Horror took a backseat to family drama in episode one of Spike TV’s The Mist, but in season one episode two whatever is in the mist begins seriously wreaking havoc. Episode two titled ‘Withdrawal’ begins with Mia (Danica Curcic), Bryan (Okezie Morro), Kevin (Morgan Spector), and Adrian (Russell Posner) holed up in the police station while the mist envelopes the town. The phones don’t work and Bryan reminds everyone he tried to warn them about the mist. Bryan is suggesting it might be chemical warfare when Kevin decides he needs to get to the mall to find his family. Everyone’s on board and they head out in a squad car, angry that Police Chief Connor Heisel (Darren Pettie) left them all behind.

Speaking of Connor, he’s paying for his bad deed/overall wimpiness by having his police car rammed by a moose fleeing the mist. He’s forced into taking off on foot even though he can barely see what’s in front of him.

Over at the church, Nathalie (Frances Conroy) is in shock after watching her husband shot to death right in front of her by a crazy man in the mist. She explains to the priest that her husband is dead, and it’s obvious she’s devastated.

Meanwhile, over at the mall everyone is milling about when Gus the mall manager (Isiah Whitlock Jr) and Kyle the security cop (Romaine Waite) arrive wanting to know what Eve (Alyssa Sutherland) and Alex (Gus Birney) witnessed. Eve describes the death of her student’s mother and reveals something in the mist dragged the poor dying woman away. She has no idea what actually happened.

Gus, Kyle, and a handful of shoppers stare through the glass doors into the mist but can’t make out anything. They’re worried about what will happen if the killer gets inside, and Gus decides to lock the doors. He wants everyone to stay inside where it’s safe…for now. Some of the shoppers help him lock up, and Alex volunteers to assist because she doesn’t want to be in close proximity to Jay (Luke Cosgrove).

Chief Heisel makes it to the church and the priest informs him Nathalie’s husband’s been shot. Heisel suggests they all sit tight since no one knows what’s out there (and since he’s a wuss). He expresses his sympathy over Nathalie’s husband’s death but doesn’t do much else.

Over at the police station, Mia goes through the evidence cabinet and locates pills. When Bryan catches her, she confesses she’s scared and that’s why she needs drugs. She begs him not to tell Kevin because he’ll leave her behind. Bryan agrees not to tell Kevin, but he doesn’t want her to take the pills.

Alex, Eve, and a woman shopper name Kimi (Irene Bedard) who volunteered to lock the doors hesitate to approach them. Eve finally gathers her courage and is able to lock the doors, assuring everyone they’re fine. Before they can reunite with the rest of the shoppers, they spot a dead man in a hallway filled with mist.

Eve, Alex, and Kimi race back and let everyone know about the dead body. One of the shoppers wonders if this mall has a radio issued by Homeland Security that was given to all major public outlets after 9/11. That prompts Gus the mall manager to remember he has one and it’s in the security office which is right where the mist is and the dead body, of course.

They all head up to the locked hallway where the mall cop decides to blame the possibly Muslim shoe store owner for this act of terrorism. Really? Yes, this did just happen. And, no, there has been no mention of the rape from episode one thus far into episode two. Mia points out she ran through the mist so it’s not poisonous while literally, no one says anything in defense of the shoe store owner. Alex comes up with the brilliant idea to get a drone from the electronics store and check out the hallway to see if the killer’s still there.

Back at the police station, they decide to make a run to the car which is parked just feet outside the door. Adrian trips as the mist gets thicker, but they all manage to make it safely to the car and drive away.

High school quarterback/possible rapist Jay is put in charge of flying the drone. The shoppers watch a monitor as the drone flies down the hallway. Nothing happens for quite a while and then the drone makes it to the Security door. It’s closed, but an open door in the hallway reveals a room with a window that’s open. The mist is coming through the window and when Jay zooms in with the drone, they spot a bloody, dead security guard. The drone, of course, gets stuck. (“Of course” will be a recurring descriptive term in this episode’s recap.) Jay is apparently not as good at piloting a drone as he claimed.

The disappointed shoppers return to the main area of the mall, no closer to securing the Homeland Security phone than they were before Jay crashed the drone. Gus decides it’s the perfect time to summarize their situation, declaring that the hallway is safe from just the brief glimpse they were afforded and he determines someone needs to go retrieve the phone and call for help. They all volunteer Gus for the job and he decides the only fair thing to do is draw names. (Being a mall manager is apparently not equivalent to being the captain of a ship.)

Back to the police station gang, Mia drives even though she’s the only one who seems to be in physical distress and even though she has no idea where they’re going. A man appears out of the mist and draws a gun, demanding they vacate the car. He’s with people who want it for themselves and Mia decides the best idea is to just drive over him at a high rate of speed. (Why is the squad car the only car in this whole town that’s running? Shouldn’t anyone who had a car prior to the mist still own a car?)

Mia continues zooming through the street like a bat out of hell, with her passengers telling her to slow down. Of course, she crashes and the car flips, landing on its roof. They’re all stuck inside, not seriously injured, as one of the passenger windows cracks and explodes. They make their way out but now they’re exposed in the mist.

