Hemlock Grove S2E1 - "Blood Pressure" Recap

A masked man sneaks into a home while the parents and child are asleep. He turns on the gas stove, lights a candle, and leaves. He heads into the woods and whips himself repeatedly while his mask sits in the dirt next to him.

There's a Romani party happening to celebrate one of their recently deceased elders. The body is propped up in a chair while the guests come up one at a time to whisper their sentiments to it. Destiny arrives and meets Peter, who is already there. She later chats up with a man named Andreas, who she used to know when they were much younger. They proceed to hook up.

Peter speaks with his mother, who advises him to move on from his grief over Letha's death. It's not long till the festivities are broken up by police officers who arrest Linda and take her away. Peter tries to chase after the squad car but it's no use. Her charges are many small time, but the law enforcement is treating Romani as an organised crime unit. She's being extradited back to Hemlock Grove to be charged. Destiny tells Peter he can stay with her. They also need to find a way to raise twenty thousand dollars to afford the lawyer.

Roman has a corporate meeting regarding the Godfrey corporation. He shows photos from his recent holiday to Hawaii and the girl he "fucked a lot," explaining how he wants to use the company to focus their research on enhancing the youth experience, seeing it as more profitable. He also confronts Dr. Pryce regarding some funding and the cryptic nature of what is being used on, as shown by the paperwork. Roman later tells him he'll be freezing the funding until he tells him what the money is being used on. Pryce warns him not to interfere and Roman is unmoved.

Roman drives by Godfrey manor, where he no longer lives. Inside, Olivia is alive and being tended to by Dr. Pryce. Her tongue has been sewn back on and Pryce checks on her stitches and her leg. She wants to know what Roman has been up to and he informs her of how he threatened to fire him if he doesn't explain some of the company's more secret expenditure. They also note how he must be getting hungry. Olivia wonders how he has been satiating himself.

Roman meets with a man in a dingy motel room. He pays the man some cash and the man removes his shirt, revealing several leeches on his torso that are feeding on the man's blood. Roman eats several of the leeches while putting the rest into a plastic bag for later. The man says it will take a few days to "start a new crop" and Roman tells him to use twice as many for next time.

Peter arrives at Roman's new home to apologise and ask for help. Roman's still angry and turns him away, saying it's not his problem. Peter asks for the twenty thousand dollars but Roman won't help, saying that Shelley died alone and Peter abandoned him when he needed him most.

Norman visits Olivia, who initially acts coldly towards his attempts to coax her to go out with him since she's still recovering, before changing and then unchanging her mind.

Desperate for money, Peter meets with some drug dealers. He claims to be selling them a drug called "Saint Sebastian's Arrow." He's claiming it's an ancient Romani drug and concocts a solution for them to sample. Once they've had a drop of it put into their eyes, he forces a transformation, leading them to believe they are experiencing a potent hallucination. The deal is struck. Peter is paid and he provides them with the faux-recipe. After they leave, Peter coughs up blood onto the floor and lies down on the sofa in pain. He has a strange, dark dream before waking up to find Destiny standing over him holding a piece of his flesh and a stack of bills, asking what he has done. He tells her he worked a con and they can now afford the lawyer. She chides him for turning on the wrong moon and for bringing the drug dealers to her place. She says he could end up as a vargulf and that it might already be too late. He apologises, saying it was just a one-time thing.

Pryce meets with a Russian woman doctor who updates him on the status of the body seen in Season 1 in the tank. It no longer looks like an alien, but a pretty blonde girl. She's almost ready, but we have yet to learn what for.

Peter heads to a garage and gets hired as a tow-truck driver. He's momentarily distracted by a news story reporting about a man and his son that were found dead in a gorge. Peter seems horrified and entranced before the man hiring him regains his focus, saying he had better not be on drugs, since that's not the sort of person he hires.

Roman consumes the last of his leeches and hunger still burns in his gaze. He heads to an underground rave and spots a fit girl in a red dress. He approaches and asks if she wants him to buy her a drink, adding that she looks lonely. She says she has a drink, gesturing to the one in her hand, and also has a date. Roman glances at her date sitting off to the side and says she can have both those things and still be lonely. The date becomes angry, saying that she is his. He asks if that's true and if she belongs to him. She says no, but notes that her date has anger issues. Roman asks if this whining date is showing her a good time. She says not really. The date tries to attack Roman, but he knocks him down and out with one punch and she is more than happy to accompany Roman. He's driving with her sitting shotgun and she does a line of cocaine off her hand. She gropes and propositions him and Roman becomes distracted by the thudding pulse in her vein. He pulls over and kicks her out of the car, leaving her stranded on the road.

Roman returns home and enters a code that opens a secret room. He tells an old nanny sitting inside that she can go home now. He goes into the adjoining secret room and looks at his baby daughter, whose eerily bright blue eyes follow him as he walks back and forth.

Hemlock Grove is available for viewing on Netflix.