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The people that kidnapped Neeko, Miljan, and Sabina turn out to be the Evenki, the dangerous local tribe mentioned in Miljan's journal. They drag their hostages out to a tent where they're reunited with Annie and Esther. And Annie's in the tent over. Everything's very ominous, although Sabina gets to meet the mysterious little girl she saw in the forest. Her name is Sasha, and she's the daughter of an American scientist. Eventually, a shaman comes in and takes some psychoactive mushrooms. His spiritual visions tell him to just send the outsiders to some white people they know about. So really everything's going to be fine.
At the Science Institute, Daniel has to break the news to everybody that just because he made a computer work doesn't mean he has an Internet connection. But Sam gets him to work on making the radio work without the collapsed radio tower, which involves taking forty feet of wire and laying it along the edge of the roof. This takes a while, so there's plenty of time for Johnny to find two spare Revealers in the laboratory, and for Joyce and Johnny to get into a fight, then make up. By kissing. Daniel falls off his ladder, but he gets the antenna all set up, so the radio's working again. And with the help of a cameraman, they actually make contact with someone who might come rescue them! They make no perceptible effort to establish a connection between the Revealers in the lab and the Revealer that was part of the reality show.
Before the Evenki take their hostages away, they undergo an attack by the mysterious Mangini, or "Valley Men." So there are still some monsters around here after all! The expedition takes a brief detour past the old camp, where Miljan takes Esther's bag of whatever she stole from the Revealer. Then they pass what appears to be a cursed igloo before their Evenki guide tells them they're on their own. All they have to do is go through Mangini territory to the tune of one forest and one mountain peak, and they'll be home free!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Neeko, Miljan, and Sabina are being walked through the snow. Neeko won't shut up about "Where are they taking us?" and "How many of them are there?" They're moving in single file, presumably to hide their numbers. That's a Star Wars reference.
At the Science Institute, Johnny wants to go online with Daniel's computer. He tries to explain that there's no Internet, and Joyce demands that he hack in to something. Sam helps Daniel talk Johnny out of the idea that all computers have the Internet in them. Then Johnny tells Daniel that Irene is probably dead, since she's had three days without a rescue team. So Daniel stomps out of the room, because that's Johnny's fault or something. Then Daniel mopes on a bed while sad music plays.
Eventually Joyce comes in to talk to him, and he mopes out loud about how he failed. She gives him some boots without mentioning that she pulled them off one of the dead guys. He thinks coming to the Science Institute was a stupid plan, because they're not any closer to being rescued. Well, they have warm clothes and food and better shelter, so that's a lot like being rescued. Joyce tells him he's strong, which isn't really true. She would like him to fix the radio, which sounds like a worthwhile project. He pulls himself together and heads out to look at the beacon. It's all smashed up and laying on the ground, so I'm not sure how much success he's going to have.
Neeko, Miljan, and Sabina have been led to some teepees in the snow. They're shoved into one of them, where someone says, "You're alive!" It's not clear who says it or to whom, but it leads into the credits, so I assume we'll get a better look at the situation in a minute.
After the credits, we learn that the teepee contains Esther and Annie. Esther warns the rest of the cast that "they" (the people outside with the guns) don't like it when you talk. Irene's apparently in another tent. Miljan peeps under the side of the teepee, and I guess a cameraman does too, because we see some footage of people standing around.
Daniel and Sam look at the beacon and it's kind of a wreck. Daniel is not optimistic, but he looks at a torn cable. He has a plan involving something called a "loop antenna," which basically involves putting some wire around the roof of one of the buildings. Sam is prepared to provide muscle for this operation, so they're onto Phase I: Find Some Wire.
Meanwhile, Joyce is rummaging through the lockers, looking for cell phones. Johnny calls it "looting," which is a little unkind. He's creeped out by this place, because it's full of charts and graphs. And dead bodies, which I think are much creepier than charts and graphs. Anyone can chart and graph something. Johnny thinks the dead people found out something they weren't supposed to know. I think they really ought to go look at the security footage to find who shot the place up. But that's just me.
Neeko is not happy with the idea of just sitting around and waiting. So he's pacing around and waiting. Sabina thinks they don't have a choice but to wait. Annie says Sam read about the Evenkis in Miljan's book. They're a dangerous tribe of natives. Neeko thinks the Evenki can help them, which means he's already forgotten about that time they took them hostage. They could help, but that doesn't mean they're going to. Neeko gets angrier and angrier about the idea of waiting, and he starts shouting. Then he stomps out of the tent. He gets in a scuffle with the Evenki, but no one's actually shooting him yet. Before things get too out of hand, a woman says, "Stop! Who are you?" An English-speaker! That's convenient.
