"Thicker Than Water" is the first episode of the fourth season of Slasher. It aired exclusively on Shudder on August 12, 2021.
Plot[]
Patriarch Spencer Galloway invites his family to an island for the anniversary of his first wife's death to tell them all that he is dying. He also reveals that he wants them to play a game where the winner would receive everything he owns; his money, estate, and company.
Synopsis[]
The episode begins with Seamus Galloway running through a forest. A woman's voice calls after him that he will be found. He stumbles into a clearing containing a small house and collapses, revealing the bear trap clamped around his foot. He attempts to remove it but fails. A woman holding a flashlight, revealed to be Grace, walks up to him. He is relieved and asks her to help, but she merely remarks "nice try" and walks into the house, finding something at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
Outside, another woman Florence, who reveals herself to be Seamus' sister, walks up and mocks him, revealing him to be the bête noire, before hurting him and entering the cabin. She encounters Grace at the bottom of the stairs staring at a gold bar in the center of the room. Grace wonders if it is booby trapped, but Florence just takes it, calling her a gold digger. She is electrocuted, leaving her hand burned and collapses to the ground. As Grace is about to pick it up, Seamus arrives and does so instead. He and Grace fight over the bar when they hear a boy screaming for his mother. Florence recognizes it as her son Vincent, and runs outside to find her other son, Theo, who tells her people have taken Vincent. She grabs him and demands to know where Vincent is to no avail.
25 years later, Seamus, his wife Christy and their daughter Aphra wait at a pier for a boat to take them to a family reunion. Florence and her younger child, O'Keefe, arrive, as does Liv, who Seamus states is the housekeeper's daughter, though he and Christy argue on calling her that. Aphra questions why they are going to a family reunion where everybody hates each other, and Seamus claims they are "complicated". As the yacht arrives, driven by Merle, the family's handyman, Seamus and Christy notice Aphra eating something off the dock, biting Christy when she tries to stop her. Seamus reveals to Florence and O'Keefe that she has Pica. As the group is about to board, Theo arrives with O'Keefe mentioning they didn't think he would come. They board the yacht and head for a private island.
On the island, Spencer Galloway and his wife Grace discuss Jayden's current role in the business, having caught someone breaking regulations. Spencer does not think he has what it takes, and states he only cares about profits, which concerns Grace, who says he is the only one who can. They hear the family arrive, and Spencer sends Grace down to greet them. Below, Grace and Jayden greet the family, with Jayden being welcoming. Grace offers lunch, which Merle declines, saying he will be at the boathouse before fishing again. Grace sends Liv to the kitchen where her mother, Birgit, is preparing lunch. She meets her mother, who does not want her to come back to serve the family for her life after going to college. Liv promises she didn't leave the army for this. Birgit tells her the family will be taking her room while they are there, and she and Liv will be sleeping in the servants' quarters.
At the boathouse, Merle works on an engine when he is approached by Grace, who brings him a sandwich. He takes a bite, before touching her. They have sex in the boathouse, where Merle believes they are being watched, though Grace does not care. Unknown to them, Aphra watches from a corner. In the house, Florence questions Theo as to why he returned, as he has stayed away for the last five reunions, to which he responds that it is the 25th anniversary of Vincent's kidnapping. Florence accuses him of being selfish, but O'Keefe diffuses the tension by telling them they have a girlfriend. Florence is shocked, as O'Keefe is non-binary. Theo congratulates them, and Florence tells her children of a time she dated a woman in art college, understandably disgusting both of them.
Merle, at the boathouse, hears a noise. He investigates in the boathouse, and is knocked out, strung up on a fishhook and cut open, his insides emptied by an unseen person.
In the house, Jayden gives Seamus and Christy a tour, and explains the significance of a painting with a dead tree, claiming the house is haunted by a spirit that died in the wine cellar, which they call the Gentleman. Seamus rudely disbelieves the story, and Jayden leaves them. After Christy questions his attitude, Seamus claims Jayden is a liar and a snake, and trying to take over the business. They are interrupted by Aphra, who is scared, but does not tell them why, only that the island is bad, and only talks to Seamus about wanting to go home. Seamus calms her down in their bedroom, closing Christy out.
