The Passage
“You Are Not That Girl Anymore” (Episode 108)
March 4, 2019

Last week on The Passage, Brad and Lila work together to get back to Project NOAH while we learn more about their history (and shared grief). At the compound, Amy, with Carter’s help, begins to embrace her power and realizes she may be able to do more than she ever thought possible. Read up on the entire episode with our deep dive recap and review here!

Now, on to tonight’s all new episode of The Passage … BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!

Tonight picks up moments after last week ended. Fanning and Amy are still in her apartment dreamscape. Tim is trying to get Amy to explain how she created such a rich world, down to the smell of bacon wafting through the air.  His worry and jealousy is barely concealed as he presses her for answers on how she, a child, managed all of this.

“That’s easy, I had help.”

Fanning pivots to Carter and his relationship with Amy. Amy explains that Carter told her she’s special and also, Fanning would try to hurt her. Not true, Tim replies, offended, but he concedes to being a bit of a dick to Anthony when he was turning. He claims that he needed to make sure Carter could take what’s coming next. What’s that now, Amy asks?

“The end is near, my dear.”
“I don’t do riddles, dude. Just say what you mean.”

I hope Saniyya Sidney wins all the awards later this year because she is the absolute best.

Fanning agrees with me and tells Amy he wants to be her friend.

In the real world, Clark is with Amy, who is on a gurney and not doing great, and a team of doctors. They are moving her … to somewhere less palatial than her bedroom. As Clark watches, he gets a friendly visit from his favorite Viral.  Shauna pops up behind Clark and she repeats her mantra that the only way he makes it out alive of this whole mess is by being #TeamBabcock.

Pulling up the rear of the Amy wagon train is Dr. Sykes and Guilder. Nichole is berating Horace for moving Amy to The Cells without consulting her, that following Elizabeth’s death, Nichole thinks she is close on the right way to treat Amy to keep her from turning. Guilder thinks she sounds delusional and informs her that her time is over. Guilder tells Dr. Sykes he is “rebooting Project NOAH” and announcement will be made shortly.  As Guilder and Co disappear into the elevator of doom, Nichole and Clark make sad eye contact.

On the way to the cells, Guilder is talking with Martinez about the latter being promoted to the head of security. Guilder imparts some Michael Scott-level managerial wisdom, telling Martinez that he should know the “limitations” of his staff. Martinez semi-defends Project NOAH by saying it did look close with Amy.  Guilder is all, “pffft.”

The entirety of Project NOAH’s staff has gathered at the foot of the staircase. Guilder announces that while they have done heroic work here in Teullride, the journey is at an end for most of them.

“As of today, you’re all relieved of duty.”

The upside, however, is that Guilder gives them all his blessing to party hard and live it up on this last day.  After the meeting breaks up, Clark confronts Horace and tells him that the Virals are planning something so now is maybe the worst time to cut everyone loose.  Horace is all, thanks for your advice but your time here is done, go pack your bags. Nichole catches up with Clark and she’s all, we need to make the next anti-viral serum and then get Amy outta Dodge. Unfortunately, Clark’s clearances have already been revoked so he can’t even open a damn door.

Amy’s Dreamscape. Fanning is still with all the talking and hard-selling Amy on the benefits of joining the 4B Fam. Amy isn’t interested, she’d really just like to be with Agent, please and thank you. Tim gets that but warns her that when she turns, she’s going to want to be with people who understand. Shit’s about to get scary, Tim warns her.

“If you decide you need me, just give a holler. And I’ll coming running. I promise.”

Tim finally leaves and Amy wakes up in the real world. Her arms are chained to the gurney and, as she notices all the Virals in the cells around her (including Tim and Shauna), she sort of starts to freak out … understandably. Amy is in The Cells.

Title Card.

We come back and we’re in a Tim Dreamscape. Tim, I should note at the outset here, is super mopey following the death of Elizabeth. Anyway, Anthony has stopped by for a chat. He warns Fanning to leave Amy alone but Tim is merely bemused at Carter’s attempt to intimidate. Carter threatens Tim that Amy will never be his 12th but Tim disagrees. In response to Anthony saying he hates what Tim made him, Fanning replies that he didn’t bring Amy in to any of this or give her the shot but facts being facts, she IS turning and so she needs them as much as he needs her.

“If that girl doesn’t turn, then none of us get out of these cages. We need 12.”

Upstairs, Brad, Lila, Clark, and Nichole ambush Guilder and get him to unlock the Project NOAH iPad as well as give them admittance to The Cells. As everyone, except for Clark, piles into the elevator, he advises them to get eyes on ALL of the Virals but doesn’t say why he’s worried. As the elevator closes, Clark takes the iPad and heads out on his own mission.

