The Passage
“Whose Blood Is That?” (Episode 104)
February 4, 2019

Last week on The Passage, through flashbacks Shauna made Clark watch in his mind, we learned her tragic backstory that led her to death row while, in the present, Amy and Brad adjusted to life at Project NOAH. The episode ended with Brad meeting Fanning … in his dreams.

Catch up on all of the action from last week’s episode with our deep dive recap and review here. And now, on to tonight’s all new The Passage … BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

We open tonight with Carter having a sexy time memory about a girl but it quickly goes sideways when we see her floating dead in a pool and Fanning is there telling Carter he’s going to have to make a choice.

Fanning is the ultimate dream cock block.  Seriously, like a total cold shower.

Anthony wakes up in  bed and the sunlight streaming through his blinds is really bugging him out. He closes them and is reminded that sensitivity to sunlight is an expected symptom of the Project NOAH experiment.

Next door, Amy is having serious cabin fever, dwelling on all the bad things that might be happening to her. Brad tries to calm her down and suggests they need to broaden their horizons a bit. He tells the guard outside that he needs to see Dr. Lear.

Speaking of Lear, we see him in the Lab, checking out the brain scans of the virals. Dr. Pet, this guide is a total dillweed, comes up and chastises Jonas for caring so much about the virals and their brains. Dr. Lear shows him the activity and posits that the spikes and dips in activity represent moments of communications among the virals, and Fanning has the greatest amount of activity. No time for that though because Jonas has to deal with Wolgast just now.

Brad makes the case to Sykes and Lear that Amy is 10 and needs to be allowed to run around outside. Nichole explains that their worry is not Amy but rather, Brad.

“They can afford an outdoor security detail. I’m not Harry Potter.”

Down in the bowels of Project NOAH, Shauna and Clark are having a mind conversation. She thanks him for the whole, “not letting me burn to death” thing and warns him that one of his soldiers is losing it and may have to be taken care of.  Richards assures her that his men are all fine and stop mind fucking me, please and thank you. She disappears just as Clark gets a call on his Walkie Talkie that they have a problem with one of his soldiers, Paulson.

Up in the bedrooms, Amy and Anthony exchange notes under their adjoining door.  She asks how he is and how fast he can run.  He assures her that he’s faster now than he used to be.

I love the friendship here between these two. The passing notes and the little pictures Anthony draws, it really humanizes him.

The Cells. Richards finds Paulson standing stock still outside the cage of David Winston, one of the Virals.  Paulson begins to recite the intricate history of Winston’s crimes, things he’d only know but Winston telling him.  Clark, ever resitant to the obvious in front of his face, tells him that he doesn’t need to learn their stories. Paulson makes it real clear for him and says that David Winston didn’t give him much of a choice … kind of like Clark and Shauna Babcock.

Ooooh, ya burnt, Richards!!

Clark berates Randy for snapping, and he after so many tours of being a good soldier. He orders him to see the medic. Paulson is all, I’m fine but Babcock is playing you. Also, we’re the lab rats.

Meanwhile, we are getting intercut scenes of Amy and Anthony exchanging notes on things getting scary and who says it’ll be scary.

Commercials.

We come back and Amy and Brad have won their freedom outside. Brad has the ingenious idea for Project NOAH to sponsor a tree house for Amy to play around in. As in all activities involving parents and their children, Brad ends up doing all the work. When it’s finished, he calls Amy to come up into the tree house as it was built for her. The thing is, Amy is scared of heights. Brad coaxes her on and focuses her from not looking down.

“Look into these beautiful hazel eyes.”

Weird, dude. That’s your semi-daughter. But, it works, Amy laughs and gets up the ladder into the tree house. Alone, they talk about how the tree house affords them views of the surrounding area and all of the outside access points for Project NOAH. Fun AND instructive!  Amy compliments Brad’s genius and he assures that, “I’ve got skillz …”

The 90s called Brad Wolgast and they want their lingo back.

In Anthony’s room, Jonas is doing his daily exam and Carter complains that his dreams are getting worse, he sees Fanning all the time now. Dr. Lear is willing to say that Tim Fanning was one of the smartest men he’s ever known but also, one of the most manipulative. He refuses to divulge anything more. Carter is all, “great, well he says he’s coming for me and that I am going to have to make a choice.”

