S01.E11: Alone Time

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

The FBI and NYPD band together to save Malcolm from the "Junkyard Killer," aka John Watkins, who Watkins reveals shocking details about his involvement in the camping trip memories that have been plaguing his psyche. Meanwhile, as Gil looks for answers from The Surgeon, Ainsley and Jessica search through their memories of the past, hoping to find some sort of clue as to where Malcolm could be hidden.

Airing Monday, January 20, 2020.

[Driad]

Wouldn't a house like that, belonging to a family like that, have a secure panic room?

[Lady Calypso]

I'm guessing that Malcolm only trapped John in the box until the police arrived to arrest the guy. Not a bad idea, but for a moment, I was trying to figure out Malcolm's logic if he intended to keep John locked in the box for a while. Better hope the police get there soon before John runs out of air, Malcolm!

Otherwise, a solid episode back. I didn't love it as much as I hoped (maybe I hoped for more from the Malcolm stuff) but it brought on some good moments.

Ainsley/Jessica's scenes were actually decent. Martin and Gil had some ok moments as well. Martin's time in solitary has definitely affected him...which is good. Now that Malcolm knows that his own father planned on killing him (I totally believe it, especially the part where Martin chickened out), at least the strain of their relationship will continue. 

But yeah, Malcolm using his hallucinations to break free and take down John was pretty great to watch. 

But I think it's time for Jessica to move out of that house and into a safer one. Clearly, with the knowledge of a secret cellar in their basement, it's probably a bad idea to continue sticking around.

[TrininisaScorp]

The chase thru the house was nicely done.  Scary and intense.  I yelped at Malcolm taking the hammer to his hand.  

I appreciate the rest of the team feeling their feelings about missing Malcolm and working to find him. 

I'm glad this show is back from break, as I missed it. 

[Samwise979]

Love it how the characters still call it dad's hobby room. Lmao

I also thought they'd have a panic room. 

What happened to Jessica's gun?

Loved it when JT said something like, it's our guy out there, we can't just sit here and do nothing. Because his character is usually portrayed as someone who is annoyed by Malcolm and just tolerates him. 

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, Samwise979 said:

What happened to Jessica's gun?

I was just waiting for her to grab the gun and drunkenly fire several rounds into the door.

I was also waiting for Jessica to use the scissors when he "Here's Johnnyed" his face through the door. It would have been funny if she would have used the scissors to snip open one of his nostrils. You could have gotten 2 Nicholsonisms for the price of one!

It would have been better if they showed Malcolm looking at his hand like he is going to smash it and when he brings the hammer down there is a chisel there and he neatly cuts the chain in two. Everybody knows you just dislocate your thumb, no matter how desperate you are. I am not even sure if what he did would even work.

[Chaos Theory]

If it wasn’t for the fact we are talking about a family dealing with their direct connect to a serial killer I don’t think I would care at all about the police stuff.   I always found Malcolm and his family dynamics the most fascinating.  

Jessica doesn’t want to leave the house because it has been in HER family for generations and she doesn’t want it to be yet another thing Martin took away from her.   Martin married into money and prestige which is how he avoided capture for so long.  Plus he actually was a talented surgeon.  I can see the house being what a lot of old houses were like back then or f least the way tv likes to write them.   Beautiful but old and with hidden doors and passageways originally intended so the servants never came in direct contact with the owners and guests.

I thought the Jessica/Ainsley stuff was well done although I wish Ainsley had also been a little more proactive but I can hand wave the head wound as to why she wasn’t.   I did like that she had direct contact whether she knew it or not with at least one of Martins....uhhhh old friends.   
 

 

[Kelda Feegle]

So the FBI helped out exactly how?

[rove4]

25 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

So the FBI helped out exactly how?

Beats me but I sure hope FBI lady is gone after this episode.  She grates on my nerves.

I'm happy to have the show back.  Loved seeing Jessica go into protective mama bear mode.  She's got some courage.  Poor Malcolm.  I was watching-not-watching the scene where he takes the mallet thingy to his hand through my fingers.  

[Lady Calypso]

33 minutes ago, Kelda Feegle said:

So the FBI helped out exactly how?

I mean, technically, nobody was that helpful in terms of saving Malcolm. Malcolm still escaped on his own, saved his mom and sister, and would have had time to call the cops. The FBI and the police could have been chilling at the precinct and the ending still would have been the same. 

All the FBI did was...provide back-up to go to the cabin. Dani and JT did figure out that the cabin was important...just not in finding Malcolm. 

