Intruders - S1E8 - There Is No End
Previously on Intruders, ‘The Crossing Place.’
Queens, NY 1931
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Bix, when was really alive, had a drinking problem. A comeback to the jazz stage and Rose’s love wasn’t enough to keep him clean and he dies in her arms. But not before she makes him stare at the mouthpiece to his trumpet.
Basement of Nope
Back in present day, Jack calls in Gary’s suicide then rushes inside the building where he tends to Todd’s wound. Todd comes to long enough to tell Jack that they’re downstairs and he hands off the mailbox keys. Opening a few of the boxes reveals a hidden door to the basement. Jack heads down armed with a flashlight and a gun, and goes all Silence of the Lambs. He doesn’t even notice Mardison hiding behind a thick piece of plastic, looking the nopiest I’ve ever seen her.
He spots Richard and Rose walking by at the end of a long hall and hides as two Shepherds pass. They’re going over Rose’s orders to kill Richard after Cranfield has been buried. Oh, Rose.
A girl matching Madison’s description has been brought to the hospital, but Madison’s parents are disappointed to see it’s just Meadow, Crane’s daughter. At the mention of Madison’s name, Meadow loses her shit.
Meanwhile, Mardison makes her way to a brick wall and flashes back to Rose having Marcus sealed behind it. They’ve had enough of his antics. After they’re gone, Richard arrives and removes one brick, leaving just enough room for Marcus to gaze at the seashell. Richard says goodbye and promises to see him again in 18 years.
Jack dips into a room to hide and finds shelves of 9 diaries belonging to members of Qui Reverti, including Nikolai Tesla and Ronald Reagan. He tosses them on the floor. In another room he finds drawers of triggers and starts breaking them. This really annoyed me for some reason. He only stops destroying shit that doesn’t belong to him when he hears Mardison banging on the bricks in the hallway.
When Mardison Met Jack
Mardison tries to convince Jack that she’s Marcus and they’re both after the same thing: a little payback on Rose. Jack doesn’t really believe but agrees to take over breaking up the wall to see Marcus’ body for himself. Faced with the truth, Jack still insists that a 9-year-old girl isn’t going to kill anyone. Mardison is all, “Uh. Have you not been paying attention? That’s what I do!” She slices his arm and takes off.
Jack then witnesses Cranfield’s binding ritual and flashes back to Cranfield being shown his trigger at home and finding his son’s remains. Fed up with all this crazy shit he can’t understand and refuses to believe, Jack sets a fire in the library.
Detective Blanchard has arrived outside after piecing together that the location where Gary jumped is the same as where Meadow said her father was attacked. As Blanchard notices the smoke and calls in the fire, Richard notices too and yells for the Qui Reverti members to run. Jack corners Amy and says he’s taking her home. Oh, Jack. Jack.
She tells him for the 456th time that she’s not Amy, she’s not going anywhere, and he needs to stop sweating her so damn hard! Mardison sneaks up and gets a slice on Amy before Richard arrives holding two guns cause that’s how he rolls. Yet again, Richard can’t bring himself to shoot Mardison, who takes off running.
Once again, Amy/Rose makes it very clear she has no interest in going with Jack and chooses to leave with Richard.
It All Comes Down to This
Just as Mardison stumbles into the alley next to the building, her parents - who’ve been standing behind the police tape around Gary’s body - spot her and she runs for them. At the same time, Richard and Rose exit the building and Rose orders Richard to finally end it. Jack also exits from the front door and knocks Madison down just as Richard fires. Richard and Rose get away as the paramedics work on Madison.
Madison and Marcus sit by the water with mountains in the distance. He tells her she’s lost and he’s going to return to her body. She tells him to go fuck himself and wakes up inside her body in the alleyway.
As Richard tends to Rose’s wound, he confesses to helping Marcus in order to get money for his brother’s care. They go pick up Bix, but Bix is gone. I think if they check the nearest liquor store they’ll find him.
Jack wakes up in the hospital to find Blanchard sitting by his bed. He has the notes and book that were taped to Gary’s body and asks about all the weirdness: Madison’s claim that a man took over her body, the Qui Reverti cult, Richard, the fire, etc. Jack says Gary was crazy, his wife is no longer his wife, and basically tries to tell Blanchard to leave well enough alone. Blanchard will not be leaving it alone.
Jack visits Madison’s hospital room and she assures him that Marcus is gone. When he tries to press further, Madison’s mom puts a stop to it. As Jack passes a little boy in a wheelchair, the boy calls him over and whispers in Spanish, “I will get my revenge from the other side.” Then he throws up the double birds just as the gang member Jack killed did before he shot him in the chest.
Jack goes home and starts cleaning up because his house looks like no one ever gave a fuck. Ever. He calls and leaves a message for Gary’s wife saying that nothing she hears about Gary is true and that he loved his daughter very much. Aww. See. I like this Jack.
The next day, Jack finds Richard sitting in his living room. He’s not there to kill him and asks Jack if he knows why they never killed him despite having many opportunities to do so. Jack suspects it’s because he’s capable - so capable he could be one of them. Jack opens a box Richard has placed on the coffee table. Inside, there’s a 9 card with ‘Jack Shepherd’ written on the back.
“And now you are,” Richard says.
Thoughts & Questions:
- How in the entire hell did that gang member come back?
- We still don’t know how the people who are intruded are chosen and how Shepherds know who they are.
- Madison’s mom is SUSPECT. I still don’t trust her.
- I’m not sure I like the idea of Jack as a Shepherd. He was our window into the world, but most times we knew more than he did. It got a little frustrating watching his continuous denial even in the face of such irrefutable proof. What kind of Shepherd will he be? I have a feeling he’ll accept only to try and get Amy back, despite the fact that by the end of the episode he seemed resigned to the fact that his wife was gone.
- Why is it still so hard for Richard to kill Marcus in Madison? They’ve established that it’s possible for the host to be pushed away for good. Wouldn’t you rather take out the murderous man in a little girl’s body than have him/her running around and causing trouble?
- When the hell are we getting season 2?