Flashback Time! Four months ago, we see Clark in a Project NOAH truck, talking to Nichole via walkie talkie about needing to find “her.”  The “her” in question is Shauna, who is currently in the middle of a walking escape from Project NOAH. On foot and dressed in blinding white clothes, Babcock could not have thought she’d get very far. She yells and screams and pleads for Richards to not return her to Project NOAH – the guy that keeps popping into her dreams is REALLY freaking her out. Clark warns her about all the ways it’s impossible for Shauna to really escape the grounds. Instead, he hands over his coat and invites her to grab a bite of food.

Back in the present, Clark checks the clearance levels of the employees and notices Lawrence Grey has high a clearance as Guilder. That … doesn’t sound right. He walkies one of his minions to check on Grey who should be in a holding cell.

The Cells. Brad takes a couple o guards hostage. He heads to Amy’s cell while Lila and Nichole head to the Lab to work on an anti-viral.

In her cell, Amy wakes to Brad leaning over her, asking how she feels. She’s curious how he got into the cell but forgets the he’s got “skills.” He goes to free her from her restraints and take her to the Lab but Amy is all, “no, it’s too dangerous.”

Brad puzzles over that as we cut to Lacey (remember her!!) climbing up into a big rig.  She’s headed to Telluride!

Commercials.

Back from break, the “End of the World” party is in full swing at Project NOAH but Clark finds some semi-dutiful workers to check on Grey’s location. They find Grey on the monitors heading towards the communications room. Clark heads after him.

Cut to Grey in the communications room. He takes his Mop of Destiny and begins bashing in the equipment, sending showers of sparks everywhere. Clark arrives too late and wrestles Lawrence to the ground. He confirms that Lawrence is acting on Fanning’s orders.

“It’s his show now. It’s all his show now.”

Grey equates him working for Fanning the same way Clark is working for Babcock … that earns him a pistol whip to the head.

Flashback Time! Four months earlier, Shauna and Clark sit down at a diner. Shauna throws a little shade on Clark’s breakfast for dinner order and then calls him an enigma.  They make some small talk and Clark explains how he is actually the black sheep of his family with siblings, much more demonstrably successful than himself.

Babcock asks him to share something he’s never said out loud. He complies and cops to having a degree in creative writing. She lightly mocks him and the chemistry between these two just sizzles.  He goes from poetry to the Marines to Project NOAH. Shauna notes that there are some pieces missing from his story but she’s let it slide.

“I’d read your poems.”

These two eye fuck. Hard!

Back in the present, Nichole proposes a theory to Lila wherein they manipulate a cell in Amy’s body which will stop her from turning. She’s still have the immunity and powers but she won’t turn. It’ll freeze her as she is right now, essentially. A long shot, they both agree.

The Cells. We see Amy sleeping, she’s very sweaty. Cut to her visiting Tim in a poolside Dreamscape.  “What’s happening to me, I don’t feel right,” Amy asks. He explains that she’s turning and this is what that feels like. She asks him about the feelings, she’s feeling EVERYONE at Project NOAH right now. All at once. She feels the Agent is scared. That’s part of the bargain, Tim explains.

“We’re cursed to feel too much.”

Tim sees it as a good thing, though. Not all the feelings have to be bad, there’s good stuff too. He gets up and walks away and Amy chases after him, what’s the good stuff, she wants to know?

In the Conference room, Clark confronts Guilder about why on Earth he would give Grey a security clearance. Guilder is all, “?!?!” and explains that a guy from the DoD came to Telluride and reset all the security protocols. Guilder says he would never give Grey a clearance.  Clark is all, “well Grey got out of his holding pen and broke all the communications equipment so we’re cut off, thanks for your help Horace.” (that’s a paraphrase but the tone is right).  Guilder says the DoD guy’s name is Martinez. Clark takes Grey, he needs his eyeballs to unlock some doors.

The Cells. Amy wakes up and is all, “I don’t feel so good.” Brad begs her to let him untie her and get her to Dr. Sykes. He says the Doctor is close to solving all of this but Amy isn’t going anywhere. She says she doesn’t feel good and spits out a bloody tooth. She’s confused and Brad is barely containing his worry.

“You’re gonna be fine.”

He’s repeating this for his own benefit as much as Amy’s.

Commercials.

We come back from break with Tim and Amy still in his Dreamscape. They are walking through a forest and he’s explaining that it doesn’t all have to be bad, it can be magical too. She explains that she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, in particular, the Agent. No problem, Tim explains, we all get 1 to take with us and keep forever. The Agent can be Amy’s pick.

Amy repeats Anthony’s warning about Tim being a lying liar who lies and Fanning responds that she still came to see him anyway. Fair point. Tim switches topics and brings Amy to a bike he’s provided for her. It’s just like the one she had, before life turned upside down.  She asks if it’s a trick and Tim says that not even he could ruin a bike.

