Dramatic opening – a woman cowering and hiding while we
hear screams, combat and have flashes of nasty zombie people (though they look
more like fungus zombies than goo zombies)
From there to Julia reaching an island and making notes
that this is where the pandemic originated. A man in a weird burlap hazmat suit
asks her “do you know the way to San Jose” then hits her.
And then we get an eye rolling around and an
announcement: Day 1
Ok… random? My head’s starting to hurt watching this
And now we have a sailing ship covered in bodies – nasty, scabby bodies, not goo-zombies – being investigated by Peter and Sarah in full haz mat suits (not made of burlap). Peter makes a super ominous, dramatic speech about it being “just the beginning.” A new character, a Dr. Kyle Somer, reports to their boat that they have no idea what happened to the bodies – only that the disease is fast and aggressive and that it’s not Narvic (goo-zombie plague).
Peter and Sarah split up (of course) and Peter finds two of the plague victims stabbed each other while Sarah finds the woman who was cowering in the dramatic opening. She’s alive and she tries to stab Sarah. Kyle saves Sarah by injecting her with a tranquiliser which Sarah disapproves of because it will get in the way of medical research – yes she’s very very focused, but the woman could be immune to the disease.
When they question her, she tells them the people on the
boat got the disease after visiting an island.
The doctors return to their ship and speak to the Captain
who, having heard that the outbreak isn’t Narvik (their job was to track down a
possible Narvik outbreak) declares job is done and they need to go home. Peter
does exactly the same thing Alan did last season and invokes his authority and
demands she allow him to inspect the island. She does smack him down for using
the word “order” and makes him apologise, but she also follows his demands. But
she warns them that she can’t wait for them because she has orders – they will
have to wait until another boat is sent – 2 weeks. They’re also going to be out
of contact since the island is so isolated.
Elsewhere on the island, Julia is carried by burlap
haz-mat guy into a barn
The doctors arrive on the island – and they’ve brought
the traumatised woman with them as well for funsies. Kyle and Sarah talks about
how Alan blew up a building in Paris – presumably related to the ending of the
last season?
As they walk through the woods, Leila, the traumatised woman, zones out and then sees something which has her screaming and running off. The doctors chase after her, Sarah impaling her foot on a spike as she does so.
In the barn, burlap guy stops asking Julia about the way
to San Jose when he hears the others running around. Kyle treats Sarah’s foot
and Sarah mentions in passing that she isn’t worried about infection (after she
went all silver eyed in the last season). Kyle is super curious as to what
happened then – all he (and, presumably, everyone else) knows is that the CDC
team burned the place down to stop an outbreak. Sarah also treats us to the
non-sequiter that she hasn’t seen Alan in a year and doesn’t want to.
Leila and Peter rejoin them, Peter telling her that the
trap she stepped in was a man trap. Leila, again, starts zoning out and
panicking and seeing things – Peter tries to reassure her but Sarah also sees
it – a skull. One of many – a huge swath of skulls. Leila screams and runs.
In the barn, burlap-guy foils Julia’s escape attempt and
continues to ask “do you know the way to San Jose?” He then pulls out a roll of
sharp things and goes for her eyes with tweezers.
The doctors try to track Leila down, also finding a blood
trail through the forest. They arrive in the barn and Kyle drops the jarred
rabbit he collected. The Day 1 returns
– and counts rapidly into the future as the rabbit rots until they’re 30 years
later.
What?
Then we’re back to Julia and burlap guy – who uses the
tweezers to remove Julia’s contact lenses that cover her silver eyes. The man
then takes off his mask and says that he knew she’d come one day.
Back to present day (so is Julia 30 years in the future?)
and Kyle rejects Sarah’s plan to keep searching for Leila because of her foot –
she tells Peter she’ll be fine but he’s not impressed and he thinks her super healing
doesn’t make her special, though it makes her reckless. Well that was somewhat
random. They find more blood in the building they’re in – and Leila’s tied to
the ceiling. In the trees outside, they see flickering lights in the darkness.
The lights are burning torches carried by a group of
people in robes. They go outside to introduce themselves to the leader, Anne,
who tells them they’re trespassing. Peter points out the recently murdered
corpse and Anne asks the doctors to come with them for shelter because the
island is dangerous. She says there’s no time to bring the body or perform an
autopsy. They go with the cultists.
And we zoom to the future (or something) for Julia and
burlap guy who introduces himself as Caleb. She talks about a new outbreak on
the mainland called TXM7 which she believes came from the island 30 years ago.
She’s now looking for a cure because even the silver eyed are starting to die. Including
her – she has marks of infection on her shoulder.
In the present the doctors are taken to cult HQ which is
a very impressive building with very dramatic music. There they’re interviewed
by the cultists who don’t want them there because their cult has cut off ties
with the outside world. They’re lead by someone called Brother Michael who
wanders in to warn them about wolves and bears on the island. In turn Peter and
Sarah try to warn him that their food could be contaminated with a deadly
plague. Kyle also wants to talk about the murder of Leila – Michael avoids all
questions and has them stay the night. The doctors realise they’re in a cult.
And to the future and Julia asks Caleb for help finding
Alan. Caleb reveals he’s on the island but she may not like what she finds. He
takes her to the ruined cult building. There he takes her to Alan’s grave.
Back to the present and a cultist brings Sarah water – I
think it might be Alan. In the basement, a woman is strapped down, her teeth
removed and something poured down her throat by the cultists.
Ok, what is going on? It feels like a huge season reboot – everything that
happened in season 1 seems like it has just being completely cast aside – and now
we have another isolated setting and a whole new plague with sinister cultists
taking the place of the sinister corporation. Same basic plot elements with a
very similar setting – with the old story kind of cast aside except for odd
references. This is a shame because I was really hopeful for how the new season
would develop especially after the
clues at the end of season 1.
This episode also had way too much artsiness for its own
good, the sweeping time lines, the rapidly changing scenes – especially in the
beginning of the episode it was hard to follow and pretty annoying. This doesn’t
fill me with confidence for the new season. (And why was Caleb constantly
asking about San Jose anyway? Beyond a desperate attempt to force weird
creepiness?)
