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'Astrid & Lilly Save the World' recap: In Ep. 3, our heroes must conquer their fears to close the portal
Okay, but who wasn't terrified of dodgeball growing up?
For two humans equipped with but pluck and some rather questionable superpowers, Astrid (Jane Morrison) and Lilly (Samantha Aucoin) are doing pretty darn good in their monster hunting mission. They've vanquished two otherworldly baddies, stood up to bullying of the normal human sort, and still managed to attend classes.
But in all this, have they truly contended with their inner demons? Because this week's adversary in Astrid & Lilly Save the World forces them to reckon with their greatest fears — and either overcome, or perish by them.
**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Astrid & Lilly Save the World Season 1, Episode 3, "Amygdala."**
Two down, eight to go. But as Brutus (Olivier Renaud) tells Astrid and Lilly, after scaring the living daylights out of them by showing up unannounced in Lilly's room, their superpowers should start expanding to include things like x-ray vision and even stronger leg muscles. But added talents will do nothing if they fail to conquer their fears, as the next monster they must defeat — the Timoring — exploits its victims greatest fears before ultimately killing them.
So it's time to put the pedal to their mettle, and find out the Timoring's greatest fear — the only way to defeat it.
But hold up just a sec, Brutus. The seeds of doubt were sown in Astrid and Lilly during their final confrontation, and they want some answers. Why is this horned stranger so concerned with closing the portal? The monster hunters know practically nothing about him, and if they're to be afraid of anything, oughtn't it be of a stranger telling them to kill with impunity?
Grudgingly Brutus opens up about his long ancestry of portal closing forebears, flashes his interdimensional customs badge, and emphasizes the danger they're all in, quieting Astrid and Lilly's concerns at least for the time being.
So Astrid and Lilly get to it, and that night while stalking through the school, they find a dead substitute teacher with her throat punctured on the floor of an empty classroom.
The next day, the gym teacher / Vice Principal (Michelle Knight) is approached by the Timoring, this time in the guise of a clown hurling ageist remarks at her in the bathroom. Astrid and Lilly, whose powers have considerably heightened, rush to find her and the Timoring, who flees when the school handyman arrives to grease the stall hinges. But unapprehended, the Timoring continues making the rounds.
Meanwhile, there's another monster in town called, that of religious extremism, and it's taken the form of Candace's (Julia Doyle) mother Christine (Geri Hall), an evangelist at the local church. In addition to her baseline dogmatism, she's been seduced by an unseen demon, a kind of fallen angel, who persuades her to round up all the new recruits she can to do its bidding. She's all too happy to oblige.
Next on Christine's list of targets is Astrid, whose concerned mother authorized Christine to basically abduct her in order to reform her truant ways. Christine and her merry gang of zealots take Astrid to the church, where Sparrow (Spencer Macpherson) has also been confined.
Lilly breaks out of her house to rescue Astrid, who also frees Sparrow from the church group's torture, and together they bike to school to pursue the Timoring. They end up in the gym, where they're pursued by Lilly's lifelong fear: dodgeball.
The Timoring, sporting a martian skin and form-fitting spandex, is pelting dodgeballs at Lilly. Just then, Astrid realizes that the Timoring's greatest fear is... mayonnaise. It's a school staple, and has made an unlikely appearance at every one of the Timoring's attempted slayings before scaring it away. So Astrid runs to the cafeteria — where there's always a surplus of mayo handy.
Lilly steels herself to square off with the Timoring, conquering her greatest fear. She holds him off long enough for Astrid to return, mayo bottles a'blazin'. The Timoring goes down, and our heroes get to work harvesting the monster's amygdala and stuffing it in the vessel.
