I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER Episodes 3-4: Intense Beginning Gives Way To Unoriginal Filler

While the first four episodes of I Know What You Did Last Summer were released at the same time on Friday, they each found their strengths in pairs. The first two episodes brilliantly revitalized the tired slasher, giving new breadth to the story. It is familiar, yet daring, creating its on identity right out the gate, unafraid to be different.

While episodes 3 and 4 retain the feeling of familiarity within a new identity, the series looses some of its initial steam, slowing down to give viewers the chance to connect with the characters, all while limiting their perspectives. And while it does give some insight to their motivations and connections with Lennon, it feels more like filler than progress

Reeling with grief and fear

Episode 3, “A Gorilla Head Will Not Do”, picks up where the previous episode left off, Lennon/ Allison (Madison Iseman), Margot (Brianne Tju), Dylan (Ezekiel Goodman) and Riley (Ashley Moore) in shock and horror at the video depicting the murder of Johnny (Sebastian Ambruso). For Lennon, having found a beheaded goat and the head of Johnny on the road where her sister was hit, there is a deeper fear that begins to grip her. Panicking, Lennon/Allison calls her father. As viewers have come to understand, he helped her cover the murder of her sister, orchestrating Alison’s runaway alibi and lending help in her attempt to become Lennon.

What begins to unravel is her trust in her father, and subsequently those around her – even her own recollection of last summer. As her father’s secrets are uncovered, she runs to her friends, each just as shook up and terrified for their lives. What does stand out in “A Gorilla Head Will Not Do” is the time the episode gives to the characters to move through their grief, to feel it themselves and with each other. Though as the grief subsides, suspicion takes hold as the group tries to figure out who the killer is.

While Lennon/ Allison initially believes it’s Dale (Spencer Sutherland), Dillon challenges her, raising the question of what if it was Allison – what if she didn’t die that night? With this suggestion, the series remembers its roots, reminding the audience as well that Benjamin Willis did not die when he was hit. Rather, he survived and enacted his revenge on the teenagers that disposed of him. Like the characters, and subsequently the audience, mule over this possibility, Dillon’s own recollection of events making it even more of a possibility, filler begins to seep into the narrative weave.

As Dillon is challenging the group with his recollection of events from last summer, the situation is compounded by the events of the party that same night. Viewers finally see what happened between him and the real Lennon, as well as witness the first glimpse of his true feelings for Allison. While it drives home the guilt and remorse Dillon feels, it does little to draw any sympathy for his character. Rather, the episode begins to lean towards boring, audiences waiting for the next murder at any moment, yet continually forced to return to the party last summer.

“What’s with all the screams Neve Campbell”

Where episode 3 ends on a “kinda” high note, episode 4, “Hot Shrimp Salad”, tries its best to reign the series’ focus back in. And at times it does succeed. With Dale, the latest victim, everyone in the town begins to come down hard on Kelly Craft (Christie Fit), whose ties to the victims are ominously piling up against her. Yet, while the town and the police department set their sights on Craft, the group begins to suspect even more that Alison is behind the murders. Especially as they begin to receive more messages via text from Alison.

And while tonally the series attempts to further its relevance, it seems hollow, more of a necessary requirement in today’s YA series rather than having something deep to say. This coupled with a new perspective on the party last summer from the viewpoint of Margot, and “Hot Shrimp Salad” continues the filler that has begun to crack the attention. Honestly, the main thing keeping me intrigued is the question of when the group finds out that Lennon is really Alison.

Where the episode seems to find its footing again is at the discovery of the body of  Alison/Lennon in a Twilight: New Moon-esque way. With Alison ruled out as a potential killer, I Know What You Did Last Summer once again proves it is not here to mimic the past, but rather to tell a new story. Much like its characters, it has its own perspective to tell. And as her death is ruled a suicide, it seems criminally the gang is out of the clear. That is until more bodies show up in the final moments.

The horror continues

While I am still intrigued, mostly for what the reactions and aftermath of the true discovery of Lennon/ Alison will be, I feel the unique identity of I Know What You Did Last Summer quickly fading. While it is able to create its own perspective, launching off the source material and even changing drastically with the discovery of Alison’s body, it loses it just the same as it begins to feel like another successful YA series – Pretty Little Liars.

As the characters each receive text messages from “Alison” following the bloody reveal at the end of episode 4, the growing feeling of Pretty Little Liars was solidified. Both series have a small group of teenagers haunted by the actions of their past, an anonymous individual by the name of “A” terrorizing them through the immediate access of technology and instant ramifications it can provide. oh yeah… and they can’t go to the police without exposing themselves. I Know What You Did Last Summer might as well have had Alison sign her text “A” it is so eerily similar.

Episodes 3 and 4 are not bad episodes, but they are certainly not the best, losing much of the steam and identity the first two episodes worked so hard to generate. While there is still plenty left to premiere, it seems the series has begun to mimic not only slasher successes of the past but YA TV as well. We will just have to wait and see what happens next.

I Know What You Did Last Summer episodes 1-4 premiered on Amazon Prime on October 15, 2021, with a new episode premiering each week!

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