As this show moves further and further away from the original film's plot, it distinguishes itself through explorations of its mythology. But unfortunately, it's mostly doing that through massive infodumps.
This week was bifurcated between Satanico/Carlos/Richie and the group trying to escape. Let's take them each in turn:
Satanico/Carlos/Richie
The plot part of all of this is that Satanico needs Richie to set her free, which would be hard for him to do if he dies. So she needs him to choose to give up his soul and be a snakepire so he can live. Carlos doesn't love her, he worships her, and besides, he's greedy and not strong enough to set her free. Richie, presumably, can. There are "trials" in the offing.
The exposition part of this is in the form of flashbacks:
Satanico, we learn, was the object of worship. But she ran away when people were sacrificed to her. When she was caught, her lack of bloodlust was given the poetic punishment of turning into a creature who needs blood to live.
As for Carlos, he first arrived on the scene as a conquistador. Yes. A Ferdinand and Isabella-sanctioned Spanish conquistador. Carlos was there for the gold, not the converting of natives. His commander was not pleased with his greed. He manages to talk his way into a temple, where he frees a chained up Satanico and tells her he did it for love. And then feeds the rest of the conquistadors to her.
Freddie Interlude
Connecting the two plots is Freddie, who is neither dead nor turned. Which is a shock, and the Fullers, Seth, and Professor Busey Machine are not exactly sure what to do with that. They literally go with "Whoever wants to leave Freddie behind raise your hand?" and only Jacob wants to keep him around. They tie him to a pole and leave. He gets out and gets his hand on the MacGuffin knife.
Carlos and Satanico notice the not dead/not turned Freddie and say something about a "bloodline." They're not going to take any chances, so Satanico orders Carlos to bring Freddie Carlos' head. Carlos heads back into the bar, and Freddie puts the blade to his neck. He monologues the history outlined above. And tells Freddie that Richie's not the killer Freddie's been looking for.
Carlos is saved by Scott, who he turned into a snakepire. Freddie's tossed into a pit, but who want to bet the "bloodline" means he'll be fine? Also, Scott was apparently watching Satanico and Richie, because he tells Carlos that Satanico's picking Richie over him. So Satanico's just been collecting guys, in a constant search for the one who can release her? Okay.
Escape Attempt Team
Seth, Professor Busey Machine, and the remaining Fullers go down into the grinder/temple in order to find a way out. Professor Busey Machine drops the weapons into the grinder. We found out last night that the "Sex Machine" cover was based on a "Deus Sex Machina" pun, and it's perfect, because Professor Busey Machine is a walking deus ex machina. Him dropping the weapons is a way to set up the next random plot cul-de-sac and, besides that, he plays exposition fairy.
As they wander under the bar, Professor Sex Machine talks some more about the temple and its cult. The wall markings indicate that the temple is the home to priests who made sacrifices to get visions and communicate with other races. The best line of the night is Seth's: "I can handle Temple of Doom, but Crystal Skull and I'm out." (Truer words.)
Kate's continuing to vacillate between extremely practical (she was the leader of "leave Freddie behind" camp) and spiritual. She's just sort of decided that even if she dies, she's good with that, since she'll see her mom in heaven. Ending up as a member of the undead would mean neither escaping nor going to heaven, so I'm putting my irony bet on that one. Jacob says that he needs to tell her something, but they're interrupted by a snakepire attack. Doesn't matter that he doesn't get to tell her, the temple's going to do it for him.
They escape to a room that is the domain of a man who isn't a snakepire. He's been down there for a long time, and survived by being just a bit nuts. He pulls out a "wheel of misfortune," which is covered in bad options. But there are no whammies, and the team wins a weapons shopping spree. Welcome to the plot cul-de-sac! Each team member picks up a weapon, and the creepy temple dweller tells them that he made it to the center of the temple. It showed him things, and, he warns Kate, will totally mess with their minds.
And that it does. Kate is a weirdness magnet. She sees a vision of her mother taking a bunch of pills. So what Jacob tried to tell Kate is that her mother committed suicide, a mortal sin, and won't be waiting for her in heaven. When the vision fades, Kate's grabbed and put on sacrificial slab.
The team saves her from imminent sacrifice, and crazy temple dweller shows up to save them with some suicidal grenade action. POINTLESS PLOT CUL-DE-SAC.
We end with Richie not wanting to be changed and leave Seth. Satanico says that he can come with them, which Richie doubts. No matter, he's bitten now.
I will give the show this: It's not a show that doesn't have answers. It does. It also really wants to show its work. But unlike last week, very little was done to offset all the exposition. The only relief was the pointless plot cul-de-sac. Two episodes left, and hopefully we've finally gotten enough information about Satanico and why she needs Richie that all we have left is to see them either play it out or bring it down around her ears.