**This post contains spoilers**
The Story- Kit, Alma, and Grace struggle to adjust to life as a family under one roof, while raising their children Julia and Thomas.
Jude is still stuck at Briarcliff under the alias Betty Drake in an attempt to hide her identity. Monsignor Howard, now preparing to leave for his new position as the Cardinal of New York, promises Jude he will work towards her release.
While promoting her book, Maniac: One Woman’s Story Of Survival, Lana runs into Kit, but the happy reunion takes an unexpected turn.
My Thoughts- It’s sad, but you can tell early on the polygamous family was never going to work. Too much tension between Grace and Alma, as Grace continues to obsess over the aliens. Grace was constantly drawing pictures from what she remembered from the abductions, and Alma was growing increasingly frustrated with Grace romanticizing what she considered to be a traumatic experience.
On top of that, the trio had to deal with racism, and an attempt to burn their house down, with Billy as the prime suspect. Kit also couldn’t count on help from the police, as the officer scolded him for an illegal polygamous relationship. I mean, the episode starts out with a traumatized Kit covered in blood, while holding an axe.
It’s soon revealed that Alma, still suffering from PTSD from the abduction, snapped and brutally murdered Grace with the axe. Alma believed she had to protect the children from Grace, who couldn’t let go of the idea of encouraging the aliens return. Alma is sent to Briarcliff for Grace’s murder. Kit does his best to cheer Alma up with visits and stories about the kids, but Alma suddenly dies one day, when her heart stops.
It’s a dismal ending for both Grace and Alma. Alma dies alone at Briarcliff, and Grace ironically suffers the same brutal ending she carried out against her family. And to make matters worse, Kit is all alone again after experiencing a brief period of happiness and peace.
Jude’s problems continue to pile up in this episode. Considering his recent underhanded tactics, it’s no surprise Monsignor/Cardinal Howard lied to Jude about working to secure her release from Briarcliff. Howard left Jude to rot at Briarcliff, and two and a half years passed since the day of his “promise.” And Briarcliff turns into more of a hellhole than it was before, after its donated to the state to help relieve the overflow problem with local prisons.
You can see Jude’s mental state deteriorating in this episode. It’s revealed by Dr. Miranda Crump (Robin Bartlett) that Jude has been hallucinating many things. She hallucinated the majority of her friendship with Pepper, who died a long time ago. Jude also attacked five of her roommates, believing they were all the Angel Of Death, who was coming to take her life.
Jessica Lange continues to consistently deliver great performances in this season. That scene, where she’s sitting in her old and empty office, while Dr. Crump explains everything to her was a tough one to watch. The frizzled hair, that lost and empty look on her face, and Lange did a great job of showing Jude’s deep descent into madness.
The biggest surprise here, but not too big, because you could pick up on the little clues in the previous episode, was the change in Lana’s personality. A victim? Yes, of course. There’s no denying Lana suffered through hell, but the selfishness and her desire to become a big time celebrity takes over here.
You can really see it, when Lana is confronted by the ghosts of Dr. Thredson and Wendy at a book signing. To put all the attention on herself, Lana lied about Thredson in her book, and she also reduced her relationship with Wendy to nothing more than the two being roommates, completely ignoring the romantic side of things.
Lana also shows a snobbish side of herself by scolding her assistant for not having ice for her soda, and instead of fulfilling her promise to shutdown Briarcliff and rescue Jude, Lana is more concerned with the actress who’ll portray her in the movie adaptation of her book. Also, Lana is way too excited to write a book about Leigh Emerson’s escape from Briarcliff, his murders, and the manhunt surrounding him. Kit scolds her for turning her back on her promises, but Lana shows little to no remorse for Jude.
It’s true that Jude wasn’t a good person for a long time. But Lana IS in a position to help, and Jude did make sure to help get Lana out of Briarcliff. Maybe this is finally it for Jude? Kit seems to be the only person, who can help her now. Kit saw Jude with his own eyes, and it’s clear Lana won’t lift a finger to help her.
We see the big jolt to end this episode, when Johnny Morgan bullies a bookstore owner into giving him her mother’s signed copy of Lana’s book. Dylan McDermott delivers a powerful and chilling performance at the end here. His speech to the bookstore owner, where he promises to murder Lana and complete his father’s work was an outstanding cliffhanger. It’s a direct and blunt warning, and we’re lead to believe Lana has no idea what’s coming.
With one episode to go, Continuum closes more chapters, specifically ending Grace and Alma’s stories. We’re now down to three with Kit, Lana, Jude, and who knows how things will end up for Cardinal Howard. Johnny Morgan confronting Lana is the big story going into the season finale. Johnny’s hatred for Lana is so strong, so you can’t rule out the possibility of Johnny doing something completely horrific to complete Thredson’s “work.”
Rating- 6/10
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