Friday, October 21, 2016

Aftermath, Season One, Episode Four: Fever of the Bone

As I predicted last week, the Reverend Father is most certainly not right. He arrives at the cult and is welcomed by his so-called flock and then tells Brianna that he will see her in a bit. Brianna really doesn't fit in with the religious cult but she's found an ally in Devyn; however, sister scandalmonger (read: the head woman), sends Devyn to do some work to keep the two apart and locks Brianna in a room, telling her to wash for her meeting with the Reverend Father.  Predictably, and rather creepily, Devyn watches through the window unbeknownst to Brianna as she takes a sponge bath.  Yeah, Devyn is only fifteen and has never met a girl like Brianna before but that doesn't give him a pass on watching her wash.

The rest of the Copelands are on their way to meet up with Brianna.  They stop when they come across some bodies in the road. Aunt Sally heads to help the people, only to see that they are covered in some sort of disgusting maggot like creatures.  She backs away quickly but still finds herself covered in the insects.  Joshua acts quickly to get them off his sister in in law and they hop back into the RV and continue their travels.

It's time for Brianna's big meeting with the Reverend Father. Just as predicted, the Reverend Father is not quite right.  He's been possessed by a demon and recognizes Brianna as a killer of hosts.  The Reverend Father begins to choke Brianna but before he can kill her, she screams, thus bringing sister scandalmonger into the room.  The Reverend Father is quick to claim that Brianna has become possessed by a demon and despite her protests, Sister Scandalmonger is quick to believe him. The Reverend Father orders Brianna locked in the barn until he can deal with her in the morning. 

Given the choice between driving around an airport and running over a fence, Karen chooses the later but it unfortunately damages the RV.  The Copelands push the RV into a hanger and Joshua sets about fixing it.  Aunt Sally has not gone unscathed from being attacked by the insects.  Aunt Sally has developed a nasty rash and is freaking out just a bit.  Karen sends Dana and Matt off to find the doctor while she remains behind to keep Sally calm. 

As they walk, Matt tries to talk to Dana about learning how to protect herself but Dana is adamant that if she shoots a gun that she will lose who she is.  Dana believes that she is the only one who hasn't changed since the shit hit the fan. She did after all watch her father kill a group of men recently. Matt tries to assure her that she will still have him but Dana isn't biting.  They come across a coral with a bunch of fever heads locked up.  A woman tries to convince them that she was placed in the coral by mistake and that she isn't sick. When Matt stupidly steps closer to the fence, he is grabbed by several feverheads.  Dana finally grabs a gun as Matt begs her to shoot.  Dana struggles and finally manages to fire the gun twice.  Fortunately for Matt, Airforce soldiers show up and take out the fever heads.  The soldiers have very little patience with Matt and Dana and talk about throwing them in with the feverheads, until Dana starts to beg to see the doctor, saying that her aunt is sick.  The soldiers decide to head with Dana and Matt back to the hanger.

Brianna is not content to sit and wait to be rescued. After finding a knife in the barn, Brianna manages to cut the ropes around her hands and works steadily to break out of the bar until Devyn appears outside.  Brianna tries immediately to get Devyn to free her but he's not certain that Sister Scandalmonger isn't correct about Brianna being possessed, particularly because he sinned by looking at her bathing.  Isn't that typical, a man does something creepy and somehow the woman tempted him into it. Brianna warns that the Reverend Father will kill everyone in the cult but Devyn isn't buying it and instead sits quietly outside the barn. 

The military dude is ready to kill the entire family but Karen recognizes him from a tour in Iraq and the tension level simmers right down.  Military Dude hooks the Copelands up with with equipment and then takes Dana and Matt out to look for supplies.  Doctor Rawlins cuts the parasite out of Sally's arm and they quickly replicate forcing him to lock them in a room.  

Devyn returns to the barn having decided that the Reverend Father is indeed acting weird and frees Brianna and gives her her gun back.  Brianna convinces Devyn to flee with her but warns him that the Reverend Father is going to try and hunt them down.  Devyn isn't certain but he chooses to leave the cult with her. They take off into the woods and head south hoping to meet up with Brianna's family. After running for awhile, Devyn and Brianna finally kiss and this comes with ridiculously corny angsty teenage lines from Devyn. "I'll die if I don't kiss you?" Who even says that?

The feverheads have broken out of the coral and burst into the hanger.  Doctor Rawlins talks them into heading into the locked room with the parasites and slams the door shut after them.  The parasites immediately attack and kill the feverheads. Unfortunately, another group of feverheads burst in and end up shooting Doctor Rawlins dead.  Sally, Karen and Joshua hop in the RV and peel out of the hanger.  Fortunately, the Military Dude saw what was going on and had already headed in the direction of the Copelands and so the two groups meet up.

The Copelands follow the army dudes to a base a little while away and reunite as a family. Military Dude says that he cannot leave because they have to recapture the feverheads due to the danger they pose to whatever is left of society.  Aunt Sally agrees to stay with the military now that they've lost the doctor believing that her medical experience could come in handy. It's hug and kiss time and then the Copelands head back on the road hoping to finally meet up with Brianna.

Brianna and Devyn make it to the road and see the RV coming towards them. Before the Copeland family can reunite, the Reverend Father comes tearing out of the woods and attacks Brianna.  Keeping his promise to protect her, Devyn kicks the Reverend Father and hauls him off Brianna, allowing her to shoot him dead with her gun.  It's happy reunion time for Brianna and her family. Brianna introduces Devyn and they all head inside the RV.  The good times don't last long because a tank is steaming down the road, filled with feverheads shooting at the RV.

I was not pleased to see the Doctor Rawlins die in this episode.  This is the fourth episode and he has been the only reoccurring character of colour. Now that Rawlins is dead, Aftermath is back to being completely erased.  Aftermath seems to have no problem mining cultures of colour for woo woo but actually including POC seems to be something they're not capable of doing.  There's no excuse for it and at this point, I'm fresh out of patience.

So, creeper Devyn is now on the RV. There's something just not right with the kid.  The way he insisted that he would die if Brianna didn't kiss him just set me off.

Either Devyn has been possessed or he's a predator and neither of those options bode well for the Copelands and Brianna in particular.

I'm glad to see the family back together.  I'm hoping that this is going to bring more unity to the show. I however suspect we haven't seen the last of Sally.  That being said, now that the Copelands are together, they need to come up with a plan on how to move forward.