In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
The town now has two dead people running around. The one we've already been introduced to is Jacob, who does some literal running around, at least until the other parents decide not to let their children play with the kid who just came back from the dead. Marty has a plan to open up the Langston tomb to check the DNA of the Jacob that drowned 32 years ago. You'd think that would help clear things up, but most of the Langstons are opposed because that tomb also contains Barbara. In fact, much of the episode is devoted to Fred, Maggie, and Henry talking about whether Barbara was having an affair in 1982. She was. And now everyone knows who she was having the affair with. But the gentleman in question says he's not Maggie's real father.
The other dead person is Caleb Richards, father of Elaine and Ray. He says he woke up three days ago in Portland and doesn't have any memory of having a heart attack. Ray doesn't think he's really his father, because he's clearly hiding something, just like his father used to. I don't think Ray's thought this objection through. But he's right that Caleb is up to something, because he seems to have some sort of weird power over Jacob. Also, he sneaks off into the woods, digs a hole to find a body, and seems like he might kill a guy with a hammer at the end of the episode.
Although it seemed in the first episode that pretty much everyone accepted Jacob's identity, things take a step backward in that department. Henry's reaction to everything is to scowl and stomp out of the room. Tom doesn't want anything to do with Jacob, but he ends up playing video games with him, just like old times. Marty tells Toni that this all has to be kept secret, because a low-level employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the ideal person to deal with this whole situation. Although he also turns around and has her use her Department of Justice connections to push through the tomb-opening, so you'd think there would be questions.
For most of the episode, there are very few questions being asked about the implications of the dead people coming back. It's not even clear if Jacob understands that thirty years have passed. But Maggie and Marty get the Langston tomb opened, and at the end of the episode, they finally open Jacob's coffin. Then they stare at each other because something has happened that we're not allowed to see yet.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Resurrection: many characters were introduced.
We open in the cemetery. This seems like it's going to be a standard location for the show, although if enough dead people come back to life, it'll lose a lot of its dramatic effect. Jacob is still wearing his red shirt. Get that kid some clean clothes! I don't care how much he likes the Mansfield Panthers. He notices that there's a statue to the family crypt that looks sort of like him. The creepy drifter dad from last episode is stalking him, whistling. Then he dissolves to dust. Jacob looks at his own hand, which also falls to dust. Then he wakes up. I think it's a mistake to have dream sequences in a show that's already full of impossible things. It just adds confusion. Jacob's mother Lucille is sitting there watching him sleep. She tells him he was just dreaming and he asks, "I'm not anymore?" See, he knows. And I don't blame him for being a little skeptical about this whole deal, although I'd like him to be showing a little more interest in being thirty years in the future.
Elaine Richards and her father Caleb (the creepy drifter dad from last paragraph -- he's also supposed to be dead) greet each other briefly, and then Marty comes in to ask what the deal is. Caleb says he just remembers driving his truck and blacking out. Then he woke up three days ago in Portland. He has no memory of a heart attack at all. When Marty tells him he died, he doesn't believe it. That's not entirely irrational; it's an odd thing to be told, right? Although he also doesn't seem to care about the time that's passed while he was dead. His body was found at his hunting shack. Ray is just skulking in the corner glowering at everyone. Caleb has a headache and wants to do this some other time. And Marty's fine with that, because why would you want a lot of information about this guy who just came back from the dead? This whole show is populated by people with what I think is a shocking lack of curiosity.
Outside, Marty asks Maggie if Caleb's story could be true. She says she saw his dead body before it was cremated (because she's apparently the only doctor in town, although she has plenty of time to run around town all day), and Caleb hasn't aged a day. Marty nods. "So, okay -- looks like there are two now. Returned." So they wonder why Jacob remembers dying, but Caleb doesn't? See, that's more like it. Try to figure out the rules of what's going on. Ray comes out and says, "That man is there? That's not dad." I feel like we already went through a cycle of disbelief in the first episode. There's a limit to how many times you can have people saying "This isn't really my loved one who died a long time ago. Oh wait, now I believe it." That emotional beat loses its punch eventually.
After the credits, Jacob has taken a bath or shower or something. Good! Lucille dries him off. Henry looks in from the hallway and goes on his cantankerous way. Jacob takes over the hair brushing from his mother and starts to put on that red shirt I was complaining about. Lucille would like to get him something new to wear, and Jacob notices that all his things are missing. That's the sort of thing that makes me wonder if he knows it's been 32 years since he was last in there.
