Children of the Night

Children of the Night is the twelfth episode of the first season of Hemlock Grove and the twelfth episode in the series as a whole.

Summary
As Olivia and Chasseur face off at the Mill, Shelley learns the awful truth about her family, and Peter and Roman uncover the killer's identity.

Plot
Chasseur is still alive and we see her struggling to get out of the burlap sack and cage she’s stuck in. She’s in the ruins of the Godfrey steel mill. With some effort, she manages to break through her bindings and begins to pick the cage’s lock. Norman Godfrey approaches Sheriff Sworn and asks worriedly if the body they found was Christina’s. Sworn tells him that they found an ID for a Jennifer Fredericks near the remains. Norman muses that Christina could still be alive somewhere – but Sworn doesn’t seem to be taking much comfort in that thought. A hostile Sworn then snaps at a gawking passerby, prompting Norman to tell him to go home and get some rest. Sworn states that he’ll rest once Christina is safe and Peter Rumancek is dead.

Back at the steel mill, Chasseur’s attempts at freeing herself are interrupted when Olivia casually walks in and starts recounting a story about her and her cousins. When she was a kid, they would play a game called “wolves in the wood” – Olivia would lay still on a bed of moss as her cousins prowled around the edge of the forest, growling. When she finally moved, they would pounce on her and commence their tickle torture. When Chasseur gets the cage open, the camera cuts away just as we hear her screaming. Meanwhile, Letha Godfrey is at home making a cup of tea when white-haired Christina pops up out of nowhere. Sweet, kind-hearted, darling Letha immediately brings her in out of the cold, even though Christina is acting oddly she doesn’t want anyone to know where she is, and made sure that Norman wasn’t home before entering the house. As Letha turns to make a cup of tea for her guest, Christina smirks at the other girl’s back and mutters “Stupid fucking bitch” under her breath. Letha, who didn’t hear the statement, asks Christina why she left the hospital, and Christina tells her it wasn’t safe there, that “it” was coming for her, and that she wants to warn Letha that it’s coming after her as well.

Back at the abandoned church near Hemlock Acres, Peter and Roman reconvene, and Roman hands Peter the bacon grease he asked for. Roman also shows Peter the weapon that Olivia gave him, to Peter’s great amusement. Peter’s mood quickly turns serious again as he talks about what’s to come, “When I go out there tonight, I won’t have to go far. It’ll be waiting for me.” Roman then gets a call from Letha, asking for his help – though she doesn’t tell him that it’s concerning Christina. When Peter hears that Letha needs help with something, he tells Roman he’s coming with, even if it means hiding in the trunk of Roman’s car. In the meantime, Sheriff Sworn is currently standing outside of Jenny Frederick’s home with a loaded gun in the middle of the day because “it might come back.” Two of his police officers try to talk him down and get the gun from him, but he refuses to leave.

Olivia has finished her Clementine-flavored meal and has called Dr. Pryce to dispose of the body. Pryce is angry and several very interesting details come out during their argument – for instance, that Lod LLC the company who wants to buy out Norman’s share of the company had something to do with sending Chasseur to Hemlock Grove. After a little more conversation, Olivia orders Pryce to “clean it up” and walks away. Pryce rounds the corner to find Chasseur still alive, but barely – because she’s been flayed from the waist up. Pryce offers her a few kind words before suffocating her to death. He then gets to work disposing of the body. Elsewhere, Sheriff Sworn has been brought into Norman’s office at Hemlock Acres to finally get some help. Norman tries to be understanding, but Sworn quickly shuts all of that empathy stuff down as he coldly tells Norman that another girl is going to die tonight – so if Norman has anything to say to any of the women in his life he should probably do so now.

Peter and Roman arrive at Letha’s house. They’re surprised to see Christina there, but shockingly enough Christina doesn’t freak out upon seeing Peter. Instead, they trade awkward greetings, and Christina even later apologizes for telling everyone that Peter is a werewolf. Roman drives Peter, Letha, Christina, and himself to a convenience store, where Peter secretly tells Roman that he thinks the vargulf is going after Christina next, and that they need to be ready to protect her. They pick up some cable wires, but the cashier at the convenience store is someone Roman’s insulted before. The guy remembers Roman’s insults very clearly, and refuses to sell them the wires. Roman sincerely apologizes for his earlier behavior, and the cashier lets them make their purchase.

At the Godfrey mansion, Norman goes to visit with Shelley. He apologizes to her for lying about his affair with her mother Olivia, and then haltingly informs her that the last victim was her friend Jenny. Shelley is overcome with grief, and runs out of the house, disappearing from Norman’s view. Letha, Christina, Peter and Roman go back to the abandoned church for shelter. Christina has a bit of a breakdown, telling Peter between giggles that she kissed him once when he was sleeping because she wanted to know what it felt like, so she could write about it. She then tells him that’s why she researched how to turn into a werewolf. Christina admits that she drank water from werewolf-Peter’s paw print after a full moon, and it turned her into a werewolf. Not just any werewolf, either, but the vargulf. Peter and Roman leap into action – Roman holding back Letha, who’s freaking out because she promised Christina she wouldn't let any harm come to her, and Peter tying Christina up with the cable wires. He tells her that if she decides to turn tonight, he’s going to kill her.

When Peter asks Christina why she went to Letha’s house, if she meant to kill her that night, Christina answers that she did it out of jealousy, that she wanted to feel Letha die by her hands. She tells Peter that he can kill her as long as he doesn’t hate her – “You made me. I’m yours.” – and that he should do it while she’s still human. Peter doesn’t do that. He watches in shock and horror as Christina begins to turn into the vargulf and begins to speak to him, telling him that Christina “didn’t know, and she’s very, very sorry for everything that happened.” When the transformation finalizes, a pure white wolf stands there growling at Peter. He backs away slowly then slathers bacon grease onto his face. Roman holds back a screaming Letha as Peter approaches the wolf, who then savages his face off. Remember how Peter said the “price for turning when the moon isn’t right” is his face? Letha runs off, smashing at the locked church doors with her fists, as Roman holds onto his axe and faces off with the wolf.

Main Cast

 * Famke Janssen as Olivia Godfrey
 * Bill Skarsgård as Roman Godfrey
 * Landon Liboiron as Peter Rumancek
 * Penelope Mitchell as Letha Godfrey
 * Freya Tingley as Christina Wendall
 * Dougray Scott as Norman Godfrey

Supporting Cast

 * Kandyse McClure as Dr. Clementine Chasseur
 * Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce
 * Aaron Douglas as Sheriff Tom Sworn
 * Ted Dykstra as Francis Pullman (archival footage)
 * Nicole Boivin as Shelley Godfrey
 * Michael Andreae as the body of Shelley Godfrey

Guest Cast

 * Eliana Jones as Alexa Sworn (archival footage)
 * Emilia McCarthy as Alyssa Sworn (archival footage)
 * Holly Deveaux as Jenny Fredericks (archival footage)
 * Lorenza Izzo as Brooke Bluebell (archival footage)
 * Jacqueline Graham as Lisa Willoughby
 * Ashleigh Harrington as Lips
 * Robert Fulton as Ears
 * Jasmin Geljo as Moustache
 * Eric Fink Bookstore Owner
 * Kevin Hare as Mr. Fredericks
 * Kiersten Tough as Mrs. Fredericks
 * Sergey Shpakovsky as Morgue Worker

Song from the Show

 * "Green Sea" by Fear of Men (Letha, Peter, Roman, and Christina are riding in the car)
 * "There's a Sadness in My Heart" by LEGS (end credits)