Aftermath Review and Recap Ep 7: “What the Thunder Said”

We’re all the way up to 7–COUNT EM 7–episodes of Aftermath from SyFy so go on back and get yourself caught up before you read ahead because, honey, there are about to be some spoilers.

Episode 7: What the Thunder Said Recap

While trying to escape the rumblings of Mount Rainier, the family’s RV breaks down. Karen busts Dana and Martin making out, gives Martin a short interrogation, and then has a moment with Josh where the two learn that they are bad at parenting during this whole apocalypse thing. Once the RV is running Josh nearly hits a bald dude in the street. The family comes under fire, Josh gets shot, but bald dude from the street is apparently some kind of deity (Buddha? Jesus? He’s bald and barefoot but makes motions intimating a cross?? WHAT ARE YOU) and pulls the bullet out of Josh’s stomach with his bare hands.

Bald Jesus-Buddha invites Karen up the volcano to a prayer wheel where the pure of heart can make anything happen. Karen is gonna wish for the volcano to stop. But that lady from Booner’s camp (Jane, I think, but who knows at this point. Everyone keeps dying. What’s the point?) fights her for it because, as we just found out 10 minutes ago, she’s got a dead kid that is all of sudden her every motivation, including beating up the people who had been her teammate for the last four episodes.

On the ground, Josh and the kids run into some hikers who apparently dropped their third party member into the volcano and are having a crisis about it. The hikers try to steal the RV and in the process shoot Martin, which prompts Matt to lose his future-peace-corp calm where he nearly hangs a girl in cold blood. Josh stops him and then the pair shoot at the hikers’ feet to make them run away–old west style.

The volcano explodes, everyone runs for shelter and makes it in the nick of time only to find that Dana didn’t make it and Karen is getting buried by rubble.

So, What’dya Think?

A Few Things That Are Not Surprising About This Episode: people get shot in slow-mo, Mount Rainier explodes, there is a Deus Ex Fix It character, and it ends on a cliffhanger. We’re getting a real formula here, guys (says the girl with a serial formatted review).

The Surprising Thing About This Episode: Martin is supposed to be 28. Thank god his character is dead.

Minus points for no Jubokko or Wayne Brady. Although, I’ll tell you what, the moment when Josh is like “we don’t have to leave, we’re okay until we feel tremors” and then the ground splits open around them was pretty on point. I also appreciated the moments between Karen and Josh where they discussed the emotional impact of surviving the apocalypse. A sort of “you know we’re gonna be messed up about this later, right?” kind of talk that hit home for me. Although the rest of the episode dismissed it later, the set up for this between the two “adults” of the show was touching.

Aftermath airs on SyFy every Tuesday, but if you’re a web-watcher like me you can catch full episodes online. Check back next week where I’ll be a total sassafras but root on the heroes anyway.