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S2E6 — "Pas de Deux"

Air date: May 28, 2023 · Director: Jack Bender · Writer: John Griffin (story by Griffin & Jeff Pinkner)

Synopsis

Tensions run high at Colony House when word of the coming food shortage leaks out, and a night at the clinic takes a terrifying turn. Boyd Stevens suffers escalating visions of a music box and a dancing ballerina, who appears before him in the church, in the forest, and even in the clinic — where she pushes him down and strangles him, leaving him to draw his gun on a terrified Marielle Sinclair. Kenny Liu, who has seen Boyd collapse and heard him talking to a vision of Father Khatri, bars the clinic doors and demands the truth.

At Colony House, Donna Raines works to conceal the food shortage from the residents while Ellis Stevens and Fatima Hassan sort supplies; Fatima is cold toward Ellis after learning Boyd swore him to secrecy about Sara. When Dale accuses Elgin Williams of stealing food and brandishes a knife, the confrontation goes wrong and Dale accidentally stabs Ellis in the side. Elgin risks the night to drive Ellis to the clinic through a ring of creatures.

Kristi operates, draining blood from Ellis's chest — but a transfusion is needed, and Boyd refuses his own blood for fear of passing the worms to his son. Kenny trains a gun on him; Marielle sees the worms crawling under Boyd's skin. Boyd instead takes the worms out into the night, cuts his own palm and the Smiley creature's throat, and presses the wounds together — transferring the worms into the creature, which writhes and dies as its human disguise falls away. Boyd survives, the transfusion proceeds, and the townsfolk stare at the first creature ever killed. As Ellis recovers, a shaken Fatima asks Kristi for a pregnancy test.

Key Events

  • Boyd's ballerina visions escalate: she appears in the church, on a rock in the forest, and strangles him in the clinic, where he draws his gun on Marielle.
  • Boyd tells Kristi about Martin and the worms, asking her to promise to end his misery if his condition worsens.
  • Kenny overhears Boyd talking to a vision of Father Khatri and bars the clinic doors, refusing to let Boyd leave until he is honest.
  • Donna, Jim, and Tabitha jar vegetables at the Liu home; Jim presses the truth of a month's food at most and argues the town must be warned.
  • Kristi discovers Marielle's rehab brochure and her morphine use; she secures the drug cabinet and confronts her fiancée.
  • Dale accuses Elgin of stealing food, and in the scuffle accidentally stabs Ellis in the side.
  • Elgin drives Ellis to the clinic under cover of night, dodging creatures, with Fatima and Bakta aboard.
  • Kristi drains the blood from Ellis's chest and calls for a transfusion; Boyd refuses to donate, fearing the worms.
  • Kenny offers to take the worms himself; Boyd instead transfers them into the Smiley creature, killing it — the first creature ever harmed.
  • Fatima, overcome, asks Kristi for a pregnancy test; Donna comforts Ethan, telling him fear is what makes people brave.

Characters

New Information / Reveals

  • The music box and ballerina are a recurring vision tormenting Boyd — and the ballerina's mouth spills worms, tying her to the parasites Martin gave him.
  • Boyd's worms can be transferred to another host: killing the Smiley creature proves it, the first confirmed harm done to a creature by anything in the town.
  • Boyd is terrified of passing the worms to his son, and refuses a potentially life-saving transfusion on those grounds.
  • Fatima may be pregnant; she requests a pregnancy test from Kristi.
  • The town's food supply is critically low — roughly a month at most — and the shortage is being hidden from residents.

Locations

Deaths

  • The Smiley Creature — killed by Boyd's blood-worms after Boyd transfers them through their joined wounds; the first creature ever killed. Whether it is truly dead is left uncertain: "We'll find out soon enough."

Lore & Mysteries