They hear the church bells and run toward them. Mia turns back to retrieve the guns and sees her dead mom in the mist. Her mom agrees she’s not real and that it’s just the withdrawals.

The foursome make it into the church and Kevin immediately screams at Connor for deserting them. Mia attacks the police chief for leaving them to die, and it appears the church has become a popular gathering place.

Kevin confronts Connor who claims he was attacked and that he honked repeatedly but took off after no one inside the police station came out. The priest calls Connor on his lie, wondering why the police chief just told him he had no idea what was in the mist. The priest demands to know what’s out there but no one answers.

Inside the mall, Gus pulls Eve’s name out of the bag. (It’s really all about Eve, isn’t it?) Eve tells Alex she’ll be okay and asks for instructions on what she needs to do. Clint, the guy who knew there would be a Homeland Security phone, volunteers to go with her. Eve and Alex take a moment alone, with Eve suggesting her daughter stay with Kimi while she retrieves the phone. (If you’re leaving your teenage daughter who was just raped less than 24 hours prior so you can search for a possibly non-existent phone while battling unknown creatures in the mist, it’s best you leave her with someone you literally meet five minutes ago.) Eve tells Alex she loves her more than anything and then heads off to potentially die as if Alex wasn’t already traumatized enough.

Kevin tells Nathalie he’s sorry to hear her husband was killed, calling him a “wonderful man.” Nathalie can’t believe he’s gone and feels lost, but she quickly changes the subject to point out that if the bees die, humanity’s a goner in less than four years. Kevin isn’t distracted by bees, quite possibly assuming she’s momentarily lost her mind and suggests Nathalie’s husband might still be here in spirit. Nope, says Nathalie, there is no such thing as spirits.

Eve tosses Jay one final glare and heads off with Clint to find the phone. They make it into the locked hall and run to the Security room which is at the end of the hall. Clint locates the emergency radio, likely because it’s in a big case with “Emergency Radio” written in large letters. Thankfully, it turns on.

At the church, Mia is dealing with withdrawals, shivering, and huddled off by herself. Bryan asks her to describe what she’s feeling because for some reason he thinks that will help. Mia does – and no, it doesn’t help. She admits she sees dead people in the mist.

Clint and Eve try reaching anyone on multiple channels but no one responds. He finally asks for Arrowhead to come in, giving his own call sign to try and raise someone. He doesn’t want to bring the radio back to the shoppers and just then Eve notices he has a gun. When he tells her he doesn’t want her to leave just yet, she pushes the radio off the desk onto the floor and escapes down the hall. (Save yourself, Eve, and don’t worry that now the radio can’t help anyone else – including your daughter – trapped in the mall. As much as I liked Alyssa Sutherland in Vikings, Eve has quickly become my least favorite character. I’m already picturing a gruesome “death by mist” for Eve.)

Clint chases Eve down before she can leave the hall and pulls his gun on her. They wrestle and then she uses a nearby fire extinguisher to knock him away. He drops the gun and Eve grabs it, shooting him as he’s attempting to choke her. She closes the hallway door behind her, leaving him in the mist.

The priest is looking through his food supplies at the church when Link (Dylan Authors), one of the young men who’s taking shelter in the church, asks him if there will be a service that evening. The priest says no, but Link is insistent. The priest is equally as insistent and won’t do a service.

Nathalie wanders the church as the rest of the mist survivors say grace and eat dinner.

Eve returns – without Clint – and claims they lost each other in the hallway. She blames his disappearance/possible death on something in the mist, and of course, not even Clint’s friends seem upset. She reveals they found the radio but it wasn’t working. Gus proclaims they’ll find another way and after everyone walks away, Eve asks Gus if he’s seen Clint or his friends before. Gus doesn’t even take a second to think about it, answering that the first time he’s ever seen them was this morning. Eve claims she’s just thinking about their families. (Eve is not a good liar.)

Meanwhile at the church, everyone’s seated in pews when Nathalie walks to the altar and takes the wine. She wants to have a drink in her husband’s name and the priest eventually allows her to. Nathalie has a seat and tells everyone about her decades-long love for Benedict and how they loved to drink cheap wine and make spaghetti together. She asks everyone to drink in her husband’s memory and Bryan’s the first to step forward. They pass the bottle and Mia takes a massive sip before handing it back to Bryan.

Connor the Wimp proves to be the ultimate spoilsport, taking the bottle from underage Adrian before he can have a sip.

At the mall and at the church, the mist survivors settle in to sleep. As they’re about to drift off, Bryan reveals he also saw the dead woman in the mist and that the supposedly deceased person called Mia her “baby doll.”

Jay walks around the mall with a flashlight, looking for the restroom. He finds it but the water won’t turn on since the power’s out. As he looks in the mirror, he sees Clint’s friend’s dead, hanging from a pipe behind him.

More on The Mist:
– The Mist Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
– The Mist Season 1 Episode 3 Recap