Summary
After a slow start the sixth installment eventually finds its momentum in the final third. This is in part thanks to Clark Backo’s stunning performance and her character’s drive to find her son. The episode works like detective fiction, eking out small, fantastical clues for Emma to follow, which are effectively handled.
Episode 6 of The Changeling Season 1 shows what happened to Emma (Clark Backo) after her murderous act. We follow the unhinged mother as she escapes from New York City and heads to the Wise One’s mythical island. Her journey plays out like a fantastical investigation as Emma follows vague clues, desperate to find out where her baby boy is located.
The episode begins with Emma escaping from her apartment after killing the demonic baby. She throws away her phone and catches the ferry out of the city. Emma’s sister Kim follows her onto this ferry, helping her with her quest. Kim pushes Emma overboard as the Wise Ones signal to her.
Emma is then taken to the mystery island, where she meets their enigmatic leader, Cal. They discuss the heinous act, and Emma confirms that the baby wasn’t hers but an impostor.
Emma asks to be taken to her real son now. Cal refuses to help, though. Emma fears she is wasting her time on the island and tries to leave. She is then sedated and thrown in the same cell that Apollo will later occupy.
Emma wakes in her prison cell after an unknown amount of time and many odd dreams. She is starting to look and act more like her old self again, having fully detoxed. Cal confesses, none of the mothers have ever been reunited with their babies, no one has ever found their missing children after the horrifying killing of the changeling.
Emma isn’t giving up that easily, though. She found a strange branch in Brian’s crib, and she wanted to investigate this object further. Emma asks to research the branch down at their library, but their collection of books is lacking. Emma offers to go back to the city to collect more books for their library. Cal says that she must learn to trust Emma before accepting her request.
In the meantime, Emma goes exploring. She hunts the forests for a branch similar to the one found in Brian’s cot and searches for the community’s boat. Emma manages to steal the boat and heads back to the mainland alone. There, she gathers books to fill the community’s library shelves.
She continued her research, using plant books and the island’s forest, but she could not find the branch anywhere. Emma speaks with another mother on the island, who admits that she found a leaf in her baby’s crib. The woman draws Emma the exact leaf. Emma now has something else to go on.
What tree is Emma looking for?
Emma hunts for the leaf and finally comes across the right tree. It happens to be a Norway Maple. This is yet another strange connection to Norway in the series, there must be a specific link with the country. Emma asks to research the tree further and heads back to the mainland once more. She is helped on her way back to New York City by an eccentric man called Wheels, who lives in an underground community.
Back in the city, Emma prints off a map of all the Norway Maples in New York City. Her research is interrupted, though, by the arrival of the library staff at the start of their shift. She hides in the toilets. This is where her path crosses with Apollo’s once again. She overhears him going on his rampage. Emma escapes and runs from the police.
Emma then reunites with Wheels in his underground community. She shows him the map of all the Norway Maples in New York City. Wheels admit that he is a history buff. He knows that there was once a place called Little Norway in the city. It is now called Forest Hills in Queens. That seems like the perfect place to start Emma’s maple hunt.
The episode ends back on the island. Emma says her goodbyes to the women and to Cal. She passes Cal a copy of To the Waters and the Wild, hoping that this precious book will one day make its way back to Brian if he is still alive out there.
Cal wishes Emma good luck as she embarks upon her adventure. Emma takes the boat alone, heading back to the city to continue her quest.
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