Summary
The Eternaut introduces some intriguing new plot wrinkles in Episode 5, taking things in unexpected directions as we approach the finale.
Just when you thought you had things a little figured out, The Eternaut throws you for another loop. The previous episode revealed that bug-like aliens were invading, which is bad enough news at the best of times, but Episode 5, “Horizon”, introduces the idea that they’re also mind-controlling the remnants of humanity for some kind of nefarious purpose. Ahead of the finale, things are more interesting than ever, though we don’t seem especially close to a resolution.
As ever, there’s a flashback cold open to consider, but this one seems like one of Juan’s visions. In it, he sees the young version of himself fighting in the Falklands, and he eventually comes face-to-face with himself, but of particular note is a background moment that seems like the aliens landing for the first time. However, it colours the sky green, not red like we saw in the previous episode. It’s worth mentioning since the cold open of Episode 1 showed Clara coming face-to-face with a very close, very green aurora. What’s the connection?
Speaking of Clara, Juan and Tano get dropped off back at the garage to find her in Elena’s arms, having apparently made her own way home. This would be highly suspicious in general, but she’s also acting weird and seems to be missing large chunks of her memory. She turned up wearing a suit that Tano recognises from his sailboat, but claims never to have been on the boat, and when she’s later pressed about it, she can’t recall any details. I have a theory about this, which we’ll address later.
In the meantime, Roberto turns up and offers to trade Tano an RV in exchange for his house and garage. Since the group had already decided they were going to his house on the island anyway, this is a simple swap. Everyone piles into the RV and sets off, though a few eerie discoveries emerge on the way. Some other travellers have been killed by firearms, and the water has pulled all the way out of the marina and left the banks dry and the boats useless. This generally precedes a tsunami, which is the last thing anyone needs. It also means that the group can’t set sail from there. Their only options are to continue looking for water or head to the military base at Campo de Mayo.
Further down the road, the group stumbles on a giant mall that has become a refugee camp. The church group made it here, and the bugs don’t seem to have ventured out this far. So, there’s a period of relative safety and relaxation. But all isn’t exactly well. When she comes face-to-face with Micky, a young man with facial paralysis, Clara has a manic head-slapping episode. And when he goes looking for Johnnie Walker, Lucas suddenly disappears.
In the meantime, though, the snowfall seems to have come to an end. The sun is shining. Pablo ventures outside first, and when the atmosphere turns out to be safe, everyone else follows. But the jubilation is interrupted by three armed, masked figures who arrive out of nowhere and open fire on the group, sending everyone scattering. Juan is able to kill two of them — one of whom is a woman wearing a necklace depicting three figures hand-in-hand — but the third escapes after not killing two of the kids he found hiding in a dumpster.
It’s a sudden, bizarre development. Immediately afterward, Lucas arrives, accompanied by the military. He apparently woke up and found himself on the highway, and the military picked him up. Now they’ve come to collect everyone and return them to Campo de Mayo.
The Eternaut Episode 5 ends with the lone surviving gunman entering a tunnel, where he comes face-to-face with one of the bugs but simply strolls past it unbothered. There are many more further in, and they all part to let the man pass as if he’s their leader. This is a totally unexpected swerve, which leads me to that theory I mentioned above. It seems very much like the aliens are brainwashing certain people to do their bidding, and had to stop the snowfall so that their new puppets weren’t at risk of dying instantly in the outdoors. The people they possess presumably can’t recall any of it once they get control back, hence the gaps in memory experienced by Clara and Lucas. But as for the specific purpose of these human slaves, or who — perhaps more accurately, what — is controlling the hive, well… those seem like questions for the finale to answer.
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