The Light Of Day – Episode 5 begins with Boyd (Harold Perrineau) and Ellis Stevens (Corteon Moore) getting Randall (A.J. Simmons) to safety at the Colony House. Things immediately become strained when Randall accuses Boyd of abandoning him.

The situation in town only becomes even more strained as the various townspeople learn about Tabitha Matthews’ (Catalina Sandino Moreno) return. By the time Kenny Liu’s (Ricky He) group makes it back there is a town meeting scheduled at the diner for later that evening. Jade (David Alpay) takes the news of her return excitedly and immediately races to greet her while Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) gets Henry (Robert Joy) settled and prepared to meet Victor (Scott McCord) at the Colony House.

It just so happens that Victor and Sara Myers (Avery Konrad) are on their way back to the Colony House to gather supplies for their trek into the tunnels. Their journey is sidelined the minute they return to the Colony House and learn what transpired. Victor takes the news of Henry’s return especially hard and doesn’t even meet with him.

At nearly the same time, Tabitha attempts to discuss her trip with her family. Julie Matthews (Hannah Cheramy) is especially pushy while Jim Matthews (Eion Bailey) is protective and just glad to have her back safely. He becomes even more so when Jade shows up, demanding an explanation. As Jade advocates immediately returning to the tree, he learns about the Faraway Trees and the bottles containing various numbers. Tabitha doesn’t appear opposed to returning to the tree but she feels necessary to attend the town meeting to explain things.

With Randall now recovering at the makeshift town hospital, Kenny and Boyd briefly discuss making another supply run. Despite the good fortune of the food, Kenny warns Boyd that there is something different out there. This segues into a debate about why the monsters left Randall alive, which Boyd suspects is an intimidation tactic to further torment them during the day.

Mari/Marielle (Kaelen Ohm) becomes frustrated with Kristi’s (Chloe Van Landschoot) concerns for her relapsing amongst the hysteria. They will only briefly argue about this before Mari turns her attention to Randall. Donna continues her attempts to console Henry while she shows him Victor’s room. He does a good job of beating himself up but doesn’t get too much time to dwell on it thanks to Tillie’s (Deborah Groveer) interruption of the meeting starting.

The entire town is gathered in the diner before Tabitha shows up and the residents are just as inquisitive as Boyd and Donna imagined. Henry does a decent job of explaining things while Boyd and Donna try to get things civil. That becomes especially hard when Tabitha turns up.

With the majority of the residents at the meeting, Julie uses the opportunity to help herself to Fatima’s (Pegah Ghfoori) stash. On her exit, she is nearly attacked by Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) who appears to be just as much on edge as she is. As they spend the day smoking and discussing their problems, Sara helps Victor realize that Henry likely has the same apprehensions about their meeting as he does.

By this time, things have become nearly hostile at the meeting thanks to Fatima and Dale (Cliff Saunders). Although both Acosta (Samantha Brown) and Henry attempt to defend Tabitha, Dale and Fatima are outraged to learn that she didn’t try to tell anyone about their situation. Things eventually become so heated that Tabitha ends up walking out. Boyd will try to rationalize and shine a light on the fact that Tabitha’s successful trip means there is a possibility of them going home. Unfortunately, Boyd’s point only makes the residents more anxious to go through the tree themselves. Much to his surprise, Fatima and now Ellis will be the most outspoken residents, even outshining Dale.

Jade and Ethan Matthews (Simon Webster) are in a bit of a discussion about meeting themselves when Tabitha returns to tell him that they are going to the tree. He couldn’t be happier while Jim remains cautious. Jim eventually relents to her taking Jade to the tree under the condition that she tells Ethan to remain behind with him. Ethan handles this about as well as expected but agrees to stay behind.

Boyd is no less upset and doesn’t waste any time letting Ellis know it when he approaches him after the meeting. Boyd practically accuses him of being reckless with other people’s lives while Ellis accuses him of sitting on his hands and doing nothing. This brief meeting ends with Boyd storming off. Meanwhile, things between Julie and Elgin are going much better as they raid the Colony House’s basement supply of retro 80s attire. Julie even finds an instant Polaroid camera that they use to snap a few pictures.

Boyd is still fuming when Acosta arrives at the station to not only thank him for defending her during the meeting but to suggest devising another activity to take the resident’s mind off returning to the tree. He doesn’t take the suggestion well and jumps down her throat, which he appears to immediately regret after she walks away.

Equally frustrated, Ellis turns to Fatima for advice, which leads to him discovering her nasty little habit. At the same time, Ethan meets Henry and introduces himself as Victor’s best friend. Victor becomes the main topic of discussion but this doesn’t last very long because they soon spot him and Sara returning to town. As Victor and Henry share an emotional reunion, Boyd attempts to make himself feel better by ambling around the bus where Randall was staying. Much to his surprise, he’s joined by Bakta (Angela Moore) and despite her being another of the outspoken residents at the meeting; her talk appears to make him feel better.

By now Jade and Tabitha have not only returned to the tree but they’ve removed several bottles. Despite them containing nothing more than 4 random numbers, Jade maintains his upbeat and positive outlook while Tabitha becomes frustrated. In an attempt to make her feel better, he shares his experience in the tunnels with her. As he attempts to describe what he was feeling, Dale interrupts.

The episode ends with Dale going through the tree and ending up trapped in the wall of the drained pool in town.

 

From Review

I enjoyed the episode, but I must admit, most of it came off as virtually useless, especially for such a long episode. Victor and Henry’s brief reunion wasn’t a total disappointment and Boyd losing the trust of the townspeople opens all kinds of interesting potentials. Dale’s supposed death was creative but I wasn’t really feeling it. I would have liked to see something different. Henry’s revelation about the motel was shocking and I found myself nearly dumbfounded that I had never considered that aspect before.

Elgin and Julie are certainly not two of my preferred characters, but I did enjoy their time together. The whole Thomas subplot got sidelined for the episode and although I never favored it, I felt it strange that it wasn’t at least mentioned or something. I am enjoying the new Jade but kind of hate to see Dale go. Episode 5 gets a 5.7 out of 10.

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