Dr. Lear presses him on what this choice might be but Anthony snarks that, “I always wake up before we get to the Q and A part.” Jonas switches gear and tries to reassure Anthony. He tells him that Carter has a good chance to make it through the treatment. When asked why, Dr. Lear cites Anthony being young and strong and also, he hasn’t tried to convince Jonas of his innocence. Jonas talks about the death of Rachel Wilson and how it seems to him that her death weighs on Carter like a burden.

In a hallway, Nichole finds Clark and alerts him to the cafeteria getting tater tots back … which is clearly a sign that not everything is bad in this world. They agree to have a meal together later which will be work talk free. That being the case, Sykes decides to ask him now about Babcock and why Clark stayed her execution.

Richards spins a story about the DOD intervening at the last minute, expressly forbidding him from killing her. He reasons that, with $36 million invested per viral, they didn’t want to see one forcibly killed. Nichole says okay, but I’m not entirely sure she believes this story.

Cut back to The Cells and Paulson and David Winston are having themselves one of them silent conversations.  It’s so creepy, the clouded look on Paulson’s face.

In his bedroom, Anthony is having his own thoughts, the same one from earlier in the episode.

Flashback Time! It’s Houston, Texas in 2017. Anthony welcomes a woman, Rachel Wilson (Elizabeth Alderfer) to his open house.  She reveals she’s a real estate agent and passive aggressively chides his efforts at his first time house flipping. Carter thinks he can do it himself but she offers some free advice. When Rachel sees he’s placed the bed in the corner, she questions whether he’s ever actually lived with a woman. He goes on the defensive that he dates plenty but enjoys his personal space.

“Open up your heart, Anthony. Let love in.”

Anthony asks Rachel if she wants him to ask her out and she’s all, yep! Wow, that escalated quickly.  Fanning appears to tell him that she’s a real catch. Cock Blocker! Carter wakes with a startle.  He finds a note waiting for him, asking if he’s doing okay. He was fine until he coughs blood everywhere. Anthony reaches in his mouth and pulls out a tooth. Gross!

Commercials.

We come back from break and Tisdale (their Project NOAH solder handler), Amy and Brad are finishing the tree house. She asks to borrow Tisdale’s binoculars, citing never having been to Colorado and wanting to see the sights. Tisdale relents and leaves them.  Alone, Brad remarks on how scary good she is and she tells him that she learned it all from him. They have a cute conversation about calling him Agent versus Brad and he instructs her which direction to look at with the binoculars.

In an empty bar (that looks a fair amount like the bar from Carter’s mind scape conversation with Fanning and Shauna a couple of episodes ago), Lila and Lacey meet with Sierra Thompson. Sierra is showing them her opening salvo report on Shauna Babcock and how she was carried off by federal agents and not executed as was previously reported. Sierra warns them that messing with powerful people can be dangerous but Lacey assures her that’s why she’s there. The next report will be the next night, Sierra advises them both to lay low.

Project NOAH. Dr. Sykes calls the DOD, ostensibly to “follow-up” on their conversation with Clark about not putting Babcock down. She’s really checking on Clark’s story; it was clear she didn’t believe him earlier. Imagine her surprise to learn that Clark never spoke to them …

In the Lab, Lear and Pet are looking at Fanning’s EM surge; it’s 400% higher than yesterday, Jonas rightly worries about what is going on. We get a quick cut to Fanning in his cage, his eyes all lit up as is the case when the Virals are mentally active. Another quick cut to Anthony in his room, having a sort of seizure, presumably Fanning’s mental activity is affecting him. A doctor comes in and they drag him to the hospital wing.

In the tree house, Amy is describing all the things she’s seeing. When she gets to “a guy on the roof with a big gun,” she doesn’t get to finish her sentence before Brad, with the fast reflexes you’d expect of someone with Brad’s abilities, pulls Amy down. Paulson begins firing on the Project NOAH facility, “crazy man in the bell tower” style.  Chaos breaks out.

Commercials.

