's cat is probably in cat heaven.) Anyway, speaking of things out of the bag, I've been reading Brimstone credits naming Teri Polo as some Ashku Badaktu or something, so the surprise didn't surprise me at all, but it was still interesting to see how it unfolded. But damn! Reading credits and episode synopsis comes with all sorts of spoilers. Be glad you don't have to do that. But i wish those guys who organize TV websites had more sense. Anyway...

Ash turns out to be the big baddy and when Stone learns who she is, she transforms herself and becomes this horrible thing I'd be very comfortable killing, though I felt quite the opposite about Ash. So I think it would've been more interesting if she had remained sort of sweet and had shown in some way that what happened with Zeke mattered and she cared about him. The way she sounded she was just a twisted religious nutso with an impossible grudge against God. (So, Stone failing to pull the trigger in the name of love seemed out of place. I mean, at that point it was obvious that her emotions lay elsewhere and with all that rage she couldn't love anybody.)

And what a crazy plan that was. Destroying churches to attack God? It's not like He really cares. Or, well, He may care, but He doesn't seem to micromanage mankind so such tiny details don't seem to matter. I doubt she caused a dent in God's awesomeness. And what was that sacrifice ceremony all about? What was the purpose of it exactly? Did she gain more power after its completion? Would she have been weaker in case Stone had caught her before she had completed it? That was not clear.

And this time we got some very juicy information. Ash was the ringleader of the mass escape. Stone loves Ash, and so did the Devil, though he only admits having loved God, but "that was a very long time ago."

Other few interesting points:

- Mark Pellegrino was a long way from becoming the guest-starring TV sensation he is today. I could barely recognize him.

- I prefer Ash with dark hair. I never really liked that fake blonde.

- Why do people always shoot the monitor when trying to damage a computer? They punch, shoot, break the monitor. As if that would make any difference.

- Why does Stone sleep at all? It's not like he needs it. I'm surprised he's even able to.

- Now Stone even has a cat. Clearly he's deluding himself with a semblance of a normal life.

- When Zeke was dancing with Delilah and he pulled away, I thought, "Well, there's a happily buried man."

- "I answer to a Lower Power." I KNEW Stone was going to use that one sooner or later. I bet he had been saving it for the right moment.

As usual, the Devil is a constant source of wise quotes. The Devil's quote of the week:

"More tears have been shed for answered prayers than for those that go unheard."

Great episode. I give it 9 orange tabbies in cat heaven.

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one other interesting fact

the guy playing the Rabbi in the episode is Victor Larue himself from Walker Texas Ranger

actor Wayne Pere

one minute he playing a psycho on WTR taunting Alex and Walker

next he is a rabbi on Brimstone

was kinda nice seeing him play a good guy on Brimstone while he was doing a recurring stint on WTR as a bad guy

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Madp wasn’t the only one trying not to give away plot points each week. Having seen the episodes before, I was fully aware of the twist coming this week, but was careful not to even hint at it so that all of you could enjoy the same surprise I experienced when I first watched this episode. I had expected Stone and Ash to get together eventually, but the revelation that she was one of the damned caught me completely by surprise. (Some of you had already hinted that they thought there was such a connection – good catch.)

I appreciate some of her dialogue in prior episodes that subtly dropped the hint. She had that “as I live and breathe” exchange last week and her comment about loving the heat in this episode. But my favorite exchange came from “Slayer”:
Ash: What are you staring at detective? Been that long?
Stone: Longer.
Ash: Just may have you beat in that department.

Good, solid change of pace episode. Sorry to see Ezekiel not lowering his soul count. That’s what he gets for bragging to the Devil that he sends one of these souls back every week. So of course, not this week.

It was fun to watch Stone and Ash working together. They made a fun team with his hidden agenda wisecracks and her spirited replies. But my favorite exchange was one she originates: (“Wow. This place kind of needs something, doesn’t it? “What?” “Disinfectant and a fire hose, perhaps.”) I liked the way Stone protected her from the blowtorch, but even more that great kick-ass move Ash responded with. (Looks like the end for Stone’s beloved coat, though.) Her transformation into Ashura Badaktu at the end is creepy; she barely looks like the same person. Clearly, Stone still had feelings for her and couldn’t take her out; but the same held true for her as well. Ash is obviously even more powerful than we can imagine. 4,000 years in Hell: I’m thinking she’s hauling a big chunk of it around with her.

Great fun to see Mark Pelligrino, who will go on to play the Devil in SUPERNATURAL. Tough guy with a sharp knife, but got licked by both Stone and Ash.

The Devil does more than just have a few witty banters this week. He reveals (by trying not to reveal) that he once fell for Ash himself. I’m always struck by his final line, “The only thing I ever loved was God.” Just hard to picture him ever having loved God, even before the fall. I always want him to say, “The only thing I ever loved was myself.”

