Spike TV’s The Mist season one episode two found the town of Bridgeville divided into two groups: those who sought refuge in the church and those who are hiding out from the deadly creatures at the mall. Checking in with the church people first in episode three, it appears that although it’s been less than 24 hours, they’re already growing restless. Adrian (Russell Posner) is worried about Alex (Gus Birney) and Alex’s dad, Kevin (Morgan Spector), is ready to vacate the premises and search for his family.
Kevin shows Adrian a car close to the front of the church, and he’s pretty sure they can hotwire it with Mia’s help.
Over at the mall, Alex has positioned herself just inside the main doors and is staring out at the mist. Eve (Alyssa Sutherland) finds her there and talks about how Alex used to come to the mall with her dad when she was a kid. Alex is upset about the mist, the dead people hanging in the bathroom, and being stuck in a mall with the guy who raped her. She’s not in a talkative mood and Eve, who seems incapable of comforting her daughter, doesn’t know how to respond.
Speaking of the dead people in the bathroom, Gus the mall manager (Isiah Whitlock Jr) and Kyle the security guard (Romaine Waite) believe it’s a good idea to have Jay (Luke Cosgrove), the teen accused of rape, cut them down. Why can’t the adults in the room do this? That question is unanswered as Jay does as he’s instructed. They find dog tags hanging on the bodies and wonder why the military’s in town, not putting two and two together and coming up with “the mist.”
They decide the best thing to do is wheel the dead bodies into the area where everyone’s gathered. Why? Again, no answer’s given. Jay shows off the dog tags and people begin suggesting possible answers as to why the military is in town and at the mall. Gus has decided dead bodies and the food court don’t mix, but putting them in a freezer at the supermarket sounds like a brilliant idea. He then decides they need to search the remaining mall-people for dog tags and one guy begins walking away in a super obvious manner. They grab him and he swears he doesn’t know anything. They finally deduce the soldiers hung themselves because they knew what was happening in the mist. You think?!
Back at the church, Nathalie (Frances Conroy) is talking about frogs, birds, salamanders, etc., etc., etc. She and a fellow survivor talk about the Black Spring of 1860, which apparently is a curse on the town that has to do with a young woman’s murder or it’s an Indian thing or something about evil Santas. Wait, what? The young man confesses he spent time in jail for doing “awful things” but Nathalie doesn’t care about this in the least, even though she’s alone in a room with this stranger away from the others and someone or something’s killing people.
Kevin asks Chief Connor Heisel (aka Chief Wussy Pants) if he can take Mia and Bryan, the two people he freed from jail, with him when he heads to the mall. The Chief (Darren Pettie) says no because Mia’s wanted for murder. Kevin pinky swears Mia, who’s still going through withdrawals, won’t hurt anyone. Connor keeps saying no and after Kevin calls him an asshole, Connor drags Mia (Danica Curcic) down into the basement, handcuffs in place, pretty much out of spite. Bryan (Okezie Morro) politely walks to the basement and doesn’t need to be manhandled or handcuffed, despite the fact he’s more of a physical threat than the woman going through withdrawals.
Mia has pills in her jacket and Bryan allows her to keep the bottle because they’re all pretty much screwed at this point anyway. He also releases Mia from her handcuffs using a paperclip. They decide to trust one another, basically because they don’t really have any choice. Bryan confesses he can’t remember anything about himself and Mia gets all emotional. Bryan tells her it will all be fine, but of course it won’t be.
Once again to the mall we go and Eve’s decided maybe it’s not a good idea for Alex to be camped out just a dozen feet from Jay the possible rapist. Off they go to find a new place to camp while elsewhere in the mall, two game store employees act like the power isn’t off and mime playing a video game. The talk turns to dead bodies and they suddenly decide to take the dead bodies outside and use them as bait to lure in the killers in the mist.
Zooming back to the church, Kevin fills a couple of water bottles, still determined to leave. He doesn’t care if Mia’s a murderer and still wants her to hotwire the car. He politely knocks on the basement’s locked door and Mia confirms she can hotwire a car. He lets them know he’s going to break them out.
Adrian confesses to the priest he’s scared and the Chief overhears their friendly chat. He demands to know why Adrian lied about Jay raping Alex and why, if it happened, Adrian didn’t help Alex since he apparently witnessed the attack. Adrian says Jay’s friends held him back, but the Chief doesn’t believe him. Kevin arrives back from his secret basement mission in time to rescue Adrian from the Chief’s verbal assault. The Chief takes the argument into forbidden territory, saying Alex got drunk and had sex, adding, “Like mother, like daughter.”
