Summary
The Institute coheres a little more in Episode 2, even though it still has some of the same problems as the premiere did. It’s taking shape, if nothing else, but it seems like there’s a long way to go.
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that in Episode 2, “Shot for Dots”, The Institute still has a lot of the same problems it showcased in the premiere. But the good news is that things seem to be improving, or at least developing in the right direction. Sure, it might not ever get to a point where all of this becomes properly interesting and engaging, but at the very least, it seems to understand that there are multiple parallel narrative strands that are all worthy of exploration. There’s more time spent with Tim, more development in the kids’ prison break plot, and more clues about the true nature of the Institute and its potentially traitorous leadership, so it’s a better, more balanced episode of television than its predecessor, albeit still flawed.
Anyway, the kids. Is anyone else reminded of Severance a little bit? I’ll grant you that comparison is a little unfair, since almost all shows pale in comparison to that one, and The Institute doesn’t get close. But that vibe of nested institutional secrecy is very reminiscent of Lumon, and it felt really obvious to me in the quasi-celebratory “party” that Sigsby, Tony, and Maureen throw for a “graduating” Iris. It’s really obvious that making it to the “back half” of the Institute is very much not the reward it’s being advertised as, though the precise nature of what goes on there remains to be discovered.
“Shot for Dots” benefits particularly from more Tim time, since he’s clearly the avenue through which we’re going to explore how the Institute manages to function in secrecy. Tim isn’t just new in town, but he’s an outsider in every way; the only local cop who has seen any real action, and thus lacking the arrogance and faux-authority that someone like Drew throws around. He’s also fresh enough to recognise the local peculiarities – such as everything that the hobo Annie says – as suspicious, especially when everyone else seems determined to downplay it. I’m not sure I necessarily buy her “skinwalker” theory that people in town have been replaced by shapeshifters who can only be identified by their crooked pinky toes, although this being a Stephen King story – which I haven’t read, by the way – stranger things have happened. But I do believe there’s more to be revealed about Annie and the Sloane family, and so, apparently, does Tim.
Tim’s big city experience – and, by extension, the inexperience of everyone else around him – is also effectively displayed in The Institute Episode 2. The hold-up of a convenience store, apparently by blow-in out-of-state criminals, goes badly wrong extremely quickly, leaving the lovely proprietor with a hole in his abdomen that Tim has to MacGyver a dressing for. Drew shows his true colours here – he’s so useless that he can’t even effectively relay the basic information and get an ambulance on-scene and an APB out for the shooters’ vehicle.
I do wonder how much the locals are complicit in what’s going on up at the institute or whether they’re just inexperienced and more comfortable not rocking the boat, but I suspect that’ll be a matter for later episodes. In the meantime, Tim has had a taste for action again, and it’s only a matter of time before he realises that he – and perhaps Wendy – is the only person capable of digging into the truth of what’s really going on.
But what is really going on? Luke, Nick, George, and Kalisha have no intention of sticking around to find out, but escaping from the Institute is clearly not a minor undertaking. Every potential plan is stymied at the first hurdle. Luke’s initial suggestion of using a particularly powerful telepath to sow seeds of discord among the staff would be a good one, but the kids are deliberately moved on as soon as they display any actual power. The viable solution might be more obvious – there’s a factory attached to the institute with giant smokestacks that periodically belch out noxious black fumes. What’s going on in there? Does it represent a potential escape route?
Sigsby throws a party for Iris in The Institute | Image via MGM+
Either way, the kids need allies, and they’re thin on the ground. Even the seemingly sympathetic staffers, like Maureen, can’t be trusted, so the others are pinning their hopes on Avery, the new kid being brought in to replace Iris – weird that the smoke stacks started up right when she was “promoted” to the “back half” of the building, no? – who might have enough raw power to help them out. But that’d probably feel like a bit of a contrivance if it happens.
In the meantime, there’s a chance that the Institute might collapse in on itself without any intervention whatsoever. Episode 2 hints at deeper relationships and rivalries among the leadership team. Sigsby and Hendricks are having a hilariously emotionless sexual relationship, and it turns out everyone is answerable to some unseen boss man and apparently a network of wealthy investors. There’s a religious element peeking through a little here, but it isn’t confirmed or elaborated on. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that power and dogmatic faith seem to go hand in hand. Probably a discussion for another day.
Everyone is desperate to impress the boss, and it’s clear that they’re willing to throw each other under the bus in order to do so. Stackhouse, in particular, seems to be pushing Hendricks to team up with him, potentially at Sigsby’s expense, but she may or may not have overheard their private conversation while they were passing by outside her house. I wish I could share something more illuminating about this conversation, but it’s so vague and replete with acronyms and unexplained terms that it’s difficult to know what’s really being implied. It’s obvious that not everyone is on the same page, though, which will presumably benefit the kids more than the ownership of the Institute, especially if they let their personal rivalries distract them from the facility’s operation.
Either way, I’d say this was a slightly better episode than the premiere, building on some of its better underlying ideas. The dialogue remains a bit stilted, and the ratio of what we don’t know to what we do still threatens to tip on the frustrating side of ignorance. But there is some sort of shape beginning to emerge, and I reckon the more time we spend with the kids and Tim, the more we’ll begin to properly root for them to get to the bottom of all this. Time will tell, and concerns haven’t been alleviated by this follow-up, but it’s too early to write The Institute off completely.
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