S01.E07: Schemes of the Devil

[formerlyfreedom]

With the help of Bellamy and Sheriff Fred, Tom leads the charge in the search for Rachael, but her situation becomes increasingly dire as her captors grow more desperate. Maggie and Dr. Ward continue their medical research on the resurrected subjects and a series of shocking discoveries sets them on the brink of a game changing find, however, their focus shifts when Arcadia is suddenly in the throes of an epidemic.

 

[lucindabelle]

So, with Rachael back again in the dress she was buried in, will she remember anything that happened?

[Mrs OldManBalls]

I'm about done with this show.It feels like we'll never get anywhere. That said, I felt so bad for the sheriff when he rushed home only to find that his wife wasn't there. 

[FormerMod-a1]

I can understand if the wife didn't want to see the sheriff, but that's gotta burn to know she didn't come to see her daughter.

[shapeshifter]

In the cabin scene, right after Rachel got shot (and died for the 2nd time) after trying to overpower the psycho guy with the gun, with her baby daddy in the cabin after the trained federal agent told him repeatedly to stay outside, after the local sheriff with no backup lost his gun to the psycho, I was almost sure I saw a CGI thought bubble above Bellamy's head with the words, "That does it. I am getting out of this f'd up town with all these crazy white people."

And then, in a subsequent scene, he appears to be trying to do just that.

But then one of those crazy white people (Rachel 3.0) appears in the middle of the road right in front of him.

So maybe Omar Epps, who had already scene the entire script back when they did the cabin scene, really was thinking what I thought Bellamy was.

Edited April 28, 2014 by shapeshifter

[SunnyBeBe]

But hasn't the sheriff's wife been at the bald man's house for awhile now? He's made comments to her and has been shown buying large amounts of food for her.

 

The shooting scene in the cabin was ridiculous.  The sheriff lost his mind, pastor lost his mind, kidnapper lost his mind.......... run Bellamy!  But never fear, I guess she's alive again, so no harm done.  Was it murder or just assault? lol

 

Did anyone notice the thing Jacob was doing with his fingers? It looked like Rachel was doing it too when her hands were tied, but it was difficult to know if it was just her trying to loosen her restraints.   

[riley702]

OK, I'm officially out. I just can't with this show.

[Helena Dax]

I think this episode was quite good. I knew the  little kid was a returned  the moment I saw her mom and the clothes she was wearing. I loved the scenes where all the returned were coming back; some  of them have been death for sixty years; I wonder if there are going to be even older returned. And I'd also like to know if this is happening everywhere or it's just an Arcadia thing.

 

The returned's blood seems to have healing powers.

 

This show has all the ingredients to make a good story. It just needs a better pace and better writing. I'd love to see the returned getting used to this new world. And the world getting used to the returned. It's such a huge change...  But it's like the writers are determined to be as bland as possible. 

[possibilities]

Did anyone notice the thing Jacob was doing with his fingers? It looked like Rachel was doing it too when her hands were tied, but it was difficult to know if it was just her trying to loosen her restraints.

Yes, I think he was picking up on her energy but he felt her fear and interpreted it as "tuning in is dangerous" rather than as "she's in danger."

 

Why didn't he just tell his parents about the promise to Jenny, that she was like him, an that they needed food?

 

This show has all the ingredients to make a good story. It just needs a better pace and better writing. I'd love to see the returned getting used to this new world. And the world getting used to the returned. It's such a huge change...  But it's like the writers are determined to be as bland as possible.

I so agree! It's disappointing.

[Song of Roland]

It's like these writers aren't even capable of putting themselves into the situation that they're writing about. The reason a show like Walking Dead succeeds is because the story it's taken from was written from that standpoint- what would it be like, on a day to day basis, to live in this world?

Resurrection is going the same stupid route as Terra Nova and Revolution (and Believe, for that matter). The initial concept was intriguing, but the writers are just soap opera quality. Lots of 'confrontations' and shallow philosophising, romantic tangles, etc. They haven't set up a world view and stuck to it...case in point, isn't Arcadia a very small town? How do they have like 20 deputies in the police station, to say nothing of (presumably) cops out in squad cars, and others off -duty? A town of 5,000 or so (?) wouldn't have more than 5 or 6 on their police force.

But the worst, of course, is the ignoring of modern social media in this story- the very first inkling of a person returned from the dead, there would have been Instagrams of Jacob,  Vines of him playing in the park, and tweets galore going out all over the WORLD. The idea that this would be kept secret for weeks(?) is too stupid to be believed.

The whole aura is so dreamlike and irrational that it's impossible to really engage with this story. I have to assume it's being written by old hacks who still use typewriters or something.

That said, I think Jacob is the most empathetic and charming child I've seen on TV in a while. Sigh, I'll probably watch til he's gone.

