The final episode of Intruders’ first season opens in 1931, in period-appropriate black-and-white just to make sure we know it’s the old days and stuff. Rose and Bix are at a jazz club where Bix, who’s semi-retired thanks to a drinking (and maybe a drug) problem, grabs his trumpet and plays a song to the delight of the crowd. Afterward, he promises Rose he’ll clean up his act.
Flash-forward 2 weeks later. Bix is dying in bed with Rose at his side. Just before he passes, Rose pulls the mouthpiece from his trumpet and holds it up to Bix’s eye. She tells him he can go now and they’ll be together again. That was the only preparation for his return. Bix never asked for it, didn’t expect it, and it was a last-minute decision by Rose.
Flash-really-forward to the present day when everything is in living color. Gary’s still a splat on the sidewalk, Crane is bleeding out in the lobby of “The Building”, and Jack is chasing the body jumpers through a secret door. All the best bad things happen behind secret doors, deep underground, and in the dark. Here we have all three – a Trifecta-O-Badness. It’s like Christmas in Hell!
Jack hears some henchmen say that Rose wants them to wait until Cranfield is buried before they can kill the shit outta Jack. At least now Jack has an approximate time table in which to work.
Trailing Jack is Marcus who begins to have flashbacks to his most recent death. His memories show Rose had him bricked up in the very same catacombs they’re traipsing about now. Poor Marcus never got to taste the amontillado, either.
True to his word, Richard makes his way to Marcus’ masonry mansion, removes a brick, and shows the old sicko his trigger before placing the brick back in its resting place.
Jack stumbles upon a secret library containing thousands of books. Each is a “Book of 9” for a different Qui Reverti member with dates spanning centuries. Some books contain familiar names like Nikola Tesla and Ronald Reagan. The organization goes way, way beyond anything Jack, or we viewers, could have imagined.
As he’s destroying a raft of triggers found in the library, Jack hears a hammering sound. It’s Marcus trying to use his/her little hands to break into his bricked up tomb. After a quick exchange about who he/she really is, Jack takes up the hammering and opens up enough of the wall to see the mummified face of the old Marcus Fox.
Little Marcus wants Jack to help him kill Rose. Marcus has proven Rose is responsible for the loss of Jack’s wife and for Marcus’ demise. Jack’s not really a stab first/ask questions later kinda guy like Marcus, though. He’d rather try and solve the mystery, stop Qui Reverti, and bring Amy back rather than dispatch her hijacked body.
Peeking around the corner of another corridor, Jack sees Rose, Richard, and other Qui Reverti binding Cranfield’s body. Knowing he doesn’t have much time left, Jack runs back to the library and goes all Fahrenheit 451 on it. If he’s not going to make it out alive, at least none of the Reverti will, either
As word of the fire gets to the Qui Reverti gathering, they scramble out of the tunnel like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Creepy, immortal rats. The only one to stay behind is Rose who is soon joined by Jack, Marcus, and Richard.
They have a very short stand-off then everyone does something that you’d expect them to do. First, Marcus tries to cut Rose. Marcus tries to cut everything. I’d brick his ass up in an underground cubby myself. Stabbity little brat …
Jack’s got his gun pointed at Richard who, in turn, has two guns; one pointed at Jack and the other at Marcus. Despite Rose’s barking out “Shoot him!” Richard again can’t bring himself to kill a kid. Our boy in black keeps proving he’s got a soft side and qualities that make him worthy of redemption.
Marcus skitters away like a knife-wielding cockroach. Then Richard escorts Rose out while keeping his guns trained on Jack. As they’re leaving, Richard fires a shot at Jack, but the shot doesn’t even come close to hitting him. Knowing Richard’s shooting skills, this was a deliberate miss; a warning shot. Richard’s never kills for the sake of killing and he’s tired of dealing with the mess he made in the form of a deal with Marcus.
Back on the surface, Detective Blanchard is on the scene with Gary’s body still lying uncovered on the sidewalk. Madison’s parents watch on with frantic anticipation, and like the rest of us were probably wondering why the police didn’t cover the body instead of leaving it exposed like a museum curiosity. That’s just gross, dudes.
The O’Donnell’s spot their little girl walking down a nearby alley and call out to her. Somehow, Madison’s now herself. As she runs to her parents, Richard and Rose appear. Rose yells at Richard to shoot, which he does, but Madison is saved by a flying tackle from Jack.
On cue, as is common in entertainment circles, a large, black SUV pulls up to take Richard and Rose away to Qui Reverti Land … or whatever the Reverti do for fun. It probably involves a lot of bandages and bullets. I’m more of a steak and scotch kinda guy, myself.
While Madison lies flatlined on the street, we see her and Marcus in a kind of nowhere land. Marcus tells her that at the moment of death a body can get rid of one of its souls and that his will is stronger. The problem is Marcus has underestimated Madison’s strength of will and desire to be with her parents again.
Madison’s supernatural-fu is much stronger than the old man’s. She puts the smackdown on him with a twist on one of his favorite sayings. Madison says, “What comes around stays right here,” then we see Marcus all alone in nowhere land. At the same time, Madison gets resuscitated on the street. Score one for the kid!
Jack and Madison end up in the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. Detective Blanchard is in Jack’s room wondering what all the documents he found on Gary Fisher’s body really mean. Jack doesn’t really try to explain what’s going on and Blanchard doesn’t push the issue. It’s as if Blanchard realizes the supernatural conspiracy he’s caught up in, but doesn’t want to step over the line into full acceptance.
Blanchard lets Jack briefly visit Madison in her hospital room. She tells him “He’s gone”, but Jack’s not convinced. He asks how Madison knows for sure, but her parents get a little uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. They ask him to leave and let their daughter rest.
I think Jack’s questioning of Madison was only half because he wanted to be sure Marcus was gone. The other half is probably because it might be the key to saving Amy.
Any comfort Jack may have taken from that encounter is soon swept away. As he’s walking down the hospital halls, a young boy in a wheelchair calls him over and utters the words, “I’ll take my revenge from the other side” in Spanish. This is the same thing said to Jack by one of the three men he shot back when he was a cop. Could this be a set-up for new conflicts in season two?
Some time has passed and Jack’s at home cleaning up when he realizes Richard is sitting in his living room. Jack’s certain he’s been sent by Rose to kill him, but they’ve got something else in mind and it’s something that, in a way, Jack saw coming. They want him to be the newest little shepherd in the fold!
Yeah, I know. That ending with Jack obviously considering the offer is driving me nuts, too. But, you know, I’d put good money on Jack accepting the part. What better way to destroy an evil organization and get his wife back than from the inside?
I know Marcus Fox is supposed to be gone for good, but I’d be supremely disappointed if Millie Brown isn’t back in season two to keep wowing us with her incredible acting skills. Maybe she’ll have to deal with someone else trying to intrude or maybe Marcus isn’t really gone for good. All the best villains keep coming back and Fox was a damned good villain played by damned good actors. Both Millie Brown and veteran actor Alex Diakun.
Keep checking back with us here at Three If By Space for Intruders news. When information on season 2 comes out we’ll have it here first!