Carter is being rolled into the Project NOAH medical area, his fever spiking to over 102 and rising.  Carter asks if it’s too late but Lear assures him they are not going to lose him. I am not entirely sure Carter was talking to Lear.  Sykes and Lear discuss Carter’s blood and how it keeps mutating back to an older viral genome pattern. Anthony begins to see memory flashes of him having sexy times with Rachel.

The doctors hear gunshots coming over the Walkie Talkies in the room. Well, that can’t be good.

Outside, Clark and his Goon Squad are moving into action to stop Paulson. Paulson radios Richards and lets him know that he is the man on the roof.

Should have listened to Shauna, Clark! Dummy.

Clark asks Randy how he thinks this will end. Paulson surprises everyone, I think, when he says, “with a helicopter.” Well, that’s quite ballsy of you, sir! Paulson tells Richards that he’s got a clear shot of the electric substation which also houses the compounds back-up generators (that’s poor planning) and he will kill power to the whole facility if a helicopter isn’t found. He resumes shooting.

Across the yard, Brad is trying to move Amy to a safe location. He and Richards make eye contact and exchange some military hand lingo on what to do and where to go.  Brad tells Amy to stay low and behind him. When Clark counts them down from 3, his men provide cover fire as Brad and Amy start to run. Amy takes off like a speed demon track star leaving Brad in the dust. They reach Clark and his Goon Squad in one piece.  Amy’s sprinting abilities were not lost on Brad.

In the medical bay, Carter’s fever is over 103 degrees now but Jonas says their new blood treatment is almost ready …

Which is when Paulson snipes the electric substation, plunging Project NOAH into darkness. Outside, Richards radios into Sykes alerting her why there is no power. Nichole replies that they are in the middle of a bad situation with Carter and they need power back ASAP. But, they can’t send a repair crew until Paulson is stopped. Brad suggests that he go, try to negotiate a cease fire.  Clark agrees and tells Sykes he and Wolgast are going to talk Paulson down while he’ll send Amy to Sykes for safe keeping.

Back in med bay, we’ve gone old school, placing Anthony in a giant tub filled entirely with ice. His temperature is now at 106 degrees and he’s losing consciousness.

Flashback Time! It’s the middle of the night and Rachel has taken Anthony to an abandoned house. She tells him that they’ve been together for 3 months now and while they said, no gifts, she got them this house to flip together. It’s a massive 3,800 square foot manse complete with pool and Carter is all, “whoa, baby doll. I just sold my first house and this is too big a step up.” Rachel goes 0 to 60 on the crazy meter and starts shrieking that Anthony never trusts her and that he dismisses the help she’s lent him and her contribution. He’s all, “this is just about the house” but she’s all, too late, she already made the deal.

“I closed escrow yesterday.”

Escrow is the single greatest TV trope when dealing with house buying. I love that they used it here. But why isn’t ever, “I’m waiting for the title search to come back clean”?

Anthony tells Rachel that he’ll pull a crew together and they’ll work it out. She goes right back to ecstatic and they start to fuck on the chaise lounge. As you go. Their sexy time is interrupted by his real world fever breaking through to his memory. Fanning (cock blocker!) shows up.

“You still haven’t figured it out yet?”

In the real world, Anthony has passed out and Lear says they’ll lose him if they don’t get power back.  Sykes asks how this could have gotten out of hand so fast and Jonas gives his theory. Fanning, drawing power from the other Virals, is accelerating the virus mutation inside of Anthony. Nicole replies that that sounds crazy. Jonas replies that it may be crazy, but that’s where we are.

Commercials.

Wolgast and Richards talk about what Brad needs to know to before he negotiates with Randy. Richards is tight lipped and tells Brad the only thing that he needs to know is that the goal is to keep the body count from getting any higher.

On the roof, Paulson has Brad approach him real slow, hands in the air style. Brad explains that they have a medical emergency and need to allow crews to restore the electricity.  Paulson tells Wolgast that this is on them, they could have had a helicopter there already if they wanted to. As for Brad’s threat that Richards and his Goons will just kill them both versus letting Paulson walk, Paulson replies that he’s smuggled a vial of Fanning’s blood and it’s out in the world. Without Paulson’s help, they’ll never find it.

Well, that’s a wrinkle in the plan, huh?

