Phantoms
Episode 5 of Panic Season 1 begins with Heather doing her best to dodge Ray, politely refusing his initial offer to go fishing. However, a depressive Sherri convinces her otherwise. With the electrics gone and the water potentially on the blink next, she meets Ray down by the docks. Heather opens up and the pair get talking, realizing that Ray’s comment about them being disposable “trash” actually rings true. Ray’s mother is dead while his father is serving time in prison for life without parole. That leaves him pretty much alone. Heather hasn’t had it quite so rough but does have a missing Father, leading her to wonder if he ever really cared about her. This conversation soon turns to them kissing and getting intimate together. There’s drama with Dodge too, who has equal family issues. Natalie meanwhile, had no friends growing up until Heather, who was the first girl who actually saw her. After these home truths, Heather catches up with Natalie and tries to talk to her about Ray… until Bishop shows up. It’s awkward, and you can cut the tension with a knife. Meanwhile, John heads off on patrol, investigating the Graybill house after receiving word of a disturbance. Staggering out the house is Little Bill, who happens to be a drug addict. Bill confirms he has photos but John doesn’t press him on this, watching as Bill talks about the blind and asking for justice for Abby. Elsewhere, Bishop lends money to Hunt Kenny, telling him this is the last time he’s doing this. When Sarah and Myra meet up, they start to grow suspicious of Bill and Bishop, believing there could be something linking the family together. This eventually leads to Sarah sneaking inside the Bishop house and taking a look around. There, she finds a phone stashed away in Bishop’s room, holding numerous contacts that seem to hint that he’s a one of the judge’s. This isn’t confirmed though, but it’s enough to cast some doubts over his story. To exacerbate things further, Sheriff Cortez shows up and decides to take a look around too. Sarah sneaks out the window before she can be spotted, evading the sheriff. That evening, the games finally reconvene with the Graybill House Challenge beginning. The contestants need to stay inside the house, with sabotage highly encouraged. All the kids head in and decide, for now at least, that they should stick together while looking around. We then go full on Escape Room as the kids work together to solve a series of different clues. Midway through the game, Ray and Heather wind up getting hot and heavy. They separate themselves from the others but when Ray learns that Heather is a virgin, he thinks twice about sleeping with her. He hurries away, claiming this is a mistake. Natalie decides against hooking up with Dodge too, but notices Heather out in the hallway. She takes her aside and speaks to her in private about Ray’s game. While they do, someone locks them in the room. Dodge meanwhile, finds a clue hidden in the light switch but Tyler turning the generator back on in the basement sends him hurtling across the floor in shock. Unfortunately sparks ignite a fire in the basement too, as flames begin spreading uncontrollably. Speaking of shocks though, a drugged-up and unconscious Little Bill is found lying with needle marks on his arm. He’s dead. As the house – and game – is abandoned, Heather and Natalie find themselves trapped inside. Heather helps Natalie out but finds herself trapped. Ray tries in vain to help but it seems like all hope is lost.
The Episode Review
Episode 5 changes the game, highlighting the very real dangers imposed on these games. This fire will almost certainly have long-lasting effects for Heather, if she manages to make it out of this alive of course. The police are tightening their investigation now too and may well start to watch these kids a lot closer. Then again, if someone from the police force is behind this, tampering with evidence and planting red herrings, that could well be why everything is so open. Meanwhile, the show continues to push its teen drama forward, with each of the kids talking about their parents and difficult upbringings. While welcome, it’s also a bit clumsy and feels shoehorned in rather than naturally progressed through the story. I’m not quite sure why all of this was squeezed into a 10 minute space either; there’s plenty of run-time and some of this could have been saved for the haunted house. Despite that, the episode finally has another game show up, this time with lots of clues. The ending seems to hint that this game will be completely voided too. I’ll tell you what, whoever organized the games this year has done a pretty awful job so far.
