Aftermath Review and Recap Ep 8: “Here is No Water But Only Rock”

You know the rules kids, if you’re not caught up, pop on back over to last week’s review and recap of Aftermath.  No one likes spoilers and I’d hate to be the rude person in the room who ruins all your fun.

Aftermath Episode 8: Here is No Water But Only Rock Recap

We pick up with continued chaos–Josh and the kids are in the volcanic ash storm and Karen is trapped under rock inside the mountain.  Things are further complicated by the dragon–which is now apparently being referred to as a Quetzalcoatl, a mesoamerican deity worshipped by indigenous groups if you’re curious since the representation in this show isn’t QUITE right–circling the crew above ground.

Karen shimmies out from under the rubble and, after discovering a hiker with a broken leg, has a spiritual moment where she discovers some drawings that tell the story thus far on the cave wall and reconciles with the ghost of the convict she killed a few episodes back.

The kids and Josh survive the storm and get to repairing the RV while having a few conversations to decompress after the events of the show thus far. Brianna and Dana have a bonding moment where they compare themselves to widows, during which Dana reveals that her pseudo-psychic powers have shown her where Karen is.

Turns out that all of Karen’s time in the cave was a dream (OF COURSE IT WAS) and after being rescued, the family takes thirty seconds to tell each other all the things the audience already knows before going home. Unfortunately, home has been burned, salted, and otherwise ransacked by Fever Heads. The episode closes with the family driving away from their now Fever Head neighbors and heading east in the shadow of a Quetzalcoatl.

So What’dya Think?

The pace of this episode was a little slower than the last few and we managed not to kill any main characters at the last second–which I really appreciated. It was a welcome break to get to see the family actually dealing with the onslaught they’ve endured the last seven episodes. I especially loved the moments between the twin girls, talking about how they can’t gauge time anymore because everything feels so real and intense constantly.  We also got to really see Karen get in touch with herself and have some deep feelings that were hinted at in the prior episode but never really addressed. And finally, even though the lineup with the CGI wasn’t exactly there, Josh getting totally nerd excited about seeing the Quetzalcoatl up close was gold.

Overall, this has to be my favorite episode so far because we actually got to see the characters digesting and growing after a very long series of intense events. The breather was necessary, and since it now exists, it helps to lend a weight to the next round of insanity that is sure to happen. More of this please guys, you have to have balance.

Best Line: “Have you noticed it’s the end of the world and you can’t buy a date?”

Aftermath is every Tuesday on the SyFy channel, but if you’re a web watcher like me all the episodes are online.  Check back next week where I’ll be arching an eyebrow at semi-correct monster usage but rooting for the heroes anyway.