In the 6th episode of Hell Motel, we got an extensive flashback to the time Blake “survived” an encounter with a serial killer at a party. It was an understandably traumatic moment for him, but the details that he left out of his story—he wrote a book about it—actually made him look like a monster. For starters, he never tried to save anyone, including his own girlfriend, even when he had the chance to do so. He put everybody’s lives on the line so that he could save his own. And it was revealed that the serial killer didn’t randomly hit up that house; he was there to get revenge for all the humiliation that Blake and his frat house friends had subjected him to. Meanwhile, in the present day, Blake reacted to Adriana’s death by tying up Floyd, Shirley, Paige, and Andy and then proceeded to torture Floyd to get him to admit that he’s the killer who’s been going around taking out the guests. When the four of them hit back, Blake ran into the woods, where he was shredded to pieces by Baphomet. Did the 7th episode of Hell Motel reveal who the third killer is? No, but let’s talk about it anyway.
Spoiler Alert
Andy Is Targeted
Episode 7 of Hell Motel opens with Shirley telling Floyd that the day they’ve been waiting for for 30 years has finally arrived. They apparently need 9 bodies to complete the ritual, and since Blake’s corpse is still out there, they proceed to retrieve it—which is spotted by Paige. They are disappointed to find that Blake is not in one piece. Paige arrives on the scene as well and gives a hilariously muted reaction to the whole situation just because it’s the guy who had held them captive who’s dead. Since Blake’s body is unusable, the occult couple needs another body. Hence, they convince Paige that Andy is the killer and that they need to capture him.
After retiring to their respective rooms, Shirley and Floyd have a conversation where they talk about how this third killer might jeopardize their whole operation. So, Floyd recommends that they kill both Paige and Andy and put an end to this confusion about the identity of the killer. Shirley reminds them that they need one of the victims to be alive for a part of the ritual. Did Floyd just forget an integral part of the thing that he and his wife have been waiting to do for 30 years? Is this an example of stupid writing, or is adrenaline the justification for Floyd’s partial memory loss? You tell me. Anyway, the couple decides to kill Andy and save Paige for later, and according to them, the only way to execute that plan is by bringing Paige over to their side by convincing her that Andy is a Satan worshipper.
Shirley Is Dead
Paige informs Andy about Blake’s death. This leads to a random flashback scene of Andy’s thesis on the true crime genre getting rejected, and then the focus returns to Shirley, Floyd, and Paige discussing whether or not they should go through each other’s personal items, as well as Andy’s, to identify the third killer. Of course, Shirley and Floyd have planted the Satanist book in Andy’s room, which convinces Paige that he is dangerous. That’s why she accepts the task of spiking Andy’s drink so that she, along with Shirley and Floyd, can tie him up. Andy obviously falls for it and is captured by the trio. Although Paige knew that this was the plan, actually going through with it triggers her a lot, and Shirley advises her to take a hot bath to relax. While Paige lounges in the bathtub, Shirley and Floyd prepare the sacrificial altar. But unbeknownst to them, Paige’s phone now has cell service, and she has not only dialed 911 but also found out that Shirley and Floyd are occultists. I have to point out how contrived the writing is. From the first scene of Hell Motel, it was established that the area surrounding Cold River Motel doesn’t have cell service, which is why the guests have failed to reach out to, well, anyone for help.
However, now that the writers need Paige to learn that she has been trusting a pair of proper villains, the cell service just miraculously comes back? Is the writing stupid, or do the writers think that the audience is stupid enough to not notice stuff like this? Since there’s no point wondering about that, let’s just get on with the plot. Okay, Paige sees that Shirley and Floyd are occultists, and she starts freaking out. As she is about to get out of the bathtub and do something to protect herself from the deadly couple, Shirley enters the bathroom, under the guise of checking how Paige is doing, and begins preparing her for the ritual by doing some odd form of baptism. Paige strikes back and kills Shirley by cracking her head open on the walls of the bathroom. Then she rushes to Andy, frees him from his confines, and apologizes to him for believing a single word that came out of Shirley and Floyd’s mouths. In the meantime, Floyd finds Shirley’s body and freaks out. He goes after Paige and Andy, but since both of them have knives now, he has a hard time overpowering them.
Floyd Is Dead
At the end of Hell Motel episode 7, Andy and Paige’s fight with Floyd takes them to the basement. They are understandably shocked to see how Floyd has decorated it with the body parts of all the guests, but not shocked enough to shove a knife into Floyd’s chest as he tries yet again to take a swing at them. As Floyd bleeds out, Paige takes a shovel and decapitates him, thereby bringing his reign of terror to an end. Then they retire to Paige’s bedroom to sleep it off. Andy informs Paige that he called 911 again, and the operator said that they will send someone as soon as they can (the police in this universe are really, really slow). Paige remarks that things have come full circle because the actress who played the role of Caitlyn has killed the people who killed Caitlyn, and then she dozes off. The following day, Andy wakes up before Paige and notices a blood stain on the ceiling. When he checks out what’s caused it, he finds a heart in the false ceiling. He doesn’t get the chance to confront Paige about it because the police have arrived at the scene. The officers are understandably horrified by all the body parts in the basement of the motel, and as Andy and Paige narrate the events leading up to that bloody altar, the camera pans out to show a Baphomet costume on the roof of the motel. Now, after seeing that, the heart, and Paige saying that it has all come full circle, I would’ve said that she is the third killer who has successfully performed the ritual and ruined things for Floyd and Shirley.
To be honest, she could be the third killer; she has every reason to be. I mean, given the state of her career, she does need to do a deal with Satan to resurrect it. At the same time, since her portrayal of Caitlyn has haunted her for so long, maybe she felt the need to seek justice on her behalf. But that can’t explain her expression of shock when she found out about Floyd and Shirley’s true identities. The only way that moment would make sense is if the show reveals that Paige is aware of the fact that she is in a show called Hell Motel—you know, like Deadpool knows that he is in a comic book cinematic universe—and she did that to fool the audience that’s watching it into thinking that she was genuinely surprised. Alternatively, it’ll be hilarious if the final reveal of the show is that everyone was there with the intention of doing the Baphomet ritual and all of them, except for maybe Paige, failed because they were bad at Satanism. At least that’ll be better than the emergence of a secret killer who has been hiding somewhere all this while, right? Please, let me know in the comments section below.