[Babalooie]

After a second watching, I'm somehow thinking that the Nutty Professor is involved or up to no good.  Something about the missing blood, maybe.

[shapeshifter]

After a second watching, I'm somehow thinking that the Nutty Professor is involved or up to no good.  Something about the missing blood, maybe.

Good catch. Even though he does give the evil vibe, I'm guessing he took the blood to cure his Leukemia after seeing what happened under the microscope. I had thought it evaporated because I used to accuse my teenage daughter of not refilling the ice cube trays, and then after she went away to college I realized they were just evaporating. On Star-Crossed they have a similar plot point in that the Atrians' blood can cure human cancer, so there's this plot afoot by soulless doctors to make them and the healed humans into "lab rats." The Tomorrow People has a similar theme as well, and Believe isn't that far removed either.

[90PercentGravity]

I think the missing blood just disappeared along with Caleb.

[Lillybee]

So is everyone who died in this town in the past 100 years coming back from the dead? I am so confused.

[ManicMoxy]

I feel like an idiot that I had not noticed that the big bald guy had been talking to someone in his house and buying a lot of food. I would have figured that plot twist out SO much more quickly!

 

Also, great theory on the thing Jacob and Rachel were doing with their hands. I did notice it but didn't know what to make of it ... the idea that he was picking up her energy and her fear but couldn't define it, so to speak, is excellent.

 

I also figured out Jenny was returned immediately, based on her clothes. Seeing her with her parents, and taking a guess the outfits were from the 50s, makes me worried HOW they died (assuming that since they're all together, they died together as well). 

 

I had also thought Caleb's blood disappeared when Caleb himself dematerialized but the possibility that the Doctor used his blood for his own leukemia (especially assuming they no longer needed to test his blood because he was dead or gone) makes as much sense as a plot point as anything. 

 

They've really taken this SO far from the original book at this point that nothing I know from the book itself could even be considered spoilerific. 

 

Very few characters in common (Jacob and his family, Bellamy and, to a degree, Fred, but the latter has a very different role in the book). Actually, at this point, since it's safe to say she's clearly not part of the plot, I'll say I'm really disappointed they didn't write in Bellamy's mom, who was one of my favorite characters (I sincerely doubt she's the big mystery about his past, either.)

 

I do hope this gets renewed. Whatever happens in the last episode, it's going to need a Season 2 to follow up, right?

 

[Babalooie]

The American TV audience will not accept the lack of explanation for the returned, as in the book. From what I understand in reading various posts, the author focuses on how the living deal with their loved ones returning.   In order to satisfy our viewers in this society, there will have to be an alien, cloning, or zombie explanation.  What are some other possibilities?

[LGGirl]

I agree that the pace of the show is slow. It's like the writers are stretching out the story line to create episodes for a series when everything could have been told better as a mini series.

Regardless. I'm still hooked.

[shapeshifter]

I also figured out Jenny was returned immediately, based on her clothes. Seeing her with her parents, and taking a guess the outfits were from the 50s, makes me worried HOW they died (assuming that since they're all together, they died together as well). 

My guesses would be either a disease for which there is now a vaccine (like diphtheria) or a house fire. I was pretty sure the little girl was a returned when she was playing with Jacob, but then thought it was a red herring when she had a mother there (whose clothing we didn't get a good look at). So, good fake out.

[marcee]

Officially hate-watching.

[Babalooie]

I'll bet that there will be some upset people if it turns out to be all Agent Bellamy's dream.

[Monty]

So is everyone who died in this town in the past 100 years coming back from the dead? I am so confused.

I don't think it's just the last 100 years. They made a point of mentioning a Civil War battleground and an Indian village that got flooded in the area.

[CocoaGoddess]

Just watched this episode. *sigh* Over at TWoP, I was kind of riding hard for this show, but I just can't defend it anymore.

 

The Scientist/Professor/Researcher finds that blood samples of the Returnees can CURE LEUKEMIA but ... Rachel could heal from her gunshot wound? Why? 

 

So the water from the lake where Jacob and Barbara drowned is a cold lead then? Great. 

 

I dislike Barbara instantly now. I'm sure she's young and immature, but what kind of woman comes back from the dead and doesn't bother to seek out the baby she left behind? Short of her husband being abusive to her while she was alive, there really is no excuse for this. 

[jhlipton]

Everyone who wouldn't have been a doctor became a cop. So 1 doctor and 20 cops!

The Sheriff was dumb. He knew the psycho wasn't going to shoot him -- he could have put Rachel behind him and turned until she was at and out the door.

It still seems like they're trying to pretend that there's any heat between Bellamy and the doc. Just not buying it.

[lucindabelle]

It's not the American public not accepting the lack of a solution.

It's that this show has set itself up like a half-assed procedural, complete with policement, "clues," charts on a whiteboard, NEH and so on.

