We last left Buck in the panicked airport, asking Rayford to get him to New York. To continue.
Buck says if Steele can't help him, does he know someone else who can. Steele says he owes Buck for helping save the plane from Panic Guy and he does know someone with a charter service and leads on. Here Fred Clark points out that the sensible thing to do would be to introduce them there at the airport and then take off. Instead, for some unexplained reason, Steele drives Buck home. (I don't know whether I would have picked up on the oddity if Fred had not pointed it out).
Buck says if Steele can't help him, does he know someone else who can. Steele says he owes Buck for helping save the plane from Panic Guy and he does know someone with a charter service and leads on. Here Fred Clark points out that the sensible thing to do would be to introduce them there at the airport and then take off. Instead, for some unexplained reason, Steele drives Buck home. (I don't know whether I would have picked up on the oddity if Fred had not pointed it out).
The neighborhood is a mess, with wrecked cars, a wrecked garbage truck, and crying people. Buck stays on the porch to allow Steele some privacy, while Steele drops his pilot jacket and hat on the porch and runs in, calling for Irene and Raymie. Frantically, he searches the house and heads upstairs, only to find his worst fears confirmed. In Raymie's bed, he finds his son's pajamas and stuffed animals. By the bed is a picture of father and son together. In Irene's bed are her nightgown, her cross (not crucifix, cross. She is Protestant, after all), and wedding ring. He sits down and very humanly cries for them. Then he grabs the nearest object at hand -- his wife's Bible, it turns out -- and throws it at the mirror, breaking it.
The scene is well-done and thoroughly human. Fred Clark usually fusses about times and dates of events. I am usually less particular, but in this case, I am inclined to agree with Clark. Irene and Raymie were raptured while in bed. Chloe is driving down the street in broad daylight. So either Irene and Raymie stay in bed very late, or the pile-up had been there a long time. Either way, Chloe was apparently not home last night. (I suppose that latter is possible if new cars kept being added and the old ones had no way out. But you would think Chloe would have seen some sign of disaster shortly after the Rapture.)
After a brief shot of Buck staying outside to allow Rayford his privacy, we see Ray pick up Irene's Bible, shake off the glass shards and start to read. He begins at the beginning. "In the beginning." "It's a little late for that," he says, and starts leafing through it.
Buck sits outside till nightfall, frantically trying to reach Burton, without success. When night falls, soldiers drive by, warning that martial law has been declared and anyone out on the street will be shot on sight. Buck approaches, desperate for a ride to the airport. The soldiers draw their guns and tell him to get back inside, so he backs off. Rayford sits upstairs, tearfully watching Irene's video of the birthday party he missed.
At daybreak, people are wandering the streets again. (Apparently the curfew was only dusk to dawn). A soldier in a jeep drives Chloe home. (We do hear the same loudspeaker in the background warning people to stay in their houses, no one seems to be listening). Chloe sees her father's pilot jacket on the porch and (presumably) reaches the obvious conclusion. She runs in calling, "Mom! Raymie!" Going upstairs, she hears voices from the bedroom. She goes to investigate and, "Dad!" They hug, long, in immense relief and grief.
Meanwhile, Stonagal and Cothran are watching the UN on TV, with the UN chief thanking Carpathia. Stonagal sits calmly, drinking tea. Cothran, obviously the more nervous of the two, paces anxiously about. He asks how this affects their food distribution network. "Strangely enough," Stonagal says, "all of our operatives are still in place." I like this detail. First of all, the plot has not been cancelled. Second, neither Stonagal nor Cothran has a clue what has just happened. Clearly neither of them has ever heard of the Rapture. Third, none of their people have been raptured. Well, that figures. And neither of them has any idea why this is so. Cothran continues to be nervous about all the scenes of chaos showing up on TV. Stonagal is unconcerned. "Never wait for opportunity to knock. Yank open the door and drag it screaming and kicking inside." It is not clear what this means, other than to demonstrate, once again, that Stonagal is the villain.
Back in Chicago, Chloe comes down stairs, crying, with the party flowers withered. She sits down, only to find a stranger sleeping on the couch. She jumps up and grabs a vase only to see it is -- Buck Williams!?! (Remember, he is a nationally known figure who broadcasts on GNN). He recognizes her as Chloe. (Rayford presumably told him about her). She is crying over her Mom and Raymie, not knowing what happened to them. Her dad is "passed out from exhaustion," or, as most of us say, asleep. Buck stupidly tries to console her, tells her it's okay. She says, no, it isn't, and he has to admit she is right.* Buck still continues is desperate, rather bizarre quest to get to New York and asks about Ken Ritz, the man Chloe's father says can take him there. Chloe offers to drive Buck to the airport. He says he can't let her go out, it's madness out there. She says she'll go made if she stays here. As they head out, she gives him a sort of longing look that is the only clue we get that they will later become an item, and asks him to let her know if he finds anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment