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Summary – Pyre joins Taba in talking with Prophet Onias about how Ron’s belief that he is the “One Mighty and Strong” tempted him into immoral behavior. In a flashback, Ron interrogates Matilda about the warning she gave Brenda and gets information about who helped Diana disappear. He comes up with the removal revelation, which Onias immediately rejects, but Dan pushes back, saying his doubts are just what an unbeliever would say. Ron brings out a blade he’s “consecrated” for the purpose. In the present, Pyre finds out that Ron has Diana’s address in Florida because their son sent a letter with a return address. Pyre struggles in his office to write out a testimony, presumably to give in church to fulfill his wife’s requirement or he quips to Taba he’ll “be single by fall.” Pyre is talking to Allen again when an unidentified church leader is brought in by Taba (I’m still not sure if it’s the stake president or a seventy). The church leader again pressures Pyre to wrap the case up, saying the church doesn’t need more bad press after the 1978 revelation and the “communists at the NAACP.” He then regales with Taba about how his “Lamanite” ancestors helped the Saints in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Allen and Taba both dispute this interpretation, and the church leader leaves after brushing the dust off of his shoes against them. The detectives call the Florida police to do a welfare check on Brenda. They break into her home and find no one there, but security footage from a local store shows Diana and her kids at the grocery store four days ago. She looks behind her and is frightened by something, causing her to leave the groceries on the counter and quickly exit the store with her family. At the police station, Jacob Lafferty, the mentally handicapped brother, wanders in and briefly causes a tense situation before turning over Dan’s journal to the police. Turns out he was the one who bolted from the cabin in episode 3. He was under orders to protect “God’s word” but heard the press conference and wants to help solve Brenda’s murder because he had a crush on her. Pyre reads the journal, which reads like scripture, and finds out that Dan and Ron were holed up in Las Vegas earning money by gambling when they received the “revelation” that it was time to start the killing. Somehow (it’s not clear how) he knows that at that point Diana called Brenda to warn her and also called the prophet, which Pyre calls “bold as it gets for a woman.” He wants to fly out to Florida immediately to look for Diana. While he’s packing for the trip, Becca Pyre walks in. She’s disappointed he’ll be skipping out on Sunday’s testimony meeting. We find out that she’s the one who called the church leader on him. Pyre again orders her not to interfere with his investigation, pulling rank as the priesthood holder again. He claims that early church leaders saw “little girls and women as eternal servants” and that he’s afraid of what will happen to his daughters in the church. Ron’s car is located in Cheyenne and so the detectives are rerouted to there to investigate. They find the two strangers, Ricky and Chip, identified by Ma Lafferty in a previous episode. Ricky and Chip claim Dan and Ron are in Reno trying to make more money so they can finish their list, and that they stole the car to get away because they were disturbed by the murders. In flashback, we see Ron and Dan preparing for the murders at the Lafferty house, leaving Sam and Jacob behind. They stop by Robin’s home to ask for his rifle but he doesn’t have it. Ron leans in and kisses Robin on the mouth and then leaves. Now we come to the actual murder. Ron knocks on Brenda’s door, but no one answers, so they drive away. Brenda comes in from the backyard, calls Allen worried that there’s someone at the door, but no one is there. She goes out to check the mail and finds a letter from Diana which she writes a reply to. Back in the car, Dan stops in the middle of an intersection and attempts to wrest religious control back from Ron, saying that this was just a test of their faith and they should go back and try again. This time, Dan knocks on the door. Brenda answers and immediately tries to shut the door. She is overpowered by Dan who knocks her to the ground. She tries to convince Ron that this isn’t who he is and quotes scripture to them about being cast to outer darkness and testifies that she knows God will make her whole again. Ron cuts the cord from the vacuum cleaner that will be used to strangle Brenda before the camera cuts away to Dan and Ron leaving the house covered in blood. They drive to the Lows, find them not home, and miss the turn to the stake president’s home. Dan interprets this as a sign that they should stop killing and regroup, focusing on Diana so that he can keep Ron involved. Pyre and Taba are searching on the side of the highway where Ricky and Chip have told them the Laffertys discarded the weapon. Pyre worries that the men lied because they are atheists, but Taba asserts that it’s Mormons who have an allergy to facts. He shares the version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre that he was taught as a child, and eventually they find the murder weapon on the side of the road. The detectives return to Reno to search for the brothers, with Pyre trying to get details without a warrant by reminding the casino owner that “if there’s one thing our people have in common, it’s that we hate the feds crawling around our home.” They hear back from the Florida agents who
Sony’s series of Spider-man adjacent films have mostly focused on anti-heroes. Since Spider-man, the hero, is by corporate necessity absent from these films they need to turn less than heroic characters into the protagonist. This doesn’t make those films bad, but it does make them more complicated, and not often the best fit for the teenaged kids that could otherwise most benefit from the superhero narrative of good vs. evil. In that respect, Madame Web is a welcome reprieve. This is an unabashed superhero origin story. And in many respects, it demonstrates the durability of the genre. Madame Webb owes much of its success to the animated Spider-verse films. Those films introduced audiences widely to the idea of multiple spider people, and in a recurring motif from the first film the basic beats that define those various spider people, and the near infinite variations those beats can take. Madame Webb hits each of those beats while toying with the formula enough to keep it interesting. The moral at the center of the film focuses on our ability to influence our futures. After a traumatic incident, Cassie discovers that she has precognition. At first she feels helpless to stop the future predicted in the visions. But when three innocent girls are about to be murdered by the villainous Ezekiel Sims she can’t stand by and is thrust into the role of protector. As the film reaches its climax, both Cassie and the three teenagers she protects learn to step up. And the film seems best suited to teens about their age and a little younger thirteen to sixteen. Dakota Johnson has the acting chops to anchor the film. She ably handles the expositional relationship building, the determined character develop, and the thriller action scenes. Sydney Sweeney, Isabel Merced, and Celeste O’Connor, who play the three teenagers each portray a character who will one day become Spider-woman in the comics. They never try to do too much, and always deliver when the film requires it. Adam Scott is also a standout as “Ben Parker” who spends much of the film excited to become an uncle. The villain, Sims is far and away the film’s weak point. His motivation is confusing. And it appeared at several points as though his dialogue was dubbed. But his simplicity as a villain helped along the film’s theme. There was little question about what the right thing for our protagonists to do was, only whether or not they would do it. The film utilizes its range of PG-13 profanity, and the violence is just enough that I probably wouldn’t want my own kids to see the movie until they were teens. In terms of messages about family the film really shines. The film begins with a flashback to Cassie Webb’s mother nine months pregnant and upset about how her child is getting in the way of her work. But much of Cassie’s growth as a character comes from dealing with the damage of that attitude, and learning to embrace her own nourishing side. Each of the three girls are dealing with similar struggles. And Cassie learns the full strength of her powers as she also learns the full truth about her roots. I certainly don’t want to overpromise on the film. It’s effects are clunky, and the plot is predictable. But it’s a movie you can let young teeangers watch without having to worry about explaining too much afterward, and that they will dependably get a good takeaway from. And if the parents happen to catch it too, they will at least have a fun time. Two and a half out of five stars. “Madame Web” releases in theaters on February 16th.
Ancient accounts of the covenant are (mis)taken by modern eyes to be legalistic and punitive—rather than the grace-filled entreaty of a God to His beloved people.
Early Americans saw intelligence and love in tension. But Latter-day Saint doctrine understood God’s nature differently.
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