Containment - Episode 6: He Stilled the Rising Tumult
Previously on Containment, “Like a Sheep Among Wolves”
It’s the start of the baseball season in Atlanta, but those inside the cordon have more worries than wondering about who’s on first. Air-conditioning is one of them. A possible government conspiracy is another.
“You’ve got two minutes to change. Three if you burn the bathrobe.”
It’s hell for leather in this, the sixth episode of The CW’s ten-episode limited event series, with multiple arcs taking place at once – with one in particular having a major say in how the show pans out in the end. It’s a packed 42 minutes, with a few decent character moments, and a nice cliffhanger to bring us all back next week.
While the television networks debate whether or not playing a baseball game so close to the cordon is a worthy endeavor, Lex takes it upon himself to act on Katie’s information. Calling on Leo, who’s under with weather with guilt and a natty bathrobe over the death of his friends, Lex coerces him into helping him with his enquiries. But first, they have to answer a call-out to a condemned building where a man, Hank, is refusing to leave. Leo bails on them because time has run out to meet his man at the centre where they can view some CCTV footage from within the hospital at the day of the outbreak. But Lex is a cop at heart and won’t leave Hank until he’s well and truly arrested. It turns out that Hank has a birds-eye view of his terrace inside the cordon and won’t leave until he sees his daughter again. Lex sympathizes with the man, but there’s not much he can do. He heads off when Leo returns with a new plan and a forged warrant. Way to go, Leo!
Images: The CW
Meanwhile, at Bitscan, it’s hot and sweaty when the A/C goes on the fritz. Handyman Sam suggests a fix that entails both he and Jana heading down below to mend a few fuses (I think that’s what they meant). They get the group’s blessing, and away they go. On their travels they find the well-stabbed body of a guy called Chuck, someone both Jana and Sam have met during the “regular season”. It is suggested that the biker gang are the culprits but Sam knows so much about a guy he very little, that alarm bells are ringing here. Maybe not for Jana – yet – but certainly for me. With the A/C back working they head upstairs again. All hail the conquering heroes? Not quite. Because…
Xander and Teresa are under pressure back at the store, where the good Officer Meese, left behind by Major Lex last week, offers his services to the Old Fourth Lords. He has a phone with him that can communicate with the outside world. He is welcome with open arms. When Xander attempts to persuade Trey to let them leave because one of his crew, JoJo, is sick, Trey remedies the situation by putting a bullet in his former colleague. The needs of the many, and all that. This act of casual violence (YAY!) leads Teresa’s mom covering for their escape. Their eventual destination is…Bitscan. It’s a good time to bring these two disparate story lines together. It tightens the plot somewhat.
Jake and Katie go on patrol to see if they can find Thomas, the little boy who left the hospital along with his infected father a couple of weeks back. His sister is dying back at the hospital and Katie’s heart is broken to think the boy could be dead too. Unbeknownst to them both, Quentin has tagged along for the ride, just in time for the trio’s encounter with the biker gang. One quick shot from Jake, though, and they’re off. But Quentin goes missing. When Jake and Katie eventually catch up with him, they find Thomas giving a sick man some water. Scared that the little boy could become infected, the obviously healthy Thomas declares himself immune. “I can’t get sick,” he says mysteriously. They bring him back to the hospital and put him in quarantine, just to be sure.
Back outside the cordon, Lex manages to get his hands on a USB that contains the footage he needs, but it’s corrupted. Under the guise of giving some much needed ammo to Jake, he hands over the stick to his man on the inside telling him to get it to Janna. In return, Jake hands over a USB of his own, but not before confessing to his friend of his love for Katie. Ahhh. When Lex is searched under the orders of a suspicious Chief Besser, the stick is found but it contains nothing to incriminate him. What it does have is a message from Hank’s daughter, letting the relieved man know she’s alive and well and waiting for all this to be over. Hank then leaves the condemned building.
As it turns out, Jake’s presence at Bitscan is needed pretty damn quick. Just as Teresa and Xander are settling down with Jana and her team, along with the surprise acquisition of the phone Meese brought to the store, Teresa’s mother turns up downstairs, held at gunpoint by Trey. Totally not cool.
So there’s a lot going on in He Stilled The Rising Tumult (a quote from a poem about baseball). There’s plenty to get your teeth into. I enjoyed the continuing relationship between Katie and Jake. They rely a lot on each other and while I know television writers can be beasts at times, I hope both are left standing at the end. Quentin, too – and I normally hate kids in adult shows. (Sue me.)
Lex taking decisive action instead of being bemused and downtrodden is another highpoint for me. How his superiors handle this is another concern for the character.
The gang at Bitdata can go swing, apart from Suzy. She’s all right.
All in all, this is the best of the bunch so far, and with four episodes left, there is a lot in store for the Insiders, Outsider, and viewers.
