In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
Sheriff Tom declares a quarantine of Homestead, and is also in charge of the whole relief effort. Dave is still in the hospital. Russell finds an injured military scuba diver at the ranger station, and the diver has injuries that look a whole lot like the ones Dave got in the swamp from the mysterious non-gator creature. Mariel finds a weird pod-like thing that seems to be living in the scuba diver's head wound. Jesse and Rose are creeped out by their pod mother, so they sneak out and go to Russell's house. Mariel gives the pod-like thing to Russell for testing, and reveals that she didn't even notice that her kids left her house. Mariel confesses to Sheriff Tom that she hasn't been feeling herself lately, and Sheriff Tom blames it on overwork. Dave and Russell go back to check out the skeleton they found, but it's...gone! Larkin goes to interview the diver's wife, and it turns out that she thought her husband was still stationed overseas and didn't know he was in the hospital. Sheriff Tom and Mariel take the kids back, like, is the whole episode going to be about the kids going back and forth between their parents? Larkin wants to do a big news report about the military diver, but her boss informs her that the diver is dead. Mariel lost her wedding ring while she was out in the hurricane overnight, and Russell and Dave find a wedding ring in the trunk of the car where the skeleton once was. Gasp! Rose confides in Sheriff Tom that she saw the lights, and Sheriff Tom says that he saw them, too. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Russell needs one more peek at the goopy skeleton in the truck of Dave's car. Plus, the crew set the camera and lighting and stuff for that shot, and it seems like such a waste if they only use it for ten seconds. Russell stares at the goopy skeleton and thinks really hard. Some static comes over his radio and he jumps; in a funnier show, he would have totally bonked his head on the raised trunk. Let's just pretend that he did, okay? Anyway, it's Rose on the radio, and she's still talking about damn Car-leeeeeeeet-a, her cat. Rose is worried that her mother and "Daddy Tom" aren't home yet, and Jesse and Kira are making dinner. It's so creepy that she called the Sheriff "Daddy Tom," I can't even tell you. Anyway, Rose asks her father plaintively, "Are there monsters?" Russell stares hard at the goopy skeleton and then lies, "No." he slams the trunk closed. Rose brings up the lights she saw in the sky, and says that she thought they might be monsters. Russell says they weren't, and Rose asks, "Then what were they?" Russell doesn't even answer his daughter! He just starts up his car and drives somewhere. Dude, that's cold. Are we sure he isn't a pod person?
The mayor gives a press conference outside the hospital about what they're doing to rebuild and clean up from the hurricane. A reporter asks about a possible quarantine, and the mayor says they're still working things out. Sheriff Tom rocks the mic and gives all the reasons might have to have a quarantine, including contaminated water and possible damage to chemical facilities. The mayor interrupts to say that no one has authorized a quarantine yet.
Dave, who's still in the hospital, calls Russell on his radio. Does everyone have a radio on this show? And if so, why couldn't they use them last week, when they were all out searching for each other in the hurricane? Anyway, Dave wants to know if Russell has checked out the skeleton yet. Russell says he's driving Dave's car to the station or the lab or whatever right now. Dave gets all pissed off because his car is "a collectible."
The reporters ask Mariel if she would support a quarantine, and Mariel takes the mic and says that she actually suggested it. Larkin asks whether the Sheriff's office will coordinate efforts, and Sheriff Tom basically says that he's calling all the shots. I'm trying really hard here not to make Katrina comments, because that seems a little too soon, but just know that I'm thinking them, and then feeling guilty.
Jesse, Rose, and Kira watch the press conference at home. Jesse comments that Sheriff Tom likes to be on TV. Kira giggles as she agrees that he does. On TV, a reporter asks Mariel about her ordeal in the swamp, and Mariel says that she's recovering just fine. Rose says that she misses her mother. Jesse points out that their mom is right there on the television, and Rose says sadly, "No, she's not." God, isn't the prescient-kid thing done already? I thought it peaked with The Sixth Sense and now it's over. So lame.
Dave wheels himself out of the hospital and calls Larkin over. She runs over and hisses that she's working. Seriously. She should have just ignored him. Dave complains that the quarantine will kill them all, because they'll be completely cut off. Larkin says that there isn't a quarantine yet, and that they'll still be able to get relief even if there is. Dave says that the hurricane isn't the problem. Larkin says that she's tired, pregnant, and sick of his ass, so she blows him off. Dave yells to her to "fight the power," and I don't think white people are really allowed to say that, even in the case of alien invasion.
