Spaceman
Episode 8 of Debris begins with a panicked woman charging through a warehouse. She calls for help from a man dragging bagged bodies away. When he sees her, he immediately closes the shutter and calls for aid. This woman then inexplicably pounces straight through his body. Maddox meanwhile briefs the team and informs them that George Jones has been found in The Channeled Scablands. They intend to recover Jones, who seems to be held captive there. After the meeting, Maddox takes Bryan aside, who reveals he doesn’t want Finola on this mission. In fact, Maddox has plans to make sure George Jones doesn’t come out of this alive. Bryan is not sure this is a good idea. Finola finds herself conflicted too, as she receives a call regarding Dede’s drug addiction. Bryan eventually catches up with Finola and breaks the bad news to her – Maddox wants Jones dead. Bryan tries to rationale his boss’ decision but it’s clear there’s no easy answer. Out on the road, Bryan and Finola come to a sudden halt when they see that strange girl from before charge past them. Throwing some dirt in the air, the girl presents herself to them. A piece of debris seems to be burned into her skin and she’s suffering from amnesia too. As she’s taken to safety, she tells Finola she doesn’t know where the ball of light is located. Bryan and Finola continue with their mission, heading into the facility to extract George Jones. In one of the rooms are various chalkboards with numerous schematics and diagrams. Finola deliberates over one word – “Rocket”. This confirms that they’re on the right path – especially as it’s Jones’ handwriting. The pair find numerous men and women strapped to beds, prompting them to free the captives and head down into the laboratory. A massive ball of light hovers in the air but now things turn violent when the captors spot them. Gunshots rain down as Finola eventually finds her Father. Together they fight off their captors as they make it outside. Only, Finola realizes the surveillance footage will still show George Jones alive. After ripping the electrics off the wall, Bryan heads outside and informs Maddox a new version of events – Jones wasn’t there. Using Trisha’s phone, Dede rings Finola and learns first-hand that she’s being tracked. After telling her to stay safe, Finola and Bryan head off to a safe house. It’s around this time that Finola learns George Jones was actually dead. He was reanimated using the debris through an injection through his eye. In doing so though, they’ve messed with George’s long and short term memory. Eventually things settle down enough to take George Jones inside the motel. There, he explains what’s happening with Influx. They’re actively seeking a very dangerous piece of Debris. It’s so powerful infact, it could well prove their deaths to be irrelevant. Influx captured Jones in order to create a device that can track down these pieces. Or, more specifically, the world-ending piece. There’s a really nice moment here too, as Finola and her Father finally catch up. She’s obviously torn about his work – and his obsession to the cause. He apologizes for what happened between them as Jones gives an impassioned plea about their future. He believes the Debris is a gift and the alien technology could save mankind by re-growing forests and crops in days. In order to create this scanner to find the dangerous debris piece, he needs help to retrieve his files. Files that Ferris has in her possession. Finola makes a power play with her boss, revealing that she knows what’s going on. She refuses to give up George and laments her for using Dede as leverage. Meanwhile, George Jones gets his hands on a whole roll of aluminium foil and proceeds to lay it out on the bed, cocooning himself inside.
The Episode Review
This week’s episode of Debris switches things up slightly from the episodic cases to focus more on George Jones and saving him from the facility. This certainly works to quicken the pace and actually delivers the best episode of the show so far. There are still a lot of unknowns with Debris, especially regarding the purpose of the debris and what this world-ending (or world-saving) piece can do. There’s also still no word on Maddox collecting up the random pieces of debris and putting them all together, especially if that shot of the hangar earlier in the season is anything to go by. However, it seems George Jones was reincarnated using this debris and that could be the end goal here. Having said that, his memory blackouts seem to be related to him being controlled in some way. Is he a weapon being used by those in charge? The ending certainly hints that we’ll be waiting a while for this mystery box to wrap up but there are plenty of theories to tide us over until then! Judging by the aluminium foil, I’d imagine Jones is trying to shield himself from some sort of signal. Still, the ending does leave the intriguing promise of an endearing episode next week. Bring it on!
