Hanna – To the Meadows

By: Kelly Kearney

Betrayal is the theme of this episode and Hanna can not seem to catch a break. After losing her friend Clara to Utrax it seems Hanna, along with former villain Marissa, shelf their runaway to Canada plans for a rescue at The Meadows. Only figuring out the facility’s location is going to take teamwork and Hanna is not sure Marissa is on her side. When she finds a clue that leads her to believe Marissa is working with John Carmichael, Hanna goes off on her own leaving her vulnerable foe Utrax to find her.

Breaking News

After her rampage at Passways Pharmaceuticals the word is out that a highly skilled teenager infiltrated the drug trials and attacked the employees in the lab. John Carmichael (Dermot Mulroney) quickly finds out that the police have arrested the young girl who Hanna (Esmé Creed-Miles) pretended to be just to gain entrance to the drug trial and now they are questioning her about what went down. John, who is having issues with rogue trainees, calls Passways and orders them to accelerate the trial. He needs those trainees ready and any glitches like he has seen in Clara (Yasmin Monet Prince) need to be worked out for the sake of the entire project and, most likely, his job. This means he has to make sure Clara gets with the program. This is when Leo (Anthony Welsh) and Terri (Cherrelle Skeete) enter the mix. John gives them two days to convince Clara to accept her new life at The Meadows or else he will be forced to eliminate the problem; meaning kill Clara before she ruins this whole project.

Elsewhere, Hanna and Marissa (Mireille Enos) are held up in an unknown location trying to make sure Hanna remains dead to Utrax long enough for their escape plan to work out. This is when Hanna tells Marissa she has no interest in the plan unless she can save Clara first. She shows Marissa the implant she removed from Clara’s arm and tells her about The Meadows, something she spied on the Passways’ computer. When Marissa tells her she has no idea where The Meadows is Hanna asks her why she pretended to be her mother in texts. Meaning if she cares enough for Hanna to risk everything for her safety why cannot she get behind rescuing Clara? What is so important about Hanna that Marissa seems to only care about her future when Clara might not have one at all? Marissa is not into battles she cannot win and, since she does not have a clue where Carmichael is keeping the trainees, she tells Hanna that to be safe she has to stay hidden. Perceived dead girls breaking into facilities is not exactly staying low key.

The Odd One Out

After her talk with Hanna we watch Marissa meet up with her fake ID friend, Hafeez (Ziad Jallad), and orders a new passport for Clara. The rescue is a go and Hanna, along with Clara, will be safe with her high school teacher in Canada.

Speaking of Clara, she is still stuck with Terri trying to convince her to stay at the school by offering her some kind of fake friendship. Clara gets angry and questions why Terri cares enough to waste an entire night sitting silently in her room. Terri is not too sure why she is drawn to Clara, or so she says, other than the fact she too knows what it is like to be the odd woman out in most social situations. This enrages Clara more and she screams that unless Terri is in her motherless and trapped in her shoes they are not the same. Terri then leaves to tell Leo that Clara is still struggling with her decision to stay. Her choice would come easier if she had proof that her mother, who she thinks is dead, loved her and chose Utrax as a better life for her child.

While Terri is at The Meadows working overtime to convince Clara to stay, Marissa is still in the hide out playing multi-level chess with John. Her biggest pawn in this game? Sonia (Emma D’Arcy), who did not listen when John told her to never let her guard down with Marissa. To track Sonia’s location Marissa calls and invites her to coffee as an apology for telling her she would rip her face off and mail it to their boss. What style of latte goes with murderous threats? Who knows but Sonia agrees and the conversation lasts long enough for Marissa to trace the call.  She is covering all her bases in making sure Hanna and Clara make it out of this alive.

