Ann Takes Center Stage in Episode 3 of ‘Damien’

 WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

After the second episode of Damien regressed a bit, I’m happy to say this third episode got things back on track in the right direction. Despite being the protagonist, Damien took a back seat in this episode as the writers focused largely on Ann and now we’re getting into the meat and bones of the story. There is plenty to discuss from this week’s packed episode so let me first get you caught up on everything that happened.

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Ann continues her mission to try and get Damien on her side but he doesn’t seem to budge. She informs him that she’s a part of a group who’s dedicated to protecting him. Although, maybe her intentions are different than the others? As she’s telling him all of thiss, she brushes his face and says, “Just being with you is enough.” I think it’s clear she wants to be more of a motherly figure towards him and do more than just protect him.

Damien meets with John who worked for the First Lady when Damien was living in the White House (remember he was adopted by the President after the events of The Omen). Damien asks him about Ann who he first met him when he lived in the White House and John warns him to stay away from her. However, shortly after, it’s revealed that John works with Ann at Armitage Global which has a “private security force.”

John is concerned with Ann’s approach towards Damien and that the attacker from episode 2 came close to killing him. He wants to speed up the process of Damien fulfilling his destiny and bringing about the Apocalypse. After he feels threatened by Ann, John fires her and puts new front man Troy in charge of the mission.

Ann devises a plan to make it look like Troy is attacking her outside of the Armitage Global, where Damien has been waiting in front of. Damien comes to Ann’s rescue and chases after Troy. The chase leads to a subway platform where Damien saves a little boy from getting hit by a train. At the same moment, Troy trips on the escalator and gets his tie caught in the conveyer belt which ultimately leads to his face getting ripped off.

I know what you’re thinking… huh? I’m going to refer back to my review of the first episode where I talked about Kelly’s death and how strange it was. This death was, realistically, just as unbelievable but we can’t expect logic to come into play when dealing with the devil and evil forces. Whether you like it or not, some deaths just won’t make sense in this show.

Throughout the episode, the police officer from last week, James Shay, continues his investigation into Damien. While working late one night, he’s attacked by a dog whom he is able to shoot and kill. Damien is now back at his apartment and Ann comes to meet with him. At one point, she goes into the bathroom, lifts up her skirt and shows that she’s been cutting “666” into her inner thigh, mimicking Damien’s birthmark.

Damien, having no knowledge of this, shows her that he has said birthmark. Ann leaves his apartment and with the first private moment alone, she damn near cries and hyperventilates after seeing his birthmark. I’ll be honest, I don’t have a clue what this short scene means but I think we’ll get clarity with how she acts around Damien going forward.

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The theme of this episode was life and death and how Damien can save, or not save, those around him. He has separate conversations with Amani who tells him, “You can’t save everyone. You’ve not God,” and Ann who blames him for a series of deaths he witnessed while taking war photos. Not to mention even when he succeeds and does save someone like the little boy in the subway, someone else dies like Troy who was killed just moments later. Damien is tormented by the fact that death has followed him forever no matter where he goes.

I want to quickly recap Ann, John and Armitage Global, just so we’re all on the same page. So this secret mercenary group is fronted by Armitage Global and headed by John who employed Ann to be Damien’s confidant. Their mission is to push Damien to fulfill his destiny and Ann was trying to move this along by gaining his trust and comforting him. John seemed fed up with this route and gave the reigns to Troy who would have taken a more forceful approach.Ann looks determined to be assigned to Damien even if it means manipulating him to kill Troy.

In truth, this death was Damien’s inadvertent fault. Ann knew that if Damien chased after him, those evil forces would once again take over and doom him. So what does this say about John’s future? Will she go after the head-hancho to seize control?

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Final note I need to address about Ann is her connection with Mrs. Baylock. After last week I was convinced she was a descendant of Damien’s former nanny but this was dispelled in an early scene from this episode when Ann says she met Baylock when she was a young girl.

What did you make of Ann’s reaction to seeing Damien’s birthmark? Do you have any or thoughts or theories from episode 3? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below and check back next week for more reviews of Damien.