Containment - Episode 4: With Silence and Tears
Previously on Containment, “Be Angry at the Sun”
“We need the truth, not a government script.”
In a show about how a contagion can possibly bring down a major city, it’s surprising that the most effective moments in this fourth episode were the smaller, character-driven ones.
The opening montage brings to a head the tensions both inside and outside the cordon. The police patrol the cordon itself while drones keep an eye on the populace inside.
Major Lex isn’t taking to the job as Quarantine Spokesman very well, especially when he has to take a shot at Teresa’s boyfriend Xander for trying to escape into the cordon to be with his heavily pregnant girlfriend. All this “Everything’s going to be fine” bullshit weighs heavy on his shoulders. Blogger Leo has his own reasons to get someone inside; he wants to find out how sick his colleagues are. So he concocts a plan to put Xander back beyond the cordon. It works. But the news he gets isn’t good; both women are dead.
Katie has run out of her mood stabilizing meds and it’s up to Jake to rescue some for her while he’s out on a scouting mission for Dr Cannerts. The scenes he shares with Katie and her son Quentin, over a makeshift Monopoly board (the Quarantine Edition – available at a Toys ‘R’ Us next month) are delicately played. They would make a nice family, if they all made it out alive. But it’s the moments Jake and Katie share alone that are worth the price of admission. Both broken from past experience, they bond over a box of silly hats and sunglasses, each offering the other little tokens of hope, while remaining four to six feet apart. I loved this exchange.
The other stories lack the same kind of character depth, though Lex’s arc is no doubt going to take him from being a government lackey to become more proactive, especially when it comes to Janna. Speaking of whom, when it comes to the crunch, Janna uses her tech know-how to build a phone from scratch, even though she gets very little mileage from it. These skills may come in handy in later episodes. Meanwhile, a new guy, Sam, is prowling the building she and her colleagues are hiding out in, trying to worm his way inside. No dice yet, but he’s going nowhere. She does, however, manage to pass on a love note, written on cardboard, shown to Lex via drone. This was rather sweet, and it may be just the fillip Lex needs to get his ass in gear.
Teresa’s mom’s store gets robbed again, by the same asshats from last week. Seeing there’s no Officer Jake to come to their rescue, it’s up to another gang of headbangers from the other side of the street to, I dunno, save the day, perhaps? It could be a case of “better the devil you know.” All in all, even though Xander is back on the scene, things don’t look at all safe for Teresa and her family. This particular storyline could use a little oomph, in my opinion.
Leo’s loss, along with Jake and Katie’s bonding, provide the heart of With Silence and Tears. There is some movement in the contagion plot – with Dr Cannerts struggling to find an antidote and enough rats to work on – and the number of bodies turning up at the hospital is beginning to cause a problem for the staff, but with Dr Lommers offscreen this week, the focus is well and truly on how the victims on both side of the cordon are holding up. Some are getting along better than others, but at last, we’re beginning to care about them. This is a decent episode. Let’s see what next week brings.
