The Light – As the third episode of Resident Evil begins, we see a report about Umbrella experiencing scandals as its stock price falls. The company is trying to reinvent itself with direct-to-consumer drugs such as Joy. New CEO Evelyn Marcus (Paola Nunez) is interviewed and suggests you can put a price on happiness if you bottle it. Her father founded Umbrella before being pushed out, but she still likes to think of it as a family business. When asked about Raccoon City, Evelyn calls it a terrible accident that nobody could’ve seen. She claims the things they’re working on today are going to change the world. Jade (Ella Balinska) continues running from the drones and soldiers before retrieving a gun that someone drops. Richard Baxter (Turlough Convery) asks if they’re using rubber bullets.

While hiding, Jade hears a little kid calling for her mother. She takes shelter with the kid, Liam. Richard learns that they’ve lost her so he tells them to find her. The little kid’s mother enters and scares Jade until she realizes what is going on. The mother admits they don’t know how to thank Jade. In the past, Jade returns home while looking for her sister. Billie (Siena Agundong) is in the bathroom with blood coming from her mouth, but she won’t let her sister in. Albert (Lance Reddick) comes home and asks about Billie. Once he learns she is fine, he tells Jade he’ll be right back. Albert goes to the office where he finds that the rat has broken free from its cage. In the present, Jade tells the family that Umbrella was responsible for sending the drone. She tells them they should’ve taken the ferry, but soon finds out that they can’t because they’re smuggling contraband.

The dad says the Black Market on these will keep them alive while they resettle. They have people in Calais. Their son has been through so much they want to raise him among family. The mother thinks they can use the chunnel to get to the other side. Smugglers can get people to the other side and they don’t ask questions. Jade suggests pulling their money together to pay for passage. In the past, Albert begins experimenting on the rat and looking at its blood using a microscope. When Billie comes out of the bathroom, Jade immediately checks on her. Billie rushes into her bedroom and shuts the door without responding. Albert checks her blood while Jade reads about the violent outbursts at the Umbrella lab in Tijuana. Jade sets a timer on her watch. Albert finds that Billie’s blood is becoming similar to the rat’s blood.

In the present, Jade learns that the family had to leave their home because the virus got in. The father claims everyone lost someone. Billie struggles to keep it together in the bathroom before joining Jade and Albert in the kitchen. Albert checks her wound and confirms it is getting better. Before they leave, he urges Jade to keep an eye on his sister and call him if anything doesn’t feel right. As they walk to school, Billie insists she is good. She just wants things to be normal. Billie begins freaking out when she hears Simon’s skateboard rolling toward them. Billie walks away before blaming that on the drugs her father gave her. She also believes that Simon (Connor Gosatti) likes Jade. Billie leaves. After flirting a bit, Simon learns that the files were only half downloaded so Jade will need the rest. In the present, Jade and the family talk to Dodger about getting passage to the other side.

The family gives him a bag full of jewelry and Jade gives him her keys. It is enough in the end. As they get into the van, Jade tells Liam (Caleb Payne) that it is okay. Albert runs into Evelyn who admits things are better at home because she is a great lay. During a meeting, she confesses that Tijuana was a setback even though Joy is the future of the company. Umbrella has mostly been a contractor for the US government, but they’ll need to look elsewhere to survive. Although they heard that Albert wants to suspend the project, he now says Joy can be a miracle pill when prescribed in the right dosage. He calls it an antidepressant that lowers anxiety and increases focus. The drug contains a derivative of the T-virus which is a pathogen originally developed for the US military in an ill-fated project.

While they thought they had solved the problem, the T-virus is activated and becomes transmissible at higher doses. He shows them the rat and explains this is what happens when the subject overdoses on Joy. It takes three days for a human until the subject turns into a monster. Joy can be a hit, but they’ll need to delay its launch until they can stabilize it. Evelyn doesn’t see it as a problem even though they need to rethink Joy. They found in the trial that slightly tweaking the virus does something unexpected. She shows them a video of a dog not attacking a cat before saying it goes beyond feeling good. The new Joy will allow them to influence attention and behavior through a series of triggers. She tells Janet (Hanni Heinrich) and Alan (Emile Hager) that it isn’t mind control. While Facebook and Google deliver eyeballs, she says Umbrella can deliver minds.

