Colony recap: Zero Day

Day 366, one year after the Arrival, is where we begin the penultimate episode of Colony. A group of people are gathered in K-Town to commemorate the anniversary, which involves families releasing lighted balloons into the air with pictures of those they lost. Predictably, Red Hats come almost immediately, despite the peaceful gathering, and ask people to return to their homes and clear the streets. No one does, though, and chaos ensues — including a father who loses his son in the process. (Sound familiar? Good job on Colony for including the first of many parallels to the pilot episode and tying so many things together.)

Will is checking out the aftermath of the riot, where Rachel and her children are still hanging. Beau tells him about the riot in K-Town, which we find out Will couldn’t get there in time for. Beau mentions “the whole damn place is going to hell,” which isn’t exactly new information, but Will thinks it’s enough to sell Snyder on their story. And since Snyder’s already upset about the K-Town riots, he needs some good news. Will tells Snyder that he thinks the Resistance set up a new cell outside of the colony and feeds him a story about a guy meeting an armory downtown. Snyder’s only kind of buying it but gives Will and Beau permission to take a run downtown and check it out, on the condition of them taking Laraza. (Poor guy, always coming so close but never getting a break.)

Meanwhile, Katie meets up with Broussard, expressing her anger that he apparently hasn’t called her back for a week. The reason why he hasn’t called her back? He was trying to give her space to deal with her grief and emotions surrounding Rachel. Broussard tells her about how his mother died the night of the arrival and how he realized he couldn’t act on his emotions if he wanted to survive. “I don’t have to be like you to do this job,” Katie tells him bluntly. “I don’t want to bury my emotions.”

The two go to an old building, where the “new” Resistance has set up shop. Eckhart (Charlie Bewley), the man who tried to give Broussard intel last week, is there along with two other fighters: Morgan (Thora Birch) and BB (Victor Rasuk). Broussard introduces Katie, who has no combat experience, unless you count “17 years of motherhood and 10 years of running my own business.” (And apparently five years helping prison inmates and three years escaping zombies.) Katie FTW. Broussard vouches for Katie’s trust and then tells them about last week’s intel about the VIP that’s coming in. They don’t know why they’re going, but they do know they’re coming in via the Metro — a mode of transportation Katie thought had been shut down.

But there are secrets everywhere! Katie wants to know how they found out such high level intel, and BB shows her their secret weapon: a working prototype of a Micro UAV that flies into Homeland Security and picks up information. They want to hit the train before it enters the tunnel, so that they can grab the VIP right away. Katie’s a little hesitant about blowing up a train, though Morgan assures her they’re not TOTALLY blowing it up.

While working at the art gallery, Maddie finds a picture of a painting and starts crying. Nolan catches her and she admits she’s looking at a painting that her and her husband bought together. It was confiscated before the Arrival. Their moment is interrupted by Cynthia, who asks for help in the kitchen which is basically her low-key way of controlling Maddie, whose job she threatened in the last episode. Maddie finally confronts Cynthia about the situation, admitting she screwed up, before playing her cards in a very interesting and smart way. She knows about an art collection no one else knows about because its not in the catalogues, and it’s very, VERY expensive. But, of course, she can only help if she’s in a position to. Maddie’s plan works: After the art is recovered successfully, Cynthia tells her she’ll be needing an assistant curator.

NEXT: To the revolution!

Having reached the other side of the wall, Will and Beau stake out the building, buying some time to check out the top floor, which overlooks Los Angeles and is deserted from what looks like a wedding party. There are broken buildings and deserted streets and cars, and it’s apparently not going to be easy to ride out of here and up to the mountains to escape, like Will’s planning. They have to get stealthy about pulling this off, so Will hides a piece of evidence where it’ll plainly be seen and they shoot at each other. When the rest of their team comes running, Will and Beau pretend they just missed someone escaping. Laraza is the one who finds the map Will’s hidden, which they take back to Snyder. The map shows that the attacks are coordinated, which corroborates the story that they’ve been trying to sell. Snyder tells them that they’ve found a tunnel underneath the wall, but they’re going to shut it down. Will, who has been planning to use this tunnel to escape, tries to persuade Snyder that they can set a trap and play coy, instead.

Later, at The Yonk, while people are eating and drinking and listening to music and laughing, Katie is practicing her shooting skills in the basement with Broussard. Their operation will involve numerous Red Hats, and this isn’t about making a split-second decision: This is about deliberately killing someone. Broussard again tries to get Katie to realize the magnitude of what she’s committing to, including telling her “there’s no coming back from this,” but Katie is determined. When she comes back to work, she’s surprised to find Will hanging out. Will gets sentimental on her, asking if she remembers when they first got married and talked about living up in the mountains, away from everything. He asks if she would still do it if that meant they could be together again, with all of their kids. Katie says yes, but we get the feeling she’s saying yes because she wants to placate him. After all, he can’t be serious… right?

