Thank Christ the flashbacks are nearly over. Last
season was about a small group of characters’ effects on our nation’s power
grid. This season is about localized conflicts that will, no doubt, all
intersect by the December mid-season finale. Without the amulets, the
characters are now, truly, without electricity. So this season, I
guess we get to see what they’re really made of.
One thing the show is doing much better this season is
sharing information between characters in a believable way. When the
bounty hunter informs Charlie that the US government wants Monroe alive, she’s
surprised, but it’s Monroe who doesn’t believe the US Government still
exists. Aaron starts to come clean with his wife on what he has to do
with the power coming back on, because otherwise she’ll keep treating him like
he’s a walking miracle, when he knows his new existence is because of some
unknown property of the nanotech floating throughout the air. We see, near
the end of the episode, why it is that Tom Neville knows that it was the US
Government that set off the nukes six months ago- he stormed the power/computer
room at the tower seconds after the bombs dropped. He would have
eventually seen Randall’s body, and heard some sort of explanation from Miles,
eventually. We see the group fleeing in darkness from that part of the
tower. Something tells me more than the computers crashed there.
Tom Neville impresses even me, and further disgusts his son
Jason, by conspiring to kill Secretary Allenford, a woman who acts like Jane
Addams running Hull House. Notice the letter she receives mid-way through
the episode. Tom’s most impressive act of the night is killing the would-be
assassin he recruited. Brilliant. Jason is rightfully angry at his dad
for betraying a guy Jason brought to him and vouched for, but still willing to
go along with his dad. This proves that Jason learned nothing from Season
1.
Apparently, neither did Charlie, because the stupid is on
full maximum. She tries to silently proceed through a camp of what we’ll
learn later are bounty hunters, only to get caught herself. But these are
understanding guys. While they won’t let Charlie get in the way of their
payday, they will tie her up next to Monroe so she can gloat over his seeming
helplessness. I’m going to give Monroe some credit here: he doesn’t
deceive himself, and he doesn’t pretend to care about the people who died on
his rise to power. He seems only to care about his people killed in the
nuke strike on Philly, which Charlie doesn’t believe for good reason. Too
bad she’s also right later, when the bounty hunters lose Monroe and one of
their own, despite Charlie literally running behind the wagon to try to save
the day. Guess Charlie and her new friend have their work cut out for
themselves.
The pre-blackout references abound in this episode,
including Miles’ typical, half-disappointed reaction in finding out that the
Sheriff thinks Walker, Texas Ranger was a real man. But he has no time to
tell the Sheriff the truth before the poor guy is shot in the head for having
the wrong blood type. Miles tries to escape, but he just can’t leave the
woman there. Is she selfish for wanting him to free her too? Is he
selfish for hesitating to help her, or stupid for helping her after all?
After his escape fails, Miles finds out he’s the prisoner of a man who thinks
he’s entitled to his kiddie porn. My god, if you have kiddie porn, can
you at least NOT pretend it wasn’t traumatic for the kids to make? Titus
shows Miles that no help is coming from Austin because the town messenger was
killed en route. Titus then goes on some unbearable spiel about how no
one gets to tell him what to do, not unlike a certain red-headed dipshit from
another show who comes from pre-catastrophe mediocrity. Titus then
shows what a poor liar and hypocrite he is by breaking Miles’ hand so Miles can
only do what Titus tells him to do. Titus’ main asshole sends a
letter sealed by the pyramid symbol from US Currency (also, a Freemason
symbol), that we see on a letter sent to Allenford immediately after.
Does this asshole know this is Miles Matheson? Does Allenford want him
for some reason? Wow. The world is full of people who want Miles
for something or other. Turns out, Titus wants him for his blood.
Looks like someone needs constant transfusions, possibly for Van Allen’s
disease. But why would Titus care whether this woman lives or not?
She’s too old to make kiddie porn.
Rachel spends most of the episode in the filler scenes,
helping Aaron recover from his actual death, begging people who want nothing
more than to hole up in town to leave town and confront some angry, violent
fuckers over “Stu”. Aaron spends most of the episode trying to not let
his wife rope him into her religious fervor, in between re-telling eighties
movies to kids. To be fair, I can see how wifey would think this is a
miracle. Her pastor is telling her it’s a miracle, she knows nothing
about the nanotech, or that any of it was used on him before, and Aaron has
never seen fit to tell her anything himself. But why see Ben after all
this time? And why see him dying again? Is Aaron going back, mentally, to
where he was when the series began? Who would ever want that? And
why is Aaron the first to see a dead rat?
Rachel, after not convincing anyone that her suicide mission
is a great idea, decides to go it alone. But Dad surprises her with two
of his friends, who I’m sure will die in the next episode. She and her
dad and their human shields ride off into the darkness, and quickly realize
their horses are walking on unstable ground. Yuck. Dead.
Rats. Everywhere. Hey, at least we end on transfusion girl instead
of this.
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