So between the creepy church-burning mystery, the budding, then crashing romance, Ash finding out Stone isn’t who he pretends to be; Stone finding out that Ash is way more enigmatic that he was, it’s all quite an episode – one of the show’s best.

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Yes, a terrific episode this week. I didn't see the surprise coming from the previous episodes, but spoiled it for myself at the last minute. When I checked the thread to verify this week's episode, I glanced at charmed's post and that glance revealed that Ash was the escape mastermind. I rarely read any of the comments before watching the episode, just for that reason, so on the odd occasion that I do, I get burned. You'd think I'd learn.

The show got into a rut early, but the writers have managed to climb out of it. That's a rare feat to pull off--kudos for doing it! They've now had two very good episodes out of the last three, but still, the overall series and tone is so dark, I'm not sure how long I would stay with it if it were an ongoing series. Just my taste.

Brimfin, thanks for posting some old dialog. My copy has mediocre video and somewhat worse audio, so I tend to miss things. I replayed the "been a long time" sequence several times and never could make out Ash's last line. (This is not helped by the fact that I watched this latest episode on a plane, and will watch next week's on the return flight next Sunday. On top of that, my hearing is going, so when I return from vacation, I'll be getting fitted for...er...bionic ears.)

The only nitpick I have with this one relates to my post of a couple of weeks back. It's not been enough time for an escapee to become an assistant DA, and the same goes for becoming a detective. But I'll let that one slide on an otherwise superior episode.

Stone seems to be worried about the Devil keeping his word. What surprises me is that he would ever expect the Devil to keep his word. Now given Stone's position, he doesn't have much choice but to hope for the best, but I hope he's expecting the worst.

Looks like we got our answer to the issue of people of other religions having this system imposed on them. They're not very happy about it, and I suppose I wouldn't be either, but I guess you have to play with the hand you're dealt. This is a difficult and complex issue, and I wonder if they'll explore it more in the coming weeks. They don't seem shy about taking on things like that.

I'm still not sure what that sacrificial thing was at the end, or how the other guy fit into things. Anyone have thoughts on that?

The Devil's bit of philosophy this week was pretty good. The version of that I've heard previously is, "Be careful what you pray for, because you might just get it", or "When God really wants to punish you, he gives you what you pray for."

In looking at characters names that an actor plays, I wouldn't be too concerned about spoilers. I know that Glover is credited as both "Devil" and "Angel", but I'm quite sure it's not the same person. Must be a dual role. Or so I think, but at least it doesn't spoil anything for me.

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by dtmuller » 11 hours ago (Sun Sep 29 2013 08:47:09)
IMDb member since July 2003

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In looking at characters names that an actor plays, I wouldn't be too concerned about spoilers. I know that Glover is credited as both "Devil" and "Angel", but I'm quite sure it's not the same person. Must be a dual role. Or so I think, but at least it doesn't spoil anything for me.

Well, it's a well-known fact that the Devil used to be an angel, an archangel, to be precise, so that's not a real spoiler. Just kidding. When I mentioned credits and spoilers, I was talking about credits for each specific episode. There was no reason to state in the credits of the previous episodes who Ash really was. But if you look at the overall credits of the entire series, then you're asking for it.

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When Ash was revealed as a soul... one of my all-time favorite OMG WTF??? moments in my TV-watching life. What a great scene. I still remember how it felt, nearly 20 years later.

It's just unbelievable to me that this show isn't on everyone's "best shows ever" list.

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This Friday on “Brimstone” ep 8: “Ashes”

Well this ones a keeper the best of all of them so far. Let’s hope theirs a few more like this one. Detective Blonde working for the Dark Side this may explain why she was trying to get close to our man Stone and all this time I thought it was just his good looks. Not only was she a demon apparently she was the head demon that orchestrated the breakout from hell. Also this is the first episode Stone didn’t fulfill his mission he just couldn’t take the shot. She will be back probably for the season’s final (series)episode. The cat scene was good that’s when I had my suspicions but I have always thoughts cats were friendly to demons. Instead of the cat a dog would have played the part better. Better judge of character. Do you know anybody that wants a dog? Ready for next week I hope the next ones just as good as this one.

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by wlcebtg » 3 hours ago (Sun Sep 29 2013 16:44:11)
IMDb member since April 2007

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The cat scene was good that’s when I had my suspicions but I have always thoughts cats were friendly to demons. Instead of the cat a dog would have played the part better. Better judge of character.

That's debatable. In fiction, (black) cats are shown as familiars to witches and warlords, but then there are hell hounds... In real life, dogs attack children in the streets, while cats never do that. If a dog accepts a man as his master, he'll do anything the man tells it to do, no matter how rotten the man is. But if you treat a cat badly, he'll leave you and look for another family. That's how we got our cat. Cats rule! But I like dogs too.

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