The Order of the Dragon

The Order of the Dragon is the third episode of the first season of Hemlock Grove and the third episode in the series.

Summary
Christina discovers a new victim and Sheriff Sworn gets outside help from Dr. Chasseur. Now a suspect, Peter joins Roman to find the killer.

Plot
Christina is traipsing through the forest when she comes across the body of a girl torn in half. Thinking it was a fake body and that someone was pranking her she decides to kiss the corpse’s mouth to test if it was a joke. She realizes her mistake when she looks down and sees maggots eating the dead girl and screams.

Meanwhile, we also find out that the man Roman and Letha Godfrey found writhing about on the street in the last episode is named Francis Pullman. He’s much more coherent in this scene and is undergoing a psych eval with Norman Godfrey, who is civil to him if not very understanding. Norman asks him about ouroboros, but Pullman only talks about how “they” brought him back to life, and how he doesn’t want to “see these things” anymore. Peter comes back from his werewolf excursion to find Roman crashing on his couch waiting for him. Roman asks him how his night was, and Peter tells Roman and Lynda, his mother, that he smelled something while he was out there… something bad. He also makes Roman promise to not tell anyone about the transformation that he saw last night. Roman promises, then offers to pick Peter up later on the way to school, but Peter’s knocked out. As he sleeps, Peter dreams that he and Roman are standing together on top of the abandoned Godfrey Steel Mill, and that Roman has a bloodstain shaped like ouroboros on his shirt. Elsewhere in the town, the Sheriff asks to meet with Norman so he can ask about a jurisdictional call he’d recently gotten concerning Mr. Pullman’s transfer to Hemlock Acres, the town’s psychiatric hospital. According to the Sheriff, that call wouldn’t have even been made if there hadn’t been someone with a relative amount of power and a personal stake in the case. As far as he knows, the only people who have that kind of power are the people up at the Godfrey-owned White Tower, and the only person he trusts to help him investigate is Norman – despite Norman protesting that he has no clout in that arena.

This turn of events definitely means something fishy is up. Maybe there’s more truth to Pullman’s story than Norman would like to believe. As Norman exits the car, a call comes in on the Sheriff’s police radio: another girl’s body has been found. The top half that Christina had discovered in the beginning of the episode has been identified as that of Lisa Willoughby. We then cut to, Clementine Chasseur. She wakes up in a daze, pulls a pendant with a cross on it from around her neck, and whispers to herself, “He wants you to be strong.” She then drags herself out of bed to get dressed and go to morning mass, leaving behind a girlfriend/lover. As Chasseur is walking out the door, the girlfriend/lover says in a sad tone of voice, “Why do I do this to myself? All you know how to do is take.” Looks like Chasseur’s got commitment issues.

Chasseur goes to meet an unnamed, but likely very important priest. He asks her about someone named “Michael” – who we haven’t yet met – then shows her a newspaper article about a fatal mauling in Pennsylvania. We next see Chasseur approaching the Sheriff of Hemlock Grove, holding a badge proclaiming that she’s from Fish & Wildlife Services. He updates her on the case as they drive to the crime scene. Chasseur looks through the forest floor and easily identifies several tracks, but can’t figure out what it was that killed Lisa Willoughby. When she somehow figures out that the body was left there as a fucked up version of a trophy, though, she determines that whatever or whoever is responsible must be a creature capable of higher thinking and empathy. Back at Hemlock High, a group of asshole freshmen surround and torment a crying Shelley Godfrey, asking her which of the girls she killed first and who tasted better. When her brother Roman happens upon the scene, he’s understandably pissed. Using his mind control powers, he forces the two ringleaders to kiss in front of a jeering crowd before shooing them away.

