Monster Problem
Episode 3 of Raising Dion Season 2 begins with Dion at school, distracted by Brayden and how he too has powers. They talk pretty openly about it outside, but Brayden is clearly a bad influence and even encourages Dion to skip class too. Well, sorta anyway. During class, the pair end up inside Brayden’s head. He can make Dion see things, including memories of Brayden’s childhood with his parents. His father also had powers, specifically in the form of allowing plants to grow. These dreams soon end with a nightmarish vision of Brayden’s mum telling him he’s an evil child. As Brayden screams, the pair blast back into class. Meanwhile, a very-infected Gary stumbles over to the sinkhole and seems to transform into something far more sinister. At the same time, Nicole and Tevin continue to grow closer together. The pair hang out together, with Kat playing cheerleader for the pair. There’s also word on Pat too, with all the tests coming back negative – he definitely doesn’t have his powers… but that’s a lie. David visits Pat in confidence with a soil sample from the sinkhole. It appears it’s still charged with fragments of Pat’s DNA. He wants Pat’s help with his research, and part of that comes from keeping up the lie and making sure Suzanne is none the wiser. David takes him to the sinkhole next, where Pat gets a feel for what’s happening. The Crooked Man is angry and very clearly not hiding anymore. The Crooked Energy realizes Pat is nearby and encourages Brayden to disrupt everything. Specifically, he tells Dion about Pat. A big stand-off ensues right by the sinkhole, with Nicole showing up and managing to stop Dion from blasting Pat with his powers. When he finds out about Nicole lying, he’s not happy and begins crying. At last until they head home anyway. Dion soon comes around, revealing what he saw earlier with the flowers and the strange occurrences deep in the sinkhole. While this is going on, Esperanza gets over her initial nerves and sings for the school audition. She nails it too, the second time around anyway. Suzanne rings Nicole and encourages her to show up that night. “I’m not afraid of monsters!” She declares proudly… just before she falls in the sinkhole. Just like Gary before her, the flowers sprout and with it, the strange luminous glow we saw before. Only this time, the infected security guard has turned into the swamp thing; a monstrous, plant-like creature that tries to attack her. Nicole manages to get out but so too does this creature, which eventually runs away.
The Episode Review
Some of the characters in this show are so dumb. The contrived way Nicole gets way too close to the sinkhole and falls in, along with the flip-flopping emotions between Dion and his mum during the Pat reveal are pretty disappointing. Not only that, the show also seems to be dragging its heels with the whole Brayden situation. Encouraging Dion to turn toward the dark side while simultaneously not actually realizing the kid is bad news feels a bit contrived and paints Dion in a really bad light, especially after the reveal with Pat last season. Surely he should be prone to manipulation by now? The other problem comes from the romance between Tevin and Nicole. This storyline is given way too much screen-time and almost turns this into a romcom of sorts. Hopefully that starts to peter out toward the second half of this series.
