I feel like this was a very straight-forward episode. Not really a lot of puzzles. They’re starting to reveal more stuff and most of the questions are just “what happens next,” which we’ll see next week. But here are some of the things I’m thinking about.

Why is Snyder Still Alive?

Snyder seems to be quite friendly with Garland, the man who was his handler during the time he was with the Bowmans. Interesting, because he really probably didn’t have much contact with him during that time, since he was in a remote cabin in the woods. Or maybe Snyder regularly sneaked off to meet Garland behind the outhouse — what do you think?

Garland asks the same question Bram asked in the last episode. And I see two parallel answers to why Snyder didn’t die, one from Will’s point of view, and one from the perspective of the creators of the show.

Will didn’t kill Snyder because there’s still a bit of doubt about how much of what happened was Snyder’s fault, and also I think Will realizes he and Katie made choices that brought them to the resistance camp, so he sees they put their children at risk. And I think, when Will talks to Bram, he realizes he made the right decision, because he’s appalled at Bram’s cold reaction.

We also have to consider why the show creators want to keep Snyder alive. One obvious reason is that Peter Jacobson does such a great job playing this character. But a great actor shouldn’t be a reason not to kill a character off. I think there’s another function Snyder performs for us — he’s our eyes into what’s going on in the IGA. It’s interesting to see, in these recent episodes, how Will and Katie and Broussard know certain things and Snyder knows other things. It will be interesting to see if Snyder ever starts working with the Bowmans or if they will remain on opposing sides.

What Happened to Maddie and Hudson

The Official Colony Podcast answered a question I sent in about Maddie and whether we’ll see her again. You should listen to the whole podcast, it’s really good, and they also interview the actor who plays Bram, and he talks about Bram’s character this whole season, not just this episode. But they were pretty clear that Maddie, sadly, went to the Factory and is now dead because the Factory was destroyed. I had some theories about how she could have escaped going to the Factory, or even that they would show us some more of what goes on there, but they said they wanted to show that there are uncertainties in war. Just as we never got to see Charlie buried (despite what Snyder claims), we don’t get a clear picture of where Maddie went, she’s just gone and we know everyone in LA ended up in the Factory. We can conclude Hudson is in some camp with kids of IGA folks, but it sounds like we’re not going to see him again. It’s an opportunity for some fan fiction if anyone is up for it.

What About Amy?

Lots of fans seem to still not trust Amy. I don’t know if it’s because they don’t like her reaction to Will, or if they’re just suspicious of new characters in general, and it seems that the Bowmans have such a small number of people they can trust, so maybe it’s hard to believe she would be trustworthy.

I’d like to get more of her back story, and learn why she was apparently alone. And there’s that necklace to wonder about. But I think we can trust her. Broussard certainly seems to, and Will goes and talks to her in this episode, remarking that she fills the role Katie used to fill for Broussard. The show creators hinted that her medical abilities will be useful at some point this season so I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing more of her.

Is Meadow’s Family a Mystery?

Some speculated that Meadow’s father was Captain Roger, but we finally meet him in episode 10 and his name is Sal. He seems friendly enough, and concerned about Bram. He’s getting dinner ready and says “everyone” will be here soon, We see a bunch of chairs so it looks like they have a good sized family and extra chairs for last minute dinner guests, but we don’t meet the rest of the family. It certainly seems like Bram is trying to be part of a normal family and bring Gracie along for the ride.

I thought it was clear when Bram walked in and Gracie was doing her homework that she was hoping for one or both of her parents to show up. I think she loves Bram and appreciates what he’s trying to do, but he’s never going to be a parent to her nor can he really make up for the way Katie and Will are neglecting Gracie.