Russell pulls up to a ranger station that a subtitle informs us is the one used for science and research. Unlike all of those other ranger stations, where jumping to conclusions and uninformed opinions rule the day. He takes out a flashlight and starts to open the trunk, but he's interrupted by a military vehicle driving by. The guy in the back gives Russell the stink-eye.
Russell goes into the ranger station, which is pretty trashed from the hurricane. He starts to straighten up. Maybe he should come back when it's light out, since he can't see anything right now? He finds some tools and sets them on a table. And then he sees a window with a hole in it, and blood on the shattered glass. He uses his flashlight to follow the trail of blood, and ends up finding a tarp that is shaking all over the place. Russell pulls the tarp away, and underneath finds a man in a diving suit, barely conscious.
Cut to Russell helping a nurse wheel the guy into the hospital on a gurney, and explaining that he has no clue how the guy got to the ranger station in the first place. The doctors cut away the guy's wetsuit to start working on him. He's got a number of what look like puncture wounds on his chest and neck. The nurse wonders how this happened, and Russell doesn't share that his brother-in-law has similar wounds.
Larkin lights a lantern in her home, and it's clearly a magic lantern, because it practically lights up the whole house. She picks up a radio and calls Russell, who explains that he found a guy at his ranger station and had to take him to the hospital. Larkin asks if their generator is in the shed, and Russell begs her not to go to the shed. So of course, she'll be going there immediately. Way to make her suspicious and curious. Russell lies that she doesn't want Larkin to go where it's dark, and Larkin points out that she needs power to do work, and asks why he's being weird. Russell realizes that he can't stop her, so he tells her to be careful.
Russell whips into Dave's room and asks to see his leg wounds. Before Dave can give permission, Russell just starts unwrapping his bandages, which seems like a violation of sorts. Dave wonders why Russell hasn't told Larkin the truth yet, and Russell claims that he doesn't know the truth. Dave recaps for new viewers that he was "attacked by an EBE," which Russell doesn't buy. Dave says that he was "sucked underwater by a bright orange sea blob", and that his skin was branded. Russell peels back the bandages and looks at the wound. It looks like a long line with a bunch of dots around one end. Russell looks at photos he took of the diver with his cell phone, and then shows Dave, who starts freaking out. Russell points out that just because something is unfamiliar, that doesn't make it alien. Well, it does in the linguistic sense. Russell wonders why a guy in a wet suit was swimming around during a hurricane, and Dave tells him to figure it out, quickly.
Larkin walks out to the shed with her flashlight. How far away is this shed? She's, like, in the middle of the jungle or something. Anyway, she makes it out there, finally, and grabs what I guess is supposed to be a generator. Meanwhile, a bright orange blob glows out in the swamp water, and it looks like it's getting bigger than it was when Dave saw it.
Sheriff Tom and Mariel walk back into the hospital. Sheriff Tom says that Mariel did a great job with the press, but Mariel isn't convinced, and says she just isn't feeling herself lately. Heh. Sheriff Tom points out that Mariel's been through a lot. Mariel non-sequiturs that she thinks she lost her wedding ring during the storm, and Sheriff Tom says that it doesn't matter, because they didn't lose her. They put their faces really close together, but don't actually kiss or anything. Now I'm going to watch and see if they ever do kiss.
At the ranger station, Russell leafs through a book of drawings of weird-looking fish with lots of teeth. Dave calls on the radio and asks what Russell has found out. Russell says he hasn't checked it out yet, and Dave -- super-busy eating some Jell-o -- urges Russell to get on the stick.
Russell heads outside and goes back to the car. He's about to open the trunk when he sees something on the ground nearby. He shines his flashlight over, and then walks right out into the swamp. Or maybe it's just regular ground, but it's flooded. He's in water, anyway. He picks up the object he found, which is a set of dogtags.
Jesse puts Rose to bed and tells her that they're going to turn off the generator now, and that he and Kira will be right in the room. In the same bed? They move fast. Rose wonders why her mother hasn't called on the radio, because she always calls when she has to work late. Jesse says that hurricanes make everything different. Rose isn't happy about it. Jesse yells to Kira to turn off the generator, and the lights fade.
