This week’s episode really ramps things up to a new level. The actors seem much more comfortable and believable in their parts and the whole concept of the show is starting to really gel. I think this show has a lot of potential and has really started to pique my interest. At the onset, we finally get the double meaning behind last weeks “Exit One” title. Apparently, you can check out of the hotel but you don’t get to do it alive.
• Persons Unknown
• Credit: NBC
Joe’s Revenge
The episode begins with one of the Chinese restaurant workers (who we now know is a watcher) viewing each of the Hotelies as they slumber all along quoting excerpts from Carl Sandburg. He suddenly notices that one of the guests (Joe) is not in his room. As he is frantically looking at the monitors, Joe suddenly shows up in his little control center. Joe appears rather convincing as to his concerns for what will eventually happen to Janet. He wants the watcher (revealed as Tom) to tell him what the plans for Janet are. Tom indicates he has absolutely no clue, nor does he want to know. Tom also confirms my theory from last week that they are being watched as well and are just up one level on this whole charade. I also have a slight suspicion that Joe may actually be playing Tom, but more on that later.
Back in the hotel, Moira comes in and alerts the gang to Tori’s disappearance. Everything in her room is laid out as if she had never been there. Frenetically looking around, they see a blonde in the distance on the ground. As they approach the unconscious party, they find that this is someone new just dressed up to look like Tori.
We are then given a cut over to a fountain in
New kid on the block
The gang finds that their new guest is a young African American woman who appears to be in a coma. As they examine her for clues they locate a number of prison tats with one in particular indicating her name is Erika. She also has three suspicious recent needle marks that Moria believes indicates she was recently in a hospital. Blackham stumbles in on the festivities and could practically care less as he heads out for a coffee.
The scene next flashes back over to
Back in the hotel, we are shown that Moira has a white board where she is keeping track of what’s been going on in order to try to figure things out. Rather conveniently, McNair shows up to check things out. I think this is Intel for him, as it’s my belief he is in on this in tandem with Joe. In a jab at the audience who have speculated such, Moira brings up Agatha Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None”. She purposely proposes to McNair that like the book, one of them is in on this. In an effort to throw off any suspicion about himself, McNair tells Moira that he promises to protect her.
Real world Renbe finds out he is being fired from his job for being a suspected felon. He then gets into it pretty good with his boss/girlfriend who has him escorted out of the office.
The scene moves back to Joe and Janet who are unpleasantly surprised by a newly conscious Erika. Erika goes absolutely berserk as she attacks Joe and Janet and launches herself through the window. Again, Tom is monitoring the whole set of events from his little control room.
Blackham gets owned
While running through town like a banshee, Erika goes straight away into the microwave force field as Janet tries to get control of her.
Renbe, now drinking in a local tavern, sees the news footage of Tori’s murder and for some reason gets very intrigued. Toris was abducted at about the same time Janet was. Since Tori just turned up dead, Renbe knows he has to up the ante on his search.
We are taken back to Moira who is in one of the stores voicing her frustrations about Tori to the watchers. The 50’s style television she is next to flashes on and we are given a false video of Tori’s father lauding her safe return. The question is if this video was a fake, was the video we saw of Charlie murdering his wife also a fake?
As we move back into town, Blackham finally gets what he deserves as Erika goes completely medieval on him, stealing his clothes in the process. She then runs off into Chinese restaurant and is given food by the workers (including our new friend Tom). As Erika heads back out, Tom heads off into his little control room to watch the action where he again stumbles upon Joe. As they verbally spar, Tom confirms to Joe that Tori is dead, just like others who have “checked out”. According to Tom, there are going to be more eliminations. Joe presses Tom for information on what’s in store for Janet, but he insists that he does not know nor does he want to know. The only salient information he offers is that the pressed duck on the night’s dinner menu will be pretty tasty.
A panicked Blackham seeks out Charlie who not only fails to sympathize with his plight, but also messes with him by mocking him and pressing on his fresh wounds. Last week I thought Blackham was in on this and was gaming Charlie, but given some information we get at the end, I think I have to reverse my opinion. I did find it humorous that minutes after Charlie is telling Blackham that this is all about survival of the fittest, we see him running around screaming like a little girl as he is being chased by Erika. As the group arrives to assist Charlie, Moira makes the bold move of trying to calm Erika, only to get blasted in the head by the shovel she is wielding. Joe and Janet then chase Erica into a bank where the events lead to Janet and her both getting locked in the vault by watcher Tom. As both are trapped in the vault, Janet tries to once more calm Erika by relating her own tale of kidnapping. Erika does not care, says nothing until she pulls out a knife and declares that the only thing Janet needs to fear is her.
