Spike’s The Mist
Season 1, Episode 7: “Over the River and Through the Woods”
Directed by Matthew Penn
Written by Daniel Cameron Talbott

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Devil You Know” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “The Law of Nature” – click here
Mia (Danica Curcic), Kevin (Morgan Spector), Bryan (Okezie Morro), Adrian ( Russell Posner) and Tyler (Christopher Gray) get through the mist to another one of the wards: the psychiatric wing. An orderly named Nash knew Mia’s mom, saying there was “nothing bad in her” and assuring she wasn’t like the other patients. Meanwhile, there’s plenty else to worry about than the mist, with Kevin still drugged up and having been exposed to it by the doctor, as well as Bryan and Mia’s now tenuous relationship.
At the mall,  Eve (Alyssa Sutherland) and Alex (Gus Birney) are holed up with Jay (Luke Cosgrove) and others. The protective mom is keeping an eye on the rapist, not willing to leave anything to chance. Not to mention there’s trouble with the new society in the mall, people eating too many rations. And people still believe the military’s coming. There’s a real hostility, too. Towards Eve. Although she manages to plant a baby monitor in the other camp, to figure out what’s been going on.
Over at the church, Nathalie (Frances Conroy) is having her face treated after taking abuse from that insane follower of Christ, the wayward sheep of Father Romanov (Dan Butler). The idea of faith, particularly Catholicism with its confession, is funny. You can do bad things, yet God is perpetually willing to forgive, so long as you repent. Thus begins Chief Connor Heisel (Darren Pettie) putting the priest to a confession, asking him if he’s responsible for what happened to the older woman. The cop beats Romanov to the floor, as Nathalie hums in the background. Eerie moment. Church and state coming apart, a new religion taking hold. However, the priest isn’t so innocent. This beating’s gonna put him over the edge.
Bryan Hunt isn’t Bryan Hunt, he’s Jonah Dixon. He beat up the real Bryan, a soldier at Arrowhead military base. So she’s worried he could be “psycho” or it could be amnesia. The two talk about things, he tells her about meeting the real Bryan, that he was attacked. She then tells him about what happened at her mother’s house, the apparition of dear ole mom, the thought of fading into death. What brought her back was Jonah. In order to feel worthy of it, of anything, she’s doing a rapid detox. Harsh, brutal.
Particularly considering there’s a mist outside with terrible creatures inside.
Note: The score is absolutely perfect. Giona Ostinelli’s a killer composer, he’s done good stuff on several Mickey Keating films such as Darling and Pod. His music here comes perfectly fitting, punctuating the creepiest and most emotional moments alike.
Alone later, Adrian and Tyler talk about the worst things they’ve ever done. Tyler talks about beating up a guy who walked “swishy” and threatened his faux-masculinity, his closeted sexuality. Beat him then pissed on him. That’s how much he hates himself. So he apologises to Adrian, who offers forgiveness. Perhaps this is the relationship which helps a guy like Tyler accept himself. Maybe. Just maybe.
Nathalie questions Romanov about his beliefs. She’s reading the Bible, for the first time. He believes she’s holding people’s souls in her hands. But also, he admits to letting his insane follower do what he did to her, knowing it would happen. He speaks about a “trial by ordeal” that involves walking into the mist, seeing if God and nature spare the two of them: “Whoever dies, we will provide an answer for the people here.” Does she accept?
When Adrian’s nowhere to be found, Tyler panics. He goes to Kevin, then the orderly tells them not to bother. That the kid’s a bad person, he can “see people” and who they are underneath. Turns out the orderly is not an orderly, he was a patient. An especially violent one. He runs off before the two can get to Adrian, who’s bound, gagged in a room. Not far from where the guy’s got a bunch of dead bodies stashed in a closet, piled atop one another like sides of beef.
At the same time, Jonah’s seeing Mia through her detox, a gruelling stretch ahead of them, as she sweats and cries and teases him with more information about his real identity. Lies from the throes of withdrawal? Or truth? Suddenly, he remembers bits and pieces on his own. And nothing good at all.
The ordeal of Father Romanov and Nathalie is set to commence. Whomever survives may have a chance at saving those in the church, rescuing them all from whatever’s in the mist. While the priest goes in his robes, she does so naked as the day she was born. As nature intended. Out from the doors they go, into the mist. They close their eyes and wait for whatever comes. Romanov hears the hooves of horses come near: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The priest calls out scripture, receiving nothing in return but an arrow through his torso before they pull him back into the mist with them.
The only one left is Nathalie, so she goes back inside. Welcomed by everyone eager to hear what went on outside. One of my favourite couple scenes in this first season as a whole! Great, spooky stuff.
Jonah remembers being experimented on, zapped, a woman speaking random words to him through all the pain. He sees all sorts of things coming back to him. He tells Mia about it, how he survived, and coaches her through the pain she’s feeling.
Simultaneously, Kevin’s trying to reason with Nash. He has serious issues, this dude. He talks about a nun that taught about the evil in people, having to beat it out of her. He’s gone past the deep end into an abyss. Determined to purge evil. Until Kevin says Adrian isn’t evil; he’s the one. This sets Nash after him, just long enough for Kevin to get in the room with him. They fight, tooth and nail. To the death.
Now people at the mall, some of them, are starting to look for a scapegoat. Why not start with the family who supposedly makes up rapes? That’s what the mother of the dead little girl’s suggesting. Not everyone is on board. But some are, and that’s scary.
And sadly, as Kevin and the others leave the hospital, Tyler refuses to go. Despite he and Adrian becoming closer in private. Teary eyed, the kid stays while his secretive gay lover Adrian, just as devastated, leaves with his close knit group.
Wow, this episode was one of my favourites! If not the best of The Mist‘s Season 1. Such good stuff, on all ends. Interested to see what happens in many areas, like the gay relationship which is awesome – and so needed in this day and age for representation, very well written, at that – and also the budding trouble at the mall. Many things to come!
“The Law of Nature” is next week.