The Wolves Circle – The episode begins 6 months before the collapse where 2 DEA agents (Nick Denbeigh) raid what appears to be a long term living motel unit. After coming up empty in several of the units, the men have a close call in one of the last units. One man takes the perpetrator outside while the other searches the room and find a young girl in the bathroom.
Sometime after the collapse, a woman talks about opening their gate to the first 100 and feeling safe. In reality, there were millions only miles away that were doing practically anything for food. While she recalls this, a young girl out hunting for flowers is chased and attacked by an outsider.
The same woman from before explains how society crumbled after the collapse and citizens became refugees in their own towns and cities. At the same time, a family isn’t given the most gracious welcome as they arrive at what appears to be a refugee camp. The woman is on alert from the beginning but before anything can be decided, they are surrounded by guards. One guard, Evan Lee (Jesse Hutch) asks the man, Tom Reynolds (Sam Page), if he has any items listed on a chalkboard hanging nearby. Tom does not have anything to trade and annoys Evan when he says he didn’t come to trade. When Evan asks who he is and why he’s there, Tom introduces himself as Tom Reynolds, an engineer there to see Ian Ross. When questioned, the woman addresses herself as Jacq Reynolds (Jill Wagner), a therapist. Evan even briefly questions Bobby Reynolds (Goliath Davis) before consulting with someone named Jeff Eriksson (Bailey Chase) on what appears to be a radio. It’s only seconds later when Evan apologizes for the intensity and tells Tom that his story passed. Evan not only lets them through but he has Tick (Kevin Lawson) escort them to their destination.
As Tom and Jaq are escorted up the mountain, a man in a hoodie radios an accomplice with the Homestead’s security schedule. The little girl from the beginning is revealed to be a part of the homestead/camp/community Tom and Jacq just arrived at. The guy Evan spoke to, Jeff isn’t happy when he learns that Georgie Eriksson (Georgie White) was threatened. Although Jeff learns about the intruder from his wife, Tara Eriksson (Kearran Giovanni), she is worried about him going outside the wire to get the guy. She is not completely satisfied but much happier when he reaches out to Bing (Emmanuel McCord).
Jacq and Tom briefly meet Jeff right before he races off to track down the intruder but he is in such a rush that he doesn’t say a few words to them. It is also revealed at this time that Ian is in a coma and is apparently in charge of the Homestead. When Tom asks Jenna Ross (Dawn Olivieri) who Ian named second in command, she doesn’t have an answer.
While Tara is examining Georgie, Georgie tells her that the man who chased her was hungry and he wasn’t alone. Evan who is also nearby moves out after he hears this news. Before he gets out of speaking range, Georgie tells him the man will be with a boy and girl and they will likely be by a river. By this time, Jeff and Bing have already tracked the intruder across the ridge. Evan encourages him to let him join him in the pursuit but he doesn’t appear too interested. It doesn’t take Jeff too long to track the man back to a campsite by the river. Bing tries to talk him into attacking them but Jeff thinks better of it.
Elsewhere, Jacq tries to help Jenna make a big decision when they are interrupted by gunshots. Jenna claims they are only training shots, but it doesn’t appear that Jacq believes it. Jacq tells her that she doesn’t know what’s in the box she’s been carrying around or what decision she has to make but if her vote counts, she votes for safety. Jenna enigmatically tells her that safety can mean different things for different people. While she tells her that, she pulls a satellite phone from the box and makes a call.
When Evan finally catches up to Jeff and Bing, he catches them tainting the camp’s water supply with what appears to be some kind of poisoned animal. Evan isn’t at all happy about this and nearly comes to blows with Bing. Evan approaches Jeff about this again later and practically tells him there is no sense in wiping out an entire camp when you are after a single target. Although nothing is decided at that moment, Jeff is clearly thinking it over.
