Summary
“We Will Not All Sleep” sees Al-Masih and his followers move on, with guidance from Felix, as more of the so-called Messiah’s questionable past begins to surface.
This recap of Messiah Season 1, Episode 6, “We Will Not All Sleep”, contains spoilers.
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Messiah Episode 6 opens in a house reduced to rubble, in which Jibril’s (Sayyid El Alami) buried mother is seemingly alive. Many miles away he hears her calling for him — but he also sees Al-Masih (Mehdi Dehbi). He’s dreaming, delirious.
“We Will Not All Sleep” returns to Dilley, where law enforcement is swarming the overcrowded area surrounding the church. National news are covering the situation extensively, and someone has daubed the side of the church with the words “False God”. It’s all kicking off.
Q (Assaad Bouab) calls Eva (Michelle Monaghan) with information about Al-Masih — he has tracked down his brother and has a yearbook photo of him from Tehran University. Suddenly, the enigmatic messiah is beginning to seem much more run-of-the-mill.
Perhaps sensing this, Al-Masih tells Felix (John Ortiz) that it’s time to go. The minister instantly starts packing a bag — he attempts to justify this to himself and to Anna (Melinda Page Hamilton) by explaining that, as a holy man, he’s duty-bound to follow the man he believes to be the second coming. Felix is also going to decide where they go, which he thinks confers upon him an important, divine duty. Anna, not unreasonably, thinks he isn’t well. To make matters worse, Rebecca (Stefania LaVie Owen) admits that on the morning of the tornado she was running away — she’s determined not to stay in Dilley, and it’s not her fault for wanting something better in life. So the Iguero family, still far from united, set off with Al-Masih, while the entire convoy of his acolytes — including news stations — follow behind.
Eva is in the convoy, travelling with Will (Wil Traval). So, too, are Staci (Emily Kinney) and Raeah (Nicole Scimeca), though Jonah (Jackson Hurst) calls going ballistic at Staci for taking their child away when she needs her treatment. Rebecca is taking photos of the trip, and of Al-Masih, and posting them on Instagram. He catches her snapping him at a freeway intersection and asks for a look, telling her she has a good idea. A good swathe of the population agree, since when she posts it she gets 42,000 likes pretty much instantly. Felix, with the pressure mounting, desperately tries to determine where to go next, as the news informs us that the Israeli border crisis is worsening.
At a motel pitstop, Avrim (Tomer Sisley) goes for a shower in Eva’s room, where she sees his scars and informs him that they have Al-Masih’s real name — Payem Golshiri.
In the lobby of the hotel where they’re staying, Felix sees Rebecca’s Instagram has made the news. He also finally makes a decision — they’re going to Washington.
This is a development that takes on additional significance in “We Will Not All Sleep” when Eva learns that Oscar Wallace was lecturing at Williams College at the same time Al-Masih spent a semester there. If Al-Masih is the protege of Wallace, he’s a terrorist bent on social destruction — and he’s on his way to the nation’s capital.
When the convoy arrives in Washington in Messiah Season 1, Episode 6, the road is blocked. Al-Masih gets out and leads his followers to the Lincoln Memorial, where he gives another speech. Jibril, at the same time many miles away, strips off and begins walking towards the border. Al-Masih once again gives ominous statements about encroaching judgment, and then he walks across the Reflecting Pool. Jibril is held at gunpoint by a guard at the border, but the man eventually lowers the weapon and lets him pass. Two miracles for the price of one.