In a motel room, Lila and Lacey sit down to watch Sierra’a next report on the Project NOAH story. What they find, instead, is that Sierra died earlier in a car accident. As it hits Lila that “they” killed her, Lacey is all, “we need to go now.”

Back in the med bay, Anthony is still passed out.

Flashback Time!  Rachel comes home and Anthony sees that her face is all beat up. After gulping down a glass of wine, Rachel confesses that she’s married. Rachel begs for a chance to explain. Anthony, forgetting about his concern over her bruised face, can’t believe it!

“I never cared that you acted crazy … but now you’re a liar!”

Up in the bedrooms, Amy is writing Carter a note when Shauna appears to her. It’s normal looking Shauna so this is a mind conversation. She tells Amy that it’s okay, she’ll see Anthony soon and remarks how nice he is. “I’m not so bad either,” Babcock says.

Amy asks who Shauna is and Shauna replies that Amy already knows. Encouraging her to use her psychic link, Amy taps into the shared Viral knowledge and comes up with Shauna’s name. She asks where Shauna really is and what she really looks like. Babcock compliments her on being smart and warns Shauna that her real face is kinda scary. Amy insists and so Shauna shows her the Viral look.  Amy doesn’t bat an eye and denies being anything like Shauna. “But you are,” Shauna insists.

“After you change, you’re not going to need anyone to protect you. You’re finally gonna have a family.”

Amy tells Shauna that she doesn’t want anything to do with her, and that she has the agent. Shauna advises her that Brad is not going to deal with this well. Amy asks Shauna to go and she agrees, reminding Amy that she’s around if she ever wants to talk.

Back on the roof, Clark is telling Brad (through his ear piece) that if Paulson isn’t bluffing about the blood they NEED to get it’s location. Brad turns to Randy and reminds him the disaster awaiting them all if that blood gets out. Brad tells Paulson that he wants this place shut down as badly as Paulson does. He’s been on 4B and seen what’s going on, he says. This is news to Clark who is listening in over the comms.

“I know about the dreams, I know they’re real.”

Brad tells Randy that Fanning has slid into is dreams. He says that hey can work together to stop all of this and Paulson lowers his gun. Inside, Richards is freaking out, he draws his gun. Paulson is telling Brad that two isn’t enough to stop Project NOAH. Also, the Virals aren’t going to break out, Paulson says, “we’re going to let them out.”

Wolgast can’t believe that the Virals have the power to control them like that. Oh yeah, Paulson says, asks Richards about Babcock and mind control. Paulson says that Winston told him everything, including that if Fanning gets one more Viral, he’ll have the power to …

Bang Bang Bang

Richards comes on the roof and shoots Paulson dead, head shots. “No” Brad screams as we head to commercials!

We come back from the last break and Brad cannot believe that Richards killed Paulson before getting the location of the blood. Clark tells Brad that all the blood was accounted for on 4B and also, Paulson was a raving lunatic. Wolgast says that Richards shot Paulson to shut him up (he’s not wrong). Also, was Randy right about Babcock and who is the “one more” he mentioned?!?

Clark wants to know about Brad being on 4B and Brad says that was just a story to build trust. Brad tells Clark that trouble is coming. Clark responds that if trouble is coming, rest assured, he’ll handle it.

The Med Bay, Anthony comes to and confirms to Jonas that this is Fanning’s doing.  Lear tells Carter that he to try and push Fanning out. The lights come back on and Dr. Lear and the team prep to inject Anthony with the anti-viral serum.  Carter winks out to another flashback.

Flashback Time! Rachel and Anthony have taken their discussion out to the pool. More wine is drunk and Rachel is trying to swallow some (pain?) pills. Her hubby calls and Anthony answers. He tells the hubs that Rachel will speak to him when she has something to say. Hanging up, Anthony tells Rachel he loves her but he needs time to think.

Later, in bed, Rachel and Anthony lay in bed, neither one speaking. Rachel pretends to be asleep but we can see she has panic on her face.

Back in the present, Carter’s temperature spikes again, now over 107 degrees.