Mariel examines a woman, played by Veronica Cartwright, at the hospital. Veronica Cartwright says she was told that she was in the water all night, and she heard that Mariel had a similar experience. Mariel jokes that they're both pretty good swimmers. Veronica Cartwright says the weird thing is that she doesn't know how to swim, but she seems pretty jovial about the whole thing.
Outside the hospital, Sheriff Tom barks orders about where things should go. A guy reports that some of the roads are cleared, and Sheriff Tom tells him to keep the turnpike closed. Russell walks up and asks Sheriff Tom if he authorized the military to enter the national park. Sheriff Tom doesn't really answer, and Russell says he saw some military out there earlier, and that the diver he found was from the Air Force. Sheriff Tom says that he doesn't control the military, but Russell says that they're working together. Russell tells Sheriff Tom that the diver, Paxton, was in a wet suit, and wonders if the sheriff has any idea why the guy was out there. Sheriff Tom doesn't know, and Russell says he'll talk to Paxton as soon as he wakes up. Once Russell is out of earshot (which, on television, means that he's walked two feet away), Sheriff Tom orders an underling to get General Dearing from the Air Force Base on the radio.
Paxton is still unconscious. Mariel adjusts his oxygen mask and then peels back his bandages to examine his wounds. She sees something suspicious on the side of Paxton's head, so she grabs some tweezers, and starts picking at the wound. She peels back a flap of skin and uncovers something white, which she pulls out with the tweezers. It kind of looks like an eyeball with a claw attached. As she holds the eyeball with the tweezers, it moves around like it's alive, and Mariel drops it to the floor and looks shocked.
The morning, Larkin is artfully asleep in her bed with her laptop open to her. Russell walks in and says hello, and she wakes with a start and asks where he's been. He doesn't answer, and observes that she went down to the shed even though he told her not to. She asks if he's her boss or her husband. We get an overhead shot of Russell crawling into bed in his underwear, which I'm not going to complain about. Larkin snuggles up and then kindly tells Russell that he stinks. Russell says that he can't take a shower without water.
Cut to Larkin and Russell showering together in some sort of camp shower. Russell asks if she slept okay. Larkin says she didn't, because she was too worried. Russell says he was following up on Paxton, and the hospital says that he's stabilized. He also says that Paxton is in the Air Force. Larkin promises to check the wires for more information when she gets to work, and wonders how the guy got to the ranger station in the first place. Russell doesn't answer, because he's too busy staring at Jesse and Rose, who are just standing there watching their father and stepmother naked.
Once everyone is clothed and dry, Russell gives his kids breakfast and asks if they really walked all the way from their mom's house. Why wouldn't they just call Russell on the radio and have him pick them up? Rose says that Mariel didn't come home at all last night. Jesse says that Sheriff Tom called this morning and said that they both got caught up at work, but Mariel didn't even bother to call. Russell admits that he didn't come home last night either, but that the kids can hang around there.
Out in the shed, Rose and Russell work on doing some replanting. Apparently, even though he didn't have time to secure his own home, Russell had time before the hurricane to dig up flowers and such. Rose and Russell bond over the plants.
Larkin busts into work and asks if her boss is in yet. The boss isn't there. Larkin asks some random guy to put her into contact with someone at the Department of Defense.
Dave uses crutches to walk into Paxton's room. He examines Paxton's wound; you'd think the tape from his bandages wouldn't be sticky anymore, the gauze has been peeled back so many times. Dave takes photos of the wounds with a disposable camera, but when he goes to peel back another bandage, Paxton grabs Dave's wrist. Paxton whispers, "Don't let them in. Don't let them in!" Paxton goes back to sleep, and Dave frantically tries to get more information, to no avail. And then Sheriff Tom is creepily standing behind Dave, and asks what he's doing, and Dave falls down. Doesn't Sheriff Tom have press conferences to hold and quarantines to place?
Mariel sits in her office and examines the eyeball claw, which is now in a sample bag. Russell walks in and asks how Mariel is feeling. She says she's all right. Russell hands over Paxton's dogtags, and asks how he's doing. Mariel thinks he'll recover. Russell senses that Mariel is holding something back, and she reluctantly shows him the sample in the bag. She says that there are geometric spores in it, along with cartilage, and that it definitely didn't come from Paxton. Russell examines it as Mariel admits that it was still moving when it came out, and may have been regurgitating fluids. Russell remarks, "Like a feeding tube." Russell asks if he can take it to run a few tests, and a nurse comes in and tells Mariel that they need her. Russell says that Mariel should radio the kids when she gets a chance; they're upset that she didn't call them or come home last night. Mariel gets a look on her face like, "Oh, crap. I forgot I had kids." She rushes out.