[sempervivum]

A house that old and high quality would have interior doors at least an inch thick and probably of hardwood; Watkins and his axe would have taken a LOT longer to get through all the doors Jessica put between them. Although I was baffled why she and Girl Reporter just sat there in the bedroom waiting for him, instead of-oh, I dunno- trying to get out through the windows?

I suspect smashing your own hand with a hammer would make you pass out, and even if it didn't, the pain of trying to pull it through the shackles would. So nah.

Malcolm the Genius Profiler apparently doesn't know that since serial killer are psychopaths, they are unlikely to respond to appeals to 'Just don't listen to the voices!' 

The Surgeon is rocking that Hobo Santa vibe; M. Sheen looks like he's gained a good 20 lbs. over the break.

Oh, I'm totally only watching this show only to admire Tom Payne's lovely blue eyes and shiny, shiny hair.

[Dbolt]

I had a hard time with all this. Weren’t there like a whole troop of reporters starring out the house?  Why not run outside instead of upstairs? Why spend all that time talking to the daughter and wiping the blood off her face instead of blocking the door and looking for a weapon?  
 

I also don’t believe that Martin intended to kill Malcom. I find it more likely that he told the guy that but intended for malcom  to kill him in self defense then use that to get him started killing. He could then hold  that over his head to make him help him with further kills. 

[Lady Calypso]

2 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

Although I was baffled why she and Girl Reporter just sat there in the bedroom waiting for him, instead of-oh, I dunno- trying to get out through the windows?

Because Ainsley got hit on the head and likely had a concussion. She wasn't moving anywhere fast because it seemed like she was disoriented. 

Just now, Dbolt said:

I had a hard time with all this. Weren’t there like a whole troop of reporters starring out the house?  Why not run outside instead of upstairs? Why spend all that time talking to the daughter and wiping the blood off her face instead of blocking the door and looking for a weapon?  

Yeah, I was going to say that the reporters were all out there during the day. Did they all just give up and go home for the night? I guess, since it was 24 hours after Jessica talked to the press, they could have moved on to the next story. 

But yes to your second point. Jessica, I know you want to protect Ainsley, but sitting around, wiping her head wound is not going to help when there's a serial killer coming up to kill you! Hide Ainsley in a closet or something, and go find a weapon!

2 minutes ago, Dbolt said:

I also don’t believe that Martin intended to kill Malcom. I find it more likely that he told the guy that but intended for malcom  to kill him in self defense then use that to get him started killing. He could then hold  that over his head to make him help him with further kills. 

My thought was that Martin had taken Watkins to the cabin with Malcolm, but he had planned to kill Watkins instead. Of course Watkins wouldn't know exactly what Martin's true plans were, because why WOULD Martin tell this guy anything true? So I believe that Watkins believed it was true, but there was some other reason for that camping trip that involved Malcolm. Whether or not Martin was trying to turn Malcolm into a Mini Serial Killer, Watkins' side of the story likely isn't true, at least not 100%. 

[sharifa70]

I enjoyed this episode, though I had to hide my eyes for the hand-smashing. Jessica is one of my favorite characters, and I pretty much love everything she does even when it's crazy.  I do wonder why she and Ainsley didn't just run out of the house, though, but it's kind of a Truth Universally Acknowledged that people being chased through the house by serial killers will run upstairs instead of outside.

I was afraid that Malcolm would be forced to kill Watkins. I'm relieved the show didn't take him there.

[saber5055]

I wonder if Malcolm will now add some guilt and trauma and have nightmares because he took away Mom's gun. I knew that was a dumb ass move when he did it.

Gil was looking all kinds of fine this episode, and for the first time I liked Mom. She actually was proactive and took charge of the escape situation, except for that one major mistake she made of running up stairs, not out the front door, and not trying any phones, including the cell Ainsley, of course, would have had on her. Or yelling out a window for help. And holding the scissors by the middle of the shears instead of the handle so they wouldn't go more than an inch into Junk Yard guy if she did even managed to stab him.

Okay, so she could have done things better.

WTH with some secret room in the basement that no one knew about, even Mom, and how the hell did Junk Yard guy get Malcolm down there. That house isn't a stand-alone, is it? I thought it was a row house. Kids would have found that tunnel decades ago, and that includes Malcolm, who might have actually told Mom or Sis about it.

*hand wave*

Child Malcolm stabs Junk Yard guy and JY guy just stitches himself up with fishing twine? Alrighty then. No problem.

JY guy stabs Malcolm in the stomach and no damage is done to his internal organs, pancreas, liver, intestines, stomach ... am I missing anything? Not to say he would have bled a ton more than he did. Then at the end he's being hugged to death. Stab wound healed itself I guess. And didn't hurt when he lifted the 200-lb. dead-weight JY guy into the box either.

