Thresholds – The episode begins with Boyd Stevens (Harold Perrineau) and Fatima (Pegah Ghafoori) arriving at the same cabin he and Sara Myers (Avery Konrad) previously spent the night in when she was having problems in town. He very briefly questions her about the incident with Tillie (Deborah Grover) and provides assurances that he is going to take care of things. He leaves her with some provisions and a talisman while encouraging her to be strong for Ellis.
Jade (David Alpay) bids farewell to the Matthews as he returns to the bar, where he’s right in the middle of contemplating a drink when he realizes he got an unexpected visitor, Henry Kavanaugh (Robert Joy). At the same time, Elgin (Nathan D. Simmons) is ambling around on the front porch of the Colony Home with his camera when one of the Residents (Colin Hluchaniuk) discovers Tille’s body in the greenhouse. Elgin’s camera takes another random photo.
Julie Matthews (Hannah Cheramy) says goodbye to a surprisingly chipper Randall (A.J. Simmons). His entire demeanor changes when she mentions returning to the ruins. At the same time, Boyd and Ellis Stevens (Corteon Moore) strategize outside the Colony House. Ellis appears to want to be honest about the situation and Boyd is completely opposed. The debate doesn’t go any further for the moment due to Kenny Liu (Ricky He) requesting Boyd’s attention at the greenhouse.
Boyd arrives at the greenhouse to find Acosta (Samantha Brown) already deeply entrenched in the investigation and despite their previous encounter, he agrees with her suggestions to immediately begin questioning people. Although Kenny is no longer a Deputy, he agrees to the interviews while Boyd claims that he and Ellis will walk the road, looking for clues. Without hesitating, Boyd also agrees to Donna’s (Elizabeth Saunders) suggestion of questioning Sara but wants to be involved in the process.
At the moment, Sara already has her hands full with helping Victor Kavanaugh (Scott McCord), who is spiraling more out of control by the second due to the lack of success with Jasper. The situation later reaches the point where he sends her seeking help from Tabitha Matthews (Catalina Sandino Moreno). Sara just happens to arrive at the Matthews’s house right after Jim Matthews (Eion Baily) tells Tabitha about the phone calls from someone claiming to be Thomas.
Elgin apparently seeks some assistance of his own when he turns up at the hospital looking for Kristi (Chloe Van Landschoot) or Mari/Marielle (Kaelen Ohm). Instead, he finds Randall who briefly jokes with him about trying to steal drugs. Before Elgin leaves with a blood test, Randall clearly surprises him he apologizes for the way he treated them upon arriving in town. Elgin, in turn, apologizes for throwing up on him.
Being Tabitha was present when Victor remembered Eloise Kavanaugh (Ellie Cluett), he thinks that she might be able to help him with Jasper. He only spirals deeper into despair when he realizes this isn’t the case. Despite the initial failure, she calms him long enough to learn that Jasper had once told Christopher (Thom Payne) some very important things they needed to know about the town. It is this information that he was hoping to retrieve.
Julie returns home just in time for Jim to ask her to watch Ethan Matthews (Simon Webster) while he runs an errand. As Julie attempts to lift his mood by offering to show him something cool, Jim visits Jade at the bar to tell him to stop encouraging Tabitha with her crazy savior theories. Henry silently watches as they argue back and forth for several minutes until Jade storms off.
Ellis’s visit with Fatima doesn’t go much better. The more he tries to reassure her that things will be okay, the more frustrated she becomes. By the time he leaves, she has calmed down but that changes the moment the Kimono Woman (Shuoxin Fu) appears from out of nowhere.
As that happens, Elgin’s photo from the beginning of the episode is revealed as a blood bag, hence the blood test. As he administers the test in the Colony Home bathroom, the camera takes another photo. Returning to the bar, Henry tries to convince Jim that he is going down a similar path that he went down with Victor and Miranda Kavanaugh (Sarah Booth) years ago. Being that Jim knows for a fact that Henry isn’t embellishing, he takes his advice seriously.
Ethan is equally stunned when Julie not only confides in at the ruins but asks for his advice. He tells her that the hero of the story has to be brave and offers to enter the ruins with her. As they go through, it is only Julie who is transported back to where she, Mari, and Randall were held last season. Sometime much later, she meets Martin (Robert Verlaque) and is revealed to be the source that provided the rope for Boyd’s escape in season 2. The scene abruptly skips to Victor, who now has a major revelation thanks to the combined efforts of Sara and Tabitha.
While Victor recalls seeing Jasper and Christopher speaking at the church, Kenny and Acosta interview the man who discovered Tillie. He’s not only hostile but just as quickly points the finger at Sara while also unveiling her questionable past. Being that this is the first time Acosta is hearing these accusations, she’s completely stunned.
Things aren’t going much better for Ellis and Boyd as they argue about how to proceed with Fatima. Ellis clearly wants to run off with Fatima and live in the woods, but Boyd is highly opposed. The discussion won’t get much further thanks to Donna’s interruption. After learning that the residents are ready to march on Sara’s house, Boyd has no option but to share the truth with her. Her reaction is not at all what he expected and she even goes as far as to tell him that people have lost hope in him.
After Donna hears everything Boyd has to say, she practically demands he bring Fatima back to stand trial, which doesn’t sit well with either him or Ellis. Once she storms off, Boyd realizes he has no option but to go with Ellis’s plan and help as much as he can. While this takes place, Julie appears to be having a seizure of sorts at the ruins, which sends a panicked Ethan seeking help. He luckily encounters Kenny and Acosta leaving the Colony Home but by the time they return to the ruins, Julie has come out of the seizure.
Along with Tabitha and Sara, Victor visits the church in hopes of shaking loose more memories. This works, but much to his surprise, he remembers that Christopher wasn’t speaking with Jasper; he was speaking with the Boy In White (Vox Smith). The Boy tells him what seems like a long, fanatical tale about children seeking revenge on someone they once loved and trusted because he killed them. Although the Boy ultimately tells him that going through the Faraway Tree will save the children, Christopher is bordering on the edge of hostility and refuses to listen.
Young Victor (Eli Arsenault) would later share this story with Miranda which he realizes is why she left them. As Victor remembers this, Elgin arrives at the cabin where Fatima is hiding. He not only already somehow knows Fatima is inside but his new photo will be revealed as the cellar doors to the underground bunker he discovered in the previous episode. Boyd and Ellis just happen to be returning to the cabin as well but by the time they get there, all they find is an open door and no Fatima or Elgin.
By this time, Elgin has convinced Fatima to return with him to the cellar by claiming that Ellis sent him. She is suspicious the moment they arrive and only becomes more so as his awkward behavior increases. When he tells her she is pregnant but the baby isn’t hers, she’s fully freaked out. The episode ends with him apologizing as he drags her back to the hidden room.
From Review
Wow, the episode became almost annoyingly long-winded in the last 10 minutes or so. Yes, incredibly intriguing but elaborately long. Up until that point much hadn’t really happened so I would have seen them trickle in bits and pieces of the story throughout, which would have justified the 50-minute runtime. That said, I enjoyed the episode and have been enjoying this entire season, other than an episode of 2.
That said, I’m still up in arms with Elgin’s Nickelodeon-inspired cursed camera and the Children Of The Corn. Wasn’t there an episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark where a cursed camera randomly took pictures of the future? Although I am not keen on revisiting the second season’s plot, I must admit that the rope reveal was near genius. Not only did that reveal answer a lot of questions but it opens the potential for all kinds of plots. I would like to see more of the creatures, but this episode easily deserves a 6.1 out of 10.
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