Nolan comes to meet Snyder, who asks if he knew about the Chief Minister’s visit that’s taking place. There’s also a proposal to take over the bloc with new direction, but Nolan says he has no idea what he’s talking about. Snyder doesn’t believe him because he no longer trusts that the Green Zone has his back. To prove it, he later pays Nolan a visit, raiding the house, and he finds the new portrait Maddie’s gotten them. “This is the sort of thing that should be up with our hosts,” he says, noting its value. Nolan claims he had no idea it was there, and while we weren’t sure if he was lying before, this comment is true: From what we’ve seen, he really had no idea. Cynthia tries to sell Maddie out by insisting she’s the one who brought it to her, but Maddie holds her ground and tells Snyder that she’s “just an assistant.” Do you hear that, Cynthia? That’s the sound of a silent victory cheer. You don’t mess with Maddie. Later, Nolan does bring Snyder the proposal and says there’s going to be a fight if they’re going to keep their jobs. Suddenly, Nolan is very on board.

At home, Katie is getting her gear ready for her mission while Bram is also getting some equipment ready. But his plans are about to be dashed: Katie tells him “I have to do something for the family” and that he has to stay home and watch his sister. Unsurprisingly, Bram is angry about his life taking a backseat to his parents’ secretive one, and to tide him over, Katie gives him a card that has a number he can call if there’s an emergency. Gracie’s picked up on the argument, however, and asks if Katie is mad about Charlie. She assures her mother that Charlie is going to be okay — all the kids are — and Katie finally picks up on what she’s reading, though Gracie tries to keep her book hidden. An enraged Katie realizes Lindsey’s been indoctrinating her. She shows a surprised Bram, and later, an equally surprised Will. But according to Will, they don’t have to worry about that anymore because they’re leaving the colony. Wait… what?

NEXT: A house divided

Remember that proposal Will made in The Yonk? That wasn’t so much a proposal as it was a way to gauge Katie’s seriousness in running away. Will’s planned for his family to evacuate to Beau’s cabin in Big Bear now that they know they have a window to get out, thanks to Will’s plan. Oh, and they’re going to get Charlie, too. Nine episodes ago, this would’ve been a perfect proposal. Now, it’s probably the worst thing that can happen. I’ve said I loved Colony the most when it focuses on the relationships and small moments, and this particular scene was, in my opinion, one of the best that the show has given us so far.

Will comes right out and gets straight with her about how he knows she’s been working for the Resistance. Katie defends her position by saying she did it to protect him, but Will doesn’t believe that. He thinks she just did it for herself. He wants her to justify how she can stay beside Broussard knowing what he does, and Katie wants him to justify how he can stand by and watch her friend get shot. But Will says it’s HER fault her friend is dead, and maybe she should think about her own children. It’s a morally gray area to tread, and neither one of them is right or wrong here, but on this statement, Will makes a good point: They’re so obsessed with other people’s lives and their causes that they’re completely ignoring their kids.

Katie insists this whole thing started when he lied to her about going after Charlie, when he got himself into this mess in the first place. And she knows that there’s no hiding — not even outside the wall. Will doesn’t know how to deal with this, but perhaps they have bigger problems to worry about: Bram oversees the fight. I have to give so many compliments to Sarah Wayne Callies and Josh Holloway because this was some of their finest and most believable work, and they sold it.

WANT MORE? Keep up with all the latest from last night’s television by subscribing to our newsletter. Head here for more details.

When Will arrives to meet Beau, he tells him Katie’s not coming, and they can’t wait — they won’t have another opportunity with the tunnel open. He lets his friend escape, and I’m more upset about this breaking of the partnership than I probably should be. Meanwhile, Katie’s gone ahead with her heist at the train station — and true to form, she’s actually going around the killing Red Hats without blinking. Underneath the tunnels, the team is setting a bomb, which causes the train to explode. It’s not QUITE the small explosion Katie was promised, but maybe that’s for the better. When Broussard and Katie go inside the car to check out the damage, they see… well, we’re not sure. It could be a robot. It could be an alien. It could be one of our hosts. Is it our VIP?

Next week, it all comes to a close.

Bacon Bits:

• Loved the small but important shot of Snyder looking at a photo of his daughter. The attempts to humanize Snyder have really been successful.
• “Is that your GI Joe gallows humor, like haha we’re all gonna die?” —Morgan