Home Movies – As the fifth episode of Resident Evil begins, a helicopter circles over Jade Wesker (Ella Balinska) before she is approached by a group of armed men. They quickly grab her. Jade is stunned when one of the soldiers removes their helmet. Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) gets a notification about someone at his front door. When he checks it, he watches a video of Jade (Tamara Smart) and Billie (Siena Agudong) arriving at home and going inside. Roth (Anthony Oseyemi) knocks on Albert’s window to tell him that Evelyn wants to see him. As they arrive at the lab, Evelyn (Paola Nunez) talks to Simon on the phone. Simon (Connor Gosatti) hangs up when he learns he is being grounded. Albert is surprised when he sees Angel Rubio (Pedro De Tavira) tied to a chair.

Evelyn tells him that Angel knows about Tijuana even though she said it wouldn’t be an issue. She can admit when she is wrong. Albert learns more about him. He worked at the Baja Post until he heard something went wrong at Umbrella’s Mexican facility and decided to go public. They tried to buy him, but he wasn’t for sale because he is a stand-up guy. They bought everyone else and kept him under wraps. The only people who believed him were conspiracy freaks and 4chan virgins. Angel somehow knows they’ve moved Joy to South Africa and that they’ve made a problem here. Evelyn wants to know how he knows these things and that is why Roth beat the crap out of him. Since the goon work hasn’t panned out, it is time for Albert to come out and play.

When Albert gets a message from Billie, he says he needs to go. Evelyn isn’t going to let him leave until he finds out what he can from Angel. When Albert removes his gag, Angel says he knows him and he is supposed to be dead. Once Angel tells him he knows his daughter, Albert begins beating him. He grabs a tool to torture him. At home, Jade says she can’t find anything about Raccoon City being nuked. Billie says it didn’t happen just like she is fine. As they go for ice cream, Jade mentions that their father never talked about the moms or donors. Billie believes that is because it was a closed surrogacy or closed donations. Jade argues that their father never talks about his family while Billie claims Angel is just insane. Jade tells her about the file she found on their dad’s computer about Tijuana. It doesn’t mean he was telling the truth though. Jade remembers Angel said they didn’t have birth certificates.

Billie agrees to look for their birth certificates if Jade eats ice cream with her. While looking through their father’s room, they find a dog whistle and something for a gun. Jade finds a laptop under the bed but can’t get the password. Simon calls to tell them about Angel crashing the party before Umbrella security arrived. Jade wants him to help her hack into her father’s computer. She tells him what Angel said about the old Raccoon City being nuked. After Simon breaks through, he learns that Albert and Evelyn are still at work. He doesn’t find anything about the original Raccoon City in the documents. They’re mostly just research articles and many are written by William Birkin. Simon is surprised when he finds out that Albert has a dead drop email meaning you have to input a code every 24 hours or it’ll send.

The email is addressed to Billie so Jade reads it to her. If she is reading this, he is sorry because something has happened and he can’t help her anymore. She may not have much time since Umbrella is coming for her. He has left a bag with everything they’ll need. The letter encourages Billie to get Jade and get out of the house. The key is buried beneath her feet on the road to Lombard Street. Jade wants to find the bag because this is not normal. Simon believes he can help by using the cameras. He’ll loop the cameras so their dad can’t find out what is going on. They’ll have to avoid the cameras in the smart appliances, but Simon can walk them through that. He admits he wants to help because this is just too weird. He also wants to know why Albert thinks Umbrella would go after him since it means they’d go after his mom too.

They decide to go to Lombard Street. On their way out, they have to duck under the thermostat to avoid being caught on camera. They find a picture on the wall from Lombard Street and decide to look behind it. They find a note that says, “the key to a sad Jade in the 5th grade”. Jade tries to remember what she was sad about when she 11. She had her tonsils removed and the doctor told her she needed to sleep despite being in immense pain. Simon admits this is cool and that likes Jade needing him for things. They reach the piano and play the song that their dad always played. One of the keys gets stuck and they find another note in it. It says, “moving song, huh?” Once they move the piano out of the way, Jade notices that the floor is hollow. They pull the bag out of the hole before opening it.

Inside, they find passports for Anna and Mila Schneider with their pictures. The bag also contains cash and a gun. Simon jokes that their dad sure nuked that town only for Billie to tell him to shut up. Billie reminds her that she didn’t want to do this. Jade thinks the guy was right, but Billie says he wasn’t right about her. Jade argues that their dad is crazy. She wonders if he left the note for Billie because he knew she wouldn’t ask questions. Billie tells her that she is super mean sometimes. She just thought she was dying and Jade didn’t even care. Billie suggests dad may trust her because she knows she isn’t a screw-up like Jade. She claims she whines all the time, is barely passing, and took a rock to that girl, but Jade says she did that for her. Billie says she did that because she wanted to and now everyone thinks she is a psycho. Once Jade storms out of the room, Billie asks Simon how much he heard.

