Colony recap: 'Fallout'

Well, well, well, look who’s shilling for the Resistance now?

It’s in Will’s own self-interest to help Broussard’s team when one of its members, BB, is facing a health crisis due to so much exposure to alien technology in their literal underground operation. The working theory is that if Broussard’s minions take BB to the hospital to treat his dire ailments — he’s coughing up major amounts of blood by now — he’ll entangle the Bowman family in the Broussard web, and in Homeland’s eyes, he’s already one to watch.

But Will has a chance here, just one, to end Broussard once and for all. He’d be the golden boy of the office forever and ever, amen. But he doesn’t take it. Instead, he gives him the cool brush-off treatment like he’s some guy Katie used to have a thing for a million years ago who doesn’t matter anymore. That’s… odd, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, Snyder’s endgame is becoming very, very clear.

Let’s start from the beginning.

We first get a look at a camp of survivors in the Northern England area, where authority soldiers are questioning some of the war-torn civilians (refugees?) about whether they recognize a picture of Simon. It’s clear from the look on one woman’s face that he’s her son. What will they do with this new piece of information? It’s probably not gonna be very nice.

Meanwhile, Will and Katie are able to establish that the Yonk is somehow miraculously clear of bugs, and Katie presents Will with her newly downloaded file from Maddie’s house. It’s got information on Bram in there, and she desperately wants to see it. So, her motives were pure in that moment of thievery — although it’s not clear why she wouldn’t just try to take a peek at Bram’s file while Maddie stepped away…

Unfortunately, the file is unreadable on ordinary computers, so Will decides he’ll brave the “viper den” at his Homeland office with his “snake charmer” skills and see if he can access it through one of their computers. Problem is, he doesn’t have digital credentials, so he turns to Betsy for help. She’s afraid to do anything to tick off her new overlords but ultimately caves. Too bad Burke’s got a sixth sense about subterfuge and catches them in the act in her office. He doesn’t know exactly what they were looking at, of course, but he doesn’t want Will anywhere near their system. He fancies Will a “bloodhound,” you see, and “there’s no point in teaching a dog to use a computer.” Ouch.

It’s a good thing the bar isn’t bugged, though, because when one of BB’s pals shows up so he can tell her of his blood-coughing condition and beg for help, it’s the kind of incriminating conversation that could destroy them all. As if Will needed any more suspicions lodged at him, he leaves work under the guise that Charlie is sick at Katie’s request — and is told by Burke on the way out that he’s reassigned Betsy thanks to his help pointing her out as a non-believer of his strict “honor and duty” mantra. He’s not exactly thrilled to discover that it’s a Resistance soldier in his face, but he agrees to help them out anyway. Katie convinces him that it’s their necks on the line if these guys turn up in a hospital bed somewhere spouting off information to the authority in a morphine haze.

Upon finding out how grave BB’s situation is, Will bullies a green-zoned doctor into opening up his doctor shop early to run some tests and find out the kid’s prognosis. It’s… not good. Radiation poisoning is destroying his insides, and he’ll die within two days no matter what they do. Katie’s collected enough pictorial evidence of the doctor’s treatment session to buy his silence, and they take BB back to his old, alien-ravaged home. He asks Will to put him out of his misery — he doesn’t want to go out like this — so Will adds one more kill notch to his blister belt.

When they return to the Yonk after such an eventful day, Broussard is waiting in the alley wings to find out what happened. Instead of whipping out that same gun and taking Broussard in, Will simply tosses him the bullet casing with a sneer and says, “This belongs to you.” Translation: I just did your dirty work, you coward. Broussard’s been laying low, which is hard to do when his face is on a million posters, but Katie warns that he needs to rejoin and prepare his crew before the house falls down on everything, including the Bowmans. “They’re not ready,” he protests. “So get them ready,” she instructs.

Back at their hideout, though, Eckhart is really starting to lose it. Not only is nothing they’re doing making any difference at all, but the gauntlet they stole to find some answers about the aliens might just be killing them. He heads outside and finds his mother’s face splattered all over a dozen missing person posters, which means the authority is now officially trying to smoke him out. If he’s not ready, as Broussard claims, we might be looking at his first true defection. Ruh roh. Broussard’s ranks are already slim enough — two of his red-handing minions were caught in the act of defiling some posters — so could this be the end of the Resistance?

Not so fast.

NEXT: Bram and Snyder make their moves…

Back at the labor camp, things are still brewing, and that special VIP delivery we heard about before? Yeah, it’s really VIP.

Bram’s brought into the fold of the rest of the labor resistance and told they need a key card for the docks to move forward. He gets a visit from Maddie, who offers some banana chips and cookies as a consolation prize for the fact that she can’t spring him from this hellhole, so he’s done trying to play that escape route. He’s told Charlie is now safe and sound but maligns his family’s unwillingness to go to such great lengths to rescue him, too.

Meanwhile, Alan Snyder’s got his own long game in the making. Maddie’s only at the labor camp because her boyfriend, Nolan Burgess, a.k.a. the new deputy proxy of the Los Angeles Bloc, wants a tour of the facility. But he doesn’t really want to just dawdle around aimlessly to see the sights; what he actually wants is a glimpse at the goods that are being shipped to outer space soon. Snyder takes him down to the distribution center and guides him into the extra-special supply storage, which contains some kind of vessel that looks like a tiny transportation tube. Are the aliens readying for The Greatest Day when they can inherit the Earth? Or is this something else entirely? We don’t find that out just yet, but what we do learn is that Burgess regards them as a sign that everything he’s been deluded into believing about this Greatest Day prophecy is true.

“They say faith requires having belief without proof,” he says. “This is proof.”

Of what? OF WHAT?!

Snyder doesn’t ask or seem to care, but he does see an opportunity to do exactly what he’s been planning to do all this time, which is to advance his level of importance back in the Los Angeles sector by calling Helena and alerting her to Burgess’ wandering nose. She’s grateful for the head’s up, especially the tacit implication that Nolan’s really just gunning for her job in the end.

What does this mean for Maddie and Bram, by extension? If Helena acts on her new intel about Nolan, will Maddie be implicated or expelled as a result of his theoretical insubordination? She’s definitely not innocent in the matter, especially when she takes Nolan’s “we can’t help Bram because we’ve gotta help ourselves and not other families” line with a smile.

Maybe Bram can help himself a little here. His new teammates introduce him to their golden goose, which is some kind of briefcase containing their “chance to change everything.” Seriously with all the mystery objects on this show, am I right?!

Either Snyder’s going to pull it off or Bram is, but either way, it might save him. Meanwhile, Will’s never going to find Broussard if he keeps throwing up blinders when he’s actually within striking distance of the man. Does he have a newfound sense of respect or even just indifference to the Resistance? That might not bode well when it comes to Burke, who seems to relish in every opportunity to cast a shadow of doubt on Will. Some partner, harrumph. I miss Beau.