Fanning is working hard here, people, to win this girl’s trust.

In the present, Lila is with Brad in Amy’s cell, injecting her with the anti-viral serum and taking a blood sample to test.  Brad asks Nichole is there is anything they can do about her spiking temperature but Sykes tells him, the anti-viral serum is the only thing that save her. When he mentions the lost tooth, Dr. Sykes explains that means she’s in the turn so, they have to keep moving forward at this point.  Everyone’s face just fell a little bit.

Flashback Time! Four months ago. Still in the diner with Shauna and Clark. Babcock is chipping away at Clark’s steely military armor he wraps himself in, she tells him he’s always ready for an attack but the does see a little of the poet underneath. Clark continues to (over?) share, explaining how his father was a drunk and would turn violent on a dime. Shauna understands that life.

Seizing on the shared moment, Shauna proposes they just run away together. Clark seems tempted but two members of his Good Squad walk into the diner. Her face falls as she turns to Clark, a look of betrayal about her. He says he didn’t have a choice but he seems genuinely sad about it.

“You always have a choice, Clark. Always.”

Back in the present, Clark is frog marching Grey through the bedroom level of Project NOAH. He finds one of his Goons, Fontes (Jose Miguel Vasquez), and asks him if he’s ever seen this “Martinez” we keep hearing about. Fontes says he only ever saw Martinez’s men and perhaps the guy was CIA, they’re like “ghosts.” You never see them, even if they’re right in front of you. Clark “sees” Shauna sitting at a poker table, drinking beer, with other Project NOAH members and something clicks in Richards’ brain.

Back in the conference room, Clark grabs Horace, time for a little trip.

The Cells. Clark drags Guilder in the cells and puts his face up against a cage. Does this man look familiar, Clark asks Horace?  The Viral turns and we see it’s Martinez. Clark explains to Guilder that his security adviser is a serial rapist, murderer, and Viral Number 2!

“Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?!?”

Commercials.

We come back from the break and Guilder is hog tied on the floor in from Martinez’s cage. Clark tells Wolgast that’s where he deserves to be left. The bigger problem, Clark explains, is the loss of the communications hub and the fact that the Virals seems to be planning an escape. Killing them isn’t an option given that Amy is linked in with them. But Clark has an idea.

In the Security area of the Lab, Clark launches a sedative gas into all the cages except for Amy’s. He leaves Brad there to monitor things while he begins an evacuation of the non-essential personnel.

In the elevator, Shauna pops in for a Dreamscape convo. She asks Clark if he thinks aout that night in the diner and of course he does, she already knows that. He asks if she really wants a bloodbath, that that’s not who she is. Well, Babcock replies, she is what he made her. Clark put her in a cage and she wants out.  She’s all pouty lips but turns a bit defiant when Clark vows that none of the Virals are getting out.

“Sure we are. Because people like Grey and Guilder and you help us.”

Clark denies helping her but Shauna rattles off a list of ways in which he already has.  When you say it like that, it’s hard to refute her argument. She tells Clark, for the last time, “if you want safe passage, you need me.”

They kiss. Clark does care about Shauna but not this version.

“I care about the Vegas girl with the crappy life. The one that couldn’t get a win no matter how hard she tried. I care about the girl from that diner. But you are not that girl anymore. You’re a monster. And if I get the chance, I will kill you.”

Emerging from the elevator, Clark rounds up the few sober soldiers left and posts them at the entrance to The Cells will shoot to kill orders on anything that doesn’t appear human.

Cut to Grey, strapped to a chair in the conference room.  Homeboy has the Fanning in him and so he rubs his wrists bloody and raw until he can slip his flexi-cuff restraints. The look of disgust on the bound prisoners behind him says it all. Grey is free!

In the Lab, Nichole has a breakthrough on her anti-viral serum, she’s finally got Amy’s blood to block Fanning’s.  She starts talking about being able to reproduce it for the CDC … whoa girl, slow down, let’s cure Amy firat, okay?  To that end, Lila notes Amy’s spiking fever and goes to get ice packs to help bring Amy’s fever down.

As Lila walks out, we see Grey’s bloody hand print on a glass door. Ruh Roh!

Nichole finishes packing up the injection for Amy but the door to the Lab won’t open. Sykes looks up and sees Grey staring at her. He looks sad but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s trapped Nichole in the Lab. Coming back from the supply closet, Lila runs into Grey and he apologizes as he bitch slaps her across the room.

Oh, Lawrence. You little scamp!

The Cells. Grey steals a metal case from Guilder’s pocket as Horace screams at Grey to free him and/or not to do whatever he’s going to do.  Lawrence tries to explain that A. they’ll all be free soon anyway and B. he doesn’t have a choice.

“The thing is, I don’t have a choice. And neither did you. No, no.”

