Season Three Premiere of From Dusk Till Dawn Offers New, More Diverse Enemies for the Geckos
It’s an all new season and all new challenges for the Gecko Brothers. When we left From Dusk Till Dawn last season, The Geckos let go of their differences to finally take on Carlos and his band of reptilian blood suckers. The result was Carlos becoming a man of the world… literally.
This season has improved on the past two in two notable ways. First and foremost, there are 100% less irritating Snickers commercials. No more wondering how they bite into all that sticky caramel and nougat with those flimsy looking fangs. Second, with all the remnants of the Titty Twister defeated, the Geckos are in truly new territory. From Dusk Till Dawn is beginning to resemble more popular TV fare such as Buffy or Supernatural. Just as in those series, our heroes are now facing a wide variety of metaphysical baddies, not just vampires. Rather than a drawn-out version of the film from two years ago, it now allows the series to grow on its own.
A few months have passed since the battle with Carlos. The Geckos are once again united and have (at least for the time being) gotten over their differences. This doesn’t mean that the two see eye to eye on things. Richie is still a vampire and struggles to find a place between being the dutiful leader and the loyal brother. He wants to work with the other vampire clans even if it means starting lower on the totem pole. As a result, he agrees to work with the other vampire lords and take the job as the official tax collector of the clans. This doesn’t sit well with Seth who is not comfortable being a “bagboy” for a bunch of blood suckers. Still, Seth reluctantly agrees to keep the peace.
Seth is not the only one making concessions for the sake of peace. Freddie seemingly buried the hatchet with the Geckos at the end of season two. As a result, he’s also working with the vampire lords. Personally this seems like a better place for him. It good to see all the beloved characters of the series working together for once.
The peace doesn’t last for long, as the Geckos face a new enemy, the demonic Skull Keeper, who looks exactly like Frank Langella from Masters of the Universe. This is not a joke I can take credit for. The Geckos make repeated references of his resemblance to Skeletor from the Canon classic.
Skull Keeper is similar to the vampires in that he can “turn” individuals. But rather than change them into blood sucking brothers-in-arms, they become hollow shells under his complete control. Furthermore, the vampires become immune to a stake through the heart. Instead, only a shot to the head can kill them. So in effect, Skull Keeper’s minions are a kind of zombie who and talk like the rest of us.
This leads to one humorous scene in the premiere as Seth quickly discovers that the only way to test if a vampire hasn’t been turned is to shoot them between the eyes. Of course, this won’t kill them, but as Richie notes, it hurts a lot.
Aside from the new addition of more diverse enemies being introduced to From Dusk Till Dawn, many new character challenges are introduced as well. As mentioned, Ritchie still has to pinpoint where his loyalties lie. Although he is back working with his brother, it’s clear he still wants to have a place among his new family of vampires. In addition, Seth has no interest in joining the ranks of the Culebras. On numerous occasions he points out that he’d rather die than turn to an immortal neck biter.
Then there is Freddie who seems content helping the Culebras in keeping the peace but still has a family back at home.
Other favorites are missing from the premiere, such as Santanico and Scott, but they’ll surely come out soon enough. Also, the fate of Kate is also revealed and it looks to major turning point in the series.
Overall, if the premiere of season three of From Dusk Till Dawn is any indication of the new direction of the series, it’s looking bright. Completely unhinged from the confines of the film, the series has free range to take the characters in new directions.
