Colony – Panopticon

By: Gladys Luna

Helena (Ally Walker) is getting ready to face the VGA at their summit in Germany. Due to the recent events that took place in Los Angeles bloc, where one of The Host´s vehicle was stolen and attacked by the Insurgency, Helena has been trusted with the task of restoring the order in the city. Although she has promised them that Los Angeles proxy will be immediately replaced, one of the members suggests to ask for Los Angeles bloc total rendition. So, they call for a vote concluding that they won’t go for that suggestion. Instead, they will reevaluate the colony’s status on their next summit. Helena thanks them and walks out of the room looking more relieved than ever.

Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) welcomes Charlie (Jacob Buster) and Will (Josh Holloway) back at home. She tries to approach to him, thinking that maybe everything will be as it used to, but Charlie seems uncomfortable at the display of affection from his mother. Gracie (Isabella Crovetti – Cramp) offers to show Charlie his room, leaving Will and Katie on their own. As Gracie gives her brother a tour around his room and the house, she explains to him that they had to leave their old house and change their last name, but she really doesn’t know exactly why. Charlie reveals to her that if they hadn’t done it, their father would´ve been killed just for being a former member of the FBI. This leaves Gracie out of words at the sudden confession.

Katie is getting the shower ready for Charlie when Will walks in locking both of them inside. He asks Katie about Bram (Alex Neustaedter), but they are interrupted by Charlie and Gracie walking into the bathroom through and additional door. Katie and Will leave Charlie alone in the bathroom and ask Gracie to give them some privacy. Katie tells Will that Bram was arrested while trying to leave the colony and Maddie´s (Amanda Righetti) new boyfriend Nolan (Adrian Pasdar) helped him and moved him to a Labor Camp.

Will also updates Katie about Charlie and how they managed to escape by climbing the wall losing three other people on the way, Devon included (Carolyn Michelle Smith). Katie looks terrified at the news. The whole scene has been witnessed by Jennifer (Kathleen Rose Perkins) who has been watching Katie through a video camera as a way to get as many information as she can. Suddenly, she is called to Bennett´s (Christian Clemenson) office who demands for the identity of Jennifer’s source. Once again, she refuses to tell him anything about it. Bennett explains to her that he had asked someone to investigate further and expects her to collaborate in said research. He also informs her that he understands that maybe she is trying to protect a colleague, but he has a place for her in his team and he suggests her to take it.

Back at Katie´s home, she walks into Charlie´s room and watches him while he is looking at some pictures set on the counter. Katie scans him and spots the scars he has on his ankle. She walks over to him and tries to touch him, but he steps away from her. He asks her about Bram and she tells him he did something so he was taken to a place outside the bloc trying to not to go into further details. Much to her surprise, Charlie is well aware about the labor camp and implies what it is like to be there. Katie attempts to soothe the mood, but Charlie cuts her off by telling her he is hungry.

Jennifer tells one of her colleagues (Keiko Agena) that she is under investigation since one of her team members broke the rules and her boss thinks she is covering for him. She knows if she tells on him, she can save her job or even get a promotion and is suggested to look out for herself. When Jennifer returns to the camera room, she finds herself with detective Burke (Toby Huss) who has been watching on her videos and files for something that might help him figure out who her source is. She confesses to him that she has been lying to Bennett about having a source and comes up with another lie as a cover, but detective Burke doesn’t believe a word she says. Instead she is harshly suggested to tell the truth to avoid ending up at The Factory.

Katie and Will look at Charlie through the window while he is piling food on his backpack. Katie suggests Will they need to make the kid to open up, but Will assures her that he had already tried yet didn’t succeed. He assures her he will try again so he goes outside and tries to talk to Charlie who is still picking oranges. Will tells Charlie a story about when he was in the army and how he was closed off when he came home after seeing his best friend die and what a burden that was so he wants him not to do the same. He encourages him to talk about what happened to him in Santa Monica, but Charlie puts him off and leaves. Katie joins Will in the backyard and confesses to him that one of the biggest mistakes of her life was lying to him about joining The Resistance and that is something that haunts her every day. Will tells her he knew that Quayle (Paul Guilfoyle) was in the resistance cell with Katie and was willing to turn everyone down to save himself so he had to execute him. That is what haunts him every day. Jennifer is monitoring everything from the video room and finds herself speechless at the sudden confession. The doorbell rings and Will heads to the front of the house to open it. It is Lindsey (Erin Way) who seems to be suspiciously happy to see he has returned. Before she can properly introduce herself, Gracie leads her to Charlie´s bedroom where he had hidden under the bed and is holding a knife, but he drops it when he realizes that there is no threat.

Detective Burke breaks in the video room and takes Jennifer to a large area filled with people, each using a computer to monitor everyone in the colony. He tells her that he can make them dig as deep as possible in her life so he is giving her the chance to make it easier and tell him who her informant is, but she confirms him once again that she already told him everything.

Katie helps Charlie to cut his hair back to the same cut he had before The Arrival. He admits to her that he doesn’t like Lindsey and asks her to get rid of her, but she tells him is not that easy. Will is sitting in the floor at Bram´s room when Katie arrives and locks the door and then sits in front of him. She tells Will that Jennifer has contacted her and asked for information about Broussard, but she assures Will that she had lost contact with him so there´s nothing she can offer.

Katie informs him about the deal she wanted to make with the blonde and how she was expecting Homeland Security would come for her when he and Charlie returned. She wants to trust Jennifer, but he refuses. He says Jennifer is weak so he comes up with a plan and use that on their favor. Jennifer, who has been watching everything, bolts out of the room and straight into Bennett´s office. She is ready to confess everything when suddenly she regrets it and tells Bennett that Will has returned from Santa Monica and he will be a good asset for the team. She lies to him saying that Simon Eckhart was her source, but he had stopped calling her maybe because Broussard (Tory Kittles) found him or maybe he just got cold feet. Bennett tells her she lacks of the skillset and constitution to be an officer and that´s why she´ll be transferred into the general surveillance pool. He asks her to empty her office and report to the pool in the morning.

Lindsey is tutoring Gracie when Charlie walks in the room and grabs some milk from the kitchen. He sits near Lindsey and Gracie and suddenly a fire is set in the stove when Lindsey realizes that it’s actually her book that has been set on fire. Will and Katie run into the kitchen and put it out. Katie realizes that Charlie was the one who did it and stares at him in terror, but says nothing about it and just sends scared blonde home. Will realizes that the fire alarm didn´t turn on when the fire started, but says nothing more about it. Instead, he asks Katie to help him get cleaned up and she agrees. Both of them walk into the shower and he approaches her and whispers in her ear that they have been watched. There was a camera on the fire alarm and probably that wasn’t the only one in the house. They just remain there pressed against each other.

Jennifer returns to the video room and starts to delete all the videos from Katie and Will´s house. She watches with teary eyes how Gracie walks into Charlie’s room and lies next to him. She begins to sob when Burke knocks and walks into the room. He asks her why she is still there, but she tells him that she was just logging off the system and packing her stuff. She grabs her suitcase and walks out of there.

Back at her home, Jennifer opens a bottle of wine and takes her cellphone and a bottle of pills out of a bag. She begins to watch an old video of her boyfriend and her dog where they look happy and exchange some “I love you´s.” Tthen, she begins to cry. “I´m sorry,” she says to nobody in particular before taking the pills one by one.

The scene pans out as we see that she is also being watched through a computer monitor in the room she was taken to earlier. Sadly, there’s no agent in front of it to witness what is about to happen.