Neeko asks why they got taken, when I think he ought to be answering the question. She says they're all trespassers. Could be. Neeko explains that they're part of a TV show and want to go home. The woman says they tried to warn them to leave, but they didn't and now it's too late. The shaman will decide what to do. Sabina has to explain to Neeko what a shaman is.
Joyce and Johnny are startled by a noise from the lab. She wants to go in and look at the falcon, and she makes Johnny go with her. He's creeped out by all the dead animals. And the charts and graphs, I guess. She wants to free the falcon, but Johnny doesn't want to go anywhere near it. And then! Johnny takes some plastic off a big thing in the corner. Under the plastic is...a big box! Joyce claims it's a Revealer.
Back to the Evenki. There's a lot of footage from outside the tents. Miljan thinks everyone's distracted, so they should just run. There's no way you're going to escape them like that, dude. They live here; you don't. And there's snow on the ground, so even I could track you. No one else wants to go with him. And then! A blonde girl tosses some coats into the tent. Oh, it's the mysterious girl that Sabina saw that time. Neat! Miljan's kind of mad that Sabina has a friend.
Sam asks Daniel how much wire they'll need. Daniel goes on about CB radio and wavelengths, but Sam gets him to answer: forty feet of wire. They happen to be checking the lab, so they're able to check out the Revealer. There's a hand-painted sign on the side that Sam translates as "Primate Studies, Test Group A." His Russian's really specific if he knows the word for "Primate." Joyce remembers that the Revealer at their camp was Group C. Johnny uncovers another Revealer that's for Group B. Joyce asks, "So, what, they're studying us?" Yeah, apparently. Daniel claims they're Skinner Boxes.
Interlude: a "Skinner box" refers to a box that you put an animal (or person, theoretically) into, and then you can get them to push levers for food. Or whatever. My point is that the Revealer back at the camp was definitely not a Skinner box because there wasn't a subject inside.
Daniel vaguely explains what a Skinner box is, and Joyce demands to know why "they" were studying the Siberians. Daniel doesn't know, obviously. Johnny realizes that "they" refers to the dead scientists in the room, and now he's shouting about "Why were they killed?" Sam tries to calm him down, saying they have more important things to worry about. I don't think they do, actually. Hooking up a radio is a valid goal, but it's not intrinsically more urgent than finding out who's been shooting up the place. Or what's been going on around them. Of course, Johnny's plan of shouting questions at people who don't know the answers isn't that great. Sam gets Johnny and Joyce interested in the idea of getting some wire. Joyce wants to free the bird first, but Johnny tells her, "Enough with the bird." The bird she's mentioned twice, ever.
Back to the tent. An old man in a fur hat comes in, and he is presumably the shaman. He eats some mushrooms, and Neeko objects that they're poisonous. The shaman's assistant (the English-speaking woman) explains the mushrooms will show him the future, and he'll know what should be done. Esther and Miljan say their friend (Victoria) almost died from eating the mushrooms. Guys, there's a religious ceremony going on. Shut it.
The woman says the shaman is a holy man, so he can eat the mushrooms. He grunts a bit, and waves his arms and growls. Then he leaves the tent and the woman follows. The general consensus is that he didn't seem to be pleased with whatever he saw. Then Sabina's little girl friend comes in and whispers "I hope they don't hurt you." She speaks English really well! Her name is Sasha. She's kind of overwhelmed by people asking her questions, and I think only Sabina should be talking to her. And also that Miljan should be leveraging whatever weird connection he had with the forest. C'mon, man, you stared at that book for days. Surely you've picked up some sort of magical energy from it, right?
Back to the lab. It's full of oscillators and old weird devices. Johnny demands to know if the people in the other room are Joyce's producer friends. She says the producers weren't her friends; she was just hired to do a job. It turns out that Johnny is mad because of that proposed love story he saw notes for at the base camp. He's touchy.
