On the run, grieving one child and worried sick about another, nowhere to turn for help – the Bowmans are at the lowest we’ve seen them. You can see it in every step and every tear. What has this whole fight been for, the years of fear and hiding and soul-killing action, if not to keep their children safe and able to make their own stand? And now, all that is threatened.
On the Road Again
There were a couple of moments on the Bowman’s trek that were notable. The first was their stop in the small town, going through the houses – I understand they were afraid that they were being hunted, and would be found by the greyhats. But they all could have used a few hours of downtime – did they think they’d be less noticeable on the open road than in an abandoned house? And why didn’t they look for a wagon or a stroller or SOMETHING to put Gracie in? It was obvious that the poor child couldn’t take one more step, and you’d think they’d move faster, three adults without any injuries, than trying to slow their pace to match that of a wounded, ill young child! But all signs pointed to Seattle, the one place that Will had no interest in going to. And some of the signs weren’t even subtle ones.
The walker drones on the road were frightening! But I don’t think they had the same mission as the walkers Kate and Will encountered in Big Bear – there was no recognition. These drones had a much lower function, to keep any humans they encountered moving toward Seattle. Who controls those drones? Was there a human managing them?
Will and Katie have done a lot that I’m sure they never envisioned themselves doing. As a former Ranger, Will was obviously no stranger to violence, and knew that part of him that could do those things existed, but Katie was dragged into that life. I was happy to see, though, that as badly as they needed the car belonging to the family that stopped for them, that there was no permanent harm done. Remember the scene in season 1 when Will was supposed to be clearing out the house that belonged to the Red Hand and found a woman and a young man there? He let them go, out of his sense of compassion and his innate goodness (never mind that she turned out to be the Red Hand’s violent leader). He demonstrated the same compassion in the face of his overwhelming need here. Even with all the hardship the Bowmans have incurred, the losses and the violence they’ve seen, they took only what they desperately needed.
(Photo by: Daniel Power/USA Network)
Neutral and Nasty
You knew Snyder couldn’t just sit by and retire, didn’t you? He obviously feels terribly guilty about Charlie’s death – the way he lingered over that portion of the camp incident report with Charlies name on it, you know it affected him. So what is he thinking now? I think he really does believe that while he may not be a good man, as he said at the camp, he has had a goal of saving as many lives as possible. And I think he hasn’t lost that – he understands what has to be done, and believes what he tells the other bloc proxies before he pulls out the Greyhat hammer and gets them out of the way, that you want a factory as close to your Bloc as possible, because the RAPs will protect their factory as long as possible if their enemy comes. Not out of any concern for humans as people, for sure, but because the labor force is at such a low number. Protect your dwindling resources, whether they’re drones or human worker bees!
We’ll have to see what his next move as Helena’s enforcer will be – like she told him, he’s “beat the algorithm. It would be a tragic waste of talent to stop your rise here.” But it would be no fun at all if Snyder decided to stay “safe, warm and dry”!
I’m not sure I trust Alan’s new “friend,” Elan – she seems to want to know a little too much, and be too conveniently placed in that bar to be on the up and up. Not that there wouldn’t be someone out there who wouldn’t find our former Proxy attractive, but what does she really want?
Off to See the Wizard
Were the flyers that Bram found on the road the same flyers that Broussard and Amy Dispatch found? Who is coming through that road first? For the second episode in a row, no Broussard! They have to meet up in Seattle, wouldn’t you think? We know they got to McGregor’s camp after the Bowmans left, so it’s reasonable to assume that they’re somewhere behind Will and Katie, but they can move faster than the Bowmans. It’s possible that they’re days behind, and even more possible that they’re farther out – at one point, we knew Broussard had been alone in LA for about six months, the same amount of time the Bowmans spent at Big Bear. But between the time they left Big Bear to the camp massacre – how long was that? And how long would it have taken Broussard and Amy to get that far north, if they had to do it on foot the entire time (which we don’t know either)? I hope there’s some kind of a conversation once they meet up the quickly recaps their travels and reconciles the timeline.
So they finally, and reluctantly, reach Seattle. They find a clean, well-organized, well-stocked refugee camp, completely different from what they left in LA. And while McGregor’s camp was, at least in theory, more in line with their Resistance beliefs, this seems much less threatening and a lot safer. At least on the surface. Medicine, food, water, housing – treating people like humans. Of course, there has to be something wrong with it, right?
The Bowmans know that this is likely a highly dangerous place for them, but with Gracie’s infection from the bullet wound, what choice do they have? After losing one child, they can’t lose another. Except that Bram is now in danger as well. I choked up when Katie told Bram, “If they come after us, you have to watch after your sister,” and Bram’s response, “I don’t want to.” He wasn’t being bratty, he wasn’t rebelling – he’s a kid too, mourning his younger brother again (poor Charlie, lost, found, and lost again), and now faced with the possible loss of his parents. He doesn’t want to be in the position of having to look after his sister – not that he wouldn’t do it, and do it fiercely – but he’s feeling a need to be safe and taken care of as well.
(Photo by: Daniel Power/USA Network)
Will is taken for his “interview,” and the family desperately embraces, knowing they may never be together again. But who is the man behind the curtain? The man with Kynes’ algorithm pulled up on his computer? Lots of questions, no answers.
At the beginning of the episode, Kynes was obviously not happy with the way the IGA was using his software, and had his assistant download the entire database. (Remember season 1 – Phyllis’ infamous “Rolodex”? Could that have been the IGA’s database from Kynes’ algorithm?) If he is still using this, how? Is he behind the drones that have killed others, but not Will or Broussard? Does he have access to that list of “special” people? Is he protecting anyone with the algorithm? Or perhaps planning to use it to gather a core of people to restore some sanity to the world?
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