The Crucible

The Crucible is the sixth episode of the first season of Hemlock Grove and the sixth episode in the series as a whole.

Summary
Peter and Roman follow Lisa Willoughby's trail to the old steel mill where they find a missing piece of the puzzle. Christina's date goes poorly.

Plot
Olivia pulls her truck up to the long abandoned and decrepit ruins of the Godfrey Steel Mill. She inspects the insides of the building with disgust, then vomits before calling up Sheriff Sworn to request for more patrols around the place because there are “urban explorers or some such nonsense.” Roman, meanwhile, is still hanging out with Peter] despite his mother’s very strict orders. They’re scoping out the Willoughby household and waiting for the Willoughbys to leave so the crime-fighting duo can break in and look for the party flyer that Peter’s cousin [[Destiny Rumancek|Destiny told them about. When waiting patiently becomes too much for Roman, he runs up to the house, pounds on the door, and uses his mesmerizing powers to force the Willoughbys to let him and Peter conduct their investigation in peace.

They go through Lisa’s belongings, but don’t actually find the flyer until her little sister swans up and gives them exactly what they need. The flyer promises “fun fun fun” to be found at a secret party up by Castle Godfrey, the town nickname for the steel mill. Afterward, Peter and Roman are talking about what to do next when Peter’s phone beeps with a text from Letha - she “has something for him” and wants to meet up. When Roman asks who it is, Peter answers with a lie and scurries off to meet Letha at a diner. Letha, it turns out, has dug up a plethora of information on her aunt Olivia after the last time she and Peter hung out. Olivia had had a baby before Roman and Shelley, named Juliet. According to Norman, Juliet died under very suspicious circumstances – suspicious enough for Olivia’s husband J.R. to make some wild accusations about her before he committed suicide.

On the other side of the store, Alexa and Alyssa are helping Christina get ready for a date with Tyler. The twins spot Letha and Peter on their mini date and start making fun of them, but Christina looks totally unamused, and runs out of the store saying that she needs to go across the street to find her grandmother. Olivia and Shelley take a trip down to the local library so Olivia can look at a book on Romani studies, though she doesn't find what she’s looking for. She then goes to help Shelley get herself some books when the flashing red lights on a child’s shoes causes her to collapse to the ground. Norman leaves an appointment with Francis Pullman, who agitatedly tells Norman to find someone named H. Varga if he wants to find the truth about what is happening at the Godfrey Institute so he can come to Olivia’s rescue. The two of them flirt uncomfortably before and after Norman drops Olivia and Shelley off at their house, but Roman walks in and catches them holding hands.

Olivia instructs Roman to take Norman home, which he does. Upstairs in the attic of the Godfrey mansion, Shelley is angrily tearing books apart as she stares down at Norman’s retreating back. Though it’s unclear at this time exactly what she’s furious about, During their drive, Roman and Norman bond over their love for Letha and acknowledgement of Olivia’s crazy factor. Once Roman drops Norman off, he heads straight for Peter’s trailer – who is being dropped off at the same time by Letha Godfrey. Peter and Roman then go investigating in the ruins of the Mill]]. After poking around a bit on the first floor, they come across the bottom half of Lisa, and before they can come to a decision on whether or not to go to the cops, the cops show up and arrest Roman for trespassing at the behest of his mother. Peter hides inside the mill while all this is happening, because he doesn't want to get arrested along with Roman. Once they all drive off, Peter finds that he’s unable to leave because Roman took the car keys with him. Peter heads further into the ruins of the steel mill, and finds the bloody dried prints of angel wings all along the walls and ceiling of the room.

Christina and Tyler’s movie date seems to have gone well, because we next see them joking about the awfulness of the movie and the awesomeness of each other, until Tyler tries to kiss her. Christina gets a flashback to her unfortunate kiss with Lisa’s corpse and then does her best to scratch Tyler’s eyes out, screaming all the while. Norman’s drinking alone in his office when he gets the great idea that maybe he should use the internet to search some of these key terms that have been thrown his way for the past. He starts with Lod LLC, the company that’s trying to buy out his shares of the Godfrey Institute, but he doesn't find much on them. Norman eventually searches for H. Varga and discovers that the man’s dead body was recently pulled from a nearby river along with a somehow still legible note reading “Today I have seen the Dragon.” He calls for Olivia to come to his office to question her about Dr. Pryce and why on earth Letha would want to go to the Institute when she gives birth instead of an actual hospital that isn't rumoured to be experimenting on humans. Since the whole thing was Olivia’s idea in the first place, she’s far from surprised. They have sex, after which Olivia discovers that her prodigal son has been arrested.

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

 * Ted Dykstra as Francis Pullman
 * Nicole Boivin as Shelley Godfrey
 * Michael Andreae as the body of Shelley Godfrey
 * Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce (uncredited; archival footage)

Guest Cast

 * Eliana Jones as Alexa Sworn
 * Emilia McCarthy as Alyssa Sworn
 * Holly Deveaux as Jenny Fredericks
 * Marty Adams as Neck
 * William Devry as Chin
 * Jacqueline Graham as Lisa Willoughby and Lisa Willoughby's sister
 * Landon Norris as Tyler Lane
 * Rick Hughes as Mr. Willoughby
 * Helen King as Librarian
 * Priya Rao as Librarian 2

Songs from the Show

 * "I Follow You" by Melody's Echo Chamber (the scenes in the general store with the teens)
 * Unidentified songs (2) (Christina's date with Tyler)
 * Unidentified song (the sex/scratching scenes)
 * "Pays to Know" by MYPET (end credits)