Theo talks to Liv, and tries to strike up a conversation, though she is uninterested. Later, the family and the Vogels observe while Florence eulogizes Vincent, and unveils a sculpture to him. She ends the ceremony by breaking two eggs on herself, causing Spencer to break down laughing and Grace to ask the group to return to the house for lunch. At lunch, Spencer reveals he is dying, and intends to commit assisted suicide with the help of Dr. Persephone Trinh. He then states he intends to play the family game again, which ended after Vincent's kidnapping, and the winner will receive his entire fortune. When the family protests, he lambastes them and tells them to earn his money, before leaving.
Seamus reflects on his inability to please his father regardless of what he does, and is comforted by Christy and Aphra. Grace believes the money should be hers and her son's, and tells Jayden she will fix it, though he is only able to focus on his father dying. Birgit interrupts Spencer's rest and asks if the competition is open to all his descendants, which he confirms. Florence acts disgusted by Spencer's choice, though O'Keefe and Theo don't question it. When Theo refuses to find a technicality, she blames him for Vincent's kidnapping, telling him she wished he had been taken instead.
25 years ago, on the anniversary of Seamus and Florence's mother Annette, Spencer praises Grace for bringing life back to the family, and states this year's competition will be a treasure hunt, the prize being 180,000 dollars in gold. Seamus blames Florence for screwing him over last year, but she denies knowledge of this, and Spencer says there are no rules. When Theo and Vincent run through the room, angering Spencer, Grace has Birgit take them outside. She sends them to the beach to retrieve shells. When it gets dark, Theo wans to go back, but Vincent calls him a pussy and goes ahead. When they arrive at the beach, two masked men show up in a raft. One grabs Vincent and takes him back to the raft, while the other punches Theo and leaves him in the sand.
Later, Dr. Trinh explains the process of dying to Spencer, who agrees to it despite her repeated asking if it's what he wants. She gives him the shot and leaves to supervise the games. In his room, Theo is about to leave, not wanting to participate in the games, but Liv convinces him to stay, pointing out that he is the only one who will care for the family, while the others would just keep all the money for themselves.
In Spencer's room, as he dies, he sees a hallucination of his first wife, Annette, who asks him to join her. As he reaches out to her, the hallucination fades, revealing a person dressed in black, wearing a white bauta mask and a top hat, who despite his protests, injects him with acid, which dissolves his heart, killing him painfully.
Outside, Dr. Trinh introduces the family to the first challenge, a climbing rope course, intended to be an endurance test, which Christy and Birgit will not be participating in. As they start it, Theo and Liv arrive, which confuses Florence, as there is a hooded man standing at the course who she believed to be Theo. The man then takes off his hood and looks at Theo, calling him "brother", revealing himself to be Vincent.
Cast[]
- A.J. Simmons as Vincent Galloway
- Alex Ozerov as Theo Galloway
- Chris Jacot as Seamus Galloway
- Jeananne Goossen as Dr. Persephone Trinh
- Maria del Mar as Annette Galloway
- Paula Brancati as Christy Martin
- Rachael Crawford as Grace Galloway
- Sabrina Grdevich as Florence Galloway
- Sydney Meyer as Liv Vogel
- David Cronenberg as Spencer Galloway
- Breton Lalama as O'Keeffe Galloway
- Corteon Moore as Jayden Galloway
- Jefferson Brown as Merle
- Nataliya Rodina as Aphra Galloway
- Patrice Goodman as Birgit Vogel
- Tau Sterling as young Jayden Galloway
- Judah Davidson as young Vincent Galloway
- Joshua Reich as young Theo Galloway
Death(s)[]
| Victim | Cause of Death | Background |
| Merle | Disemboweled | The killer snuck up on him after he assumed it was Grace, resulting in him being hung up by a hook and stabbed through the stomach to take out his viscera. |
| Spencer Galloway | Acid injected into heart through PICC line | What began as assisted suicide turned into murder when The Gentleman injected him with a highly acidic substance. This liquid caused caused him to die painfully as it slowly melted through his abdomen and out his back. |
Trivia[]
- It is revealed that Aphra Galloway likes her father more than her mother.