The Passage confirms a horrific new viral contagion

Everyone’s worst fears are confirmed on a new episode of The Passage when it becomes apparent that one viral bite can infect infinite numbers of people.

The search is on for Winston after his reckless escape plan on last week’s episode of The Passage, he’s taken for the roads outside the facility and kills several people along the way. Lila almost becomes a victim but has enough sense to escape out of the van transporting her, post-kidnapping, back to the Project NOAH compound.

How exactly, can a team of scientists track down a super-powered mutant human experiment? By using another one, in this case, Amy. Brad is totally against it, flexing his faux-dad authoritarian voice to try and get her to stay in line. You can’t blame him for being overprotective, he clearly sees Amy as a his second chance at a child and he’s already lost one, he can’t fathom losing another.

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But Amy rebels against Brad’s orders to stay put and keep her newly discovered gifts a secret, causing a rift between them. Amy defies Brad and agrees to help in the search for Winston since she’s begun getting glimpses of his location.

Fanning has not taken so kindly to Amy’s evolving abilities. Nichole even points out to Jonah that she could surpass Tim in strength. So it’s not surprising when Tim pays Winston a mental visit and gives him a kill order if he crosses paths with Amy. I guess his whole “family” thing only goes so far when someone could threaten his alpha status.

As for Jonah, he’s been avoiding the ruckus of viral-hunting by basking in the glory of his newly-recovered wife. But there is a sickening shadow hanging over the brief euphoria of their reunion. She has been injected with the vaccine and that means she will eventually become a viral like all the rest, unless, as Nichole points out, they can harvest Amy’s cells and maybe prevent the whole nasty evolution altogether.

In order for that to happen though, Amy needs to stay alive. A task becoming more difficult by the moment when Clark, Brad, Lila, and Guilder discover a horrific truth about the virals.

THE PASSAGE: L-R: Emmanuelle Chriqui and Saniyya Sidney – Cr. Erika Doss / FOX.

Fleeing the scene, Lila stumbles on an old cabin where one of Winston’s victims, an old woman, is drowning in a pool of her own blood. She patches her up and stays with her until morning when the woman rears up and attacks. Yep.

Virals can officially infect other people, infinite amounts of people as Lila says. “And in Brad’s own words: Can we start calling them vampires now?” If they don’t find Winston fast, the pandemic will be upon them sooner than anyone anticipated.

Thus far, Amy’s predictions about Winston’s movements have been right on, and so everyone else follows her lead to the next location. While walking there, Brad has a moment to lament his troubles with getting Amy to listen to him and Lila points out she’s going through puberty.

Plus, Amy makes some good points about him being the one who kidnapped her. Yes, Brad has had a change of heart and we all love their relationship but it’s important to remember how she got into this situation in the first place.

Still, it is from a tender-hearted place that Brad gets stern with Amy. He is absolutely terrified of something happening to her.

His fears prove to be for good reason when Amy tries to lure Winston away from the rest of the group, who are being overwhelmed by a horde of Winston’s freshly-made virals, and nearly dies when her powers don’t activate. Brad saves her just in time. And when he shoots Winston dead, all the virals he created die with him.

Crisis averted, the team is due to head back to the facility but Guilder splits a newly reconciled Amy and Brad apart and has his men knock Brad unconscious. By the time they arrive back at NOAH, Clark questions what happened to Brad and Lila and before Guilder can come up with a better lie, Amy starts convulsing in pain.

THE PASSAGE: L-R: Caroline Chikezie and Henry Ian Cusick – Cr. Erika Doss / FOX.

Prior to their return, Jonah and Nichole made the decision to kill all the virals, unaware of the connection forged by maker and progeny. Since Amy and Elizabeth are part of Tim’s psychic web, his suffering is their suffering.

They can’t kill Fanning without killing them. Nichole makes Jonah turn the light machines off and they stare at an enraged Fanning, smugly aware on some deeper mental level, that he has them all cornered.

It is also worth noting how this episode explores the surprising prior relationship between Nichole and Shauna. For a while, they had actually become friends, good friends, the type of friends who bonded over semi-colon tattoos (a tattoo that symbolizes surviving a suicide attempt or other mental illness) horror movies, and pizza. Nichole promised to stay by Shauna’s side no matter what. But then she transitioned and Nichole believed her brain dead.

In the present, Shauna torments Nichole through the mental connection. We learn the reason she has been pursuing Clark so heavily is because Nichole loves him and Shauna wants to ruin Nichole’s life. She wants to take everything from her and then when all is said is done, kill her.

Next. The Passage recap: Season 1, Episode 5. dark

Odds & Ends

I appreciated the part in one of Nichole’s flashbacks where Clark questions if it’s a good idea for her to get close to Shauna and she replies, “No, it’s a terrible idea but it’s what’s happening.” Honesty is always a refreshing take from situations where denial is generally the case.
Lila: Well, that’s not the virus, that’s puberty. Brad: I know. Which is also catastrophic.
Why did Amy lure Winston into a dark building when she had the clear advantage in the sunlight?
Amy and Brad’s tearful reconciliation proves why they’re the heart and soul of this show.
“It’s kind of funny you don’t like horror movies, since you’re living in one.”

A new episode of The Passage titled “You Are Like the Sun” premieres February 25th on FOX.

Have you been keeping up with The Passage? Let us know in the comments.

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