From Season 4 Episode 9: The Children's Bones Turn a Desecration Into a Redemption

Pulling the Stone Slab Reveals the Children's Bones

When Jade and Tabitha finally step into those tunnels in the final moments of this episode, the combination of the ever changing tempo, the townspeople rushing to get ready to pull the tree, and the slow creeping horror of the monsters making their way toward the tarp separating them from the chamber where the children are buried all combine to create more dread than anything else the season has shown so far. I was really beginning to worry, but right as the black screen came up, I realized it was only the calm before the storm.

This episode manages to feel like just another mid season entry, the beginning of something brand new, and the end of everything all at once. For me, the most awful and agonizingly painful moment to watch was when Jade and Tabitha finally pulled the big stone slab away and revealed the bones of the children underneath, buried without any ceremony, almost as if they had been packed like a bunch of sardines and thrown haphazardly into the grave.

That sacrilege immediately makes Jade and Tabitha's actions feel less like a desecration and more like a redemption of an age old failure, because that is truly what it is. It is a failure that keeps rewriting itself into the history of this town right up until this very hour, when the two of them have to force an escape by whatever means necessary. The writers deserve credit for pulling that shift off once again.

The Man in Yellow's Bargain Leaves Fatima Impossibly Alive

There are also some big surprises along the way courtesy of the man in yellow. It turns out he made a bargain with Clara when she first arrived in town, and now payment is due in the form of delivering a little special something to Fatima.

As a reminder, Fatima's vital signs indicate she should very much be dead right now. Instead she is doing perfectly normal things like working on jigsaw puzzles and going to bed at night along with everyone else, and all of this is happening after she connected with Smiley to save Kenny's life.

Elgin's Old Polaroid Habit Puts Him in Danger Again

While so many people are urgently and anxiously awaiting the signal from Jade and Tabitha so they can pull the tree and get everyone out to safety with the bones, Sara sends Elgin to find that old Polaroid of Sophia in town. The poor guy does not stop to think that maybe in a place like this it is normal to see something like that, and if it is normal here then it is actually paranormal in the real world sense, and if it is paranormal then maybe there is some danger attached to it, just as there was when he saw the picture of the woman in the kimono. If you ask me, he has not learned his lesson at all.

Here is another wrinkle. Sophia seems more than slightly upset to learn it is only Jade and Tabitha going into the tunnels and not a whole crew, and she may just be about to be exposed. The episode leaves that outcome open, but after nearly five seasons of this level of horror, I do not think it can exactly be good for Elgin. The man in yellow is not done playing games with these people, but at the same time they are not done trying to win what may very well be an unwinnable fight, and with so much at stake, the wait for the finale is going to feel a lot longer than just a week.

Clara Has Been Here All Along, and Sophia's True Nature Comes Out

Clara has apparently been here all along, which was a shock to me too. She has mostly seemed to just blend into the town, and that alone is enough to make me want to rewatch the earlier seasons to figure out who this woman has really been the entire time.

Once Sophia reveals her true nature to Clara, things get delightfully dark. There is that too innocent, fake nice way Sophia asks Clara if she knows who she really is before leaning into the more sinister "maybe if you look closer." The fun Sophia has with the moment, along with the dynamics Julia Doyle brings to the character, only gets better from there. For Clara, though, it all goes terribly wrong.

That knife hidden behind Sophia's back before the far too cheery "come on in," paired with the dark turn in her tone, makes it easy to wonder if Clara is about to get stabbed, and she is, just not to death. Katerina Bakolias sells Clara's frozen horror perfectly. She is in over her head and she knows it, and no matter how much distance she tries to put between herself and the entity that now basically owns her, Clara knows she only has two real options: do as Sophia says, or perish slowly and painfully. Which really means she has no options left at all.

The Blood Ritual and Fatima's Price for a Deal With the Devil

After a blood ritual that Sophia clearly gets a lot of pleasure out of, Clara has to deliver a thermos with the mixed blood inside to Fatima. When Fatima initially puts the drink aside without trying it, that disappointment is only outdone by how she responds once Fatima actually does take a sip, because whatever evil deed the man in yellow needed done through her is now done.

To someone like Fatima, who has only ever been seen as kind and supportive by pretty much everyone, this is the price of making a deal with the devil to save her own skin, and Clara learns that the hard way in this episode. Yet she does not really learn from it. Nobody asks her to go gossip about the change in plans, but no matter how afraid she clearly is while doing it, she finds Sophia anyway and tells her that only Jade and Tabitha are going to retrieve the bones.