We see Katie admiring the throw pillows at the home of Amy and Broussard. We don’t have any clue how the housing works — was Amy assigned a fully-furnished and decorated house, or did Amy pick out those throw pillows? I’m wondering the same about the Dalton’s home. It seems a bit more sterile than the Bowman’s LA home, but we have to realize neither of these homes was something the Bowmans purchased and furnished themselves. The home we see in the first episode of season 2 is the home Will and Katie bought and furnished before the arrival. But Katie seems to have a knack for transforming the house they land in into a home. She should be making parenting more of a priority than decorating.

What is Will’s Problem?

Everyone seems to want to tell Will he’s doing it wrong. Bram and Amy say this to his face. Katie and Gracie have been saying it, wordlessly, since they arrived in Seattle. Broussard said Will made mistakes, though he still trusts Will’s “skill set” because he understands Will has the same ability Broussard has to compartmentalize things.

Clearly, Will should be a better parent, but now that Katie and Will are working together, they’re both absentee parents, not even calling when Gracie’s home alone. So what should Will be doing?

Bram says he wants Will to be a normal father (like Meadows’ father, maybe?). But he’s mad that Will didn’t kill Snyder and killing people is not what normal fathers do. And what could be more normal than making breakfast? That’s what we saw Will doing when we first met him, and now he’s doing it again (even if Katie says he made a mess doing it). And Bram goes off without eating it. Seems like a lot of food got wasted at the Dalton home that day. But I’m still unclear what Bram really wants from his father.

Plotting and scheming

Everyone seems to be up to something.

• The Outliers have formed teams and are training. They’re itching to do something meaningful and O’Neill, at least, thinks they should have some guns.
• Harris, the guy who seems to be in charge of these Outlier teams, is also working for Kynes. It looks like he’s a double-agent, reporting back to Kynes about what the Outliers are up to. Kynes says they won’t have to wait much longer and seems to be considering letting them have the guns.
• Broussard, Katie and Will now have a list of Outliers who are loose in Seattle, and they manage to connect with them. A meeting time and place is set up, which we’ll presumably see in episode 11.
• Snyder and Garland have discovered that Kynes isn’t putting all of the Outliers into the stasis chambers like he’s supposed to be doing. But they don’t know what he’s up to, exactly, nor do they know what agreement he may have made with the Hosts. Snyder has a plan: “We make our own reckless move and then see how he counters.”
• Remember how Snyder made a phone call after his first day in Seattle, and then he got out a scrambler of some kind and made another call? We weren’t sure if both calls were to the same person, but I now have a theory about that. The first call was to Helena and the second call, the scrambled one, was to Garland. So I think Garland and Snyder are plotting something and it might not be something they want the IGA to know about.
• And I also think Snyder isn’t telling Garland everything. Garland, talking about how these Outliers are running around loose, says, “This is how insurgencies get started.” But wait — Snyder picked Will Bowman to be part of his special task force at Homeland Security in LA. Did he know then that Will was an Outlier? All evidence says he did. So he’s done something similar to what Kynes is doing — maybe the difference is scale? Snyder let one Outlier stay loose (that we know of), while Kynes has allowed dozens or more of them to enter Seattle and presumably assume false identities.
• Kynes is on his computer a lot. What is he doing on there? One of the shots shows the close-up of the face of someone being interviewed as part of their intake process. I think it’s safe to say that Kynes is aware of Will Bowman’s true identity. I bet he’s the one who decides who is put into a stasis chamber and who isn’t. He may even be keeping tabs on Will by following his phone’s movements. We know that Will was smart enough to put Snyder’s phone in his hotel room before they took him downstairs, so hopefully Will has left his phone at home on some of his more recent excursions. But I wonder what Kynes is up to with regard to Will. I don’t think it’s just that Katie’s boss is a friend of his.

Jay on Talk Colony said that not much happened in this episode. But I think it was like the beginning of a chess game. The pieces are being put into place for an explosive episode this week. We have to remember that we’ve seen and learned things that the Bowmans don’t know about. They had to learn about the Outliers. I’m excited that they’re gong to be meeting them in the next episode.

Let me know what you think in the comments.