I thought Martin was all kinds of funny this episode. I liked him in Malcolm's hallucination when Malcolm said, "You were going to kill me" and Martin replies something like, 'Well, let's just get beyond that" or something similar.

Crazy Gramma was all bat shit. Great act, I'm thinking about trying it. I wonder if Malcolm's dead friend is still on her dining-room floor.

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Since that Scooby Doo house has been in Jessica's family for several generations, she ought to know ever nook and cranny of that house.

Martin probably make extensive renovations so that he could enter and exit without anybody realizing he is gone which is great for alibis, soundproofing, hidden rooms, etc. This all could be done while the family is on vacation.

3 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

And holding the scissors by the middle of the shears instead of the handle so they wouldn't go more than an inch into Junk Yard guy if she did even managed to stab him.

Naw, what ya wanna do is put your fingers through the holes and make a fist. That way you can punch him with the entire length of the scissors without even getting close. After ya finish with him, he will be known as the Swiss Cheese Killer.

[Perfect Xero]

The hidden room was probably connected to a secret bootlegger tunnel or the something similarly illegal. 

[foxfreakinmulder]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 12:24 PM, saber5055 said:

JY guy stabs Malcolm in the stomach and no damage is done to his internal organs, pancreas, liver, intestines, stomach ... am I missing anything? Not to say he would have bled a ton more than he did. Then at the end he's being hugged to death. Stab wound healed itself I guess. And didn't hurt when he lifted the 200-lb. dead-weight JY guy into the box either.

Also, where did the box come from, was it just sitting on the floor in the house? And when Malcolm smashed his hand with the hammer I think he would've passed out and when he woke up his hand would be swollen the size of a melon so I don't think he would've been able to pull it through the handcuff. Wasn't the handcuffs through a ring on the floor? If so how did he get them through the ring?

I told the mom and sister through my tv to run outside, but they didn't listen, and like someone posted a rich family building a house would use quality product so those doors would be solid wood.

It was an okay episode for me, I don't think what the JY killer had to say about Malcolm being taken camping to be killed was true, I believe what others said that the Dr. probably wanted Malcolm to kill the JY killer.

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

Also, where did the box come from, was it just sitting on the floor in the house?

Good thing the dead woman wasn't still in it so there was room for JY guy.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/21/2020 at 9:36 AM, rove4 said:

Beats me but I sure hope FBI lady is gone after this episode.  She grates on my nerves

Abd her fake eyelashes are so thick she can barely open her eyes 

On 1/21/2020 at 3:24 PM, saber5055 said:

And didn't hurt when he lifted the 200-lb. dead-weight JY guy into the box either

 

1 hour ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

Also, where did the box come from, was it just sitting on the floor in the house? And when Malcolm smashed his hand with the hammer I think he would've passed out and when he woke up his hand would be swollen the size of a melon so I don't think he would've been able to pull it through the handcuff. Wasn't the handcuffs through a ring on the floor? If so how did he get them through the ring?

Exactly. So Malcolm took the time to drag the box up the stairs instead of seeing if the killer was attacking his family? And once one hand was free of the cuffs, how did he free himself from whatever he was chained to?

[tennisgurl]

Glad to have the show back, and I liked this episode a lot, lots of intensity and suspense and some good character bits. I was worried that Malcolm would have to kill Watkins so I was glad that he just managed to lock him up. That hand thing though was just...owww!! Nope! 

Martin and Gil finally meet, for an epic Battle of the Dads! Martin had gotten quite twitchy in solitary while Gil is freaking out about finding Malcolm, and both think the other one is a shitty phony pretender to the Dad title. I mean, I am just gonna side with the one who isnt a serial killer and never chloroformed their kid personally. Damn, that bit where Martin accused Gil of getting Malcolm killed, that was below the belt! 

The scenes with Dani and JT looking for Malcolm were really good, they didnt go super hard on the Its Personal freak outs, but you could tell that they were really affected by what was going on. Especially JT, who started the show being pretty much annoyed by Malcolm and his presence. 

The Ainsley/Jessica stuff was pretty well done, it was nice to see them bonding through kidnapping and attempted murders (and their family does) though I hope they look through every square inch of that lovely house of horrors! Especially dads "hobby room"! Also it sounds like Malcolm wasnt the only kid who spent time with Martins "hunting buddies", which continues to make me wonder what plans he had for his kids. I dont think that Martin really was planning on killing Malcolm, I think he probably just told Watkins that for some reason, maybe so that he wouldn't kill Malcolm himself?

The cinematography while Watkins was in the house and then when Malcolm followed him in was really good. 