Lucille goes into a different bedroom, where she still has a box of his clothes. And a stuffed bunny! There's some good acting in this scene, because obviously looking at a box of your dead son's clothes are going to make you sad, but then you remember he's alive again and in the room and that still doesn't erase the emotions attached to the box. She closes the box again, and Jacob is in the doorway, looking at her with concern. She announces that they're going shopping. That's a good idea. Kid's fashions have changed a little since 1982.
Marty calls Toni to tell her he needs to be here to investigate this, and he asks her to keep it under wraps so Jacob doesn't get swarmed by cops and investigators. Are we so sure that would be a bad idea? Toni thinks that maybe Marty is not the right guy to handle this situation, but he doesn't want it to become a freak show. So we're trying to keep this a secret, then. I'm a little disappointed, because the pilot seemed to be going in a different direction, and I thought that was interesting.
Maggie brings coffee to Fred's house. He explains the mess by saying Finn and Paul were over last night. We haven't met Finn and Paul yet, but they sound like fun. She wants to talk about her mother, because Jacob said there was another man there when he drowned. Fred says Jacob can't even be Jacob, so who cares what he says. Maggie believes that it's Jacob. And she tells him about Caleb Richards being back.
Now Maggie's at the hospital, because she was just stopping at her father's house on the way to work. Marty's waiting for her and she tells him where to get good coffee. He prefers cheap coffee. And with that awkward exchange out of the way, he'd like to talk to her about what's going on. Caleb Richards was cremated, and you can't test ashes, but how about the body of Jacob in the Langston tomb? He doesn't know what to expect, which seems to me like exactly the right attitude. Something crazy is happening, and I think people should be interested in finding out as much as they can. If the show hadn't brought up DNA tests, then I might be okay with everyone just believing or not believing, but this is a world with science. Apply it! Maggie doesn't want to open the tomb because her mother's in there, too. Marty says that technically he doesn't need the family's permission to open the tomb. I think technically, he doesn't have any powers here whatsoever. He's not working in any official capacity. Maggie agrees that Henry and Lucille should be asked for permission, and that she should be there.
Lucille sends Jacob out into a playground that's full of kids. I guess it's summer or at least a weekend. He runs around aimlessly, as kids do. The other parents start talking and a kid named Eddie is called in. Soon, all the other kids are called in by their parents, and everyone leaves. Jacob is standing alone in the field. Hey, he's out standing in his field! Ha ha ha! I think I first heard that joke in 1982, so maybe Jacob knows it.
Elaine stares at Caleb. There's an urn of ashes there, but he promises he's not in there. He asks if Aunt Rita still calls up drunk in the middle of the night, ranting and raving. Apparently, she does. He apologizes for not being a great father and talks about life giving him a second chance. He wants to make this count. It's everything Elaine ever wanted to hear from her father.
Marty and Maggie go to Henry and Lucille's house. They're thrown by the news about Caleb Richards. Marty and Maggie bring up Jacob's tomb, and Henry describes it as desecration. I can see that. Although I also think he'd be curious about whether this boy that's now living in his house is really his dead son. And if he thinks it isn't, why doesn't he say something? He stomps off again. Lucille, however, doesn't care what they do with Jacob's tomb. She has a live Jacob, and that's enough for her.
Jacob's in his room, and Marty goes up to say hello. Jacob is playing with some off-brand LEGOs. They share some half-hearted smack talk about Donkey Kong, and Jacob tells him about the incident at the playground. But he doesn't mind, because he likes playing alone.
Downstairs, Marty tells Lucille not to announce who Jacob is. I think it might be too late for that, since all the parents in town seem to already not want their kids playing with him. But I guess some sort of cover story would stall the plot out nicely. Marty says, "Today was one reaction. Tomorrow, who knows what people are capable of?" He's not entirely wrong about that, I guess. But everyone's response to the resurrections have been really low-key so far.
Maggie drives to a house, but she doesn't get out of the car. She zooms in on that picture on her phone. The implication is that this house is the home of the bald man in the picture who Jacob saw when he drowned, so it's also the man with whom he mother was having an affair.
