Shudder original “Slasher” is back for a 5th season, and this time it takes us back in time and to Toronto. A new Ripper is in town, and this one is here for revenge. The horror-thriller slasher-based anthology brings blood and gore to the richness of the 19th century in the form of a killer who is ruthless but brings justice. Gory, bloody, and absolutely gut-wrenching—do you think you can stomach this show?
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In Episode 1 Of ‘Slasher’ Season 5?
A perverted rich man named Alistair Simcoe is out on the streets of Toronto looking for a lady to torture. As he’s about to take a sex worker named Daisy home, Horatio, her friend, and another man on the street save her from being scathed by Alistair. Disappointed but unhinged, Alistair makes his way back home. Horatio explains to Daisy that the man she just met called himself Jack and thrived on pretending to be Jack the Ripper of Toronto. You see, Alistair is the crème de la crème of society, but nobody knows this side of him until… A woman in a widow’s veil appears in front of him while he’s heading home. Alistair realizes she could be his next victim, telling her it’s not right for a woman to be out alone at this hour of the night. Before he can do anything to her, she grabs his arms, ties them to the wall, and strips him of his clothes. She then uses a pair of ginormous sheers and slaughters him by stabbing him a dozen times.
The next day he’s found on his knees, bloody and disgusting. A detective named Kenneth Rijkers is on the job of finding out who has committed this atrocity. Of course, the first thing he learns on the streets is that Alistair has many enemies, and it looks like this was bound to happen to him someday. But his boss doesn’t seem quite so bothered by the happenings. Before Kenneth can reach Simcoe’s wife, the nosy neighbor Viviana Botticelli has already told Mrs. Simco what has happened. She doesn’t understand why her husband could possibly have been in those parts of the city at that time of the night, though.
Elsewhere, the detective checks in on the happenings on the streets. They, too, claim that Alistair had many enemies, and although he harmed one of their own, he was only banned forever from coming there. There can only be reprimands for such a man, but now someone has taken justice into their own hands. In the Botticelli household, a third sister named Verdi arrives. An illegitimate daughter who is more beautiful and young in comparison to her sisters. Verdi moved from Boston after the death of their father. Back in the morgue, Alistair’s body gets examined, and nothing out of the ordinary is found. Later, Detective Kenneth, who has a knack for obsessing over things, shows up in the middle of the night. He realizes there is something in the corpse’s arm. With the help of Dr. Melanda, who in her spare time shows the rich townspeople how to remove a kidney from a live person, he is able to remove a piece of evidence from the corpse’s body. A note that says that the killer is going after all of “Margaret’s” friends. Kenneth isn’t sure who that is and takes it to his boss immediately. He sends him back to Mrs. Simcoe, even if it is the middle of the night.
Mrs. Simcoe realizes this might require them to head into Alistair’s secret study. She has never been there before, and when they enter, the sight is graver than they imagined. It’s like Alistair’s own little “red room” (if you know what we mean). The room is filled with vile images of grotesque surgical procedures and models of body organs that aren’t quite a gentleman’s cup of tea. Other than realizing what a sadist Alistair was, what else could they find in Alistair’s study?
On the other hand, a man named Basil Garvey buys up everything in the streets. His men are stopping the sex workers from finding work, and Horatio doesn’t approve. They begin to fight until Horatio’s love, Daisy, is accidentally killed by smashing her head into a pole. Daisy dies in Hotatio’s arms as he weeps. The Botticelli sisters head for a magic show that some people believe to be the devil’s work. There, Viviana introduces Verdi to Basil Garvey, her betrothed. Not to the shock of anybody, Garvey is immediately infatuated with the younger and more beautiful sister, Verdi. The magic show is fascinating, and as a woman gets sawed in half, Verdi yells because she can’t bear witness to such an atrocity. It so happens that Kenneth’s boss is also at this show when he comes and shows him the note, so Garvey immediately finds out about it.
Who Is Margaret?
Garvey and Kenneth’s boss, Isaac, discuss the note, and Isaac reveals that everything that is happening has something to do with a case from 12 years ago. At the same time, Kenneth finds a false bottom in one of Alistair’s drawers. He takes out the contents, which also reveal notes and newspaper clippings about an incident that occurred 12 years ago. All those years ago, Kenneth was just a lowly officer. He was the one who found the body of a woman who had been eviscerated and left on the streets, her internal organs on display. This woman was named Margaret Mehar. Yes, the same Margaret as in the note. In the Botticelli household, Verdi gets “punished” by the eldest sister Venetia for enticing Garvey.
On the streets, Horatio still cries for Daisy and is faced by the widow. He tells her that if she wants revenge, she needs to go after the big players and not men like Alistair. She needs to kill Garvey, the head of it all. To his astonishment, the widow is there to kill him. According to us, Horatio seemed like a good man, so why would the widow kill him? Horatio only wants to avenge Daisy’s death, but instead, he gets decapitated by the woman in the black veil. It seems Garvey was involved in something big 12 years ago, and a lot of lies have been told for his sake. Will Kenneth be able to solve the mystery all these years later? What of the widow? Who is she? Is there something paranormal about this situation? Let’s find out in episode 2 of “Slasher: Ripper” Season 5.
