S01.E04: The Meltdown

[formerlyfreedom]

While Minx tries to persuade a disillusioned Henry to play one more game for Drill, the race is on for Claire and Wes to thwart John Doe from causing a major incident that could potentially kill millions of people.

[ottoDbusdriver]

While Minx tries to persuade a disillusioned Henry to play one more game for Drill, the race is on for Claire and Wes to thwart John Doe from causing a major incident that could potentially kill millions of people.

 

So, Sean/John Doe and Drill are in a race to see who can blow up the nuclear power plant first ?  That seems weird.

[Stella MD]

I'm not sure that I understand why Drill needed Henry to go through the tunnel, if the flood was going to be ultimately blocked by Sean. I guess Henry was there to buy time? But why not just teleport Sean in to pull the hatch earlier then?

[fabinpink]

That was intense! I really love this show.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Well there's an improvement -- with Gaheris Rhade and Dr. Carson Beckett on the job (Steve Bacic and Paul McGillion), neither Drill nor Sean has got a chance to succeed.  :)

 

There's no way that Claire would be let anywhere near that power plant by herself.  Because there's nothing more fun than family drama amongst the power plant meltdown.  That tunnel Henry walked into the power plant seems like a REALLY big security hole.

 

I'm confused -- did the reactor explode ?  Because that looked like steam coming out of the cooling towers -- why would it turn gray ?  And why would the steam cloud collapse into itself to a big ole ball of blue light.  Were the declining water levels in the core just faked by Drill ?

 

Is Drill in control of all the children of the world -- like that random girl along the path Henry was taking ?  I seriously doubt that Henry made it all that way from his home in a couple of hours ?  Has he been training for the Tour de France in his spare time ?  Because there probably aren't a lot of ferries from D.C. to somewhere on the Maryland side of Chesapeake Bay.

 

Minx's mom is in the running for worst parent of the year -- she didn't check on Minx for several hours.  Meanwhile, Henry's Grandma is in the running for worst baby sitter of the year.  She just took Minx's word that: A) they had a play date and B) Minx said Henry was ok.

 

When Henry spoke at the end, that was no big deal.  He could always speak even when he was deaf.  He just chose not to.

 

Everyone seemed really unconcerned that they were on the verge of a Fukashima-level type of disaster.  Who writes this ?

 

And the overacting by Wes when he thought the nuclear plant melted down was just terrible.

 

#WhoisDrill -- really ABC ?

[Lady Calypso]

I didn't understand why Drill did all of that if it was just going to end in nothing happening. What was the purpose to try and blow up the plant? Was it to reunite Henry and Sean? Was it just some big game of catch me if you can? I mean, clearly Drill loves games, but this one served no purpose. 

 

Also, I guess I just noticed this and maybe it's just for this show, but Lily Rabe was not selling her anguish and fear at first. Ok, she sold it better when she actually saw Henry and was pounding on the glass, but before when she was first rushing in to save him, she had this dead stare emotionless eye thing going on and I just couldn't buy it. But I guess she sold it better later on.

 

Still just watching for Sean's story, to be honest. On the plus side, no Harper! 

Edited June 23, 2015 by Lady Calypso

[Chaos Theory]

Soooo does this mean Drill is winning the game?

I don't think Drill wanted to blow up the plant. He wanted the energy from it since he seems to be a big energy monster.

Minx continues to be the scariest person on the show. But then naming your kid 'Minx' you were kinda asking for it.

This show continues to be better then it should be.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Dot Com]

I'm watching for Sean's story as well Calypso.

I saw the girl that plays Harper today in the "Ant-Man" trailer.

Chaos Theory wrote:

"I don't think Drill wanted to blow up the plant. He wanted the energy from it since he seems to be a big energy monster."

Oooh good theory. That's what happened with the big black clouds. Drill sucked the energy up from them.

Dr. Maria to Sean: "What are you doing? Stop that. STOP THAT!"

Me: "you're a Doctor. Don't tell me you don't know what a seizure looks like!"

Edited June 23, 2015 by Dot Com

[alias1]

I thought the whole scene with Clare running blindly through the power plant and Wes guiding her via blueprints was absolutely laughable. As was Henry crawling into the power plant through a tunnel.  I  just can't really care about the characters.  Clare and Wes have no chemistry. Please go home to your wife Wes.  And Henry bothering to cross out his instructions (with crayon) as he completed each step was a joke.  His crayon barely touched the paper but later there were clear blue x's showing on the paper.  I don't think he was instructed to bring a flashlight but he is apparently one smart kid.     

