Quite a few revelations in this episode. Wow.
In The Mood
So we start off with David realizing that his newfound astral plane walking powers provide the perfect opportunity to have sexytimes with Syd, as they can feel like they’re touching, but not actually be touching. He conjures them a pretty white room by the seaside to get busy in, while explaining it all to Syd.
In the background, we see some foreshadowing that gives an interesting metaphor to what’s coming next; a perfect bowl of strawberries sits on the table, crawling with bugs.
We also find out a little more about Carey/Kerry. I’d initially thought they were taking turns with the body–it appears she just kind of separates from him and is reabsorbed when she’s going back to him. The team has gotten the bullet out of her, and he reabsorbs her, taking some of the injury on himself.
To the rescue?
David has an eerie sense of calm, like he’s now aware of his capabilities and everything is alright with the world, but it looks more like another facet of his madness. Melanie knows there’s something wrong right away, but Syd would rather believe the man she clearly loves is getting a little better.
She’s definitely deluding herself.
He says he wants to go rescue his sister from Division 3 and The Eye, and Melanie starts putting together a plan. She’s not wanting to attack yet, but knows David isn’t going to sit idly by.
Besides, David tells her that he’s seen Oliver, and since Oliver has been trapped in the astral plane for 20 years, Melanie isn’t going to lose the chance to get him back.
While Syd is chilling with David in one of his astral rooms again (falling asleep?), we see him in a red-lit bathroom talking to Lenny.
Interestingly, red lighting has only come up a few times so far, and we’re about to find out what it’s signaling in a little bit.
Lenny urges him to hurry up and go get his sister, that he doesn’t need any help. Syd catches maybe a little of the conversation without understanding what she’s hearing, but by the time she wakes in the real world, David is already gone.
The gloves go on, the gloves come off
Syd alerts Melanie of what’s happened, and we see Syd put the gloves and the rest of her gear on while a group of them goes to get David.
Interestingly, the car they drive to Division 3 is a right side driver’s seat? Weird, when they seem to be in the U.S.
When they get there, the full realization of exactly how powerful David is hits like a ton of bricks. Everywhere, there’s carnage and devastation. Twisted dead bodies, some half in and half out of floors and walls. The building is a shattered, smoking ruin on the inside.
They wander the building looking for David, and one of the few people they see alive is in one of the cells like we saw Amy in the previous episode. He seems to know Syd, and he begs her to let him out. She doesn’t, so it makes you wonder what this guy has done. Especially after one of the worries that Melanie mentioned was making sure Division 3 didn’t ‘turn’ him to their side. Was this dude turned? What did he do?
They come upon an old man half in and half out of the concrete floor, and he’s just alive enough to moan about ‘so much power…and it wears a human face!’
Creepy.
Me and my shadow
As they exit the building, Carey reaches the Summerland mutants about what he’s found. He’s been in the lab looking at footage of the MRI that went so astray, and he sees flashes of something else in the footage….is that the Demon with the Yellow Eyes?
He explains to the group that while David in and of himself is a powerful mutant, he really is ill. In a way, he has a split personality because another mutant (creature?) has embedded itself into David’s mind, and has been feeding off him and altering his memories (these, presumably, were the visions of the Demon with the Yellow Eyes that David kept forgetting about). The parasite is messing with his mind, and sometimes doing a little piloting itself.
Syd, through some flashes, figures out David has gone to his old house where he grew up. They head that way to go get him.
Meanwhile, David is talking to his sister, and that eerie calm is clearly getting under her skin. He says he knows she has a secret, and we see that Lenny–even though we see her as David does, outside his body–kind of takes over David’s body and most of her creepy weirdness looks like it’s coming from him. The overlapping bits of characters from memory and imagination are clearly the parasite, and this is what the red light is telling us.
Amy tells him he’s adopted (we kind of already knew that).
She doesn’t know anything about the family he came from (we do).
The Summerland mutants enter the house, with Melanie warning the others that they may be entering David’s world and leaving reality, and this is confirmed when all sound ceases. This is an interesting choice cinematically speaking, as the weirdness of it all is emphasized in the utter silence.
We also see that The Eye has survived (of course he has), and has followed them to the house.
Through the looking glass
Once sound (but not dialogue) returns inside the house, everything goes even further off the rails. Syd gets a glimpse of the Angriest Boy as the group splits up to search the house.
Melanie and Ptonomy run into Carey, as he’s gone to meet them there. He has a device that he thinks will isolate the parasite from David so they can talk to David without the parasite knowing. He’s also brought Kerry, in case her skills are needed.
Syd finds Amy sitting on the floor of an upstairs room, staring off into space. She gets blindsided by Lenny, who is outside of David’s body in this pocket of unreality. David looks a bit catatonic, and Lenny complains that the Summerland mutants are putting ideas into David’s head.
The others find them, and we see a flash that one of their number is either The Eye in disguise, or is being controlled by The Eye. He tries to shoot David (by this time, Lenny has disappeared and David is conscious), and Syd tells him to whisk them into the white room.
Once there, it looks like David is beginning to realize what’s actually happening in his head. He says he can’t stop it. The room is bathed in red light, David freezes, and the Demon comes bearing down on her. She screams, and suddenly everyone (The Eye included) is in Clockworks at group therapy. Lenny is the doctor.
Previous Episode: Chapter Four
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.