Henry comes in to Fred's office. Fred recently caught a large fish, and that's a topic of conversation for a couple of sentences. It's a lot like the riveting coffee conversation from earlier. It feels like the episode was all plot-related until someone went through and added small talk. Fred asks if it was Sam Catlin, who worked at the factory. It was. Then he asks why his brother would keep it a secret, and he's decided it was because Henry wanted to control him. Guys, I'm sure it was very traumatic, but you're talking about an affair that ended over thirty years ago. Why are you talking so much more about this than the two people who came back from the dead? Henry's actually here to talk about the tomb. He's concerned that Marty is going to get a court order to open the tomb, although I don't see what legal reason he'd have for that. If he doesn't want the world knowing that Jacob is alive again, what's he going to tell the judge?
Caleb's getting examined by Maggie at the hospital. He seems healthy. Maggie probes to see what he remembers about his blackout, but he's taken off for X-rays. Elaine seems optimistic, but Maggie says there are a lot of protein deposits in his blood, showing a heart attack three days ago. Neat! Right when he woke up, then. Maggie asks if Elaine really thinks they cremated the wrong person. With two dead people in town, why is her first guess that the guy who died wasn't Caleb? Elaine asks, "Does it matter?" What? Yes, it matters! I realize it's nice to have your father back, but there are larger issues going on here. Maggie's on my side: "Don't you want to know the truth?" Elaine shrugs. She says, "Maybe some things are more important." You can be happy to have your father back and also be curious about whether he's literally come back from the dead. Something amazing and impossible is happening in this town, and a surprising number of people don't seem to care at all.
Marty is looking for Judge Daly. The lady behind the desk reluctantly points him out, but Fred is already talking to him. Marty confronts Fred, who has blocked him from getting a court order. And he's done some research and found out who Marty is: "I made some calls. You're nothing but a desk jockey. A glorified chauffeur who shuttles immigrants from one airport to another. And you have been for years. So don't pretend to be something you're not." Wait, Marty had an office. And Toni was surprised he was willing to drive Jacob to Health and Human Services, so he's not actually a driver.
Jacob sits in the church, playing with a gaming device that looks like it might actually be from the 1982, which means it has, like, nine LEDs on it. Tom tells Lucille that people are concerned she might be delusional. He agrees with Marty's plan about lying. She asks him to talk to Jacob, since they used to be best friends. Tom looks really uncomfortable and says he can't because he has a conference call about church finances. But maybe he'll come by later. I'm pretty sure we already had an episode where Tom was skeptical, then came around.
Marty bounces a rubber ball against a wall, because that's how this character thinks. That's never not going to remind me that Omar Epps was on House. Then he pulls out his phone and calls Toni. He asks, "You still in touch with your friend at DOJ?" I'm sure Toni will be delighted to do favors for Marty, who has abandoned his job completely.
Elaine has been called into work, so she calls out for her father, but he doesn't answer. She sees his suit jacket on the back of a chair and picks it up. A hazy flashback shows her standing over his coffin. In the flashback, she holds a note and slips it into his jacket pocket. In the present, she does not find the note and she's sad. Okay, is the idea that people come back to life wearing the clothes they were buried in? Jacob wasn't buried in that red T-shirt, was he? I would have thought they'd be wearing what they died in. And then Ray's standing behind her! Ray says Caleb's up to something. According to him, Caleb isn't their dad. He's pretending, just like their dad used to do. So doesn't that mean he's acting just like their dad? Caleb comes in to announce that he's been doing some work on the house. He ribs Ray about not fixing the house up "while I was gone." Elaine has to go to work and sign papers. Caleb says not to put her life (as an assistant manager) on hold for him. She leaves and Caleb gets serious, and the soundtrack comes very close to ripping off the music from Halloween.
Caleb takes a shovel into the pickup truck and drives away. A dog barks at him. Ray watches from the house.
Caleb digs a hole out in the woods. He should not have dressed in all-white for this operation, because he's getting covered in dirt. He's by his old hunting shack, where he had the heart attack. We see a flashback of his death and he's crawling around the area. His digging reveals a face about four feet down. He digs faster.