Edited June 23, 2015 by SierraMist

[Dot Com]

I assume Henry read the instructions before he left on his little trip. If I read something about going into a dark hole I'd make a point of grabbing a flashlight. Henry should give Sean his crayon to use to write with when he has his visions.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Dot Com

[Anela]

That little girl is too creepy. 

[shrewd.buddha]

So... If I were to get lost in a series of underground storm drain tunnels or sewers, I could accidentally end up in the cooling tank of nuclear power plant? 

 

When Claire, Henry and Sean took a 'family moment' in the cooling tank, I was so irritated I was almost rooting  for the water to burst through the door. 

 

And Claire's FBI partner is the worst -- I almost feel sorry for the actor having to portray "guy who continually fails to put things together and must crap on every idea and action of others."

 

There's something not quite right about this show..... It feels like "The Hobbit" movie(s) -- a story stretched so far beyond it's natural length that it becomes tedious. 

Edited June 25, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[Free]

 

And Henry bothering to cross out his instructions (with crayon) as he completed each step was a joke.  His crayon barely touched the paper but later there were clear blue x's showing on the paper.  I don't think he was instructed to bring a flashlight but he is apparently one smart kid.

 

Unless of course Drill did that as well.

 

 

There's something not quite right about this show..... It feels like "The Hobbit" movie(s) -- a story stretched so far beyond it's natural length that it becomes tedious.

 

It is one of those shows.  I've said it before, but it does feel a lot like Extant, it's kind of boring, cheesy family moments, character stupidity, etc.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Did anyone else think it weird that Minx could suddenly read sign language ?  Did Drill teach that to her in his free time ?

 

Minx:  "Your mom is pretty, but not as pretty as mine."

 

That seemed like a bitchy thing to say for a child that young -- did Drill tell her to say that as well ? Or is she training to grow up to be on a future version of the Real Housewives of D.C. ?

 

I don't get why the kids keep going along with Drill's games -- when they seem like pretty lame games, and don't seem terribly fun (which is why kids would participate) and I'm not sure what the reward for Minx was in this scenario.

 

The people in the control room of the nuclear power plant seemed rather nonchalant at the beginning of the episode -- an alarm tripped due to the water levels dropping, I'm sure someone will take care of it.  Really ? They don't double-check or triple-check important shit like that.

 

How did Henry know that Black-Eyed Sue was a ferry boat called the Black Eyed Susan (no hyphen), and that was where he was supposed to go first ?  The clue said "The first thing you have to do is take you bike to Black-Eyed Sue".  How would a 6 or 7 year-old figure that out from that clue that was a boat he was supposed to get on ? And how did he get the money to pay for the ferry ride ?  He still would have had to bike miles to even get to the ferry in the first place -- how exactly in that short a time frame ?

 

Why weren't there any guards keeping people from re-entering the plant during the evacuation -- Sean and the Doc just waltzed through uncontested since there were no guards.  There were armed guards on the main gate, but nobody, not even the equivalent of a mall security guard guarding the back entrance of a nuclear power plant.  Again, pretty shitty security for a nuclear power plant.

 

According to the tourist sign where the little girl directed Henry along the way, they were in Lusby, Maryland (which is a real place and the location of the fictional Harper Point Nuclear Plant) -- which is a long hike from D.C., (over 60 miles).  So where did this mystery ferry pick up Henry in the first place -- downtown D.C. ?

 

There's no way that once they caught Sean that they would keep him in holding at the plant -- his ass should have been half-way to Gitmo by the time he broke out.

 

Claire decides to go find her son by randomly driving along back roads near the power plant -- seriously ?  Even though she just discovered moments beforehand that he was only missing from her home, and the first conclusion she jumps to is that the whole nuclear plant nonsense is a diversion just for Henry to find his daddy.  That's some pretty weak tea.  And miraculously Claire finds Henry's bike on the first road she tries.

 

Wes seems overly touchy-feely with Claire.

 

I guarantee you there's no way Henry could lift that metal door down to the pipe -- and why did that door have a padlock and chain, yet wasn't actually locked ?  Did Drill find a kid with a pair of bolt-cutters to get there first ?

 

I laughed when that sign flickered and changed from 'Restricted Area' to 'Rest Area' -- like that's the clue Sean needed to get to the control room.  That seemed really cheesy.

 

When the core melted down, the steam output from the two cooling towers mushroomed accompanied by the sound of an explosion -- except that's not how cooling towers work (the core is NOT inside the cooling towers).  and especially since the cooling system was basically off.  Any explosion would have come from the building housing the core.  And despite the fact that the cloud from the cooling towers disappeared, the reactor core should have still been exposed and there should have been radiation all over that place.   Unless Drill decided to refill the core on his own, this place would still be a mess.  Unless Drill can change the laws of physics, this whole scenario just seemed poorly written.

