Creep: Step right up my fear fanciers, as our red-blooded American boys are doing their best fighting off the Nazis in France, 1944. Bombers circle overhead as a batallion of German soldiers moves in on Captain Talby and his men. Little do they know, a fiendishly furry friend is about to turn the tides on their luck, in this sickening saga I call...
Bad Wolf Down
Directed By: Rob Schrab
Written By: Rob Schrab
A brief prologue has the Creep getting his palm read by a Romani fortune teller. A pentagram lights up on his palm as he laughs, frightening her.
In World War II, within a forest deep inside occupied France, the American platoon known as B Company, led by Captain Lawrence Talby (David A. MacDonald), is in the midst of a hasty retreat when a squadron of Nazis open fire on them. The surviving soldiers end up taking refuge in a dilapidated police station, where they discover, after a brief argument, that something has killed the guards. One of the guards springs to life and tries to reach out to the soldiers, but he dies shortly after. Meanwhile, Obersturmführer Reinhard Schmelzgerat (Jeffrey Combs) travels to the frontlines to discover that his son, Hans, was killed by Talby as he and the American soldiers were retreating. Despite telling his dead son that he has disgraced the family name, Reinhard vows revenge on the "American dogs" responsible, promising to make them suffer greatly.
Back in the police station, Talby and the medic, "Doc" Kessler (Kid Cudi), find a map that showcases the location of Le Monge, the village that serves as the platoon's rally point. Meanwhile, a strange woman (Kate Freund) with clawed fingers and yellow eyes in one of the cells reaches through the bars and grabs the jittery Private Rivers (Callan Wilson), causing him to impulsively shoot her in the stomach. When the soldiers enter the cell to help her, she yells in French for the soldiers to go away or she'll kill them. One of the soldiers, the hateful Sergeant Quist (Nelson Bonilla), locks the others in the cell and flees the station to save himself. After watching the woman's gunshot wound heal instantaneously, and with a bit of translation from Kessler, the woman explains that she is actually a werewolf. She's been haunted by the souls of all the people, including children, she has killed in her bestial state, and locked herself in the cell as an attempt to keep herself from killing again. She also wants to die and put an end to her suffering, but the curse keeps her immortal.
Schmelzgerat soon discovers the police station and orders the man who killed his son and his associates to surrender, promising them quick and painless deaths should they come out unarmed. Hatching an idea, Talby baits the Nazis into going in after them, and then gives the woman Rivers' silver cross, which she wanted to use to kill herself. After swallowing the cross, but before she dies, the strange woman bites each of the remaining soldiers on the hand, thanking them with her last breaths. When the full moon rises, the three soldiers transform into werewolves, just as Schmelzgerat and his men enter the building. They proceed to slaughter the Nazi soldiers, with Rivers killing Schmelzgerat by ripping out his jaw.
Meanwhile, as he makes a mad dash to the rally point, Quist ends up wandering into a minefield and stepping on a mine, gravely injuring himself. Talby, back in human form, confronts the traitorous sergeant, who pitifully apologizes for his behavior. Talby ignores Quist's pleas as the full moon shines, and he begins transforming again in preparation to kill him.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Schmelzgerat wears the same gloves that Milton Dammers wore in The Frighteners, since both characters are played by Jeffrey Combs.
- A Father to His Men: Talby cares about the well-being of the men under his command above all else, going so far as to have them and himself turned into werewolves to keep them alive.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: A jittery Rivers accidentally gives one to the strange woman in the cell.
- Almost Dead Guy: One SS soldier in the station springs to life and tries to reach out to the platoon. Despite being given medical attention by Kessler, he promptly dies.
- An Arm and a Leg: Quist, after he steps on a landmine.
- And the Adventure Continues: Now that Talby and his men are werewolves, they intend on using their lycanthropic powers to turn the tide against the Nazis.
- Artistic License – History: Virtually all combat units in World War II — on both sides of the conflict — were racially segregated, so Kessler, a black soldier, would not be in the same platoon as white ones.
- Asshole Victim: The Nazis that the soldiers end up slaughtering after letting themselves be turned into werewolves. There's also Quist, who has no shame in mocking his fellow soldiers and his commanding officer, then locks them in a prison cell to save his own ass.
- Blind Shoulder Toss: The transformed Rivers does this to Schmelzgerat's jaw when he rips it out of his skull.
- Bloody Handprint: The woman's handprints are seen throughout the walls of the station.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Schmelzgerat, obviously, since many Nazi villains in the comics the series took inspiration from were presented this way.
- Chekhov's Gun: Rivers' silver cross.
