Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 45 The Butcher Review

The Butcher originally aired on April 24, 1989. Neither Micki nor Ryan appear in this episode, making this the series first solo episode. I can understand why they did it this way. The emotional pull only makes sense for Jack's character. The reasons for characters absence are always so flimsy on this show though. We learn this episode that Jack was not only a WWII vet. He also won a lot of medals by killing 'The Butcher' who was going to take over Hitlar after his passing. This is a major problem with Jack's character. The man has literally done everything imaginable on this show. He is an endless supply of knowledge and has an endless amount of contacts. You could claim that he met all of these people over the war, but that's a flimsy explanation. Jack is just a plot devise. His character has no recurring storylines. The writers forget everything they've given Jack. This is the problem with not having a cliffhanger show, the writers forget because they only focus on one episode at a time. The cursed antique is an amulet that resurrects 'The Butcher.' He proceeds to kill Jack's troupe one by one by strangling them with barbed wire until only Jack is left alive. Jack has black and white nightmares in this episode. Jack eventually kills 'The Butcher' again. Seeing Jack's torment and tears is some solid acting moments. I really enjoyed Chris Wiggens performance in this episode. It's too bad that his character hasn't made any sense in the history of the show so far.