Lullaby – The episode starts with Randall (AJ Simmons) trying to adjust to his new living arrangements while several creatures taunt him. The menacing old grandmother creature (Sara Campbell) greets him at the door. Fear turning to hatred, he teases the creatures about their lack of creepiness. As the creatures depart, he hurls insults at them. The mechanic (John MacNeil) and Nurse (Tessa Janes) creatures are especially teasing with goodbye gestures.
At the makeshift bar, Jade (David Alpay) struggles to cope with his reoccurring visions. Getting a closer look at the newly acquired photo, it’s revealed that his visions are growing much more vivid. It’s no longer the taunting insignia but also the bloody depictions of the journal’s author.
Town Church – Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) is jostled awake by rapidly impatient knocking. Before he can reach the door, Sara (Avery Konrad) emerges from the cellar. He scolds her before stressing the importance of remaining unseen. An agitated Tabitha Matthews (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and Jim Matthews (Eion Bailey) push through the open door, inquiring about Sara’s presence. Boyd points out their lack of information. They claim to have already discussed her special abilities with Kenny Liu (Ricky He) before reminding him of her being a killer. He assures them that she will be on her best behavior. She admits to only being concerned about her attempt on Ethan Matthews’ (Simon Webster) life. Jim asks if they are just supposed to ignore everything. Boyd accuses Jim of changing everything with the radio tower. He says the residents look for him for answers. If there is even a slight chance that Sara can provide answers to these mysteries, she earns her freedom from “the box.”
Tabitha threatens to kill Sara if she comes near her family. Boyd assures them that she will behave herself. She says they don’t value his word anymore before they depart. Boyd orders Sara to lock the door and stay inside while he goes to meet with Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) at the Colony House. Sara admits to being strong enough to endure the coming rigors. Before making a hasty exit, he all but tells her that she doesn’t have any other options.
Liu’s House – Having learned of Sara’s return, Ethan Matthews (Simon Webster) hides in his bedroom with the door locked. Julie Matthews (Hannah Cheramy) is in the middle of coaxing him out when her parents return. They promise to not let anything bad happen to him. Jim reminds him of the “Cromenockle” heroine forced to conquer her fears of a certain cave. Ethan asks to see Sara.
Town Hospital – Kristi (Chloe Van Landschoot) and Mari (Kaelen Ohm) enjoy Tian’s bread chips. Mari gifts her with a “Gerhardt Trucking” shirt. Shocked, Kristi questions how she managed to hang onto it. Mari admits it was a selfish act because it had her scent on it. Kristi says the town and its subsequent horrors have changed her. She tells her that she may not be the girl she once was. Mari assures her that they will figure it out together before they kiss.
Myer Residence – In her old home, Sara sees Nathan Myer’s (Paul Zinno) shirt on the back of the kitchen chair. She relishes the scent of the shirt when Reggie and (Zach Faye) approach. Hysterical. Paula tells her that she isn’t getting her house or coat back. Sara claims to have only come to collect her and Nathan’s belongings, including a Christmas ornament. Reggie says most of their things were taken to the diner. He says it was “too creepy” to live among them.
Town Bar – Victor (Scott McCord) bursts in without knocking. Jade tries to explain his obsession with the insignia. Victor offers to help with stipulations but Jade refuses. Leaving only to return with a violin, Victor promises to tell what he knows about the man in the photo if he plays to his satisfaction. Shocked, Jade complies.
Liu’s Residence – Jim and Tabitha debate their differing opinions about Ethan meeting with Sara. She admits to being surprised that he would consider the idea. He suggests it would help Ethan confront his fears. He says the doctor stressed the importance of Ethan taking the lead after Thomas died. Ethan eavesdrops on their conversation. She agrees to let Ethan see Sara only if she is there. Jim isn’t keen on the idea when Ethan barges in to agree with his father. He reminds her of what she said about the need to brave the dangers of this place. When on a quest, one can only remove their foe’s powers by facing them head-on. Before sending the boy off, she urges him to stay close to his father.
Colony House – Donna points out that Boyd is the creator of the rules. B his own standards, Sara should be in “the box.” Boyd claims Father Khatri (Shaun Majumder) believed she was special. She says while Father Khatri is dead, the residents are still trapped there. A skeptical Donna adds Sara is yet to reveal a “yellow brick road” before saying the resident still have their faith in him. She admits to believing it is more about his previous capability of protecting his wife, Abby Stevens (Lisa Ryder), and less about Sara’s special abilities. Feeling he could have done more for Abby, he asks Donna if she will back his decision. She asks if he seeks her approval. She says his biggest mistake was returning home without answers, only a psychopath who is responsible for the death of four people.
Outside The Diner – Sara spots Kenny emerging from the diner when Ethan and Jim approach. Ethan says everything though she died in the woods. He admits to being disappointed and hurt over her feigned friendship. He suggests her ability to survive in the woods is like that of the monsters, so she is a monster. He denies having any fear of her. She says okay.
In The Woods – Victor escorts Jade to the junkyard he created from the cars left in town. He admits the location was obvious because some vehicles were already there. He apologizes for his behavior yesterday before saying he doesn’t like people to touch his things. Giving him the violin, Victor asks if he knows the “twinkling star song,” “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” He says his mother sang him the song when he got scared. He points out that his mother owned the station wagon.
