Colony recap: In From the Cold

What is the Factory? WHERE is the Factory? Those are just some of the questions we’ve been asking, and the answers were finally revealed tonight — in a big way. First of all, Carlos (Will’s friend that got the short end of the stick in the Santa Monica explosion at the beginning of the series) is alive! Second of all, I’m not sure what everyone else’s theories were, but the Factory is definitely not what I expected. In fact, it seems like an actual factory, complete with workers (more like slaves) and contamination suits and a prison-like atmosphere. Oh, yeah, and a guy coughing up blood because he seems to be contaminated with something. But when he’s taken away, no one seems to care much, which is a bit troublesome. Perhaps the biggest “WTF” moment was the reveal that the Factory isn’t on Earth at all; it’s on the moon. (ASIDE: I’m very much reminded of Bitch Planet, a wonderful, daring comic written by the amazing Kelly Sue DeConnick, who is known for writing Captain Marvel. In Bitch Planet, women deemed “non-compliant” are shipped off to a jail in space, where they’re punished for simply not looking a certain way or acting a certain way. It’s a slightly different concept than Colony‘s, obviously, but the intent is the same. END ASIDE)

Back on Earth, tensions are high in the Bowman household. Will tells the kids about Charlie kind of out of the blue and without Katie’s permission, which probably isn’t that smart. She approaches him afterward, explaining how upset she is, and all Will says is, “There shouldn’t be any secrets in this house.” I kind of love that this whole episode was a way for Will to subtly remind his wife that she has no secret anymore, when Katie seems to have no idea that Will knows what she’s really been up to. Katie meets with Rachel and is surprised to find that there are no secrets in Rachel’s world. Her kids know who she is and what she does. Katie admits she couldn’t tell her own kids and then drops the bomb: She’s out because she’s realizing what price she could pay. Rachel, surprisingly, is on board. She says she’ll tell Quayle he needs to leave her family alone, or she’s out, too.

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At the office, Beau is looking through stuff from Broussard’s house when Will is interrupted by a mysterious call. The caller (Quayle) gets his attention by telling him that he knows the leak is his wife, and Will meets him on a bus. Quayle lays everything out on the table for Will, and I do mean everything. He admits he runs Katie’s cell; he knows they want Broussard and offers them a deal. He wants to get outside the block because there are apparently pockets of survivors in L.A. And if the deal is solid, his cell goes away and so does Katie’s secret. If they lose? Well, Katie’s going to be in a lot of deep trouble.

Will gets honest in turn and tells Beau about the meeting, about Katie, and about the deal. Together, they decide to pull a little long con of their own based on the information they have and visit Snyder, who’s been having better days. He’s already on edge because he’s received a visit from Helena (Ally Walker), the woman we were introduced to briefly last week as chief of Staff of Los Angeles Colony, a.k.a. chief of pretty much everything. Helena’s told Snyder that the Chief Minister of the Pacific Coast is coming to the colony for the anniversary of the Arrival and for a “performance review,” and well, let’s just say that no one else is applauding Snyder’s political leadership. Will tells Snyder about Quayle betraying his own cell. Snyder’s hesitant to believe them, but Will insists it’s because they’ve done such a good job breaking them. He tells him about the plan, which Snyder wants to be involved in.

NEXT: Loyalties divided

While Quayle is meeting with Will and while Will and Beau are meeting with Snyder, Broussard is crafting a meeting of his own. His is with an informant who says they have intel about the VIP coming in for Snyder’s meeting. He hands off that information and tells Broussard they need him on the operation. When Quayle and Broussard meet, Broussard calls Quayle out for saying he knew Geronimo when he clearly didn’t. He then tells him that he’s been put in contact with another cell. They can get a hit, but they need the tactical expertise to pull it off.

Katie’s still pissed at Will for telling the kids about Charlie, but Will’s unapologetic: He thinks they deserved to know. He does apologize, though, and then tells her about Broussard being given up. Katie takes this information and warns Broussard herself, and when he meets Katie outside The Yonk, Broussard doesn’t believe Quayle sold them out. When Broussard goes back to Quayle, he asks point-blank if he’s talking to the Occupation. And Quayle point-blank lies and says he’s not.

Snyder and Will meet with Quayle, who explains why he wants to get out of the colony. It’s actually a decent, honest explanation: He sees the writing on the wall and has decided he’s done. They talk about how the deal to bring in Broussard will happen, which involves Red Hats staking out where Broussard is wandering the marketplace. The catch? Not only is Broussard there, he’s brought along all his Resistance people, who have joined in on his deal and who are unaware he’s being targeted. Katie is the one who spots the Red Hats, and not knowing about her husband’s mission, she reacts to the threats and sets off a chaotic chain of events that ends with most of the Resistance (including Rachel) being shot. Broussard escapes, and Snyder’s upset; but perhaps no one is more upset than Katie, who watches Rachel get brutally killed in front of her.

Since Will knows where Quayle is being held following the attack, he offers to go talk to him. He asks why they recruited Katie, and to his surprise, he finds out it was Broussard that had done so. “Rebellion is in her bones,” Quayle tells Will, saying they both saw potential in “the art of deception and natural talent.” Here’s something you generally DON’T do: provoke someone who is already on the edge because it results in things like Will pulling the trigger. Multiple times. Quayle is shocked, and WE’RE shocked. We’re also not sure whether the reaction was due to Quayle’s words or whether this was the plan all along because Will is clearly more tactical than anyone has given him credit for.

For what it’s worth, Beau seems to be in on it, too. They go back and continue their long con of telling Snyder that Quayle was dead when they got there, assuming it was Broussard’s work. After being threatened with being sent to the Factory, Will and Beau talk on their own, and Will admits he didn’t have a choice when it came to shooting him. Beau is simply worried about their story holding up. In short, they know things are crumbling, and crumbling fast. It’s a conversation and a feeling that’s driven home by the sight of Katie staring at her dead friend, who has been strung up to be mocked in public with a board hanging around her neck with the word “TERRORIST” written on it. Broussard shows up and tells Katie he’s leaving, but also, “This is why we fight.” And now? Katie knows that. So when Will and Katie finally get home and Will asks his wife, “Are we still fighting?” you almost want to laugh — especially when Katie responds with, “You tell me.” And Will does tell her: He says his day was good. And Katie says her day was good.

And suddenly, the stakes are very, very high.

Bacon Bits:

• Man, how lucky is it for Will that Quayle managed to keep an open seat next to him on that bus, right?
• I’m not sure if Bram telling his teacher that his brother is alive is a good thing or not. But the two do get closer to finding out exactly what’s up on the moon thanks to his telescope, and it’s Bram that suggests maybe it’s the Factory. I have a feeling this won’t end well because, generally, when you find out secrets things, tend to go sideways. But I’m hoping I’m wrong.
• For more on tonight’s episode, including intel from Colony co-creator Ryan Condal on those shocking twists, check out tonight’s post mortem.