Review: The Shivering Truth “Holeways”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The season finale of The Shivering Truth goes for broke as it delivers an inspiring, yet painful, story about the bifurcated nature of mankind. “Holeways” explores the cavernous chasms that lie within us all and contain infinite multitudes of change. Whether it’s a doctor who has an inappropriate relationship with their “patient,” the advent of a new letter in the alphabet, or an impressive new meat substance, humanity will always be hungry for more. It’s only when we must have a showdown with our own doppleganger that it becomes clear that we’re not that different after all.

Our Take:

We can sometimes be our own worst enemies. It’s a metaphorical way of illustrating how our relationship with our mind can lead us to great success, as well as massive failure. Nobody knows you better than yourself, even if you don’t believe that’s the case. “Holeways,” the season finale of The Shivering Truth picks away at this concept in a very innocuous fashion. Justin performs the innocent gesture of putting up a missing person poster (of himself), but in trying to be helpful he’s created an existential feedback loop that sealed his fate the moment that he stapled his first poster.

Every episode of The Shivering Truth is a lot to take in, but “Holeways” is an especially challenging episode to deconstruct. “Holeways” throws a lot at the audience and doesn’t worry about making sense. It just needs to plant some seeds, which will come into play by the end of the episode. As a result of this, the first few segments in the episode feel particularly disjointed. A dentist engages in a relationship with an eye that’s inside of her patient’s mouth, but his misunderstanding of this leads to him spelunking down his own throat to unlock more secrets of the universe.

This episode more than any other from this season utilizes so many shorter stories. It gets to the point where even the transitions between narratives become twisted stories in themselves. It’s a relentless piece of television that builds up to a frightening momentum by its end. This structure is very effective for the show’s season finale and it really emphasizes the episode’s “Holeways” concept.

This connective tissue is wildly entertaining, but it’s not without its faults. It results in some of the shorter stories lacking depth and become more about indulging some weirdness for 30 seconds. Regardless, all of the segments here look incredible and push troubling questions and visuals. Some of the best content from the season involves this episode’s discovery of the 27^th letter of the alphabet and the new ways in which it will allow people to express themselves. These new emotions lead to a new lobe on the brain, which allows people to suddenly perceive a previously inaccessible level of reality. There’s a whole new world of meat and gravy at our disposal if we work hard enough.

The stories in “Holeways” continue to elegantly connect and overlap in a stream of consciousness kind of way. Soon the effects of this new meat become the episode’s concern and The Shivering Truth ricochets between beef religion treatises and the sacrifices of the bovine (the cows’ meat crucifixes are also a fun, weird touch). The episode becomes powerfully intimidating when it uses some of the climactic music of Anton Dvorak as the visuals tackle the topics of faith and the Devil.

The use of music in The Shivering Truth is always very evocative of the mood at hand, but “Holeways” features many great musical cues, with the Dvorak segment being a highlight for the season. As sublime as these larger displays are, there’s also plenty of brilliant wordplay in the episode. “A void that avoids someone” may seem simplistic, but it’s this variety of rewarding dialogue that fills each episode and makes sure that the humor hits from every angle, not just the crazy visuals.

As “Holeways” digs deeper into its existential crisis there are elements and characters from the different stories that all begin to bleed together by the end. However, there are justified ways for this universe to open itself up to all of these elements. It’s satisfying and speaks to the symbiotic relationship that The Shivering Truth often explores between its extremes. The story where some new meat is cursed to absorb the pain that Dustin inflicts on himself begins as another humorous example of cosmic cause and effect. The meat slowly becomes a martyr for Dustin and it evolves into a fully-grown replica of his victimizer in the process.

As this object of pain gains sentience and a fresh life, Dustin loses track over whether he’s “the man or the meat,” but The Shivering Truth wants the audience to understand that this doesn’t matter. Whether Dustin is the “real” one in this scenario or not, his double is just as authentic and was still born out of genuine pain. If that experience is real, then reverting to something lesser is, too. It even compliments the episode’s larger theme of synergy between dichotomies. It makes sense that some kind of karmic balance needs to be maintained through all of this.

The episode begins to brilliantly turn in on itself and it becomes a cathartic ouroboros in the process. Dustin discovers the same cavernous affliction that plagued his father within himself. This thread continues to connect the dots through Dustin’s experience, but then “Holeways” takes another adventurous pivot. Dustin’s “inner abyss” grows tired of its host and decides to muck around in the real world. It turns into this roving chasm of chaos that takes many lives, but the larger issue is the malaise that Dustin feels over this separation anxiety. This loneliness intensifies and ushers in the grand finale of this season of The Shivering Truth.

Many of the conclusions from this season of The Shivering Truth have verged on perfection and they’ve succeeded in uniting disparate thoughts in a way that’s truly magical. “Holeways” pulls off such a feat and it’s almost a little alarming how brilliantly everything comes together. It’s the ultimate reminder that chaos is unity, war is peace, and that every so often the truth just needs to shiver because the world is so twisted. The awe that’s inspired by the final moments of this episode aren’t quite equal to the discovery of a 27^th or 28^th letter to the alphabet, but it gets pretty close. If there’s any justice in the universe then this won’t be the final episode of The Shivering Truth, but if it happens to play out that way then there are few exits that are more fitting than the masterpiece that is “Holeways.”