Town Church – Elgin (Nathan D Simmons) apologizes for intruding on Sara’s privacy. She assures him there is plenty of room for the both of them. He asks where she is living. She says there for the time being. He suggests a priest lives there. She informs him of Father Khatri’s death. He tells her that his grandmother went to church regularly. He was on a trip to see his grandmother when they landed in the town. After Sunday’s morning service, the two would retire to the front porch and make crochet owls. She tells him about her and Nathan’s collection of ceramic Christmas ornaments from the Dollar Store. They would spend days panting them but his were always better than hers. She says they all disappeared except for one that Nathan kept in his possession without her knowledge. She claims the person who has it is refusing to return it to her. He offers to help her get it back before asking why she isn’t staying at the Colony House.
She says forgiveness is nice. He says it is “wishful thinking.” He asks if she seeks forgiveness for something. She admits to killing Nathan. Shocked, he stands up to leave when she says it was nice to meet him.
Liu’s Residence – Tabitha and Julie rush outside to meet the returning Ethan and Jim. Ethan announces he is no longer afraid. Julie rewards him with a hand slap and fist bump before Tabitha hugs him. Julie asks him to help her in the kitchen. Jim tells Tabitha that Ethan showed a lot of courage. The rock puzzle captures her attention but it doesn’t trigger a hallucination this time.
Town Diner – Tian Chen Liu (Elizabeth Moy) tells Sara that she took from her after everything she did for her. She accuses Sara of filling her with hate. After giving her the box filled with her and Nathan’s belongings, she orders her to never come back to the diner. Upon leaving, Sara encounters an angry Kenny. He berates her before knocking the box out of her hands. He picks up a ceramic snowman ornament and smashes it against a wall. He threatens to drag her to “the box” if she returns to the diner, regardless of what Boyd says. Elgin helps gather her belongings.
Town Hospital – Mari is putting the final touches on Kristi’s new haircut. Kristi inspects her new hairstyle before giving Mari a kiss. Tillie (Deborah Grover) gives Kristi a bottle of liquid morphine. Kristi questions what she was doing with the morphine. Tillie suggests her condition will progress until she can no longer self-administer the medicine. Kristi assures her that she will take care of it. Tillie claims there is a lot of chitter-chatter surrounding Sara’s return. Upset, Kristi rushes out but Mari convinces her to talk about it. She admits to being upset with Sara for killing Nathan with a stolen scalpel. Mari tries to comfort her but she feels responsible.
In The Woods – Victor tells Jade that the person who wrote the journal is Christopher (Thom Payne) whose car is in the junkyard. He says Christopher could put a smile on your face during the toughest times but it all changed. Jade admits to being terrified of his progressive hallucinations before suggesting the journal may hold the answers. He says Christopher was probably obsessed with him. Victor flees to the station wagon where he reveals how Christopher became obsessed with the symbol. It ultimately led to the death of most of the town’s people. Christopher no longer cared about making people laugh. One night his mother ordered him to find a new hiding place. The next morning, everyone was dead.
In The Woods – Tabitha takes the rock puzzle back to where she and Victor escaped the town’s underground labyrinth. Fully assembled, she announces her presence. Several ghastly children gradually marched toward her while chanting “Anghkooey.” With each step, the chanting grows more rapid. They drag her to the round when she realizes it is a vivid hallucination. When Jade approaches, he points out her bloody nose.
In Town – Randall continues working on the bus to make it more comfortable. Jim tells Boyd that he doesn’t agree with his decision regarding Sara but understands. He says she is just a broken girl, not a killer before explaining his theory of the voice on the radio. He says the government, dating back to World War II, experimented with similar parameters. Boyd leaves without providing a response.
Town Diner – Boyd experiences another parasitic attack. The parasites are swimming underneath the skin of his right forearm.
The Town’s Hospital – Kristi enjoys her gift while Mari removes a syringe full of liquid morphine from the hospital medicine cabinet. She ingests the liquid.
Town Diner – The episode wraps up with Tian finding Boyd who says he needs to talk to her.
FROM Review
Not the most action-packed episode but a lot happened. I feel like the cast and crew did an excellent job setting the stage for many ensuing mysteries. Take Mari’s medicine cabinet raid for instance. This would almost feel like a trite storyline if it wasn’t woven in a way that questions whether the girl is a drug addict or suffering from cancer. Jim’s theories are starting to make more sense while Tabitha seemingly falls deeper into despair. Setting it up so the town’s two potential weirdoes share a chance encounter in the mysterious forest could be very revealing.
Tabitha saw the children but not Jade. Randall is also proving himself as much more than just a hothead and I am especially interested to see whether he rises to the challenges or falls into the deep end. I didn’t find Sara’s encounter with Elgin and Ethan the least interesting. Ethan’s speech was blown out of proportion for a small child.
The episode deserves a 6. Get more From recaps here. Support Reel Mockery by clicking the link. Our onsite advertising is customizable and scalable to ensure cost efficiency.
