Channel Zero: Candle Cove ‘I’ll Hold Your Hand’ (Recap/Review)

Whatever fragile connection Mike has with his mother is torn to shreds in this episode of Channel Zero: Candle Cove. “I’ll Hold Your Hand” manages to maintain the creep factor brilliantly as more secrets are revealed.

Shortly after Katie is found by Mike, she watches  Candle Cove on television and the kid’s program talks to her. It tells the girl she has to go back to the cave.  Katie stands smiling at the television as the puppet off the show tells her to look under her bed.

Screams ring out as Katie stabs her brother Dave with a hook. Katie’s mother calls Mike and asks him to return to Iron Hill and speak with her daughter. Dave survives the attack and is kept in the hospital for stitches. Katie is placed in the same hospital for observation.

Katie’s father, the sheriff, is not pleased to learn that Jessica asked Mike to come back.  The psychiatrist finds a picture in the children’s ward of a pirate ship and a cave.

Marla talks to a local TV broadcaster to ask about Candle Cove. He shows her some fan fiction and explains that no one could record the show. He also revealed that the kid’s program came on the “dead channels” like a pirate signal.

Mike questions Katie, as Gary watches on a monitor. The child is vague in her answers but she does reveal that Mike will have to go inside. She also mentions a boy she met in the cave. He was buried for a long time, she says, and Mike knows where to go. He leans forward and touches Katie.

When Mike touches his daughter, Gary comes into the room and stops the Q&A. The sheriff tells Painter that he does not want Mike talking with Katie unless her or Jessica is in the room.

Once the adults leave the room, The Tooth Child comes to visit the girl and it can be seen on the cameras.

Deputy Welsh talks to a woman who reports a break-in and steals her son’s baby teeth.

Mike gets a call from his daughter and in the middle of the call she tells him he has to go inside.  Marla returns home and sees the child’s drawing that Mike put on the television screen. She realizes it is the old cement plant that Mike and Eddie use to play.

They go to the plant because Mike believes Katie was there. He tells his mother about the boy Katie mentioned. When they arrive, Mike sees someone and makes his mother wait while he goes in.

Painter follows the figure into the depths of the plant. Finally he finds a sort of shrine; candles and TV sets surround a child’s body. The police arrive and they believe the corpse is Eddie, Mike’s missing brother.

Marla has her own memory after they find the body, this is before Mike tells her he killed Eddie, and the flashback is about Eddie’s broken finger. She sobs as she remembers. This is what prompts Mike’s memory of killing and burying his brother.

Later, Mike confesses to Marla that he killed and buried his twin brother. He attempts to say more but she cuts him with a knife and bolts from the room. Later, Gary comes to take Mike to the station for questioning.  As they drive to town, the sheriff misses the turn and drives on.

Mrs. Booth is seen feeding teeth, those stolen baby teeth presumably, to The Tooth Child.

The atmosphere is incredibly tense on Channel Zero: Candle Cove. The imagery, at times, is disturbingly creepy and downright scary. Mike’s flashbacks are loud, full of disturbing sights and  they are unsettling.

Each episode so far evokes a feeling of foreboding so strong it is almost off putting. “Candle Cove” the 1988 kid’s show begins to take on a separate life of its own. At the same time the program that used to air on dead channels begins to take feel like an urban myth.

The hook used to kill Eddie and attack Dave feels like a variation on The Hook. Mrs. Booth feeding The Tooth Child teeth (and that sucky, chattering noise she makes to call the thing is incredibly disturbing) insinuates that a number of people in Iron Hill are aware of Candle Cove.

Even the waitress in the cafe appears to be listening to Marla and Booth’s conversation about the show.

Watching Channel Zero: Candle Cove is an intense experience.  It is hard not to keep looking over a shoulder or to turn on all the lights. Viewing this is an exercise in creepy suspense that we know is going to end badly for everyone concerned.

SyFy and show creator Nick Antosca have come up with their own sick and twisted answer to Stranger Things. Something that should be watched with friends and with your back against the wall.

Channel Zero: Candle Cove airs Tuesdays on SyFy. Tune in and see where Sheriff Yolen is taking Mike.

Cast:

• Paul Schneider  –  Mike Painter
• Fiona Shaw  –  Marla Painter
• Shaun Benson  –  Gary Yolen
• Natalie Brown  – Jessica Yolen
• Luisa D’Oliveira  –  Amy Welch 
• Luca Villacis  –  young Mike/Eddie Painter
• Cassandra Consiglio  –  The Tooth Child
• Marina Stephenson Kerr  –  Mrs Booth