A Return to Passways

The first step to this plan comes when Hanna goes rogue and tries to break back into Passways. She manages to steal a pass card and trail the company’s Innovations Director, Louis Dumont (Antoine Mathieu). He is same man she spied on to figure out the connection between Passways and The Meadows. Hanna texts Marissa to let her know she is following Dumont and “Mom” responds by telling her she is on her way. Like all rebellious teenagers who rarely follow the rules, Hanna does not wait around for Marissa. Instead, she steals a car from the Passways garage and follows Dumont to a diner outside of town. There she eavesdrops on a phone conversation about a truck and a secretive drop off. While this is all going down her cover gets blown by the girl she framed for the Passways rampage. The girl points Hanna out of a photo line up and John’s suspicions are confirmed. Hanna is alive, but is Marissa helping her? He calls Marissa to tell her the news and orders her to find girl. Marissa acts surprised knowing this is probably a test. She does her best to convince him she is loyal to Utrax and not a teenage assassin. After she hangs up with John we see Hanna text her to keep her up to speed on Dumont. She is following him and it is a good thing she let Marissa in in this because Sonia is following her! The killer assistant spotted Hanna on some CCTV footage and with that location John orders the woman to take her out. This is when all the characters converge into one area. Hanna follows Dumont out of the diner to meet a truck outside. The two men are doing some kind of secretive deal and Hanna is recording the whole interaction on her phone. At the same time Sonia arrives with her gun and her orders to kill the teenager. When Dumont spots Hanna secretly recording him, he questions who she is and what she is doing. Sonia is nearby waiting to make her move and that’s when Marissa pulls up, finds Sonia and without hesitation shoots her in the head! She then runs out playing the concerned and angry mother screaming at her precocious daughter. She screams about the teen stealing her father’s car. She apologizes to Dumont for her nosy runaway kid and he buys it. The two hop in the car and take off as Marissa (a/k/a “mother”) continues to loudly reprimand her daughter for Dumont to hear. As they drive away Hanna tells Marissa that the truck is headed to The Meadows and this is their chance to save Clara.

Mommy Issues

Speaking of Clara, we see Terri who tries one last time to get the rogue trainee with the program by handing her a letter she claims was written by her mother. Utrax planned to give it to Clara when she completed her training, but Terri thought maybe it would mean more to her now. The letter explains why Samira gave Clara up and at the end it says, “I will always love you.” It is exactly what Clara needed to hear. Her mother loved her but now she is gone and all that is left are the other girls she is grown up with. They love her and will never abandon her. Her family is at The Meadows and that is what her mother wanted for her. Everything about this facility is based on manipulating the girls into obedience. When Leo gives Sandy (Áine Rose Daly) a Bible and says her fake parents love that she is a dedicated Christian, he knows that Sandy will absorb the tenants of that religion in the same way Terri knows that Clara’s need for family can be found in the program. Fake or not, these kids want to feel normal and loved, and Leo and Terri’s jobs are to convince them the only place they will find it is The Meadows.

Betrayals, beatdowns and forgiveness

Like Clara and Sandy, Hanna is motivated by the need to feel loved. Whether that is from Erik, Clara or even Marissa it is the spark behind igniting her fire. When John tells Marissa that Hanna is not only alive, but killed Sonia the wily agent tries to blow him off like this is some kind of conspiracy that can not be true. While the two talk on the phone Hanna waits in the car, which is parked in a line ready to board a ferry to Dover, England. Boredom strikes and the teen starts snooping through Marissa’s purse. While these two have become closer, so close that Hanna manages to make Marissa break her usual dead faced protocol and smile, Hanna still does not fully trust her. Her fears are solidified when she finds a card with John Carmichael’s number and a message for her to “Join Me.” Immediately she assumes Marissa is setting her up. She takes off from the car and hides in the back of a truck’s lorry. When Marissa notices she is gone, she panics and starts calling out her name as she searches the vehicles headed for the ferry. It is not long before she finds Hanna in the lorry and the two have a brutal and violent fight. Marissa, who can usually hold her own in any brawl, is no contest for the highly trained killer. Hanna makes quick work of her and chokes Marissa unconsciousness, but not before the red head tells her she is Hanna’s only chance. Her declaration falls on angry deaf ears and Hanna leaves the beaten and broken Marissa passed out in the truck. Next, she jumps on the ferry and follows Dumont’s truck all the way to the gates of The Meadows. This is when her plan hits a shocking snag.

Inside the Meadows Sandy took her newfound religion to Clara and offered her forgiveness for the fight they had. The two girls make peace and Clara fully accepts her new identity, Clemency, and the friendship Sandy offers her. Outside the facility Hanna is spotted on the security cameras weaving through the campus and killing guards along the way. She manages to make it to the school’s courtyard where she sees Clara dressed in new clothes and laughing with the other trainees! The two make eye contact and instead of Clara running to greet her rescuer and friend, Clemency walks away leaving Hanna at the mercy of The Meadows’ guards! The episode ends with Clara betraying the only true friend she ever had, leaving Hanna (once again) under the watchful eye of Utrax. Her big mistake was assuming the one person that could help her, Marissa, was her enemy. As it turns out that enemy was her own bad judgement. Getting stabbed in the back by your best friend is heartbreaking. So much so that Hanna does not even try to run when the guards wrestle her to the ground. It looks like Hanna is going to have to learn the hard way about whom to trust and who is worthy of her friendship.