Saagar Kote
Shudder’s ‘Hell Motel’ deals with a group of true crime enthusiasts invited to the re-launch of an infamous motel called the Cold River Motel, known for occurrences of serial killings three decades ago. The series follows the group as it experiences killings, Satanism, betrayals, and fear. The previous episode ended with Blake being killed by a mysterious masked individual who rips his body to shreds using a mower. As Shirley and Floyd plan to finish their ritual to summon Baphomet and unleash hell, Paige and Andy find themselves in danger of being killed for a sacrifice to a Satanic entity. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Blake’s Untimely Death Puts Paige in Danger
The morning after Blake’s death, Shirley and Floyd wake up excited for the day of reckoning, to add a total of 9 bodies to please Baphomet. They decide to recover Blake’s body before the coyotes come for it. Paige wakes up and sees Floyd and Shirley walking towards the woods. The killer couple find the ripped-up and devastated body of Blake on the road, which shocks them, but they plan to recover whatever parts of the body they can and take it for the ritual. Paige walks up to them, and Floyd says Blake was violent, and that’s why he died. She asks if Floyd killed him, but he denies it, pointing fingers at Andy.
The killer couple warn Paige about Andy and ask her to be careful. They assume that either Paige or Andy is the other killer. With Floyd wanting to kill them both, Shirley says they need one person for the “invocation” to Baphomet, and says that they should turn Paige to their side, and isolate Andy. They plan to do it by falsely portraying Andy as a Satan worshipping psychopath. In the past, Andy told an academic panel about how violent entertainment makes people less sensitive in his thesis defence. The man in the panel tells him that the movies he based his argument on were trash and criticizes his PhD defense as a whole, leading to the argument being rejected by the arrogant panel member.
Paige enters the kitchen area in the motel where Shirley is cooking and Floyd is taking care of the remnants of Blake’s body. Shirley says she looks disturbed, and Floyd offers their protection to Paige from Andy if she thinks he is dangerous. Paige says that they are all strangers and shouldn’t believe each other. Shirley tries to convince her that she and Floyd aren’t killers and offers to show their stuff to her, as long as they can do the same and look at her belongings. Paige reluctantly agrees, and they examine each other’s belongings. Paige and Shirley also go to Andy’s room to examine his things, but Paige spots the Satanic book planted by Shirley and assumes that Andy is interested in Satanic practices and rituals.
A Satanic Book Leads to a Dangerous Misunderstanding
As Paige reads out of the book, she freaks out. She asks Floyd and Shirley about its meaning, and they tell her that Andy is dangerous. However, Paige is reluctant to act against Andy as she has developed a genuine connection with him. The killer couple convinces her that the three of them could isolate Andy by taking him out by using sleeping pills that were used earlier by Portia and Ruby. Floyd and Shirley assume that they have successfully changed Paige’s mind. The actress offers Andy a refreshing drink to cheer him up. He tells her that they are friends and toasts their friendship.
He lies down and says that Floyd and Shirley might be hiding who they are, adding that the motel is a kind of shrine for killers, and they might have come here to make a name for themselves. As he talks, Andy is knocked out by sleeping pills, shocked that Paige took the couple’s side. Shirley and Floyd tie up Andy to a bed and tell Paige that they will wait for the police till the weather is okay; however, Paige becomes emotional about what they are doing. Shirley asks Floyd to arrange some lunch and asks Paige to take a hot bath to relax.
As Paige relaxes in a bathtub, her phone starts getting a signal, following which she immediately calls 911 for help. In another area of the motel, Floyd arranges the body parts of Blake in a circle for the ritual. Shirley and Floyd proceed to make out within the circle of body parts, and she tells him that within a few hours, they will complete the ritual, and the portal to hell will be open and Baphomet will be unleashed. Paige checks out Andy’s college profile on the web and later Googles an occult book website and finds the book she thought belonged to Andy.
An Unexpected Revelation Leads to a Violent Clash
Paige goes into the contents of the book on the website and finds out about the circle ritual, and shockingly finds the photographs of Shirley and Floyd doing the ritual. She realizes that the couple trapped her through their games, so she pretends to be friendly when Shirley enters the bathroom. The killer offers to scrub Paige with a bath product to help her relax even more. Andy wakes up after the pills stop working and tries to untie himself from the bed. Shirley continues to scrub Paige’s back and says everything is okay. She draws a satanic symbol on her forehead and tells Paige there’s nothing to worry about.
As Shirley tries to drown Paige in the bathtub, she finds out that the phone is working, at which point she stops drowning her and checks out the phone. Paige gets up from the bathtub and starts fighting with Shirley. The two women fight for their lives, and Paige manages to overpower her attacker and drown her in the bathtub. However, as Paige relaxes, Shirley gets up and starts choking her from behind. Paige then counters her, smashing her head on the wall in a gruesome manner. As night approaches, Floyd continues to prepare for the ritual.
Paige goes to help and untie Andy, who is still in shock. She tells him that Shirley is dead and that she managed to call 911 for help. Andy expresses his happiness, and Paige tells him that the couple are most likely the killers from 30 years before, and that the two of them have to escape before Floyd finds Shirley’s body. Floyd comes back up and sees that Shirley has been killed. He begins to shout and cry at the horrific sight, as Paige and Andy gather all the knives they can to protect themselves. Andy says he is going to rip two of them apart and proceeds to attack the two of them with his Baphomet mask on.
An Act of Killing and Desperation Scare Andy
Paige and Andy escape to the ritual room and find body parts arranged in a circle. Floyd comes for them and tells them that Paige will be his last victim before he opens the gates of hell. Andy takes a huge metal rod and starts fighting Floyd. Paige takes a knife and stabs Floyd to death in a violent manner. The stabbed, demented killer starts reciting satanic prayers for Baphomet and smiles, asking Satan to accept his own body as a sacrifice to open the gates of hell. Andy and Paige drag him away, and the actress impales his neck with a shovel, leaving her face bloodied.
Later, Andy says that the 911 operator he spoke to said help would come soon. The two of them talk about Floyd and Shirley, wondering whether they were the killers from the past and also the ones who did the killings in the present. Paige is satisfied that she killed the people who murdered Caitlyn all those years ago. As dawn breaks, Andy checks out the ceiling and finds blood stains. He takes a chair and tries to open the ceiling compartment, where he finds a human heart. He begins to think that Paige is a dangerous killer, just as the cops come to the motel.
The two go outside and are greeted by the sheriff, who asks them what happened there. One of the cops vomits at the sight of the things he sees in the motel. The sheriff says he’s never seen something like this before and asks Andy and Paige if they are sure that Shirley and Floyd killed everyone. As the cops continue to comfort Paige and Andy, a Baphomet mask, a shoe, and a bloody knife are revealed to be on the top of the roof, hinting that the real killer of the present is still at large.
Read More: Is Hell Motel a True Story? Are the Cold River Slaughters Real?