He says nothing. He knows it is completely insane and he barely knows her, but he really likes her sister. When Billie suggests she is using him, Simon says he likes that she goes super hard when she cares. They try to smooth things over. Jade and Billie what else their father might be hiding. Billie asks if she really wants to know. Jade does. Billie admits that she wants to find out too. They ask Simon where they would stash important papers in their house before he suggests the basement. While they don’t think they have a basement, Simon knows that Umbrella built them all with basements. They reach the spot where the basement door usually is, but only find a wall. Jade finds a hidden compartment with an RFID reader. Simon says they’re going to need a special card and some people get chips planted in their hands. Their hands don’t work so Simon suggests there has to be a spare somewhere.

Jade tries the dog whistle. When the dog arrives, she waves the dog in front of the chip reader and it works. As they walk down into the basement, they begin losing connection with Simon. They continue until they find a laboratory of sorts. Jade and Billie find items from their childhoods. There is also a chair that looks like it was used to restrain someone. Jade finds their blood in a small refrigerator. A box has a label on it that says RC 1998. They wonder if that has something to do with Raccoon City. A DVD with the name Lisa on it is found. It features a video of a woman with a gun and Albert who tells her to shoot her if she tries anything. They approach a woman who they call Lisa and inject her with something. When she turns around, they see that the woman has an eyeball on her back.

Jade tries to calm Billie by telling her that it cannot be real. She finds something on the computer discussing September 18. It seems to be Albert’s log of Billie and her condition since the attack. If she turns, she will need to be contained. Jade agrees that they should go. Before she does, she wants to get proof of what has happened. When she unplugs a cord from the computer, it triggers an alarm throughout the room. They can’t escape the room before the burn sequence is activated. The girls climb onto the table in the center of the room while everything around them burns. Then, the sprinklers turn on and put out the fire.

Albert enters the room to ask what they’re doing in here. When Albert is asked about the girl with the eye, he insists it wasn’t him. He says they should believe him because he is their father. Jade asks where they were born and at what hospitals. She also asks for their donors’ names. Albert says San Francisco, UCSF Med, Tara Sutton, and Alex Shaum. They ask about the blood in the freezer, but Albert thinks they should talk about it upstairs. Jade pulls a weapon on him. Albert says they’ll do as they’re told before Billie hits him with something. When Albert wakes up, he finds himself handcuffed to the chair. Billie asks if the chair was meant for her. Albert admits the dog that bit her was sick. He begins telling them about Joy and how it infects the body with T-virus when administered in high enough doses. It changes your cells, takes over your bodies, and can make you inhuman.

He is convinced that Billie fought the virus off. When she begins panicking, Albert tries to keep her calm. He reminds her that she is strong because he made her strong. He explains there are ways to help when in an embryo. He tells her about the time she was speaking fluent Spanish at four so he knows she has always been exceptional. Once he is asked about the blood, Albert says Umbrella made them possible and they want him to monitor them. Albert asks them about Angel who said he knew them. Billie eventually confesses that he knows she got bit even though they didn’t tell him anything. He urges them to let him go because they won’t stop coming after Billie if they know she is infected. Albert explains he is the reason they’re still alive and the bag is to keep them safe.

Although Angel hasn’t said anything yet, he will. He needs to get to Angel so he can continue protecting them. Once he is released, he tells them to stay safe and won’t say whether he is going to hurt Angel. In the present, we see that Billie (Adeline Rudolph) is the soldier who removed her mask.

 

Resident Evil Review

While it was good that the episode focused primarily on one aspect of the story, it was just very slow, boring, and silly. Aspects of the episode were good, especially a strong performance from Lance Reddick near the end. The episode had several good revelations since we learned more about Albert and his involvement in everything that happened in the old Raccoon City.

We also know that Billie is actually alive and likely working with Umbrella now. On the flip side, most of the time was spent on Billie and Jade crawling around the home to avoid cameras in smart appliances. All the hacking stuff seems a bit iffy too. I have been waiting for something pivotal to happen and I feel like I will still be waiting after the finale.

The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Resident Evil can be found on Reel Mockery here. Want to support our independent entertainment website? Learn how to do so here.