Originally created by Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich, Damion Hestrom aka the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, first appeared in Ghost Rider #1 (Sept. 1973); his sister Satana, created by Thoimas and John Romita Sr, followed in Vampire Tales #2 (Oct. 1973). The televison series was created by Paul Zbyszewski and stars Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon respectively star as Daimon and Ana (now shortened from Satana) Helstrom.
As the series begins the brother and sister are leading seperate lives. Daimon is a college professor in Portland, Oregon, who in his spare time assists the Saint Teresa Center for Mental Health with “special” cases that require his demonic based abilities. Whilst Ana lives in San Francisco and has a career as an antique dealer who in her spare time scours and kills criminals with her special abilities. Meanwhile their mother, Victoria (Elizabeth Marvel), is held in Saint Teresa’s due to her demonic possession by a demon named Mother. Her husband was a serial killer Satanist named Marduk Helstrom (Mitch Pileggi).
As we are introduced to Daimon we discover that he is being forced to work with Gabriella Rosetti (Ariana Guerra), an agent from the Vatican, by Louise Hastings (June Carryl), Head of the Saint Teresa Center for Mental Health. An interesting “exorcism” takes place that more than establishes the kind of man Daimon is and just when we think all is safe we discover that an orderly named Keith Spivey (Daniel Cudmore) disappears following a raid on a demonic tomb.
Meanwhile, Gabriella’s skeptism leads her to sneak in and confront Mother. This turns out to be a terrible decision and she has to be rescued by Daimon and Hastings. Daimon finds a symbol his Mother has drawn on the wall,
Interspersed with Daimon’s antics are those of his sister. We get a good idea of what she likes to do in her spare time and witness Ana and her ally, the Caretaker (Robert Wisdom), discover a strange skeleton in the tomb. Ana takes the skull to examine more thoroughly and finds the same symbol on the skull.
Towards the end of the episode the siblings finally reunite at Saint Teresa’s.
Verdict: 7/10. A decently paced opening episode that lets those unfamiliar with the characters get a good idea of the type of people they are watching. The supernatural elements are presented as strongly as they were probably allowed with the cast delivering believable performances. In particular, Austen and Lemmon’s portrayal of polar opposite siblings gives the show a strong cornerstone to build upon.
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