Maggie meets Fred at a restaurant of some sort. She's off work, so he gives her a beer. He wants to talk to her about her mother. She got the postpartum depression, and Fred didn't take it seriously. He tells her, "If she did anything wrong, it was my fault. I should have been more understanding. Okay?" You didn't say anything! Marty has gotten a federal court order (I can't imagine what Toni's DOJ contact was told), and Maggie's going to keep on helping him. Fred claims he told her everything she needs to know. He says, "At some point, you just have to move on." Maggie is outraged that the one thing she knew about her mother is that she died a hero, trying to save Jacob, and that's not even true. I realize Barbara was very important to both of them, but they don't even mention that the purpose of the court order is to find out about Jacob. You know? The miracle child? Marty comes in to the restaurant, and Fred is hostile about him destroying the memory of his wife. Marty says, "The past is knocking on your door, sheriff. You can't ignore it." Fred dares him to tell Maggie what he does, and then snarls, "Some part of me is hoping that you'll both find the decency to do the right thing." Which is what? Send Jacob to the orphanage, ignore Caleb Richards, and get on with their lives as though people aren't returning from the dead?
Henry is trying to hook up some electronic equipment. It's hard for him. He asks Lucille if she's going to go watch them open Jacob's tomb tomorrow morning, but she isn't interested. Yeah, that sounds like a drag. He starts to stomp off, and Lucille says they're trying to protect Jacob. He asks, "Which one?" And then he does stomp off. Every scene that contains Henry ends with him stomping off cantankerously.
Jacob is coloring or something in the living room, and then he goes to the window. Tom's out there at the front door and he's in the process of deciding not to knock. Jacob opens the door and says hello, so Tom's trapped. Jacob says that he accepts that Tom is his friend. Lucille welcomes him in and tries to get him to help connect "this video game we got for Jacob." Jacob remembers Tom setting up filmstrips in school. Tom doesn't do much setting up here, because he's overcome by memories.
Some time later (after the commercials), there's shouting! Lucille runs in, and Tom and Jacob are playing some sort of video game. I can't see what era it is, but those are not realistic controllers. I think Jacob would be blown away by modern video game technology, but he seems to have taken to it right away.
Maggie watches someone come home. It's a bald man, so this would be Sam Catlin. She gets out of her car and crosses the street. Sam sees her and stares. She says, "I just need to ask you one question. Are you my father?" He smiles a little and shakes his head a little. When he says "No," she nods and turns away. He tells her he didn't leave her: "I waited by the river until someone found you." How does he know what's been going on?
He goes inside with his shopping. He tells someone offscreen, "She found us." Oh, it's one of those cliffhangers created by a television show just refusing to show us what's on the other side of the room. That's some artificial drama right there. Have they already decided that the basic concept of the show doesn't provide enough drama?
Ray sneaks into a bedroom. He checks the bed. It's a bed. He checks a Bible. It's a Bible. Caleb comes in and asks what he's doing. He offers an agreement in which they don't go into each other's rooms. Ray leaves. Either there's something strange about Ray or the guy who's playing him is not an actor. And Travis Young has 21 IMDB credits, so I guess that's probably not it. When Ray's gone, Caleb opens his Bible to find a note. It's the one Elaine wrote and tucked into his jacket at the funeral. Freeze-framing reveals that she promises to look out for Ray. She ends with, "Us against the world."
Jacob's on the field again. He's assigned to play goalie by the other kids. The playing seems to be going fine, although there's less random shrieking than you get with actual children. Marty comes up to Lucille, who says that she told Jacob to just be himself, and people are going to have to deal with it. Jacob sees Caleb on the other side of the fence and he walks over to him. Marty and Lucille run over in some kind of a panic. Jacob says that Caleb told him to lie. Caleb's not hiding his identity, though. A random crane shot ends the scene.
The tomb. Marty hands over the court order and a police officer nods. Henry's watching from a distance, because it looks cool to lurk in a cemetery. Two maintenance dudes open up the tomb. Jacob's coffin is to Barbara's. Maggie arrives and the guys take Jacob's coffin out. They open it, and Maggie and Marty look inside. Then they look at each other. And that's the end of the scene, which means this episode contains two of these scenes where they just refuse to show the audience what the characters are looking at. That's cheap, show. Do better.
Caleb whistles as he walks up to a house with his toolbox. When a man opens the door, Caleb says, "Everything's gone. Isn't it? This guy is shocked and afraid. Caleb shouts, "Tell me it's all gone!" Caleb attacks him with a hammer. Is he mad that something was stolen from him while he was dead? Anyway, we're not going to learn what he was talking about, who he was talking to, or what happens to the guy.
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.