The Cave
Episode 6 of The Stranded begins and apparently a week has passed, according to Kraam, while Nahm experiences some flashes to her past. Desperate for help, she visits Lin who simply shuts the door on her and refuses to engage. In the jungle, Arisa is told she’s been missing for two weeks although for her it’s only been one day. However, it also brings up a very real question about just how she survived without food or water for a whole day in that ravine. In the aftermath of their confrontation, Ice pledges himself to Ying and apologises for everything, while Lin asks Kraam about the boat before explaining what the name of the island means. May finds out she’s pregnant soon after all this too and tries in vain to hide the test from Anan. He takes the test from her though and tries to reassure her but given her betrayal, she tells him to leave so she can be alone. Anan tries to buy off another seat on the boat after finding out about May’s pregnancy but none of the students give in. Meanwhile Arisa is saved by Nat but in the distance they hear an ominous bell chime and decide to go and investigate. There, they head into the depths of a cave system and come across an ominous passageway leading to a purple glow. As they follow it through, the trio wind up back at the school during the glow party, with the students all alive and everything back to normal before the tsunami. After some time, the vision ends and the kids return to the cave where they hear the familiar knocking sound, louder this time, and they begin to investigate. While Professor Lin sneaks around, Kraam heads over to see May who refuses to tell him about the pregnancy and instead, throws her arms around him silently. At the same time, Nahm has bad dreams where she’s plunged into a strange world of her past with Professor Lin. After a hallucinatory trip, we return to the present where May admits the truth to Anan that her child may be Kraam’s. He snaps, grabbing her by the hand and marching her down to the shore where he ties her to the boat and, with the help of the others, sets sails and ignores the original list. As Kraam makes it to the shoreline, a fight breaks out while Professor Lin watches from the cliff-edge. The water suddenly begins turning orange and giant meteors blast out and begin barraging the beach. Abandoning the flaming vessel, the kids make it back onto shore while in the caves, Arisa and the others find the source of the noise. It’s Professor Lin, banging a metal cup against the rocks. If she’s the real one…who’s on the cliff edge? The Stranded’s penultimate episode, for me, is the breaking point of the show. How did meteors suddenly blast out from the deep sea? And how long has it been since the last episode? We’re told it’s been a week whereas two weeks is thrown into question in the jungle and never mentioned again. Could May really know she’s pregnant in that time? And if so, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume it would probably be Anan’s child given the lack of time that’s passed? While I like the idea of the mysterious cave system, this isn’t a wholly new idea, especially given Dark’s premise. With the finale looming on the horizon, all eyes turn to that to see if this wraps things up in a meaningful way but right now, The Stranded delivers a bit of a disappointing episode.
