'Into the Dark: Pure' delves into the weird world of purity pledges and patriarchal control of young women in this camp horror
This article contains spoilers for 'Into the Dark: Pure'.
Hulu's anthology horror 'Into the Dark' wrapped its debut season with the twelfth feature-length episode - 'Pure.' Revolving around Daughter's Day and all the love, protection, and security that every dad wants to promise his precious little girl, what 'Pure' also addressed is society's absolute need to reinforce the practice of abstinence on its young growing women. But perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the episode, is its signature satirical spin on elements of horror that the Blumhouse masterpiece has incorporated in each episode of the show. Tiptoeing on the fine line that separates television and cinema, 'Pure' also has a hard time choosing whether it wants to be a running satirical commentary on all things preposterous about purity, or a horrifying tale of a woman fighting back to reclaim her body. In the end, as the sinister triumphs over the biblical good, the tale sees a far bigger force of evil however succumbing to its downfall, and that is the toxic expectations of fathers and religion that are imposed on impressionable young girls.
The story follows Shay played by Jahkara Smith - a young teenager of mixed-race who has just learned about her father, after the passing of her mom. Shay's father, Kyle, has taken her in much to the frustration of his other daughter, Jo (McKaley Miller) whom he shares with his wife, presumably, but the topic never gets addressed in the almost 90-minute episode. Jo and Shay are polar opposites, and the distaste the rebellious Jo feels for the docile Shay is understandable. What isn't understandable is why their father - a reasonably well to do man - feels the need to drag his daughter every year for a Purity Retreat to celebrate Daughters Day, and this retreat is one of the main elements of horror on the episode.
The plot opens with what looks like a dream, a bad one, that Shay has on her way to the retreat. She sees herself in a white gown, fronting a negative entity clad in black, face covered in a veil. When the veil lifts, Shay sees herself, smiling ear to ear in the creepiest manner ever. Serious, the smiling Man or even Pennywise doesn't come close to this dark manifestation of Shay, and for that we have Blumhouse, and director Hannah Macpherson to thank. Macpherson's choice to portray the same smile in every negative manifestation throughout the episode is also an excellent decision, but we'll get to that later. Let's address the real horror in the episode: the purity pact.
The retreat is your regular retreat, where people are forced to snap off ties from the rest of the world, and bond with each other. Designed to bring fathers and daughters closer, and reigned over by a suspicious evil reincarnate called Pastor Seth, the retreat is everything that would boil your blood if you have an iota of feminism or even the basic idea of gender equality in you. Pastor Seth is your textbook definition of men comparing women and their virginity to inanimate objects. Garbage, trash, a chewing gum - nothing gets left behind as Pastor Seth continues with his preposterous sermons about women saving themselves for marriage. What's sicker is that Pastor Seth has a daughter himself, and of course, she has been attending the retreat since she learned to speak, probably. But what's also equally abnormal is families like Jo's and Kellyann (Annalisa Cochrane) have been participating in this as a tradition for over a decade now.
The eerie undertone of dangers and impending doom upon the retreat is persistent throughout the episode, and not just at the beginning when Jo is able to round up her housemates - Shay, Kellyann, and Pastor Seth's daughter, Lacey (Ciara Bravo) to invoke the spirit of the condemned Lilith - the Queen of Hell. After a very preachy first day sermon by the Pastor, Jo - the rebellious blonde ready to fight back - motivates the other three girls to sneak out at night and invoke Lilith to unleash her hell on the retreat. And that is our second element of horror: the girls soon find that their little summoning reaped fruits bigger than they had bargained for. Soon Shay starts seeing the black-veiled spirit with flaming red hair at odd places, but of course, the white girls don't think it's serious enough. Classic horror.
Moving on, Jo finds some boys. Yes, in the plural, and thereon begins her sneaking around. She and the girls indulge and it's shocking to see that even the pastor's daughter, Lacey, doesn't hold back. But what normalizes the scenario is the way Lacey breaks down after kissing a boy. Her father's toxicity has been rooted so deep in her that the young adult actually believes she is 'trash' for kissing a boy. And this, right there, is the horror. It's infuriating when the fathers use their creepy ways to convince their daughters this is right: Kyle tells Shay that if her mother had a stronger male role model in her life, this illegitimate pregnancy is not something she would've had to deal with; Keeellyann's considerably young but extremely predatory father asks her to smile more because it makes her look prettier.
When Jo interrupts Lacey in the middle of her speech, countering why purity isn't imposed upon men, the pastor answers that young men aren't foolish enough to need this monitoring. But it is when Lacey explains Jo's doubt saying it is harder for young men to stay pure, that's when the real horror hits. This is how the idea of purity is programming young women - to make them feel subordinate yet accountable for any inconvenient consequence of sex. Sadly, this is just the top layer of the problem whose roots lie deep enough to punish Jo and several other girls throughout the episode, all because they challenge the patriarchal standards of purity.
The writers have done an excellent job at riling viewers with their take on all things vile and regressive that Purity enthusiasts spew out. But if you can't sit through all that, the narration also includes a layered blooming of Jo as the girl who just wants answers, and of course - the manifestation of all things evil that comes towards the end of the episode.
'Into the Dark: Pure' premieres on Friday, September 6, only on Hulu.