- Chromosome Casting: The woman in the prison cell is the only female present in the episode.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Schmelzgerat promises that the soldiers will meet such a fate if they force him to risk his men's lives.
- Denser and Wackier: The third segment of the season, this one is a pulpy war romp as opposed to the more overt existential dread segments preceding and succeeding it.
- Dirty Coward: Quist, to the point where he was perfectly willing to murder an injured and (seemingly) innocent civilian to keep her quiet, then deserts his fellow soldiers to save himself.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Schmelzgerat doesn't just want to kill the man who killed his son, but also his associates, who didn't even do anything that would warrant vengeance from him.
- Driven to Suicide: The werewolf woman longs to die, but her lycanthropy keeps her immortal. She finally puts herself out of her misery by swallowing Rivers' silver cross.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Though it's brief, Schmelzgerat is genuinely heartbroken that his son fell in battle, if only because he's disgraced the family name.
- Evil Counterpart: Due to his character actor's Celebrity Resemblance to character actor Jack Hogan, and being portrayed as a Hot-Blooded member of his squad during WWII, Quist is basically one to Hogan's character Kirby from Combat!. The only difference is that Quist has zero redeeming qualities.
- Evil Is Hammy: Obersturmführer Schmelzgerat. It's only natural for him, being played by Jeffrey Combs, and it's justified in the fact that many of the original EC Comics depicted Nazis in such a manner.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Schmelzgerat uses his last words to call Rivers a "filthy dog".
- Fang Thpeak: Talby repeats his earlier promise of how he'd get Rivers and Doc out of the station "come Hell or high water" with a strong lisp, since his fangs have already grown in.
- Foreshadowing:
- Quist mentions an abundance of minefields ever since the start of the platoon's mission. The end of the story has him blindly running into one and stepping on a mine, allowing Talby to find, confront, and kill him.
- As the soldiers make a beeline for the police station, the camera cuts to a poster nailed on a nearby tree, warning that wolves have been sighted in the area. Guess who the soldiers meet in the police station?
- Go Out with a Smile: The woman, after swallowing Rivers' cross, thanks the soldiers for helping her end her suffering with her last breaths.
- Gratuitous English: Schmelzgerat doesn't utter a single word in German, despite the fact several soldiers heard in the background when he inspects Hans' corpse do speak it. This is likely an illusion to the fact that Nazi villains in the original comics spoke only English as well.
- Hate Sink: Sgt. Quist. Once a man that Talby claims he could trust, the horrors and hardships of war had undeniably warped him into a sadistic bully. He endlessly mocks and torments Rivers for the young private's (entirely justified) fear, and his religion as he prays for safety. He's also a Dirty Coward who focuses firmly on self-preservation, to the point where he locks his comrades-in-arms in a prison cell when he thinks they're a liability to his own survival.
- Healing Factor: Werewolves are apparently quick healers. Minutes after the strange woman is accidentally shot, the soldiers witness her gunshot wound healing instantaneously.
- Hooking the Keys: Rivers uses a wire to snag the keys to the woman's cell, which are in the cell itself.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: The werewolf woman longs for death, but the curse renders her unable to kill herself... at least, without silver.
- Immune to Bullets: The Nazis open fire on the transformed soldiers when they bust down the cell door. Since their bullets aren't silver, they have no effect.
- Inexplicable Language Fluency: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight.
- Instant Death Stab: Hans is killed after he is stabbed once in the back.
- Ironic Echo: "War changes a man." It's first said by Quist to Talby before he abandons him and the platoon. At the end, it's said by Talby to an injured Quist, only it's now taken a more literal meaning.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: The soldiers were preparing to move out to their rally point just as the woman tries to grab Rivers' cross in a very creepy way, prompting him to instinctively shoot her. It's because of this that every other element in the story falls into place, such as Quist's desertion, the rest of the soldiers becoming werewolves themselves, and the slaughter of the Nazis. Though in this case, it leads to a positive outcome, since Quist and the Nazis get what they deserve.
- Jawbreaker: How Reinhard dies. The transformed Rivers rips his jaw right out of his head.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Despite how much of a Dirty Coward he was, Quist was proven right when he told Talby that the Nazis would've heard Rivers shoot the mysterious woman, as well as her screaming. Schmelzgerat and his men do indeed end up finding the station shortly after Quist abandons his fellow soldiers.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In addition to his Karmic Death, Quist is punched in the face by Rivers, the private he had been endlessly mocking, when he tries to shoot the woman.
- Let's Get Dangerous!:
- The soldiers, once they transform, break down the cell door and stare down Schmelzgerat and his men.
- Schmelzgerat, after seeing one of his men get his head ripped off his shoulders, firmly adjusts his cap and leads his men into the fray.