Tim’s Dreamscape. Amy, on her bike, and Tim roll up on a dark tunnel.  Amy stops and Tim explains to her that the tunnel is something extraordinary that only a few in the whole universe have ever seen.  Amy gets whoozy and says she’s tired.  Tim explains that Amy can go through the tunnel and be reborn as one of them or she can die in the tunnel.

Commercials.

Brad walkies Nichole to say that Amy is fading. Nichole responds about the whole, “being locked in the lab by Grey” thing.   “what about Amy,” Brad begins but he can’t finish the thought. He cannot contemplate losing another loved one.

Dr. Sykes explains that she’s seen this before, with Carter and with Elizabeth.  Nichole explains to Brad that at a certain point, each had a choice to make. And now, it’s Amy’s turn to make that choice. What’s the choice Brad asks? To join the 4B Fam or Die, Nichole clarifies.

Brad takes Amy’s hand.

The Dreamscape, Amy starts pedaling her bike into the tunnel.

The Cells. Brad tells the unconscious Amy that they made a promise to not leave each other BUT, if she comes to a fork in the road, she can break her promise.

“If you have to … you can let go. I love you, kid. No matter what.”

The Dreamscape. Amy is in the tunnel, pedaling. She stops half way. She looks ahead. She looks behind (Fanning’s tiny silhouette is still there). She thumps her handle bars with indecision as she begins to cry. She gets off her bike and slides down the wall as emotion overtakes her.

Amy finds the matches her mother gave her .. the ones she told her to use to light her way. As a match burns, Amy remembers her conversation with her mother from last week about being special, about knowing who Amy is. She remmebers Brad telling her how strong and smart she is. She remembers Brad telling her she can do whatever she wants with her life. As Amy whispers the Agent’s mantra to not panic, she makes a decision.

Amy gets on her bike heads back out of the tunnel. As Fanning tells her not to do this, Amy comes shooting out of the tunnel and zooms past him.

The Cells. Amy’s eyes fly open as we see Grey, in the Security Room of the Lab, insert two keys (one of them was in the metal case he lifted off of Guilder). All of the Virals come awake, eyes aglow.

Amy sits up all, “we have to go.”

Alarms start to blare as Grey turns the keys. We see a security warning on the monitors telling us the cell doors are open. In The Cells, the lights go out.  The camera pans around 4B as the cage doors open one by one. Brad realizes what’s happening throws Amy over his shoulder, it’s time to go. On his way out with Amy, he drags Guilder through the security door. Fanning closes in on them but the doors shut in time. They’re safe for the moment with the Virals on the other side of the security door but you can’t imagine that’s going to last long. Brad is still starting at the security door when Amy turns away from him and face the camera.  Her eyes change.

And scene.

***

Thoughts.

We have been waiting for this moment for weeks now, as Fanning and the Agent have been pulling on Amy from different ends, wrestling for her soul as it were. In the end, she chose to no go through the tunnel … she chose the Agent over Fanning BUT she still turned.

What does this mean?!? Is Amy the next evolution of the Virals such that she’s not beholden to Fanning for her power? That she can turn without dying? Is she truly the original hoped for design of Project NOAH, as Guilder saw it, a new super powered species but with more real humanity than the Virals that came before her?

Her changing in that final scene was not like any change we saw before. The “choice” she made didn’t result in her joining the 4B Fam. In fact, she made the same choice Elizabeth did, the only difference being that Amy lives and Elizabeth didn’t. I think that means she has to represent some next level evolutionary stage.

Not too much to say about tonight, beyond Sidney’s AMAZING emotive acting. She killed it all episode long but that mostly silent breakdown in the middle of the choice tunnel was truly spectacular acting, worthy of award consideration.

Otherwise, tonight’s episode was really about choice. Choices we make, choices we don’t make and the idea of whether we really have a choice at all. Is Shauna right in the flashback in the diner? Did Clark have a choice, do we always have a choice? Grey certainly didn’t think so. He looks so fucking guilty all episode long; with every bad thing he does, he has sadness, guilt and fear written across his face. He certainly doesn’t seem like he’s making choices.

Back to the flashback diner, the Clark Richards who was working at Project NOAH four months ago was a creation of his upbringing as well as choices made for him and choices he made earlier in his life. So, I think it’s fair to question whether or not, he really had any choice to ever run away with Shauna even if he wanted to (and I do think a part of him wanted to). I think he HAD to turn her in. Which is why he called for back-up, because he couldn’t trust himself to make another choice.

Free will, man, it’s a tricky bitch. Even when I inevitably get Taco Bell tonight, am I choosing Taco Bell or was I always going to make a run for the Border and I am just walking along a pre-determined path. There is no easy answer but I am curious t see where we go in the final two hour of The Passage which await us.  We’ve all got choices to make friends … or do we?