Swamp Thing: He Speaks

As the title suggests, Swamp Thing aka Alec Holland speaks to Abby Arcane and confirms that he is Alec. He has no idea how it happened, and has little memory of it as well. What we do know is that Abby gets an idea from Alec as to how to stop the virus. Alec tells her that the ‘virus’ is not invasive but is actually fighting back.

In ‘He Speaks’, instead of fighting back the virus with antibiotics, Abby decides to use immunosuppresants. She experiments on this with Harlan who has now fallen ill to the virus. The gamble pays off, and, at least for now, the virus is under control.

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Also in the episode, we get a cryptic meeting between Madame Xanadu and Daniel Cassidy. From this meeting, we learn that Dan has his future set in stone according to Xanadu’s cards. That is, until Abby came into the picture. Now his cards are reversed. This prompts him to seek out Abby to find out why. Let’s see how this translates in future episodes.

Moving on, Lizzy Tremayne plays an important role in this episode. She discovers that Avery Sunderland is actually drowning in loans from banks to support his accelerant research. She also finds out from her girlfriend, Margaux, that Alec’s boat was actually shot after fishing out remains of his boat from Skeeter Cove. So his death wasn’t an accident. Some mysteries are coming more and more to light in Marais.

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But, we have more mysteries to come starting with Avery. Aside fro the revelation that Avery is bankrupt, we also find out that he is part of a mysterious organization known as The Conclave. Who or what is The Conclave? I did a bit of research, and actually found three mentions of Conclaves in DC continuity. One is a mystical group of heroes that makes its appearance in Fate comics issue 5 that came out in 1995. Though that would make my heart jump for joy because that includes Zatanna on its roster, it’s most unlikely that this is the Conclave referred to here.

Then, we have a ‘Conclave of Twelve’ who form part of Aquaman lore. Unless Aquaman would make an appearance or Swampy heads to the sea, this is more unlikely than the magical group with Zatanna. That leaves the third Conclave which is the most likely. This Conclave made its first appearance in Swamp Thing 1 in 1972. It’s a group of greedy businessmen who want to acquire wealth through any means necessary. Now THAT fits more the background of Avery. The reference digs deep into Swamp Thing lore from the Len Wein stories. I won’t be surprised if we’ll be learning more about them in future SWAMP THING episodes.

Another interesting comic book reference is that pile of bugs animating the body of murdered Munson from last episode. If I’m not mistaken, that’s The Rot from Animal Man #1 of 2011. It’s a very new character created by Jeff Lemiere. The Rot is a creature of decay and death that seeks to destroy life. There’s not much to go by just yet, but looking at the way the insects moved around and animated the corpse of Munson, this just might be that creature.

‘He Speaks’ provides clues to existing mysteries in SWAMP THING while providing new story threads to discover. This is not a simple tale of Abby Arcane and Alec Holland. Far from it. SWAMP THING continues its complex storytelling on its environmental advocacy while blending in comic book references with a splash of true suspense and horror. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to discover SWAMP THING and the intriguing mysteries that accompany it.