We could accept something bittersweet and moody like "in the Flesh." In that lovely series the why and how is irrelevant. That zombies are rehabilitated is a given. What happens when dead people come home is the story, and when one of the dead is a suicide, what you learn is truly heartbreaking. Couldn't be more powerful. It's not "about" zombies, but about loss.

But this?

This is neither one nor the other. If it's a procedural, get on with it already and stop fudging the social media, making the government the Big Bad, having everyone go to one church and son on.

If it's a moody character study, give us characters with real motivations and decent dialogue.

The american public is not the problem. The problem os, thsi show sucks.

[shapeshifter]

The Sheriff was dumb. He knew the psycho wasn't going to shoot him -- he could have put Rachel behind him and turned until she was at and out the door.

Yeah, I was annoyed at this too, but I watch so many procedurals where they do stupid stuff to make a point about something else, that I figuratively closed my eyes, covered my ears, and sang "la la la la laa, I can't hear you," until they moved on from that scene.

Or what lucindabelle said.

Edited April 30, 2014 by shapeshifter

[Teitr Styrr]

Just watched this episode. *sigh* Over at TWoP, I was kind of riding hard for this show, but I just can't defend it anymore.

 

The Scientist/Professor/Researcher finds that blood samples of the Returnees can CURE LEUKEMIA but ... Rachel could heal from her gunshot wound? Why? 

 

So the water from the lake where Jacob and Barbara drowned is a cold lead then? Great. 

 

I dislike Barbara instantly now. I'm sure she's young and immature, but what kind of woman comes back from the dead and doesn't bother to seek out the baby she left behind? Short of her husband being abusive to her while she was alive, there really is no excuse for this. 

I don't think Rachael healed.  I think she came back again.  She had on the same dress that she came back the first time.

 

Something is special about the place.  Could be the water, could be something else. I don't remember the water being ruled out though.

 

About Barbara, who knows?  I suppose we'll have to see what she has to say.  

[90PercentGravity]

I don't think it is the water. People from the town who died in other places are coming back too. The one soldier died in Korea.

[shapeshifter]

I don't think it is the water. People from the town who died in other places are coming back too. The one soldier died in Korea.

Yes, but Arcadia was his home. And I think someone else posted the theory that likely his body had been brought back to Arcadia. Arcadia with a river. IDK. Maybe it's the frickin River Styx. Jacob waking up in China seems to be the anomaly.

[jhlipton]

Caleb didn't die by the water -- he had a heart attack by his cabin.  The river ran close, but not that close.

 

I would imagine that the WW1 aviators probably died in battle, so in Europe, most likely.

[ByTor]

I feel like an idiot that I had not noticed that the big bald guy had been talking to someone in his house and buying a lot of food. I would have figured that plot twist out SO much more quickly!

I also figured out Jenny was returned immediately, based on her clothes. Seeing her with her parents, and taking a guess the outfits were from the 50s, makes me worried HOW they died (assuming that since they're all together, they died together as well). 

I had also thought Caleb's blood disappeared when Caleb himself dematerialized but the possibility that the Doctor used his blood for his own leukemia (especially assuming they no longer needed to test his blood because he was dead or gone) makes as much sense as a plot point as anything. 

Fellow idiot here!  I never put 2 & 2 together that the bald man was hiding one of the resurrected, I only figured it out through all the other much more observant people on this board saying so (so I guess I didn't "figure it out" at all haha).  You are better than I am, though, ManicMoxy, because I did not guess Jenny was another who returned.  I'm right there with you on Caleb's blood as well, I assumed it disappeared with him.  Did we watch this together & I am completely unaware??? :)

Edited May 2, 2014 by ByTor

[CocoaGoddess]

I don't think Rachael healed.  I think she came back again.  She had on the same dress that she came back the first time.

 

Something is special about the place.  Could be the water, could be something else. I don't remember the water being ruled out though.

 

About Barbara, who knows?  I suppose we'll have to see what she has to say.  

 

Sorry that was a typo. I meant she COULDN'T heal from a gunshot wound? So just what kind of magical healing properties do these people have? Based on the blood sample, I was half expecting for the cut on Rachel's face to close up instantly, ala Wolverine.

 

They need to be more consistent with this stuff moving forward. Either they are magical or they're not. 

[possibilities]

Caleb didn't die in the river, but he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the river.

 

I honestly have no idea if any of the theories the show has tossed out will have any merit, or if the writers even know at this point. In a way, it's kind of realistic that people would have wild theories that have no merit. It's not usual on TV, but in real life it does happen that people come up with ideas that don't h old on closer examination. If i trusted the writers to be heading somewhere and not just meandering around making it up week to week, I would kind of appreciate that the characters make mistakes trying to figure stuff out with limited data.