[nodorothyparker]

Finally caught up.  As long as I don't think too hard about some of the more nonsensical elements of this like where did the cell phones mother and daughter are always on suddenly go and why were trying to barricade themselves in a bedroom instead of running for help outside to the reporters we've been shown over and over are surrounding the front door, this was a solid fairly tense episode.  The FBI turned out to be all but useless because of course only Malcolm can ID the killer and save the day, even if he has to get himself kidnapped to his own childhood home to do it.  They might as well have stayed in Washington and applied more fake spider eyelashes.

The Gil-Martin showdown was great and you could really see the years of resentment and tug of war over being the father figure of record to Malcolm.  Michael Sheen was really terrific there, slipping in and out of his self-absorbed fucking with everybody serial killer persona as he was mentally struggling with the likelihood that Malcolm was already dead.  I don't know that I'm all that convinced yet that Watkins was telling the truth about Martin planning to kill Malcolm.  I think it's entirely possible he may have considered it or idly speculated about it to Watkins as he said the chloroform wasn't really doing the job anymore, but he's also enough of a narcissist that he clearly sees Malcolm as an extension of himself and thus feels unlikely to have really had serious intent to kill him.  Not to mention that his own child turning up dead would have invited all kinds of scrutiny that would have made continuing to cover his tracks that much more difficult.  I'll be curious to see how they address this going forward when it's not a hallucination or the ramblings of a clearly crazy person with an agenda.

I'm fascinated by the reveal that while Ainsley doesn't really remember her father or much of anything else about that time, she does remember meeting Watkins, even if she thought he was a ghost or imaginary friend at the time.  Clearly the guy was hanging around the house quite a bit.  I also liked how much Dani and JT were obviously affected by Malcolm going missing for all their earlier complaints/concerns about all his weirdness.

[sharifa70]

I re-watched the episode and now it looks like Jessica and Ainsley didn’t initially run to the bedroom. It looks like they were actually trying to get out (through the room with the sliding door) but Watkins caught up and actually burst ahead of them into the room, blocking their escape. I do buy that they didn’t have their cell phones: Ainsley was looking at photos, saw something she recognized, and ran looking for her own angel to compare them. 

I can’t explain the chest, though. Its magical appearance was just strange.

[Regalbegal]

On 1/21/2020 at 9:53 AM, sharifa70 said:

I enjoyed this episode, though I had to hide my eyes for the hand-smashing.

 

All I could think was: good thing Malcom has never seen/read Gerald's Game....

For the most part I really liked this episode.  There were some genuine surprises (Martin intended to kill Malcom, Ainsley had seen John as a child), some really good one on one scene between strong (IMO) actors (LDP/Sheen, MRJ/Payne), and I got a kick out of the over the top, go for broke horror vibe (the call is coming from inside the house! He has an axe!).  The only thing that brought it down a bit was the law enforcement stuff, it felt just sort of random.  Either there needed to be more - e.g., showing more of the conflict between eyebrows and the team - or just left out altogether, as there were plenty of other things going on in the episode.

On 1/21/2020 at 8:47 AM, sempervivum said:

Oh, I'm totally only watching this show only to admire Tom Payne's lovely blue eyes and shiny, shiny hair.

This was quite an eventful episode for his hair....

On other shallow matters, even with serial killer beard MRJ is still sexy. That voice...

 

[Trini]

On 1/23/2020 at 11:16 PM, tennisgurl said:

The cinematography while Watkins was in the house and then when Malcolm followed him in was really good. 

Just my TV, or was this episode literally too dark? There were a lot of scenes (not just after power was cut) where I couldn't really see the actors faces.

Anyway, the most important thing I got out of this was that Martin wanted to kill Malcolm? I'm not sure I 100% believe that.

[CoyoteBlue]

On 1/22/2020 at 5:28 PM, foxfreakinmulder said:

Also, where did the box come from, was it just sitting on the floor in the house?

On 1/22/2020 at 7:23 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Exactly. So Malcolm took the time to drag the box up the stairs instead of seeing if the killer was attacking his family? 

That was not the same box that the girl was in. I assume it was just some piece of furniture in the room and Malcolm knew Watkins had been locked in small spaces as a child.

[Tachi Rocinante]

The issue I have is that Tom Payne is only five years younger than the guy who plays Watkins.

In some of the scenes he actually looked older.

[Cotypubby]

Re: the handcuffs, my guess would be that once he was able to slide his hand out, he just pushed the cuff forward until they opened and could then be pulled through the ring on the floor. 
 

Anyone else catch the brief Dies Irae (aka the Shining theme) playing when Malcolm walked into the house after freeing himself?