Meanwhile, Laurie takes Meg into the snowy woods, dragging an axe behind her. Meg hears odd noises and moves closer to Laurie, who stops by a big tree. Laurie patiently takes a seat after gesturing to Meg to cut it down. Though she struggles, Meg seems determined. I’m still unsure why she’s fallen into the GR’s clutches at this point – that’s cold feet to the extreme. Eventually, she gives up and yells at Laurie that she wants out. On a notepad, Laurie scribbles, “Why?” Meg blows up, complaining about every aspect of living with the GR over the past few weeks. Laurie writes, “Okay,” and Meg walks off.
In town, Jill and Aimee encounter Matt Jamison, who is handing out pamphlets highlighting the sins of those lost in the Sudden Departure. “You’re doing really important work,” Aimee says scathingly. In a coffeeshop, they see Nora Durst, who lost her husband and kids in the Departure, and when she accidentally knocks Nora’s purse off a chair, Jill learns that there’s a gun inside. At their table, Jill and Aimee jokingly make up disturbing stories to explain the gun (“Maybe she actually killed her family and just said they disappeared,” remarks Aimee), but they have no funny comeback when Nora slowly but surely moves her coffee mug to the edge of her table and pushes it over, watching it shatter. The barista is pissed but immediately apologizes when he sees who she is. Evidently, being the most pitied woman in town has its perks. The barista offers to buy her a new one but she says no and leaves – without paying. Following her, they see Nora embrace Matt, which confuses them to no end. Before they can dwell on it for too long, Jill and Aimee see the twins, Adam and Scott, and convince them to let Aimee drive to school.
The day after the attack on the compound, Tom and Christine drive up to a gas station where Wayne was supposed to be waiting for them. Inside, Tom sees a man who has been stabbed to death, one of Wayne’s bodyhuards. Unsure of what to do, Tom goes to call his father, Kevin, but another car rolls up before Kevin can pick up. In the trunk is Wayne, alive and well.
When he sees that Tom called, Kevin tries to get back to him, but Tom is busy. He asks another cop about the bald man and his truck, which Kevin asked him to find weeks earlier, but nothing’s come up. They go to the GR compound and present a warrant. By the looks of things, when many people join the GR, they don’t tell their friends and families, leading to many missing persons reports. There, Kevin meets Meg and takes her picture to close her report. He gives her his number as a resource, and she slides the card off the table into her lap, only to look up and see Patti glaring. Sparks clearly flew between Kevin and Meg, but with Kevin’s wife still part of the GR, whether anything will happen is still up in the air.
Patti and Laurie then have a worrying argument by paper, scribbling their thoughts of Meg. As the group’s leader, Patti is worried about Meg leaving, but Laurie writes that she’s not strong enough yet. “Then cut her loose,” Patti writes, storming away.
Back at the precinct, Lucy asks Kevin about what it was like being in the Guilty Remnant’s cul de sac after drunkenly assaulting one earlier. She confronts him about the therapy sessions, which she ordered so she could rest easy about keeping Kevin in charge. Lucy reminds him that people like dogs, and that going around shooting them doesn’t sit well with the general public. “”Tell that dipshit what he needs to hear,” she pleads, “It won’t happen again.” Kevin doesn’t make any promises, muttering, “They’re not our dogs, not anymore.” Quite rightly, she retorts, “What the fuck does that mean?”
I’m calling it early that The Bald Man/”Mystery Man” is a part of Kevin’s psyche. Just because it’s the popular opinion, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. He echoed the bald man in this conversation with Lucy, and the guy is certainly unstable enough to lend credence to the idea that he could have split his personality in two. Kevin can’t even figure out whether he imagined putting bagels in the toaster – they’re gone when he goes to retrieve them, much to his confusion.
Meg’s fiance visits the office, responding with shock when Kevin tells him that Meg is with the GR, in the Pledge House (basically an orientation). “Maybe she’s still on the fence,” offers Kevin. “I think you can still convince her to come home.” However, Meg’s fiance growls, “Why would I do that?” Evidently, Meg’s disappearing act didn’t go over too well with him. “She needs them, the fucking ghosts. What are you talking about, man?”
