OF The final episode was probably the first this season where I felt a little bored, wading through endless conversations that mostly took place in people arguing, talking more than listening, and generally being unfriendly or dealt with people acting like jerks. It’s a bit exhausting, and frankly, a lot of it feels like filler, even though it’s probably leading to something. I’ll go over a few before getting to the few good scenes that almost redeemed an otherwise bizarrely uneventful episode.

• I take back everything I said about Officer Acosta. When she first came to town and Boyd and everyone were being assholes to her, I felt bad. But instead of taking her lumps and proving her worth, she almost instantly became the most obnoxious blustering character imaginable. She is shown to be incredibly rude to Kenny and, after a brief moment of humanity when she learns of his parents, continues to lash out at him. She continues to the sheriff’s office where she searches the premises for her weapon. The way she addresses Boyd is pretty infuriating, and frankly, I’m at the point where I hope she gets eaten by the creatures before she does something stupid and kills more people. This series already has enough unlikable characters, I don’t know why they needed to introduce another one.
• Jim is a real jerk when Tabitha tells him about her dream, instantly casting doubt on her rather than listening and possibly learning something or using the new information to help piece together clues. It’s bad when someone as erratic and confused as Jade treats Tabitha ten times better than her own husband. Jim has been a wet blanket all season, and she’s starting to get old.
• Ellis does much the same thing with Fatima. Instead of taking her side and believing her when she describes what’s happening, he acts like she’s crazy. I understand that his mother went crazy and ended up shooting a group of people, but that was before we discovered the bugs under the skin and the other insidious ways the city messes with not only people’s minds but also their body. His lack of empathy – and his need to “fix” him rather than just be there for her – leads to the tragedy of the episode’s end.
• Given the seriousness of Fatima’s condition – whether it is a physical problem or a loss of her senses – I do not understand why she is not kept under observation at the medical center. Donna doesn’t even want her and Ellis at the Colony House. A good solution – and one that Boyd might have suggested when Ellis was trying to steal her medicine – would be to move her to a hospital bed. At least Kristi and Mari could be there to keep an eye on her, instead of just leaving her to fend for herself near all that juicy, rotten produce.
• I would have liked to see more of Victor, Jasper, and Sara, but that was largely glossed over. Instead we got a Henry and Donna scene that was . . . fine, but not particularly necessary.
• I enjoyed Jade and Ethan in the colony. Ethan asks a lot of questions, and most of them are insightful. It’s weird that this kid is generally smarter and more observant than 99% of the adults here.
• The scene with the extras loading food into town, when Tabitha, Jade and Ethan arrive and Jim is talking to them, and the extra asks “Jim, are you coming?” It was so ridiculous to me. Madam, he is clearly in an important conversation with his wife who has just arrived. Why not say, “We’re going home, are we okay?” » Obviously, he’s not going to walk out in the middle of a conversation with his wife.

We had two scenes that were a little more story driven in this episode. In one, Elgin made his way to the mysterious cave and found a large red door, all in an effort to help the woman in the kimono he keeps seeing. However, we’re left hanging and the time spent seeing what he finds next is instead spent on all this dreary conversation.

The parts with Julia and Randall were better than the other dead-end scenes. He takes her for a drive, ostensibly to teach her, but instead hogs the wheel. When the cicadas start hitting the windshield and getting into the van, he panics and runs away into the forest. She doesn’t see any of the insects and chases after him. They arrive in front of mysterious ruins and both can feel something there. Julia wants to explore; Randall has a bad feeling and insists on going back to the van and getting home before dark. Probably Randall’s smartest moment yet, but once again we’re left with this new discovery and nothing to show for it.

Finally, we get the big cliffhanger. Fatima stabs Tilly as the old woman tries to comfort her in the greenhouse. I knew Tilly was dead and suspected Fatima would kill her the moment she and Ellis had a heart-to-heart in the kitchen. Fatima had spoken about her anger issues before, and she had a really horrible moment in the Colony House where something seemed to shift inside her, and her stomach clenched so hard that her ribs felt like they were about to explode.

When Tilly finds her in the greenhouse, she won’t take “no” for an answer, and Fatima grabs some sheer curtains and stabs her in the chest. Tilly’s last words: “You have to run.” » Ellis walks in and sees the body and Fatima hovering over him: will he stand by her and protect her, or will he think this is a repeat of his mother’s madness and denounce her? At this point I really don’t root for either of these characters, both of whom have become boring. I feel really bad for Fatima, but this thread has been too slow at this point, and this very slow episode doesn’t help. It was certainly a great moment and things will soon have to kick into high gear now that murder is on the table. I kind of expected Fatima to start eating Tilly’s body as soon as she fell, honestly. That would have been pretty wild.

All in all, kind of a nothing episode, especially at this end of the season. Hopefully things improve for the final three episodes of Season 3, because while I certainly enjoyed most of the last few episodes and all the little clues and reveals, there’s still very little left happened in the larger scheme of things, and foot-dragging is not what this show needs right now. When just a handful of interesting things happen, buried under a bunch of fairly irrelevant and boring scenes, you have a problem. Too much filler that makes this episode fatter, and too little meat on the bone.

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