'Project Blue Book' Season 2 Episode 7 Review: The Skinwalker's curse leaves Susie with a grim fate
Spoiler alert for Season 2, Episode 7 — 'Curse of the Skinwalker'
After tackling a bizarre little green creature and random lights out of nowhere and saucer-shaped objects plaguing Washington DC's skies in broad daylight, Dr J Allen Hynek and his Blue Book partner Captain Michael Quinn dabble in the supernatural and Navajo folklore surrounding malevolent witches.
Of course, in the end, it turns out to be hallucinogenic gasses released by an airbase experiment revolving around secret weapons located in the same area. But while one would think the titular curse of the Skinwalker is all fiction and no facts, it is another crucial development taking place parallelly back in the Ohio air force base that has us worried for Susie and what's to eventually become of her this season as killing Rizutto proves to be the ultimate bane for her.
The episode kicks off with the Chapman family all the way in Utah, who are inhabiting a property on the Skinwalker Ranch. The 10-year-old child begins sleepwalking far into the woods nearby, and on a mission to rescue him, the whole Chapman family is attacked by giants balls of light. Soon, they spot a rather oddly-structured silhouette at the far end of the forest. This spurs them to seek Blue Book's help and right from the moment Hynek and Quinn land at the ranch, adventure — not necessarily the fun kind — picks up.
It starts with both Hynek and Quinn spotting a giant, black dog in the woods where the Chapmans claimed they were attacked by the fireballs. It's not the only odd creature they come across. The moment the two get separated, they also start seeing this half man-half wolf creature clad in disheveled fur and scaly arms appear momentarily, before disappearing.
As the two explore the woods to find hints of the alleged alien-esque creature the Chapmans had seen, they also come across a giant clearing where mysterious life-size voodoo dolls are hung from the trees. The dolls aren't exactly shaped in human forms, with most of them missing a proper head and resembling the alien creature seen by the Chapman family.
In all of this, there is the Chapmans' really foreboding neighbor who also joins Hynek and Quinn in their quest for the truth in the woods.
The reason something seems off with this person is his appearance and the warnings he comes with. Clad in human clothes shrouded with a dog's head and skin all over his body, the man talks about the Skinwalker's curse which originates from Navajo legends as they once owned the land that the Skinwalker ranch covers. According to him and Navajo culture, the skinwalker is a malevolent witch that uses magic for evil and has the ability to disguise itself as an animal and even possess other humans to grow its power.
Of course, the Chapmans don't want to believe their neighbor and on goes their tiff until they find Billy nervous and shaken, hiding in their home and talking about something that's "coming" their way.
Luckily, Hynek and Quinn have some leads by this point in the form of a cylindrical object with ancient markings on its body lying on the forest floor. He takes it to the local airbase at Fort Duchesne where a female scientist takes accountability for creating what she calls an experimental flare they created as parts of the special secret weapons the airbase has been crafting. This lead mingled with the repeated appearances of the skinwalker, random earthquakes, and Billy eventually going missing through the Chapman house's secret underground tunnel leads the duo to a laboratory which turns out to be a part of Fort Duchesne.
Turns out, the airbase is working with something called tectonic strains that are inducing tremors and making the ground quake. Their work with crafting secret weapons also involves the emission of mind-altering gases that are making people on the ranch hallucinate the mysterious alien creatures and the skinwalker as well.
Of course, Hynek and Quinn ensure the airbase takes full responsibility for toying and traumatizing the Chapmans and due compensation is paid. But while they save the day for the Chapmans, back home, their women are bearing the brunt of the project they are associated with.
On one hand, Mimi is informed that Faye isn't authorized to access Blue Book files and reports anymore, and soon she is also kicked out of her UFO conspiracy group in the aftermath of the Robertson panel. It is, however, Susie that we are the most worried about.
We meet her on this episode as she is vacuuming Rizutto's apartment after killing him, and right at that moment, General Harding knocks at the door. Harding seems to just know something is suspicious about someone of Susie's 'caliber' claiming to be Rizutto's girlfriend. Susie's lies don't sit with the general and he decides to call his men and take her in for investigation.
This is where most of the action happens and picks up though. As we see Susie sit in the tiny confines of the interrogation room, outside, Harding and General Hugh Valentine discuss how she is lying through her teeth.
Things get even tenser when Valentine walks in to interrogate Susie. As much as she tries to hide the panic, it is Valentine's menacing sugar-coated warnings that offer an eerie, foreboding air that only increases fear and anticipation for what stands in the fate of the undercover Russian spy. Even with the Hynek and Quinn part of the episode carrying that creepy air of someone watching at all times, it is Valentine and Susie's confrontation scene that leaves us shaken and most terrified for the skilled assassin, who also happens to have won Quinn's heart.
As the episode culminates, we are left with the teasing question of what's next on the new lovebirds' path. Quinn doesn't know who Susie actually is, and Harding and Valentine won't stop until they find out the truth. Will Quinn be able to take Susie's truth? Will Harding and Valentine let her live in her truth? We know of Quinn's loyalty and the levels the Generals can sink to, but something tells us Quinn is seeing the facade in his superiors' intentions. So maybe all is not lost for Susie and her happily ever after with her daughter yet.
'Project Blue Book' Season 2 airs on Tuesdays at 10 pm only on History.