Beyond – Cheers, Bitch

By: Darryl Ley

We open on Diane Matthews (Romy Rosemont) at her son Holden’s bedside (Burkely Duffield) reading him The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger while he remains in his coma. We learn that this scene takes place four years previous to the current timeline. When Diane steps out for some coffee she meets Willa (Dilan Gwyn). The two talk and Willa reassures Diane that she will get her family back. At the end we see Willa walk by Holden’s room and reaffirm that it is just a little while longer until he returns.

It is morning in the Matthews household and Diane and Luke (Jonathan Whitesell) are joined by Holden. Diane notices the marks on Holden’s wrist left by his tying himself to his bed at night and is concerned, but Holden insists he is fine and blurts out that he is seeing someone. Diane wrongly assumes it is Charlie (Eden Brolin) and Holden is forced to admit that it is Willa. Luke steps in to try and reassure their mother, but she still insists that she would like to meet Willa soon and gets Holden to agree to invite her over for dinner.

Willa is having dinner with her grandfather Arthur (Alex Diakun) and he is barely communicative. She goes off to see Daniel (Patrick Sabongui), Arthur’s assistant, about her grandfather’s behavior since the destruction of his machine and the events of the season one finale. Daniel argues that Arthur can’t yet let go of his life’s work and that he still wants to be able to see Celeste, Arthur’s daughter and Willa’s mother again. Willa hopes that Arthur can move on with his life but is clearly concerned.

Charlie has Robin’s (Aliyah O’Brien) house under surveillance and is listening to the intel she gathered last episode at the pre-natal class. Once Robin leaves, Charlie breaks in and uses the info to guess the security code on the alarm system. Charlie makes herself at home and walks through the house until a large wedding portrait reveals that Robin is married to Tess Shoemacher (Erika Alexander), head of Hollow Sky.

Holden calls Willa to talk to her about his mother’s dinner invitation. She’s not keen to go and is worried about all the secrets that they have to keep. Holden is clearly disappointed, but the call is interrupted when one of the managers finds him to tell him he has a meeting with management in five minutes.

When Holden arrives he finds Stevie (Tom Stevens) already in the office, bruised from his confrontation at the bar in the previous episode. Holden thinks he is about to be fired, but is surprised to be told he has been promoted partly as a result of Stevie’s injuries from a “motorcycle accident” to help him keep his deadlines. Stevie is less than impressed and leaves. Before Holden departs his father Tom (Michael McGrady) tells him he is proud of him.

Charlie continues searching Shoemacher’s home and discovers a hidden safe in the office desk. She again uses what she learned from Robin to guess the code and finds important files as she comes downstairs she is interrupted by Tess and Robin returning from their appointment. Charlie is trapped in the kitchen and realises she has left clear evidence of her visit in the kitchen and manages to move the glass she was using before it is found. Charlie then slips out the front door, but as Tess goes to get herself a drink she notices the ring mark left by Charlie’s glass.

Stevie explains the new role to Holden and says that last night never happened (meaning the altercation at the bar). Holden is overwhelmed by the responsibility of the new role after Stevie explains that one mistake by him will bring the entire warehouse floor to a grinding halt.

Holden has a panic attack while working at his desk that includes hallucinations of his desk both flooding and bursting into flames he jumps up and bangs into Stevie who berates him but Holden is still very much affected by what he saw.

We see Arthur banging on a lock placed on the door that leads to the machine when Willa comes in and tries to stop him. She has placed the lock there because she is scared for him. Willa finally reveals to Arthur the events that took place in the Realm and that Celeste isn’t real just a façade used to lure Frost in. Arthur slaps Willa and she visibly upset drops the key to the lock on the table before leaving.

Jeff McArdle (Jeff Pierre) and Christine (Parveen Kaur) are at her house as Jeff tries to build the baby swing and Christine thanks him for being around. At dinner that night at the Matthews house Tom is impatient for Holden to share the news about the promotion, but dinner is interrupted by the arrival of Willa despite her refusing the invitation earlier. Jeff has no idea who she is but Willa introduces herself and presents a couple bottles of very expensive wine.

Willa has a backstory ready, but Holden is understandably flustered. Diane begins to remember that she has met Willa before, but Willa disarms her with a joke. As Willa begins to spin a tale of how she and Holden met, Tom begins to get suspicious and Holden explains that he has been promoted at work. Willa makes a comment about Stevie and Tom questions Holden on where there has been any problems with his co-worker. Willa begins running her finger around the top of her wine glass, which triggers recognition in Diane who finally remembers where it is she saw Willa – at the hospital in the cafeteria.

This new information makes Tom even more suspicious so he again questions to the two as to how they met. Holden is so stressed out by this he accidentally breaks the wine glass he is holding, resulting in a cut on his hand. Holden is upset with Willa and the two quickly leave the dinner itself and the two again discuss the issues around their relationship and the fact that they are not “normal.” Holden also asks Willa why she was at the hospital and she confesses that she was there because she wanted to be a part of his life in the real world.

We head back to Christine’s and see that Pastor Ian (Chad Willett) has come over to drop off a baby care package. Jeff asks who it was who came to call, but doesn’t see that it is Pastor Ian. Willa is joined outside by Luke who makes light of the night’s events. In the end, it seems Diane is much more suspicious of Willa and her intentions than Tom is as he believes that she was just very nervous. Diane confides that she knows Holden is sleepwalking again and suggests that they may need to take up the Agent’s offer in order to safeguard Holden.

We see the Man in the Yellow Jacket (Peter Kelamis) impatiently waiting for Charlie as she finally appears and hands over the documents, which seem to be about his daughter. He evades Charlie’s question about the girl in the file and then finds out as a result of Charlie’s investigating that Shoemacher has cancer. On the question of why doesn’t he wait for Shoemacher to die of the disease instead of taking these current steps he turns it back on Charlie who agreed to work with him in order to get the location of Arthur for her own revenge.

Willa is back at home and goes to look in the lab before settling down into the seat of the machine. Holden is dreaming again, hearing the sound of a bouncing ball he goes downstairs and out the front door to view a nightmarish landscape before him shortly before hearing voices screaming his name he turns around to see his house in flames. Hands emerge from the ground to envelope him as he tries to get back to his house. He wakes from the nightmare to find himself in the forest in the morning. He has somehow ripped part of his headboard off his bed as he can see it still tied to his arm.

An arson investigation team head into Edgar’s (Jay Paulson) room to determine how the fire could have started while Dr. Coleman (Karin Konoval) interrogates Edgar. He can’t remember how the fire started at first but then he speaks of a fiery wasteland similar to Holden saw in his dream. When the doctor asks why Edgar needs to see Holden Matthews, he responds “Because they’re coming.”