The English-speaking lady comes to the tent and makes everybody get out. The shaman says the Evenki are to take the prisoners over the ridge to where there are some white men that will help. Sounds great! Although I wonder how Neeko feels about this "white men" talk. She says they're banished and must never return. Miljan speaks for everyone when he says they're fine with not coming back. And they even get to go look at Irene! She's in a tent full of skulls and stuff chosen to look "native-y."
Irene is lying to a fire. She doesn't respond right away, but when she opens her eyes, she's happy to see everybody. Sabina says her fever is gone, and Irene reports that her leg feels better. Sasha says they put healing herbs on her leg to make it better. Thanks, Sasha. Irene gets updated on the plan to be taken to the white people over the ridge, and she's quite pleased. She even sits up! Sabina insists on telling her about finding Natalie's body in the snow. This is some time-filler right here.
And then! Outside the tent! There's screaming and barking dogs! One of the Evenki is being carried in, and he's covered in blood. They don't know what attacked him. And we see Miljan, possibly making a significant expression.
Daniel is laying wire around the roof of one of the buildings. Sam assures him that Irene's going to be fine. And that Daniel should concentrate on what he's doing. Inside the building, Johnny is fighting with Joyce, and it is tiresome. She says she knows that he doesn't really ride bulls, and then she demands to know what he really wants the money for. He says it's none of her business, and she agrees. I can't believe these dummies aren't cracking into those Revealers to them to see what goodies might be inside.
Back in the tent, Sabina asks Esther to explain the bottle of sleeping pills she found on her bunk. She does not. The English-speaking lady comes in and says the man outside was attacked by something they call "Mangini." It means "Valley Men." She adds, "Many bad things have happened since the ancient truce was violated." Now we're getting somewhere! The Siberians crossed into Mangini territory and that violated the truce. Got it. So they'll be leaving at first light, because it's too dangerous to go now. Esther wants to go back to the camp for some vague notion of "supplies," and it actually turns out to be on the way. So that's convenient!
Joyce cries…for kind of a long time, actually. Johnny comes in and bothers her while she tells him she wants to be alone and pushes him away. He hugs her anyway, which is not cool. But it looks like they start kissing just off screen.
Daniel lays wire along the edge of the roof while Sam razzes him about being part MacGyver and part Rain Man. Sam is starting to tell a story about how he read a book once, when! Suddenly! Daniel falls off the ladder! And now there's blood on his head. You can't leave these people along for a second, can you? You can't blame this on producers or Evenki or Mangini. It's just a guy falling off a ladder because he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing.
Joyce and Johnny are still making out when Sam runs in to get them. Daniel is outside, and he claims that he's fine. He sounds pretty coherent, although I think someone else should go up the ladder to connect the wire. Sam does a heartfelt interview about how amazing Daniel is. He's amazed by somebody being smart. And there's slow-motion footage of them preparing the wire.
Sabina is sitting at the Evenki fire, talking to Sasha. She asks about the English-speaking lady, and Sasha says, "She looks after me." Sasha's father was an American scientist who taught Merilik and her husband how to speak English. He used to live with the Evenki, but now he doesn't. That story ended kind of limply, Sasha. Anyway, now Merilik protects her. Sabina shows Sasha her locket and picture of her son, and they bond. You don't supposed Sasha's father could have been Leonard Kulik, the man who wrote Miljan's journal in 1927, do you?
Inside the tent, Miljan is speaking authoritatively about the Mangini: it's the "Valley Men," and it's not a tribe. Neeko doesn't notice that Miljan's knows what he's talking about, and Annie asks if maybe the Evenki killed Natalie. Neeko is positive that they can't trust the Evenki. Miljan asks if they can trust Sabina, considering that she recognized the little girl. Miljan says they need to leave. Well, isn't that the plan? If the Evenki wanted to kill you guys, they'd have shot you back at the camp. Outside, Merilik calls Sasha to come inside because it's cold. In a Siberian winter? Gosh! Sabina watches her leave.
The Science Institute team is playing with the radio. Sam seems on the verge of getting a signal.
The tent team eats some food. Yum! Merilik introduces herself, and Neeko asks after the injured man. Good move! Merilik says the man is suffering for their sins. "The punishment is come again. One hundred years ago. Ogdy punished out people for their sins." Miljan looks up at the name "Ogdy." She's referring to the Tunguska event. In her opinion, it's a punishment for turning their backs on the old ways. And Ogdy is their god.
Back to the radio. Sam got the camera guy to write him a list of handy phrases phonetically, and he hands it to Daniel. Daniel is to go through the list and send out messages over and over again.