[Chaos Theory]

Re: Minx. I haven't been able to get a good read on her but the other kids going along with the games had a positive outcome as far as they were considered. Harper started just playing a fun game but when her mother got hurt Drill promised to fix her if she continued and at least in her mind (and who knows if it is true) he did. The same with Henry. Drill made it so he could hear then promised to give his father back if he went on a treasure hunt. These are both things young children would do almost without question if there was a guaranteed outcome if they won. So far drill has kept all his promises.

Minx however we don't know what she gets or was promised out of all this. Is she just a bad seed playing a game because it is fun for her or was she promised something too? Maybe her parents getting back together or maybe hurting the woman who ruined her family.

Or maybe Minx is just evil.

Maybe Minx is Drill.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[readster]

Re: Minx. I haven't been able to get a good read on her but the other kids going along with the games had a positive outcome as far as they were considered. Harper started just playing a fun game but when her mother got hurt Drill promised to fix her if she continued and at least in her mind (and who knows if it is true) he did. The same with Henry. Drill made it so he could hear then promised to give his father back if he went on a treasure hunt. These are both things young children would do almost without question if there was a guaranteed outcome if they won. So far drill has kept all his promises.

Minx however we don't know what she gets or was promised out of all this. Is she just a bad seed playing a game because it is fun for her or was she promised something too? Maybe her parents getting back together or maybe hurting the woman who ruined her family.

Or maybe Minx is just evil.

Maybe Minx is Drill.

 

 Very true, they realized they are getting something out of it. However, they aren't seeing that Drill set them up too. Harper's mom wouldn't have anything wrong with her if Harper wouldn't have been stupid enough to have her fall out of the tree house. Henry gets his hearing and dad back but oh look, he is causing meltdowns and people to get killed in the process. Minx is just being evil and of course if you are stupid enough to name your kid Minx then I'm sorry, you are asking for it. I'm sure, there is something she is getting in the long run but its being dragged out as a plot point. In the long run, the kids are just being stupid and not thinking of what the consquences for their actions are or being manipulated. That's why Drill uses them, they are easy manipulated where an adult would go: "Excuse me, how is that giving me something by hurting or killing someone in the process." Even in the original Zero Hour, the kids weren't not written as bright there either, even if the aliens were controlling them. They did it because they are young and naive. 

[queenanne]

 

#WhoisDrill -- really ABC ?

 

Do they think they're misdirecting us off of the crackling lights [LOL]?  Clearly Drill is what they call "an entity", to the point where it should be #WhatIsDrill - and if not, that's some really bad signifiers, because Drill has talked to people when, for example, Milo Ventimiglia hasn't been within a country mile of the Drill subjects.

 

I thought Minx's compliment about Claire's prettiness was realistic considering she needed to butter Henry up, because we've seen she can't stand Claire, yet couldn't very well say "I hate your mom, who makes my mom cry and has clearly done something bad with my dad on top of it."

 

I'm also not seeing the fun for the kids in the "scavenger hunt", and think it's a little contrived that they have to send Henry out, when they could just skip involving Henry and hand all his tasks directly to Minx. (I mean, I get that they technically "can't", because Minx at the power plant with Claire and Sean has no resonance, but they could come up with some other way to integrate the power plant into the plotline, use something completely different, etc.)  Minx could be the only small minion, and the story wouldn't lose much other than some cuteness factor. Heck, she could've lured Harper's mom into the treehouse.  "Are you lost, little girl?"  "I'm scared of heights!  Can't climb down!", etc. 

[Driad]

 

Can someone who knows ASL comment on the signing that Henry and his mother and grandmother do?  Does it look as if the actors actually know (some) ASL?

[TheRabbi]

This was an extraordinarily stupid hour.  Sean is able to waltz right in during an evacuation (my uncle works at a power plant in upstate NY and says the security puts prisons to shame).  I also don't buy Henry's motivation for the little scavenger hunt.  Some creepy girl you've never met says this is on behalf of Drill, and all of a sudden you're willing to go trapsing across town and through sewers?  When Minx (still can't get over how terrible a parent would be to name their child that) said "He must have been busy" to Henry's question about why Drill didn't just tell him itself, that's when you say "He has time to tell you but not the one actually doing this search?"

 

The chase through the power plant was laughable, and the CG throughout the episode wasn't any better.  

 

Minx's mom is the worst parent ever if she's content to leave her child in the garage for what must have been several hours without checking on her once, especially given all the recent events.

