There And Back Again – The episode begins by confirming that Tabitha Matthews (Catalina Sandino Moreno) has in fact been sent back to the mysterious town. At the same time, Ethan Matthews (Simon Webster) receives an early warning from Thomas about her arrival. Over the phone, Thomas tells Ethan that Tabitha will be arriving in an ambulance and will need his help. The conversation doesn’t get much further thanks to Jim Matthews (Eion Bailey) ripping the phone off the wall and smashing it. Just as Julie Matthews (Hannah Cheramy) arrives to inquire about the disturbance, it appears that Jim’s maniacal rage has led to him discovering something intriguing about the phone.
While visiting Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori), at the Colony House, Mari/Marielle (Kaelen Ohm) also notices that the residents are on edge after the Crow incident. Bakta (Angela Moore), in particular, appears to be riled up and wastes little time disavowing Tillie’s (Deborah Grover) Tarot activities. Donna (Elizabeth Saunders) intervenes before things get too intense.
As Sara Myers (Avery Konrad) gathers supplies for Victor’s (Scott McCord) fort, he tells her about him and his sister, Eloise (Ellie Cluett) playing and hiding in her home during his childhood. For some undefined reason, both his sister and mother, Miranda (Sarah Booth), were particularly fond of what is now Sara’s house. With the supplies gathered, he whisks them off to the basement because apparently, that is where secrets are shared.
As the day has now turned into night, the EMTs (Kym Wyatt McKenzie/Calem MacDonald) are becoming short-tempered and Tabitha’s insistence that they keep going forward doesn’t calm matters any. By this time, Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) is deep into his stakeout and has even shared his plan with Randall (A.J. Simmons). Although Boyd is clearly perturbed and suspect of Randall’s presence, he surprises him by offering his assistance.
With Kenny Liu’s (Ricky He) group safely tucked into one small cabin, it doesn’t take her long to notice his restlessness. She encourages him to get some sleep but he appears to be intent on finishing the Chinese custom of writing his letter to the dead. It doesn’t take long before their discussion rouses Jade (David Alpay), who promises to tell them a crazy story.
After putting the finishing touches on the fort, Victor tells Sara about the night everyone in town died and meeting the Boy In White (Vox Smith) the following morning. It is also during this encounter that he explains digging up the suitcase. Once he realized he couldn’t bury all the bodies, the Boy In White told him to collect their most precious belongings and bury them instead. Victor hopes to shake loose some memories by looking through the case.
Having realized that the town’s creatures aren’t keeping with their regular habits has Randall on edge, nearly panicked. The arriving ambulance will soon explain this but the mood inside is no less hectic. Maybe even more so because Acosta (Samantha Brown) is forced to handcuff Tabitha just to get her to calm down. Despite not wanting to stop, the EMTs will realize they don’t have an option when they encounter what appears to be an injured person lying on the road. By now, Ethan has also been drawn outside by the disturbance, causing Boyd to rush from the bus and take him back inside.
Shortly after the creature kills the two EMTs and sends Acosta fleeing in the direction of the Colony House, the entire town erupts into pandemonium. Although, Tabitha and Jim are briefly reunited creatures have started coming out of the woodwork and Henry’s (Robert Joy) unexpected presence only adds to the building hysteria. Randall ends up returning to the bus to get a toolkit after learning that Boyd doesn’t have his handcuff key with him. By the time he gives Boyd the kit at the ambulance; things have gone awry at the Colony House thanks to one of Acosta’s stray bullets hitting Nicky (Tamara Fifield). As luck would have it, Mari is still at the house, but a visual inspection reveals there isn’t an exit wound.
By the time Randall gives Boyd the toolkit, he and the ambulance are surrounded by creatures. Despite having a talisman, the creatures only laugh and tell him that they don’t work that way. He makes a run for the bus but encounters a swarm of buzzing insects that are later suggested to be an illusion. At the same time, Boyd has just learned that one of the creatures has the keys to the ambulance. Much to his surprise, the creature offers to trade them for Randall’s life which he accepts. As he pulls into the Colony House, Mari has successfully removed the bullet with the help of Ellis Stevens (Corteon Moore) and Fatima.
As things start to settle at the Colony House, a strange vision of a bloodied woman in a kimono (Shuoxin Fu) causes Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) to question whether or not he is sleeping. It just so happens that the vision comes during a conversation with Tillie about the birds being a negative omen for Fatima. Ethan and Julie have a similar conversation when he asks her what happened to her when she was in the coma. She describes the experience as the most frightening thing in her life.
Jade is just getting around to sharing his visions with Kenny and Kristi (Chloe Van Landschoot). The pleasant yet brief memory of Tian Chen Liu (Elizabeth Moy) appears to be for Kenny’s benefit more than anything. A distance stirring outside will bring them back to reality. Victor takes Sara down a similar path of recollection as he goes through his suitcase of memories. This goes bad and he flips out the moment he realizes Christopher’s puppet, Jasper is missing. Although it takes some convincing, Sara will calm him enough to finish the story.
While Boyd rages to Donna about his decision to leave Randall, Tabitha shares her experience with Jim. Everyone’s attention will soon be drawn downstairs to Nicky, who takes a turn for the worse and dies. This sends Boyd over the edge, but Donna manages to calm him enough to get him alone where she breaks down in tears.
Victor resumes his story about Christopher and Jasper while Fatima requests to be alone with Nicky’s body once it’s moved to a spare room. She takes her taste for the undead to an entirely different level as Boyd and Donna share a drink. The episode ends with their toast being abruptly interrupted by a stirring outside. A quick visual check reveals that someone has put Randall on the hood of the ambulance, alive.
From Review
I am really enjoying the way season 3 is shaping out. There are so many intriguing things going on that it’s almost hard to keep up with them. I am not sure how I feel about the puppet or Fatima’s taste for the undead. Both are interesting, but the Goosebumps/Walking Dead feel is almost enough to ruin it. I guess it will ultimately depend on how they choose to spend it. I was also unsure about Tabitha’s return to the town but that seems to have actually played out rather nicely. Call me cheesy but I am also enjoying this other, sharing, kinder side of Jade. Episode 4 gets an easy 6 out of 10.
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