- Lighter and Softer: Blood and guts aside, the episode features a bunch of upstanding American soldiers heroically fighting Nazis and coming out of it alive. They're not even that bothered by their lycanthropy as it allows them to fight more effectively.
- Literal Metaphor: Schmelzgerat spitefully calls the American soldiers "dogs" when he vows to hunt them down. He promptly eats his words when he finds the soldiers are now werewolves.
- Mook Horror Show: The climax of the segment has the Nazis being slaughtered to a man in gruesome ways.
- Mythology Gag: The ashtray from "Father's Day" can be seen on a desk inside the police station.
- No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Talby witnesses one of his men, wounded and begging to be spared, being shot point blank in the face.
- Off with His Head!: One of Schmelzgerat's men gets his head ripped off with one swipe of Talby's claws.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The soldiers who become werewolves don't all turn into the exact same type of lycanthrope. Rivers becomes a full-body hybrid, Kessler becomes a bearish quadruped, and Talby becomes a 1940s style man-wolf hybrid.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: After locking his fellow soldiers in a prison cell to save himself, Quist ends up losing a leg and arm after stepping on a landmine. Talby confronts the wounded sergeant, and when the full moon shines again, he transforms and moves in for the kill.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Quist locks his fellow soldiers in the prison cell and makes a break for it to save his own hide.
- Shout-Out:
- Each of the soldiers share a name and personality traits with a character from a classic werewolf movie:
- Talby, naturally, shares his last name with Lawrence Talbot, as he's the most heroic of the characters and transforms into a similar form of lycanthrope. Additionally, the episode's prologue has the Creep meeting a Romani soothsayer who discovers a pentagram on his hand, similar to what happened to Lawrence Talbot in the aforementioned film.
- Quist shares his surname with Eddie Quist, since he's the sleaziest and most villainous of the soldiers.
- Rivers shares his last name with Tony Rivers, being an innocent kid who is gripped with fear after being thrown into a situation bigger than himself.
- "Doc" Kessler shares both his last name and nickname with David Kessler and with Doc, as both characters studied medicine/had a relationship with someone who studied medicine.
- Additionally, Doc is also Talby's right-hand man, an easily-missed allusion to the fact that Werewolf: The Beast Among Us, where he got part of his name, was made as an attempted continuation/shared universe to The Wolfman (2010).
- As mentioned above, Sergeant Quist is basically Kirby, except with zero redeeming qualities.
- A brief moment in the opening scene has the scene being flooded by white noise as Talby watches his men die one by one, not unlike fellow World War II Captain John H. Miller.
- While harassing Private Rivers, Quist is commanded by Talby to "stop being an asshole for two seconds".
- Each of the soldiers share a name and personality traits with a character from a classic werewolf movie:
- Silver Has Mystic Powers: As is tradition for a werewolf story, silver is fatal to a lycanthrope. Rivers' silver cross is used to help the werewolf woman in the cell kill herself.
- Slasher Smile: Hans' only scene alive shows him wearing a sadistic grin as he mows down American soldiers.
- Slashed Throat: The guard who reaches out to the soldiers has one of these, as Doc points out that he's unable to speak.
- Smoke Out: As the sun sets, Schmelzgerat orders his men to lob smoke grenades into the station, possibly so the fumes would disorient the soldiers and make them easy prey. Either that or it was meant to flush them out so they could be gunned down.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Quist, who mocks his fellow soldiers and commanding officer, nearly kills who he considers a random civilian to shut her up, and locks the rest of his platoon in a prison cell when he deems them a liability to his survival.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: The werewolf woman has yellow eyes and clawed fingers, even when she isn't transformed.
- Those Wacky Nazis: A notable inversion. While most supernatural World War II stories focus on the Nazis' history of occult findings, the Allied soldiers are the ones who delve into the supernatural while the Nazis are completely caught off guard.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Quist accidentally steps inside the gutted corpse of one of the guards, the nauseated Rivers promptly vomits onto his other boot.
- War Is Hell: The very first scene of the episode has B Company ambushed by a Nazi platoon, all but four of them being brutally gunned down in the process.
- Weird Historical War: The episode is set during World War II, and focuses on a group of Allied soldiers essentially "stumbling" into getting access to lycanthropy.
- White Shirt of Death: The mysterious woman wears only a white dress, and slowly dies after swallowing Rivers' cross.
- Would Hurt a Child: The werewolf woman tearfully admits that she's killed children while transformed.
- You Have Failed Me: Schmelzgerat tells his son's corpse that he has besmirched his family's name by letting himself die in battle.