Although she says it is a trillion-dollar drug, Albert reminds them that they still haven’t found a way to eliminate the danger. She asks how many she’d have to take to reach that point. Albert eventually says 20,000. During lunch, Billie gets even worse in the cafeteria. Richard tries to find out where Jade went to. When Richard sees Jade’s vehicle, he believes the man knows more than he is saying. Jade tells the mother that she is headed home to the University. She goes on to say the University preserves the old world so it is like a backup disk for civilization. It will help them rebuild if this ever ends. The mother doesn’t like thinking about the world they had and their children never got. The van is stopped and the passengers are told to keep their mouths shut from here on out. They begin hearing lickers outside as Jade warns them that they hunt by sound.

Umbrella approaches with their sirens blaring. Richard tells the soldier to pull them out and line them up. Before they can do that, they’re attacked by the lickers. One of them crashes through the van window and attacks one of the passengers. Jade attempts to use the chaos to flee with the family. Umbrella soldiers try to burn the lickers while Jade and the others reach the service door. Evelyn approaches Albert to talk about the board siding with her. He reminds her that they took behavioral modification off the table, but she says she changed her mind. She argues it isn’t about the company’s stop price and instead is about changing the world. Evelyn reveals her friend at the FDA has agreed to rush human trials. He accuses her of bribing them. She wants Albert to stabilize the formula and bring production online.

Albert wants to find a cure before they launch Joy. He asks her to imagine how much money Umbrella will make on a cure if something goes wrong. She agrees to let him work on it after hours, but Joy has to come first. Evelyn takes the rat and cuts its head off with a pair of scissors while telling him that there won’t be any more surprises. During class, Jade texts her sister to see how she is doing. The teacher talks about how viruses can impact a person. Billie freaks out before exiting class. She goes into the bathroom and throws up in the sink. When she comes back to reality, she realizes that everything is fine. Jade and the others walk through the service tunnel while trying to reach the surface. Before they can escape, they find out that Liam has been infected. The father admits he was bitten three days ago while the mom says there are rumors that the Brotherhood has a cure.

Jade doesn’t think there is a cure or that the Brotherhood are good people. She tells the mother that they stop caring about you the moment they’re infected. They’re warned to run when a massive spider shows up. Jade and the family manage to escape into a side room, but it seems like a dead end. The father, Mark (Matt Newman), grabs a big pipe. He tells them to count to ten and go. Mark hits the spider and knocks it to the ground only to be stabbed in the stomach. Jade begins shooting at the spider but has to run away once she empties the gun. She pulls a lever on the wall that causes a door to come down and squash the spider.

In the past, Simon tells Jade that the firewall has been updated even though Umbrella hasn’t updated its security in two years. When Billie sees them arguing, she rushes over and pushes Simon against the wall. Then, she swings around and hits Jade. By the time Jade goes after, Billie is long gone. Evelyn says hello to Jade who learns that she is Simon’s mother. Jade rushes home and finds Billie who says she thinks something is wrong with her. Billie thought it might go away if she just ignored it. She tells her sister what she sees and hears. Billie admits that she cannot feel the cut on her hand. Jade informs her that the dog might’ve been sick so she might be going crazy like the guy she read about. Jade argues it isn’t true and it was just the drugs. In the present, Jade tells Enya (Genna Galloway) to leave Liam because he isn’t hers anymore.

Jade exits the tunnel alone and Richard is waiting for her on the other side. He is shot by someone in the weeds. Then, the Umbrella soldiers are ambushed. Richard asks if they know who he is. The man says they’re Umbrella and fascists. Jade is knocked unconscious.

 

Resident Evil Review

The third episode of Resident Evil grinded forward at a snail’s pace without presenting an interesting story so far. It seems like there should be more to Resident Evil since we’re only getting a barebones story mixed with a bunch of cliches. While this is nothing like Resident Evil, it is similar to so many other shows and movies even those that don’t have zombies. At times, the story appears that it lifted things from Halo, Station Eleven, and other recent shows.

The constant jumping back and forth prevents the story from moving forward at an engaging pace and instead just slows the progress of both. The teenagers can be obnoxiously rude at times so it is difficult to care about them although Billie was better behaved. The action scenes are not bad even though they were a little too dark at times in this episode.

The dialogue is good at times, but cringy too. Richard saying ouch after two shootings is just annoying and dumbs down the show. Other attempts to be comedic don’t cut it either. The biggest problem is the story though. We can only watch Jade run from Umbrella for so long before it gets old and it is getting close to that point. The episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of Resident Evil can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery at this link.