Henry's Vision World Tempts Him to Eliminate Victor

This episode also shows Henry continuing to visit that vision world. This time his imaginary counterpart is able to sit up and eat a burger and fries while the otherworldly version of Victor presses him to eliminate his anchor to Fromville. Even inside the comfort of a world that feels so much nicer, one that offers him a living daughter, a son who was never traumatized, and even a grandson, Henry cannot fathom hurting any version of Victor.

He gets so agitated when Victor asks him about the anchor that he stutters through half formed thoughts before finally getting out a firm "I can't." He tells the vision version of Victor, "Because it's you. Victor, you're the anchor. You're the anchor. You're what's keeping me there. So, the doctor wants me to eliminate you? To kill you? No." But the other version of Victor stays too calm, too happy, and seems very much unbothered by his dad's sense of being torn apart. Basically he either does not get it, or in a more sinister way, he does not care.

A reassuring squeeze to his arm at the diner table is met with Henry recoiling and trying to pull his hand away. He fails and eventually gives up, but he tries at first, which tells me some part of Henry's mind still does not believe Sophia's lie. It is as much of a shock to see this version of Victor in the visions as it is to then be thrown back into Fromville and hear the real Victor calling out for his dad. It was devastating to see him in his full PTSD state when moments earlier some version of him had been so unnaturally full of light and life. What kind of father would not want that for his son? You really cannot blame Henry for any of it.

Victor's Arrest Turns Into a Wrenching Standoff With Boyd

Scott McCord shows an inhuman amount of rage in front of the bar after Victor confronts Boyd, Jade, and Kenny about the bottle tree strategy, which is what ultimately gets him arrested by the sheriff. Backing up a bit, when Victor is up on that hill talking to his mom earlier, it plays as a heartbreaking parallel to Henry's visit in the previous episode, and McCord is just as much of a standout here as Joy was there. Every line is delivered with so much raw, deep pain, and every time Victor pauses, closes his eyes, or opens them to stare everywhere and nowhere at once, it lands like another knife to the chest.

There is a real sense of awe, almost a dare to hope, in the moment Tabitha says, "We're going to go home." Then Victor is suddenly back to fully embodying his desperate concern for his dad. "But what if he doesn't make it that long?" he asks the empty space where his mom should be. McCord reminds us all over again just how long Victor was lonely and unable to learn how to connect with others. Victor is as normal as it comes, especially for someone who has been in Fromville for over 40 years, and he is perfect just the way he is, if only his own father could see past his own shattered dreams and expectations.

Before Victor can get everything off his chest, the boy in white appears and warns him about the bottle tree. That warning, and Victor's attempt to stop the tree's removal, is what suddenly pushes the hour from just another episode into the realization that this is almost the end of the season. Victor begging and screaming for Boyd and the others to listen to him, only to be betrayed in the worst way, makes for some tense, urgent, personal drama. The fact that Boyd can cuff Victor as he falls to his knees and wails like that shows just how much is at stake right now, and how much desperate people are willing to do whatever it takes to go home.

McCord is at his absolute best when Victor insists that his friend told him not to cut down the tree, becomes increasingly stressed and fidgety, and raises his voice more and more. He has always brought a remarkable amount of commitment to this character, but those insufferable wailing pleas for someone, anyone, to listen as he is being arrested and understand he is trying to help are simply out of this world. The man in yellow told us earlier that these people were going to rip themselves apart, and I do not know if anything could confirm that more than everyone just standing there watching as Victor is taken into custody like that. It also calls to mind the many times law enforcement has used excessive force against neurodivergent people because they fear and brutalize what they refuse to understand. A bit too real, honestly.

Tabitha's Epiphany Forces a Fight Over Who Retrieves the Bones

Tabitha ends up getting an epiphany from all seven sacrificed children pointing at her right after Ethan tells her, "I think this place tries to make us afraid, so we won't believe in the things that can help us. All those things you remember, you should listen to what it's trying to tell you." She rushes to Boyd, first to find out what is going on with Victor's arrest, and then to convince him that only she and Jade, as strangely inscribed on the talisman, can do this the right way.

Initially Sophia seemed unperturbed about the whole digging plan, knowing a handful of not so ritualistic friendly people were involved, when she filled Clara in about it. Then there is the moment Clara finds her, out of sheer fear for her own skin rather than being forced, and gossips about the change of plans right before Elgin arrives too, adding even more fuel to the fire. So if you were wondering whether digging up the bones was the right thing to do, it turns out that how things are done in Fromville is just as important as what is actually done.

The Danger That's Left Behind

In the end, the consequence of pulling down the bottle tree is the only real danger we have to worry about, besides Jade and Tabitha's safety deep within the tunnels, even though they do have a talisman meant to protect them. As Donna rightly points out, though, those talismans have not exactly been field tested from within that chamber before. So if anything goes wrong down there, the escape plan goes with it.

Do you think this cycle is doomed to fail as well?