 

 

Can someone who knows ASL comment on the signing that Henry and his mother and grandmother do?  Does it look as if the actors actually know (some) ASL?

 

I can't comment on the authenticity of the ASL, but it does feel like they're performing it agonizingly slowly to spell it out for the audience.  Granted, my only experience with it is watching 3 seasons of Margie and Luke communicating on the Amazing Race, and those two are so in tune with each other that they don't even seem to really need it.

Edited June 24, 2015 by TheRabbi

[Dot Com]

I Know some ASL but I'm far from an expert. I recognize some of the signs. The speed in which they're signing doesn't seem to slow considering the fact that Henry went deaf three years ago. So he and his family have only been signing for three years. Of course Henry should be the best and fastest at it.

[90PercentGravity]

This show is the worst. The absolute worst. What a pathetic waste of an okay concept.

 

Every time one of Minx's parents say her name, someone should come out of nowhere and slap the parent across the face. Drill can do it, and that can be the whole plot of the show. It would still be more watchable than this garbage.

[Lady Calypso]

This show is the worst. The absolute worst. What a pathetic waste of an okay concept.

 

Every time one of Minx's parents say her name, someone should come out of nowhere and slap the parent across the face. Drill can do it, and that can be the whole plot of the show. It would still be more watchable than this garbage.

 

The Slap 2: The Slappening. Man, The Slap was a stupid show.

[iMonrey]

The power plant is ridiculously easy to break into. Overall the episode ended up going nowhere. A lot of suspense and the only payoff being Claire finding out Henry can hear.

I have to say this show is not doing Lily Rabe any favors. She's squandering all the good will she earned on American Horror Story. I'm sure the material is part of the problem but frankly it seems she's somewhat limited in her acting range.

[Free]

The power plant is ridiculously easy to break into. Overall the episode ended up going nowhere. A lot of suspense and the only payoff being Claire finding out Henry can hear.

I have to say this show is not doing Lily Rabe any favors. She's squandering all the good will she earned on American Horror Story. I'm sure the material is part of the problem but frankly it seems she's somewhat limited in her acting range.

 

It is, her role is very restricted to the one note character she's playing whereas she was far more expressive with her AHS characters.

[Texasmom1970]

Still don't know why I am watching this show. The little girl Minx annoys me so much. Don't care about the past infidelity between the main characters. I am getting kind of bored trying to figure out who Drill is and what the hell is his end game.

[Black Knight]

It is, her role is very restricted to the one note character she's playing whereas she was far more expressive with her AHS characters.

Yes, and there was variety to the AHS characters that were written for her - she didn't just play the same type of person in each season. Nora, Misty, Sister Mary Eunice and Sister Mary Satan all had distinct differences between them. And I've seen her in a few other things too where she did well while not just playing one type. She has good range; this particular character is just one-note. And it feels a bit like she realized early on that this show is an unfolding disaster, that the writers did a good pilot but now must resort to all sorts of stupidity to drag this premise out into a series.

 

But that's okay. Free Lily Rabe! Then she can go back to AHS!

[Rainbowpapi]

My guess are that there are at least two omnipotent powers at work. One talking to the children, drill. And one that is specifically talking to Sean

[Canada]

Okay, so the nuclear plant is on lockdown and you have security watching all the entrances/exits.  Yet, during the evacuation, Sean walked right in, dragging the doctor with him.  Umm, that's stupid and this show just went from being really enjoyable for me to being dumb as hell.

[Happytobehere]

Horrible episode.

Does the show think we a drawn to Claire and Wes because I straight up can't stand him and can stand her in any scenes they have together. There is nothing likable or rootable about Wes as a character or Wes and Claire as a couple.

The character I like the most is Sean. He is the only one whose outcome I care about. On a side note, I think Sean (when he gets his memory back) should question Henry's paternity because there is no way he and Claire produced that kid.

Minx continues to be creepy and evil. She is so Wes's hell spawn.

[SonofaBiscuit]

So, I missed the first 20 minutes due to bad storms and multiple power outages.  When the DVR recording kicked in, Henry was on his little bike excursion.  So glad that on his outing to cause a nuclear meltdown, he was safety-conscious enough to wear a bike helmet.  These children are little shits.

[AudienceofOne]

So... Sean kidnapped the Doctor so she could shoot him if he did something bad? More "bad" than kidnapping somebody and breaking into a nuclear-power plant?

 

You know, I think this episode didn't make much sense.

 

Having said that, I did like the conclusion with the energy from the plant being directed elsewhere, presumably into the other dimension Drill is from?