Another episode into the series and I have even more questions than before. That’s not a bad thing though. The writers are doing a great job keeping my attention! The Whispers newest episode, titled Meltdown, is very fitting as the plot of the episode was stopping Sean from causing a meltdown at a nuclear plant. It had a lot of substance to it and didn’t start off too far from where last week’s episode left us.
First we see Minx talking to her ceiling fan as if she is interacting with Drill. That didn't seem like a good sign to me! What was she doing? It turns out she was creating a game plan for Claire’s son, Henry. She gave him a list of places he was to go to and if he followed the list he was promised to be reunited with his father Sean. At first Henry is hesitant but agrees to play the game anyways. It was great to see Minx and Henry interacting with each other. We get to see that Henry is more hesitant to play the game, while Minx seems like she’s all for it even though she has gotten into trouble for playing with Drill. Could this be because she is acting out as a result of her parents problems? It certainly seems that way. I get a weird vibe from her and sometimes I’m even creeped out by her character. At one point I was actually worried that she was going to stab Henry’s Grandmother when she picked up that knife.
Wes and Clair headed to the the Nuclear plant to stop Sean from causing a meltdown, where they met up with Claire’s partner, Rollins and other agencies working together to lock down the nuclear plant. It was made known fairly quickly that Rollins didn’t like Claire working with Wes, and blindsiding him with information. Claire puts him in line quickly, telling him that they had the information that needed to catch Sean because she was working with Wes and that he should be grateful. I like that Rollins seems to continuously doubt Claire’s loyalty and motives.
Normally I cringe when shows use cheating as the main character’s backgrounds. I did the same for The Whispers, but now I’m intrigued by their story. Because we don’t know much about their past other then they worked together and had an affair you have to watch for the subtle or not so subtle notions that show how much they care for each other. For example, when Wes and Claire are talking to each other in front of the other agents, Wes moves towards Claire asking if she was alright while he reaches out to touch her. Claire backs up a little and you could tell that it made her uncomfortable. The way she looked in that moment had me feeling very sympathetic for them and I’m starting to get absorbed in their relationship.
With the help of Drill it doesn’t take long for Sean and his hostage, Maria to get into the power plant. Drill couldn’t have made it any easier for them. They just walked right in after Drill shut down the plant systems. While they make their way around the plant, Claire gets a call from her mom telling her about Minx being at their house. Immediately Claire starts to think that Sean’s true motive was to distract her in order to get his son. After that we see Henry following Drill’s plan to a “T”. Henry is a brave kid! If I was told to go into a dark inspection chamber in the ground, I would run the other way!
It was fascinating to see that Sean give up his gun to Maria so that she could use it if he did anything bad. This shows me that he’s struggling with what he is doing and why he is doing it. In the previous episodes I had doubts about whether he was a good guy forced into doing bad things or whether he actually was Drill. I think this episode answers those questions. He is not definitely not Drill. During this exchange between Maria and Sean, one of the agencies was able to apprehend them. Shortly after, he is placed in a room where he is interrogated by Wes. That would have been awkward if Sean remembered that he was having an affair with his wife. Luckily for Wes, Sean has no memory outside of his mission. Unfortunately, that also means Wes isn't able to get much information out of him.
At this point, Claire still believes that Sean’s plan is to get their son. She returns to the truck to question Sean herself, and that doesn’t go well! Everything loses power, the plant systems are down which is likely to cause a meltdown, and Sean escapes custody. Wes must order an evacuation and the control room operators had to flood the reactor where Henry happened to be. Claire does everything in her power to convince them not to until she can get Henry back. Wes tries to stop her at first, but once she pleads with him saying that Henry is all that she has left, Wes lets her know that that’s not the case and helps her. That was another moment that made me really like Wes. You could tell that he is still very much in love with Claire and that he didn’t want to lose her. Wes gives Claire a radio and talks her through the plant to where Henry would be. The plans must have been wrong as Claire ends up at the wrong spot. She sees her son but can’t get to him. This was a very intense moment where they appeared to have run out of time. As tense as it was, I think we all knew that it would be okay, and that nothing was going to happen to either of them. Sean shows up just in time to close the door and stop the water from flooding the reactor, saving Henry in the process.
The ending was very emotional. Sean, Claire, and Henry are reunited and leave the plant together. Claire discovers Henry has his hearing back. Afterwards, they are met by a Hazmat team that checks them for radiation. They discover that they are clean and that the whole area is fine. That is highly unusual considering the events that had just taken place at the plant. Also, there was that whole mysterious puff of smoke changing to a ball of light before disappearing into thin air thing. This episode leaves me with more questions again and I am excited to see what happens next!
This was my favourite episode so far. Some of my favourite scenes included Wes’s emotional breakdown when he thought Claire didn’t make it, and their conversation over the radio, where Wes stated he didn’t want to lose her and Claire apologized for everything. I feel very invested in those two and can’t wait to learn more about them! What about you, what was your favourite scene from this week’s episode of The Whispers?
About the Author - Alexandra
Alexandra (Ali) is an avid TV, film, and music fan from Canada. She attended film school and was a camera operator for a local sports show. Growing up she watched shows like Due South, Pretender, X-files, Early Edition, and Frasier. Her favourite shows are Bates Motel, The Mentalist, and The Closer. Alexandra will be reviewing Proof and Masters of Sex.
