SPOILERS AHEAD: PLEASE DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN The Terror: Infamy 2x05 Shatter Like a Pearl!
Us The Terror: Infamy viewers have good news this week as it seems that the previous episode really did feel like a turning point in the story's dramatic structure. Before, the creators took their time to establish this somewhat-historically accurate world of Japanese Internment Camps and prisoners. Now, the supernatural undertones that seemed to be oppressed are starting to segue to the foreground in this fifth episode. Of course, the producers are still holding the true horror in the wings as Luz's depression and Chester's dealing with his own past and personal demons are still being played up as the dramatic cornerstones of the season thus far. But, the horror audience knows what they are really looking for here and the series is finally to reward their patience.
The best performance of the episode, not surprisingly, still belongs to Cristina Rodlo as Luz. The effects of losing her children in the previous episode are the stuff of awards consideration. Sadly, The Terror is not popular enough with critics or viewers to actually radiate with any awards group. That isn't to say that the actor or the series don't deserve more recognition, but it probably isn't going to happen in today's supersaturated TV marketplace. That being said, Luz is the emotional bellwether of this season. She is even starting to appear to be even more of a ghost than Yuko. Even the local children are verbalizing it. The scene where she reaches into the lake for her sons and takes out much was the series at its most poignant. Her final scene where Henry says goodbye to Luz as she exits Colinas de Oro was the first scene of the season I would consider Emmy-worthy. I do hope this is not Luz's final episode. But, if it is, she definitely goes out on a high here. If anything, we will find out what she wrote in the letter to Chester possibly next week.
The scenes where Chester interrogates the POW are his best yet. I have been cold toward Chester thus far, but here he shined a lot better than before. I liked how he connected with the insults to his dead children. Taiga Seiya was fantastic as Sgt. Terajima as he taunts Chester, then suddenly warms up to him, as if trying to make his rather-predictable death mean something at the last minute after being made to frighten the audience first. As for Chester, I am not sure what Yuko has in store for him after this episode. Does Yuko possess him at the end when she assumes her most decomposing form yet? Of course, that may not be the worst thing that could happen to him here.
It is interesting that the writers are using his character to bring about the question of how allegiant can one be to your own country before losing your soul. I found it interesting that he allows Sgt. Terajima a honorable death after they connect with American baseball, but Colonel Stallings does not seem to question anything about it. Is there something unique about Chester that the audience doesn't know about yet? Since the Yurei calls Chester by name in the interrogation scene, it might be safe to assume that Chester might have some history involving her he'd rather forget.
I did find it interesting that the POW was clearly possessed, yet the picture Chester takes does not show his face blurred. Was this intentional on the part of the Yurei? Like I wrote last week, the rules of the possessions have never been established very clearly, so anything might be possible unless proven otherwise. Watching so many possessed men cut themselves open to kill themselves is starting to lose its effect. Is this an automatic effect of being possessed? I am sure the Colonel has his work cut out for him now probably suspecting that Chester's presence has something to do with it.
And what could the elderly men could have done to Yuko when she was alive? I assume that is why she is assuming the form of a young midwife, to get close to Chester and Luz as they become more vulnerable when their children die? Why is Yuko targeting Chester specifically? Is Yuko possessing Chester to get back at his father and his father's friends who wronged her back in Japan? Why is she suddenly decomposing now that the children are dead? Why is she showing this form after crawling out of a duffel bag when she just possessed Arthur Ogawa? Why does she take this form with her across the Pacific to America? If she kills people she possesses, why doesn't that keep her young? Can't she absorb their lifeforce? If not, why is she obsessed with having them kill themselves? Does she have a choice when she can decompose and when she can appear youthful? And why does she address Chester as Taizo? Is that a name Chester would rather forget he ever had?
I guess we need a reason to tune in for the next five weeks and, now, we have plenty.