Honestly, it’s not my Vault!
Starting to lose it a little, Joe heads back to the secret monitoring station to get Tom to release them from the vault. Tom tells him the outcome has to play out, but Joe insists Tom is modifying the protocols. Tom informs Joe that he wants a result, which means either death by no oxygen or something else. Enforcing his position, Tom pulls out a gun and says he cannot help her and he needs to let it play out. Joe then heads back to save her. Back in the vault as Erika again threatens to kill her, Janet uses some adept moves to knock the knife out of Erica’s hand and turns the tables on her. Erika however, reveals she is not scared as she has already died once. Hero Joe armed with a pickax, hooks up with McNair as they both try to break through the wall. As Erika points out, their efforts are useless as this is steel reinforced concrete.
We next cut over to Renbe who is in his old boss’s apartment doing some research her computer (apparently there are no internet cafes around). When his old flame stumbles upon him, he tries to tell her he thinks that Janet’s and Tori’s abductions are linked. She does not care and orders him out of her apartment.
Both Janet and Erika have a nice chat about things while they wait to die of oxygen deprivation. We learn just how much Janet cares about Joe and that she trusts him. Erica believes this is a mistake and that she should not trust anyone, let alone a man. They both reveal to each other that they have kids while McNair and Joe pound away at the wall to no avail.
The List
After finally giving up on breaking through the wall, Joe heads back again to the monitoring room. As he gets in the elevator he is watched by the night manager and Moira. Joe then punches a specific sequence of numbers on the elevator which takes him down to the lower level. We then are shown a shot of Moira with an intense look of suspicion.
Still chatting away, Erika reveals she was administered a lethal injection for her crimes and then the next thing she remembers is waking up in the ghost town. She reveals that the reason she initially went so berserk was because she thought she was in hell. As oxygen continues to leave the vault, Janet finally starts to lose consciousness.
Back in the control room, Joe and Tom spar it out as Joe tries to get Tom to open the vault. Tom won’t comply until Joe beats him to the where he finally forces him to open up the vault. After Tom opens the vault, Joe destroys the control panel. A tired McNair then helps Janet and Erika out as Tom quickly turns back up. Of course, in addition to Moira, McNair is now suspicious of Joe.
Back at Renbe’s apartment, his old boss gives him an envelope containing the printouts of the internet research he had been conducting. It has the following names of people who have been recently abducted:
William Blackham
Christine Bloch
Sam Bough
Jason Chamber
Conrad Meter
Gary Darlon
Janet Cooper
Moira Doherty
Michelle Dunton
Victoria Fairchild
We can readily identify 4 of those individuals as being amongst our group of seven Hotelies. Who are the others? Are any of the others who have been abducted part of the seven and these are their real names? Obviously, these are things for us to ponder.
Impending Consequences
A ticked-off Blackham attacks Erika as the group emerges from the vault. The others pull him off and Erika issues an apology to all but Blackham.
Back in
The scene shifts back to a praying McNair having post traumatic flashes of some kid he killed while in
We quickly go back to Renbe who has a brief meeting with his daughter Meghan and creepy grandma (who finally finds out who he really is). Renbe, or Mark Cooper, assures Meghan that he will find her mother.
In the final moments Tom and Joe have a little chat about what transpired and believe the events were part of their test. Joe’s actions have likely put them both in trouble with those who are watching them. As Tom peers at the watchers camera he indicates that they will have to wait and see what the consequences will be…
Thoughts
Just a great episode and partly because (in contrast for waiting for 6 seasons to get answers from LOST) we are quickly being given some answers. I still do not trust Joe and do not think he has the feelings for Janet that he is leading Tom to believe he does. Tom is being gamed by Joe who may be moving up a peg on Tom in this little process the watchers have them all trapped in. Joe may have turned the tables on Tom and its likely that Tom failed the test by the little vault incident, and not Joe. Also, I do not believe that Tori is dead. If you listen closely her father’s conversation with the British speaker was very measured. He indicated that he would not participate in any more charades. He also said that he already “took” his daughter. We might surmise he means “took” her as in murder, but it could be that he allowed his daughter to be taken to the ghost town in an elaborate charade. We may find Tori alive and well at some point later in the series. I also believe that who is not on Renbe’s list is actually more important than those on the list. The ones not on that list were not abducted at the same time as Janet and the others that appear. This means either they are in the ghost town under assumed names or like Joe they are in on this to some degree. This puts Charlies role in a whole new light. Certainly the details of this whole fiasco week after week become and more tantalizing. Next week Joe may suffer some consequences and we might get a better picture of just how deep his involvement goes.