Jenna and Tara are giving Jacq the rundown of the food supply when Georgie shows up and claims someone is going to die. Tara awkwardly tells her to go find her brother and then goes after her. When Jacq and Jenna are alone, Jacq learns that Georgie was perhaps a trafficking victim before the collapse. Things only become even more strained when Jenna suggests that Georgie might be a prophet of God.
It becomes clear that Abe Eriksson (Tyler Lofton) and Jeff do not have the best relationship when Jeff tries to train him how to shoot. At one point, Abe becomes so frustrated that he tells Jeff he is going to have Ian’s people teach him. Even though Abe is dating Ian’s daughter, Claire Ross (Olivia Sanabia), Jeff doesn’t like this because they are not family.
Things don’t go much better for Jacq when she tries to apologize to Tara for encroaching on Georgie’s situation earlier. The two have a nice nostalgic discussion about things before the collapse and Tara even ends up apologizing for getting all bent out of shape earlier. Tara also confides in Jacq, telling her that Georgie claims she hears and sees angels. Jacq doesn’t even bother trying to answer when Tara asks her if she really is hearing and seeing angels. Jacq does offer to speak to her as a therapist.
Now that they are seeing eye-to-eye, Jacq asks Tara for help with the depressed people that she’s discovered in her short time at the homestead. Although there are tons of them and they are near suicide, Tara doesn’t know what to do. She does however offer to relay the discovery to Jeff.
When Tara attempts to discuss the issue with Jeff, she finds him neck-deep in solar panel problems. After fixing the solar problem, she jokingly asks if there is anything else she can do and this is when he mentions that half the civilians went AWOL from that morning’s training session. This gives her the perfect opportunity to bring up the severe case of depression in camp. He doesn’t take it so well when he hears that talk therapy will likely take months. This leads to a discussion about their children and Jeff’s argument with Abe in particular.
The shady guy in the hoodie meets with two men to give them a list of supplies from the homestead. He also tells them that the time to strike is getting near because tensions have never been higher in camp. Things get even stranger when Jacq meets with Georgie, They very briefly discuss Georgie’s drawing and her family before Georgie apologizes. When asked why she’s apologizing, Georgie says that she’ll see.
The next day, Jacq and Tom come across Claire, collecting acorns, in the woods. They only briefly discuss acorns before Claire asks how to tell when you love someone. This discussion doesn’t get too far because Jacq asks Claire what she thinks, which apparently does not surprise her at all. From here, Claire mentions that her parents don’t even think she should be interested in boys right now. Jacq says that with everything that’s going on, she can see why her parents wouldn’t want any drastic change. The conversation doesn’t get much further when Jacq tells Claire that feelings have consequences, and a smart girl considers all the factors.
Shortly after this, Abe takes Claire on a picnic where he fishes and cooks their lunch. Claire is practically stunned speechless but becomes even more so when she notices that Abe is using her father’s vintage fly rod. Claire then asks if they are dating because she is saving herself for marriage. Abe doesn’t appear to have a problem with this but he does have a problem with their parents interfering in the relationship. This leads to a brief blowup and Claire reconsidering their relationship. She ultimately ends up storming off and telling him to return her father’s fly rod.
The episode ends with Jenna’s mystery caller making a huge stir in the homestead when he flies his helicopter to an adjacent mountaintop and touches down. Jenna is on the phone with him at the time and the mystery caller’s approach does not go unnoticed by either Jeff or Evan.
Homestead: The Series Review
Not a bad start to what could be a decent series. I would rather the episodes be cut to 30 minutes or less but it doesn’t look like that will be the case. Although the series doesn’t offer much more than the typical apocalyptic thriller, I do like the mystery surrounding the collapse. I’m sure as the story progresses there will be more revealed about how the world came to be, but as of right now, there isn’t much information available.
Most of the characters are what you’d expect to see with any end-of-day series, but there have been so many variations of these shows that practically everything has been done. I’d give the premiere a 5.4 out of 10 and would consider watching another episode.
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