Swamp Thing: Long Walk Home

Last episode, we saw Avery Sunderland survive the attempt on his life. Here we see him make his way out of the swamp with the help of Alec Holland. In the process, Avery hallucinates with images of Lucilia Cable (who tries to kill him again), and what appears to be the death of his father courtesy of a living tree in the swamp. Ultimately, Alec Holland rescues him from the swamp and reveals to him that he is the Swamp Thing creature. In thanks, Avery offers to find a way to cure Alec, and return him to his human form.

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While this is all happening, Abby makes her way home to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) main office in Atlanta. So we have two homecomings in this episode. One by Avery who makes it out of the swamp, and the other by Abby who returns to the CDC. Unlike Avery, Abby’s return is not quite the happy homecoming she’d expect. Her absence is questioned with her lack of communication of her whereabouts. Ultimately, she opens up to her friend Dr. Harlan Edwards. She reveals to him the reason why she has been staying at Marais longer than required. Abby tells her friend Harlan about Alec and Swamp Thing.

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Sadly, everything continues to spiral downward with Abby’s return to Atlanta. Harlan is kidnapped without Abby’s knowledge. And she is proposed by Ellery (a member of the Conclave) an offer to capture Swamp Thing. Of course, she declines the offer, and returns to Marais to warn Alec. She arrives too late though.

Image is not mine and used for review purposes under the conditions of free use.

Back in Marais, Avery makes his way to Dr. Jason Woodrue’s home. He shares that he escaped the swamp, and discovered that Alec is the Swamp Thing creature they’ve all been hunting. Initially, he asks Dr. Woodrue to help restore Alec’s humanity. Jason explains to Avery that Alec is more valuable in his current form. Without it, the regenerative formula that Dr. Woodrue devised would be useless. So, instead of meeting Alec in the swamp to cure him, Avery and Jason initiate his capture using Nitrogen to freeze his body. Upon Abby’s return to the swamps of Marais, all she finds are the shotgun rounds that were used to capture Alec, and the markings of Alec’s crystallized form on the ground.

In Swamp Thing comic book lore, Swamp Thing has been able to transfer his essence into another plant body. So, I don’t think will remain in that body they captured. That of course depends on whether Alec has developed that power already. Or is he truly captured in the nitrogen? We’ll just have to wait for next episode.

‘Long Walk Home’ deals with a very real problem when it comes to our natural resources: exploitation. SWAMP THING shows us how the greed of acclaim and profit drives people to take advantage of our environment at whatever cost. Fortunately, SWAMP THING also shows us that there are people who help fight these invaders to protect the environment. Additionally, the environment learns to fight back on its own, and the exploiters learns that nature will not take the abuse lying down. It’s a beautiful message, and SWAMP THING continues to show us how we can thrive together with the environment in harmony.