Roman and Peter hide out during a break to talk about what’s happened. Peter reveals that he knows what killed the two girls: a vargulf, a wolf that’s gone insane. Apparently a normal wolf or werewolf will only attack if it’s provoked or hungry, but a vargulf will attack regardless, and it doesn’t eat what it kills. Roman then suggests finding it and stopping it from killing any more girls, fancying himself as some sort of warrior knight, but Peter is more than a little reluctant. Roman does not take hearing ‘no’ well. Depressed and rejected, Roman calls his cousin Letha, but she doesn’t have time to talk because she’s at the gynecologist finding out her angel baby’s due date. Rejected again, Roman. Dude makes a beeline straight for a bar and, with an obviously illegally-procured fake ID, buys himself shitloads of alcohol. The bartender knows he’s underage but slides him the booze anyways, though he does call Olivia Godfrey to pick Roman up – just in time, because Roman looks like he’s about to get sucked into a bar fight. Peter, meanwhile, goes to visit his cousin Destiny Rumancek, who’s shown swindling fuckloads of money from fancy rich couples who’ve gotten bored with their fancy rich lives.

He tells her about the vargulf, and she warns him it will likely kill again. Destiny wants him to be careful and stay out of the way; nature will take its course and the vargulf will destroy itself in time. When Peter haltingly questions if there’s any way that he could help it, Destiny seems surprised, but says putting a bullet in the vargulf’s brain before the next moon cycle would probably work. Then Peter tells her about Roman – that the guy is an upir, that he knows that Peter is a werewolf – and his cousin freaks. She tells him to run before it’s too late. Dr. Chausser goes to meet with Christina and ask her if she can remember any other details about stumbling upon the body. Christina avoids the subject by waxing poetic about being a novelist, before getting to the point and saying that she didn’t see any marks because “he didn’t leave any.” Why do I get the feeling that she’s about to point her finger towards Peter again? Oh, that’s right, because she does. As Peter and Lynda pack their things into their car, about to take Destiny’s advice and move the hell out of dodge, Chausser drives up and starts to question Peter about being someone afflicted with “clinical lycanthropy”. That’s when a human believes that they’re a werewolf or some other non-human creature and then acts accordingly.

Though Peter answers all her questions cheerfully and amiably, the look on her face shows she’s not convinced. There’s definitely more to this girl than “Fish & Wildlife Services.” Either way, now that Peter’s on this lady’s radar, he and Lynda are unable to leave. Peter eventually comes calling at the Godfrey estate. Olivia’s face when she sees him standing at her door is the most hilarious thing. Once they’re alone, Peter tells Roman about Chasseur’s visit, and that he’s worried she’s going to put him away “in a cage”. He’s now on board for Roman’s initial plan of finding the true killer and stopping it, if only to keep himself out of prison. First item on Peter’s agenda: find out where Lisa Willoughby’s going to be buried, and dig her up. The last scene of the episode is of Norman worriedly watching over his daughter as she sleeps and flashing back to a conversation he had with Francis Pullman earlier that day, where Pullman had frightened Norman by saying that he had “seen the thing inside your little girl,” referring to her pregnancy.

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

 * Lili Taylor as Lynda Rumancek
 * Kandyse McClure as Dr. Clementine Chasseur
 * Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce (credit only)
 * Laurie Fortier as Marie Godfrey (credit only)
 * Aaron Douglas as Sheriff Tom Sworn
 * Kaniehtiio Horn as Destiny Rumancek
 * Ted Dykstra as Francis Pullman
 * Nicole Boivin as Shelley Godfrey
 * Amazon Eve as the body of Shelley Godfrey

Guest Cast

 * Dylan Trowbridge as Nose
 * Marty Adams as Neck
 * Philip Craig as Bishop
 * Don Francks as Nicolae Rumancek (photo only)
 * Jacqueline Graham as Lisa Willoughby
 * Krista Marchand as Sleepy Woman (Dr. Chasseur's lover)

Trivia

 * It should be noted that the title and term "The Order of the Dragon" of this episode 3 in Hemlock Grove Season 1 is a refrenc of the same order that famous Romanian hero known as "Vlad III Impaler (Dracula) " was a member of that same order and his family "Coat of Arms" symbol was Red Dragon

Songs from the Show

 * "Sister Song" by Perfume Genius (Roman bathes Shelley’s feet)
 * "Tender Mirror" by Jolie Holland (end credits)