Larkin pulls up in front of a house and knocks on the door. She addresses the woman who answers as "Mrs. Paxton," and apologizes for not calling first, but says the phones are out. Mrs. Paxton says that if Larkin is looking for her husband, he's overseas. Larkin is shocked, and tells the lady that her husband is in the hospital. Mrs. Paxton thinks Larkin is wrong, because her husband is overseas on a mission. Larkin asks what kind of mission, and Mrs. Paxton gets all freaked out and asks Larkin to leave immediately, and then slams the door. Maybe Larkin should have made sure she had the right Mrs. Paxton before delivering that news? Larkin looks through the window as Mrs. Paxton runs to her phone, which still isn't working.
Dave and Russell drive back form the ranger station. Dave speculates that looters took the skeleton, or possibly the military did. He reminds Russell that he saw the military out there earlier, and Russell seems kind of convinced. He wants to go talk to Paxton again. Dave thinks the sheriff might not like that, but Russell doesn't care what Sheriff Tom thinks. Dave points out that, with the sleeping with Mariel and all, Russell might not be objective about the sheriff. Since when does Dave care about Russell being objective? Doesn't he want Russell to believe his wacky theories?
As Russell and Dave pull up to Russell's house, they find Sheriff Tom standing outside. Russell gets out of the car and asks what's going on. Mariel walks out of the house with Rose and Jesse and says that she's picking up the kids. Russell reminds her that she left them last night. Kind of like Russell left them just now? Larkin's not there. Jesse says it's okay, but Russell disagrees. Everyone stands there all tense. Russell says that Rose was very upset, and urges her to tell her mother. Rose says that she wants to go, because she misses Carleeeeeeta. Mariel and Sheriff Tom prepare to leave with the kids, and Rose gives her father a kiss goodbye.
Larkin walks into the office and asks if her boss, Val, has come in yet. She's told that Val is there, and wants to talk to Larkin. Val turns around, and it's Veronica Cartwright! Larkin explains about Paxton, and how his wife didn't even know he was in Florida. Larkin thinks it's a military coverup. As Larkin speaks, we see Russell rushing into the hospital, only to find that Paxton isn't there. Val tells Larkin that Paxton is dead, and starts saying that she wants Larkin to tell stories about how people are coping with adversity. Val asks how Larkin got out of town, and Larkin says that she just went around the roadblocks. Val keeps walking away, and Larkin yells out to her that she can't believe Val doesn't care about the story, since it's all so fishy. Val says she doesn't want the story, and walks off.
Russell returns home and yells to Dave that Paxton is dead. He orders Dave to give up his keys, and tells Dave what Larkin said about his wife not knowing, and that the Air Force took Paxton's body away. Dave asks if anyone actually saw Paxton's dead body. Russell opens the car's trunk, which is still empty, and worries about how all this will affect his kids, whom he wants to protect. Dave says that the town needs Russell's protection, too. Russell gazes into the trunk, which is filled with goopy water, and starts sorting through it, explaining that he's looking for hair, nails, or teeth to pull DNA from. He finds a ring, and Dave says it's not his. Russell reads the inscription, which is, "Two become one."
Meanwhile, over at the Sheriff's house, he's sliding a new wedding ring on Mariel's finger in their bedroom, all romantic. They actually kiss this time, so there goes that theory. Rose calls out that she's ready for bed, and Mariel reluctantly breaks away from her husband.
Mariel hops into bed with Rose and apologizes for not calling her. She says she'll try very hard not to let that happen again. Rose says that she was worried. Mariel promises Rose that she won't ever lose her, which is a weird thing to say. Rose says that she wants to tell her mother something, but they're interrupted by Sheriff Tom, who has a phone call for Mariel from the hospital. Mariel asks Rose to save her information until tomorrow, and kisses her on the forehead. Rose seems happy as Mariel leaves to take the phone call. Sheriff Tom asks Rose if she's feeling better, and if there's anything she wants to tell him. She agrees to talk, and he walks in and sits on her bed. Rose starts to tell him about the lights she saw during the hurricane. Sheriff Tom asks if she can keep a secret, and then says creepily, "I saw them too." Rose half-smiles as the sheriff just stares at her.