Driving Lessons
Episode 5 of Night Sky begins with Irene in the police station, unhappy with Jude for running off. He pleads with her to help but the only way out of this predicament is if Irene knows what’s going on. She wants to know the truth. “They control everything.” Jude eventually says. As he opens up, Jude claims to have been kept away in an isolated compound in the middle of nowhere to protect the secret. That secret, of course, being the doorway. No one really knows who built them or why, but for Jude he just sees the alien planet as a wasteland rather than a symbolic key to something bigger That blood on Jude from that night was from one of the men who tried to stop him from escaping. Jude explains that if these people find him, they’ll kill him, making for a pretty precarious situation. It seems the man he killed was one of these attackers. Jude’s whole goal here is to try and find Gabriel, who also head through the same doorway, allegedly. Irene sweet talks the officers to let Jude go. On the way home, Irene downplays the importance of her door but according to Jude, this is all part of destiny and is one of the most important doorways out there. So how does this all work? Well, over with Toni and Stella they offer up some clues. It appears that it’s all linked to particles, invisibly linked over massive distances. Stella writes this off as God’s gift, whereas Nick clings to a more scientific reasoning. Part of finding the “package” they’re after comes from tracking down its location at a massive transmission tower. Breaking in and hacking the network, Nick manages to get a ping… but when a utility worker shows up in his van, it’s over to Stella to take care of him. Stella blindsides the man, cable-tying him to the steering wheel. When Nick returns to the car, a stunned Toni watches in silence as they get their next destination. They’re going to Illinois. The same Illinois if you’ll remember, that Irene and Franklin happen to be living at. Franklin heads over to see Byron with a disposable camera. He urges him to get the photos developed, pointing out they’ll confirm proof of the alien landscape. While this scene plays out, Irene heads over to Chandra’s place to retrieve what she initially took from her last visit. With Irene keeping Chandra busy, Jude sneaks upstairs, where he retrieves that strange black trinket we saw before. However, he also finds a necklace that holds that same strange object that was in his leg. Jude breaks his cover, heads straight downstairs and confronts Chandra. She claims it was a “gift” from those in the care home, her way of getting something in return for caring for all these people. Irene promises to keep everything a secret in exchange for knowing where she got the necklace from. Now, this cylindrical trinket is actually a tracker, which explains why Jude took it out his leg and destroyed it several episodes back. With this explained, Chandra also reveals whom she obtained it from. Byron gets the photos developed and notices several pictures of the alien world, with both Irene and Franklin standing before the camera. Byron inevitably does some research online, diving deep into conspiracy theories. He eventually comes across one called “The Impossible Door” and believes this could be what the doorway is. It was actually sketched by an Argentine Missionary back in 1723. Franklin notices bloody fingerprints by the side of the doorway. As Byron shines a flashlight on the area, he realizes this is the control panel – the same control panel that we saw Stella’s doorway hold. Anyway, when they open it up, the orb is obviously missing. It’s in the jar that Jude buried earlier in the season. Given Byron has actually seen him out in the woods, Franklin’s nosy neighbour heads out and uncovers the jar… and the orb.
The Episode Review
Once again Night Sky continues to plod along with its story, and by now that whole subplot involving Stella and Toni feels very reminiscent of the Dani plotline from Heroes Season 2. For those not familiar with that 2000’s series, there’s a whole subplot involving a road trip with two Mexicans heading up to the US which chewed up a good portion of the run-time without much in the way of consequence or interest. So far these two have had very little to do, beyond moving from place to place and tracking down signals. Instead, the main meat of the show lies with Jude and what he may be hiding. From the start of this episode though, we learn that Jude was held prisoner by some shadowy government forces, isolated and tracked to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone about the doorway. This is a welcome answer in a show that continues to drag its heels and play its card close to its chest. Unfortunately this does throw very real questions up about how this is all connected, why Franklin and Irene have gone under the radar for so long, despite using the portal over 800 times, and why this doorway is so special.
