Season 1, Ep. 3: Choosing Day
1 — Tabitha and Jim Matthews are sleeping in the Colony House for the day until the ceremony where they can choose where to live. Tabitha has a nightmare. In it, she relives the moment they arrive at the Colony House’s door and the monsters showed up. However, she sees the bride monster in close up — something that didn’t happen. Then she sees the guy that told Julie: “Do you recognize me?” and hears the gun shooting at the monster. Tabitha awakes abruptly from the nightmare.
2 — Boyd wakes up and he shows signs of a tremor in his left hand. Possibly a disease he hasn’t disclosed to the Townsfolk. He opens the window curtains and looks at the box, outside of the Post Office/Sheriff Station. Today is when Frank will be sentenced to the box — which contains no talisman to protect him from the monsters.
3 — Donna explains to Jade, who happened to wake up from his drug tripping, that he is in a town where he can’t leave, and at night monsters come to hunt them down, and that his friend Tobey is death. Jade laughs and believes Tobey paid a group of actors to play a joke on him. He thinks he needs to solve a puzzle and walks out of the Colonial Town and steals a bicycle from a resident thinking she brought it for him. Jade rides to the town Diner searching for clues to solve this prank paid by his friend Tobey. “Money well spent.”
4 — Victor opens his lunchbox and takes a note and a crayon. He reads the note and begins measuring with steps the distance from the corner of a house to the trees.
5 — Ellis and Jim Matthews arrive from the RV. They were picking up the family’s belongings. Jim brought Ethan his books. Among them: Adventures of the Grand Gooligog; and Flight of the Cromenockle. The latter is Ethan’s favorite.
6 — Donna informs the Matthews family that Father Khatri wants to talk to them about the Choosing Ceremony. All newcomers have to decide where they’re gonna live. They must pick either the Colony House or the Town. Tabitha and Jim wish to see their house at the Town to decide whether they wish to live there. Julie wants to come, but Jim asks her to stay to care for Ethan. She gets disappointed and left out.
7 — In the Diner, Jade continues to think he is in a prank among traveling actors and wonders what the next clue of the puzzle is. The residents are annoyed at Jade.
8 — Father Khatri explains Jim and Tabitha the talismans is what keeps the monsters at bay from entering the houses. However, they must nail down the windows in their new house, should they decide to stay in the Town, especially if families have children. The monsters try to convince them to let them in. Children tend to be more susceptible to opening a window. Cover the windows with curtains.
9 – Tabitha asks about the box. Father Khatri responds the box is for punishment when a resident breaks the rules. The rules they live in are meant to protect each other and to keep everyone safe. When someone’s actions or negligence leads to the death of a resident in town, the only punishment for that crime is the box. There is no talisman in the box. Tabitha asks how many times the box has been used. Father Khatri responds tonight will be the first time. On Frank — for neglecting to come back home where Lauren and Meagan died because he didn’t nail down the windows. Frank was getting drunk, instead. Father Khatri reveals the house they are going to live in if they choose to be in the Town was Frank’s. The blood is still covering the walls.
10 — At the Colony House, Ellis builds a crutch for Ethan.
11 — Jade gives compliments to Kenny for making this escape room puzzle challenge for him. Jade doesn’t believe the monsters and nightmare thing because he doesn’t think they serve eggs and breakfast in a nightmare. Kenny reveals they don’t know where the cows and chicken come from.
12 — Victor is again measuring distances with steps from the corner of the house to the nearby trees in the forest. Ethan takes notice and asks Victor what he is doing and if he can help. Victor dismisses him several times, annoyed by Ethan. However, Victor gives all his attention to Ethan when he asks if he has seen the boy who lives in the forest. Victor reveals to Ethan that he is checking if the trees have moved. Julie comes outside the Colony House and scolds Ethan. He shouldn’t be outside the house. Victor asks Ethan to tell the boy that Victor says hello.
[This is a hint that Ethan is not the only one able to see the boy]
13 — Jade rides on the bicycle near the town and discovers a cellar in the forest. Jade opens a door inside the cellar and sees a bloodied corpse stuck inside a closet, trapped beneath a boulder. Suddenly, the corpse screams at Jade, who stumbles and falls on his back. Looking into the ceiling of the cellar, he sees an engraved red mark. Jade looks toward the room and the corpse and the boulder were no longer there. He looks to the ceiling and the red mark is gone, too. He didn’t realize it, but he saw his first vision.
14 — Father Khatri is surprised to see Boyd sitting on the bench inside the church. Not a sight he sees often. Boyd says he is not answering. Boyd says he can’t put Frank in the box. It was meant as a scary deterrent, not as an actual death sentence. Boyd gets frustrated at Father Khatri because he came to him for “have mercy” words. Instead, the Father encourages him to execute the punishment through. Otherwise, the people who believe Boyd will get them out of the Town will no longer trust him.
Boyd opens the box and sits inside. He realizes Frank won’t have a chance to survive. Boyd opens the cell in the Sheriff Station and throws a talisman on Frank’s bed. Boyd tells Frank there is a shack a few yards from town, in the forest. There he can live on his own.
15 — Father Khatri begins the Choosing Ceremony. Several rocks and flowers are on top of a flat rock. He gives each member of the Matthews family the choice to pick whether to live. Pick a rock to live in the Town or a flower to live in the Colony House. The choice is final.
Boyd interrupts the ceremony to announce something he has decided about Frank. Frank approaches and prevents Boyd from speaking any further. Frank has decided to enter the box without a talisman. Frank gives a speech to the residents about his daughter and Christmas. That he was a good dad. This Town, the monsters, got in his head and he began to drink. He forgot what mattered. If he had been a little stronger, his family would still be alive. Encouraged the residents to not forget what matters.
Jade broke into laughter, applauding at the drama of what he thinks is a traveling group of actors. Boyd gets angry and pulls Jade toward the flat rock and forces him to pick a rock or a flower. Jade picks a rock. Kenny arrives and asks Jade to follow him. Kenny takes him to Tobey’s graveyard — which hasn’t been covered with dirt yet. Kenny removes the sheet from Tobey’s face. Jade is still thinking this is a prank. Suddenly, the stench hit his nostrils. He looked closer and realized his friend Tobey was really dead.
Boyd asks each member of the Matthews family to pick. Tabitha, Jim, and Ethan choose Town. Julie chooses Colony House. Tabitha protests.
16 — Boyd and Father Khatri escort Frank inside the box.
17 — Tian Chen Liu closes the Diner in the dawn and locks it up. The jukebox begins playing: “If It Be Your Will.”
18 — Kenny tells his mother, TIan Chen Liu, that Jade will stay in their house for now.
19 — Frank hears whispers. The monsters approach the box. Boyd fights whether to open the curtain and peek or not. He decides to peek. The monsters surround the box. Frank is terrified and sits waiting for it.
| FROM TV SERIES RECAP NAVIGATION | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEASON 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| SEASON 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| SEASON 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