Flashback Time! The next morning, Anthony wakes to find Rachel’s side of the bed empty. He looks out the sliding glass door and sees Rachel floating face down in the pool. He dives in after her and carries her lifeless body out of the pool. He begins CPR, pleading for her to come back to him. Fanning walks up and says that he can see how this was difficult to explain.

“That’s the problem with being the side piece. When push comes to shove, you just don’t matter.”

Carter asks Fanning what’s happening? “You’re dying, Carter,” Tim tells him. Not much sympathy in his voice. He asks Carter why he went down for Rachel’s death without a fight? Carter confesses that he couldv’e helped her, he could have just forgiven her.  Fanning scoffs and explains it the way he sees it.  Rachel was mentally ill, selfish and addicted to drugs.  This wasn’t Carter’s fault. Carter protests to not talk about Rachel that way but Tim explains he’s been watching the whole story replay since Anthony arrived at Project NOAH.

Anthony breaks down and says he doesn’t want to die. Fanning’s voice softens and he tells Anthony that he doesn’t have to, he just needs to choose Fanning. He tells Anthony that the next step is right in front of him, take it and he’ll join Fanning’s family, feel the connection he lost when he lost Rachel. He tells Anthony that love got him a death row sentence, but Fanning is offering him a new life – a life where he’ll have power and no pain or suffering.

“Love without power, is misery.”

As Fanning is talking, we see a montage of Brad returning to Amy and Clark watching Paulson’s dead body be carried away.  The visual makes Clark buckle a bit, he’s cracking.  Shauna comes to Clark, he doesn’t push her away.

“Choose Carter. You can curl up and die. Or you can be at the top of the food chain. You can cash it in or you can run the table … what’s it gonna be?”

Anthony chooses. He wakes up in the ice tub and rips out the IV tubes. Standing, he lets out a terrifying roar and attacks the first orderly he sees.  Jonas tries to intervene but Anthony pushes him across the room, knocking off his mask and splattering him with blood. The quarantine door closes as Sykes and Lear watch Anthony go nom nom nom on the orderly.

Outside, Jonas and Sykes watch helplessly as we hear calls coming in over the radio for the facility be locked down. Sykes notices the blood on Lear’s face and asks him, “whose blood is that?” The episode ends as a frighten look crosses Jonas’s face, his hand wiping at the blood.

Thoughts.

So much of the early season has been building to tonight’s explosive end. Everyone reached some sort of milestone tonight.

Brad finally received some answers but a 1,000 more were raised. And Anthony, poor sweet Anthony, is finally forced into making the choice he’s not fully understood and has been putting off.  What a sad backstory, the power of love lost and guilt he carried around for two years manifesting in almost let himself be killed for a crime he did not commit. You can see where Fanning’s manipulative (Lear was 100% correct about his power of persuasion) speech at the end was too tempting an offer for Carter to turn down at the end; I’m pretty I would have been convinced in that same moment.

Let’s talk about Clark for a second.  He is trying to suppress what he sees as either madness or mental weakness by lashing out at others that are more willing to entertain the crazy.  But what does it get him? He kills Paulson for speaking the truth and in the end, finds himself in Shauna’s (mental) embrace as his mind collapses a bit from the strain of killing one of his own men. Clark Richards is one of the most and least sympathetic characters on this show. He’s a total asshole, a necessity if he’s going to do the unsavory job placed before him by Project NOAH. But, he knows this is wrong, he knows that they are bolstering each other up under the guise of “the greater good” but you can see he is struggling to maintain that conviction. Similar to Sykes.

Last, let’s chat about Amy. A scared girl who is so brave in the face of danger. She’s becoming aware of her own changing, of her own new power. The foot race to safety was out first outward experience of what is happening to Amy but he conversation with Shauna was telling. She is able to answer Shauna’s queries by tapping into that Viral power, that shared hive mind collective. Amy is the best of us, so the question will be whether she can retain some of that innocent humanity as she inevitably follows Carter down a path of “becoming.”

Last, last. Paulson was about to tell us Fanning’s plan before Richards shot him. Why does Fanning need one more and what power will that unlock. We saw the immense power Fanning was able to exert tonight on Carter – and that was by summoning the energy of his Viral family. What will one more allow him to do? And, was Carter the one more or is Amy?

Thank you for reading and see you next week!