Summary
Plenty of action and a significant character heel turn gives “The Tail-Tale Heart” that familiar feeling of a show rapidly approaching its conclusion.
Not for the first time in Season 3 of Sweet Tooth, Episode 5, “The Tail-Tale Heart”, begins with a flashback to Captain Thacker. When we last saw him in Episode 1, his crew was accusing him of doing something heinous in a cave, and that idea is explored further here.
Thacker was looking for the Fountain of Youth. What he found instead was the Blood of the Earth. Thacker’s crew, with their trembling pinkies, isn’t thrilled with Thacker’s rhetoric, and his First Mate, Burke, is dead against the idea of sharing this gift with the world. Burke ensures that the Sick stays on the boat, and the crew all commit suicide via poison.
Thacker plans to document his experiences in full, but he’s foiled by a purple flower – one of those that show up where the Sick is present – bursting through his chest like he’s a supporting character in Alien.
All Roads Converge
Anyway, after their misadventures in the heavy but wonderful Episode 4, Gus, Jepp, and Singh have arrived in Alaska. Siana and Nuka meet them and explain the predicament – a months-long night is about to descend on Alaska, a blizzard is coming, and, as Gus correctly and immediately intuits, Birdie is missing.
Zhang and her crew have also made landfall in Alaska, and they have problems of their own – namely that Ginger is right on the cusp of giving birth to a hybrid baby. With no time to waste, Zhang takes Rosie’s children – with a clicker to control them – to harass the community. Wendy has also stowed away with Zhang’s retinue, and Bear remains a captive.
Gus Finds the Location of the Cave
The big problem facing the good guy gang at this stage is that even though Nuka is in possession of Thacker’s journal, nobody knows where the cave actually is. Cue Gus’s deer-like super-hearing and the piecing together of a bit of local folklore to give us the answer.
Gus can hear a distant heartbeat that nobody else can. Nuka recalls a legend her father used to tell that the Caribou Man’s heart beats outside of his chest. Since caribou prints led away from where Birdie was last seen, it stands to reason she’s with the Caribou Man, and if Gus can hear his heartbeat, he can track him directly to the cave.
When he concentrates his hearing, it directs Gus towards the old caribou migration trails, so the group enthusiastically set out. They don’t notice a page from Thacker’s journal dropping to the floor, to be picked up by Singh. It features a drawing of a dead caribou outside the cave, and a note from Thacker talking about sacrificing it. This obviously gives Singh a rather terrible idea.
Zhang Wants A Grandson
Still in a hurry, Zhang bursts into the outpost, guns down Walter – not that he’ll be missed, to be fair – and lays out the particulars. She wants to know where Gus is so that she can get to the cave, find the Blood of the Earth, and get rid of the hybrids before Ginger gives birth to one.
Zhang’s entire motivation is having a “proper” grandchild, which is such a pathetic end goal that it almost undermines her. But it doesn’t make her less dangerous, or Rosie’s children less ravenous, so she still poses a serious threat to everyone.
While Wendy helps Bear escape from Jordan, Jepp runs interference so that Nuka and Gus can escape through the vents and the service hatch, following the pipeline to the caribou trail.
Singh’s Betrayal
The big moment of Sweet Tooth Season 3 Episode 5 is Singh’s betrayal, which if we’re being honest we all saw coming.
Nevertheless, Singh volunteers to give Gus’s location up to Zhang. Siana causes some chaos in the nick of time to create enough of a distraction for Jepp to escape, and Nuka and Gus are able to get outside. Gus follows the pipeline in the hope it’ll take him to the cave, while Nuka goes back for her own mother.
As we approach the end of the episode, Zhang pulls Singh aside to question his motives, and he reveals he has read Thacker’s journal and knows where Gus is heading. In a smart move, he burns Thacker’s journal in the fire, meaning that Zhang has to keep him alive so he can share what he has gleaned. And, as we’re reminded, he is clearly planning to sacrifice Gus in the cave.
The action-packed episode comes to a close with Gus being hounded by Rosie’s kids, but luckily the Caribou Man turns up in the nick of time to save him. He’s injured in the effort, but Gus helps him out in return, realizing that he’s a hybrid – one significantly older than Gus.
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