Kevin’s the next to get locked in the basement after he assaults the Chief.
The game store dudes wheel the dead bodies out a side door and push them a few yards away into the parking lot. They watch from behind the locked door, but nothing immediately happens. Bummer.
Alex and Eve split up to look for blankets and food. (Note: It’s awkward to watch scenes featuring Eve and Alex. It’s like this mother and daughter have never met before the mist blew in.) Jay follows Alex into a store, wanting to talk. He claims he didn’t touch her and that actually he stood up for her and Adrian at the party. He confesses to liking her and wonders how he can prove it. She explains Adrian saw him take her upstairs and then saw her passed out. Jay admits he took her upstairs, took off her shoes, and put a blanket on her. He left her alone and didn’t do anything. Jay asks if he can touch Alex’s hand and she briefly allows it. He then turns and walks away.
And back at the church, the guy who did awful things offers Nathalie a drink. She turns him down and says she’s going home. He tries to stop her before she can leave the church, but she wants to die and be with her husband. He follows her outside and tries to get her to turn around as the Chief yells at them to get back inside. A moth flies into the man’s ear and he screams in pain. The butterfly on his back looks like it’s coming alive as wings emerge from his spine and moths fly out of his mouth. He is oh-so-briefly Mothman and then he is no more.
Nathalie, who just caused the young man’s death, is now back in the church and not in the least bit remorseful. (I’m beginning to believe the mist sucked away the town’s residents’ abilities to display normal emotional reactions.) She no longer wants to die because she’s seen God. The priest tells her that wasn’t God and she replies, “I’m not talking about your god.” So there, bam! Mic drop.
Eve reunites with her daughter who she left long enough for the suspected rapist to confront. Alex reveals Jay told her he wasn’t going to hurt her, and Eve assures her daughter she won’t have to worry about Jay much longer, mechanically rubbing Alex’s shoulder in a poor imitation of a comforting gesture.
Uh oh, the gamer dudes have been discovered and now the one surviving dog tag guy is pissed his friends are in the mist. Gus and Kyle arrive followed by pretty much everyone else, including Jay. Gus’ next order of business is to establish mist apocalypse rules for the mall dwellers.
At the church, the priest has decided this whole mist thing is just God asking them to believe in Him. He also thinks this is God begging Adrian to accept his love. Adrian asks to be baptized.
Gus reminds everyone that he saved the mall during Hurricane Katrina. They will now put together rules which will be decided by the group, and Jay’s given the job of writing down the suggestions. (The mall is full of adults but they always call on the teenager accused of rape to handle everything.)
The suggestions include rationing food, no stealing, no looting of anything other than food, and if you endanger the group, you’re tossed outside as mist food. Eve and Alex arrive in time to hear the rules discussion and decide they want no part of it. The possibly-Muslim shoe store owner also wants off this island and asks to join Alex and Eve’s new community. Others begin defecting from Gus’ group while he says everyone should stay together.
Jay thinks this is all about him and he wants Alex to tell everyone he’s innocent. Eve pulls out the gun she used to kill the guy helping her out when she was sent off to find the emergency phone. She aims it right at Jay’s head until Gus finally gives in and lets Eve’s group leave for another part of the mall. Gus warns them not to come running back for help when it all falls apart as Jay glares at Eve’s retreating back. Battle lines have been drawn.
Adrian goes through with the baptism, repenting all his sins. He hugs the priest and manages to steal his keys at the same time. Adrian sets Kevin, Mia, and Bryan free, but the Chief catches them as they’re about to leave. This time Kevin emerges victorious, leaving the Chief on the floor and a very disappointed priest behind as they hightail it out the door.
Alex and Eve set up their new little community. Alex gets busy making signs that will be attached to balloons telling people they need help. Eve joins her and they work in silence. The finished balloons are sent out the door as they’re prepared. Alex, Eve and their new mall buddies watch as the balloons float away. Anyway else have visions of another Stephen King story as the red balloons took to the air? Just a reminder: It arrives in theaters on September 8, 2017.
More on The Mist:
– The Mist Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
– The Mist Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
– The Mist Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