Sam interviews about how he was a cage fighter, and then he started working with kids. And now maybe he'll see them again! Joyce says Johnny's very sweet, and that she wanted to give up. She would also like to go home soon.
Morning at the tents. It's time to go. They have doggies! And a dogsled, which is not as cute, but it's useful for moving Irene. Sabina has been given back her rifle, which is a good sign. Off they go! Everyone else is following the dogs on foot.
Science Institute. Daniel keeps sending messages, and he's been doing it all night. Joyce tries to relieve him, but he doesn't want to miss the moment when his message will be answered. There's nothing so far, though. She goes off to get him some more coffee.
The dogs have arrived at the camp. Our Siberians spread out to take supplies. Sabina gives her knife to Annie so she can write "Natalie" on the wall. Esther has a bag that Miljan takes from her. He reminds her that he said they'd be good friends. So that has whatever she snuck out of the Revealer. In case you were worried. Everyone sets out again. Miljan says it feels like he's leaving his home. Neeko says no one's going to win any money. A brief look back, and everyone continues.
Johnny voiceovers that he doesn't consider himself a hero. Neither do I! Joyce frees the falcon, and it flies away. Johnny says he's not going to risk his life or the lives of the people he cares about. Who asked you to?
Oh! There's Russian coming in over the radio! But Daniel has fallen asleep. And the cameraman grabs the radio and talks back to the voice, which is actually one of my favorite moments of the series. I like imagining the cameraman standing there for a few minutes, glaring at the sleeping Daniel and finally deciding that it's stupid to die of starvation just because the idiots he was hired to film can't be bothered to answer their radio. Daniel wakes up and runs outside.
The dogs have stopped. Everyone else takes a look at what's scaring them, and it's a hemispherical shelter made of snow. I guess you'd call it an igloo. Merilik freaks out and says they have to get away from it because of a curse. Everyone's kind of grumpy about it, but they're willing to do what she says. That was not a productive scene.
After more walking, Miljan interrogates Merilik about the mystery igloo. She says there are places in the forest that have weird effects on the mind. Oh! Like his totem pole! He looks to me like he's thinking of sneaking away from the group.
Radio! The cameraman tells Sam (in Russian) that he had a signal. They monkey with the tuner and get in contact with someone. They need to relay their location, so Johnny runs off to get the map.
Hey! More people walking in snow! That's fun. The dogs stop, and Merilik says this is far as they're going. This line is where the Evenki stop and the Valley Men begin. They're supposed to go through these trees and to a mountain peak, where they'll find their people by nightfall. While she's saying all this, Miljan has run up to one of the trees, It has his glyph on it, and he asks Merilik what it means. Good question! It's the symbol of the Valley Men. Merilik repeats that the Siberians (which is a bad name for the contestants, because obviously the Evenki are the ones who are actual Siberians, but the season's almost over and I don't want to change now) broke the law when they camped at the edge of Valley Men territory.
Esther observes that they were specifically told they'd be taken "to their people," not "to the other side of a forest and a mountain from their people." But Merilik just tells everyone to follow the path. Irene says she can walk. Sabina wants more weapons, since they only have the one rifle. Nope. The Evenki won't even give up a spear. Merilik apologizes to Irene that she can't do more for her, but Irene figures she already owes the Evenki her life. Sabina hugs Sasha. Sasha says, "If you see them, don't run." That's ominous! One of the Evenki is walking around in the big monster feet, and Merilik explains that it's the feet of the Valley Men. They make fake Mangini tracks so they won't be followed. They also look like they might work as snowshoes, since they're wide and flat. Finally, they walk into the forest. That took forever.
Johnny returns with the map, and Joyce starts yelling about where they are, and Johnny's also yelling, and I think they should shut up so their cameraman can talk on the radio. Daniel thinks they're wrong about the map coordinates, and he corrects them. The cameraman reads out what I believe are numbers. The other voice is not answering, and really the cameraman seems to be shouting and not waiting for an answer. Johnny wants to try, and I don't know what he thinks he can do. Sam asks the cameraman to try again, and the cameraman says a bunch of things. In Russian. The Russian conversation continues, and then! The voice on the radio comes back pretty strongly! There's jubilation! The consensus is, "They're coming!"
week: the season finale! More people with guns! And roaring! Will mysteries be resolved? I doubt it!
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.