2021 is the year of Resident Evil and if you don’t believe me, just take a quick peek at all the things they have released and will release. A new game from Capcom, a reboot of the film franchise, plus Netflix has two series of their own! The first being Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, a story that focuses on Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) and Claire Redfield (Stephanie Panisello). In the very first episode, Claire discovers signs reminiscent of the Raccoon City attacks in Penamstan while Leon heads to the White House for a new mission.
DISCLAIMER: This is a recap, which by definition means there will be spoilers. If you have not taken the chance to experience Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, then I highly suggest doing so first. You can watch all four episodes here on Netflix.
TW: Gore, Violence
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Episode one of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness opens with a flashback to the War in Penamstan. Jason (Ray Chase) watches from his helicopter as another is hit and goes down. He ignores the orders from the base and leads his men, known as the Mad Dogs, to rescue the survivors. They are able to reach one of the survivors before a rebel blows up the truck next to them. In the next scene, we see the rebels torture a group of soldiers before one reawakens as a zombie.
We flash forward to the present day at a U.N. Refugee Camp in the Republic of Penamstan. Claire is trying to speak with one of the children when she learns that he is mute and a survivor of the Penamstan civil war. Claire promises he is safe now and takes a look at his sketchbook. Inside she finds a horrific image of the same hand we saw in the flashback and men who look like zombies fighting each other. There may be a chance that the boy she met was present during those events.
In the United States, Leon is in a helicopter heading to the capital. In the White House, we see Jason meet with Shen May (Jona Xiao) and Patrick (Billy Kametz). It looks like this will be the team Leon will be working with. Patrick isn’t too sure Leon is qualified for the job and even goes as far as to say that he was just in the wrong place and the right time to save the President’s daughter. Shen May, however, believes that he is more than qualified for the job at hand. Jason reminds them both that luck has no place in their line of work.
The team, minus Leon, who is still waiting to land, heads off to meet with the President. It turns out that they are there because someone tried to break in and steal confidential files that pertain to the President himself. In the Oval Office, they meet with the President (Joe J. Thomas) and Defense Secretary Wilson (Doug Stone). They continue explaining that someone bypassed the need for a special code from the President to access extremely sensitive files within the Pentagon.
The team is confused about keeping such highly classified files on an outside server, but Wilson tells them that they aren’t. The server that was broken into can only be accessed from within. Jason realizes that this means that someone within the White House must be a spy. They tried narrowing down the suspects, but they haven’t had any luck. The best they know is that anyone who has entered or exited the White House within 24 hours of the attack could be the culprit.
The team’s mission is to figure out who broke into the confidential files. Wilson also shares with the time that he believes China might be behind the attacks. They have been waging a cyberwar against the country for years and Wilson believes that this has to be them. However, the President doesn’t want to jump to conclusions. Patrick starts breaking down how many people it could possibly be before the lights go out and members of the secret service rush in.
Jason and Patrick head outside to investigate what is going on. Patrick comes across the Press Secretary Spacer (Kaiji Tang), who seems to have been hit from behind when the lights went out. Jason swings back over to check on them before heading upstairs. Patrick watches as Spacer collapses and believes he is in cardiac arrest. He rushes off to find the AED when Spacer rises again as a zombie. He tries to attack Patrick, who successfully defends himself but isn’t able to stop him.
Just when it looks like he is about to get bit himself, a shot is fired from behind and the zombie dies. Leon has arrived! He warns Patrick to aim for their head. The two rejoin the team, who are preparing to head off to the bunker. Leon apologizes for being late but does confirm that there are indeed zombies in the White House. The President reminds him that he is in his debt after saving Ashley and is astonished that something like what happened in Raccoon City could happen here.
They reach the bunker and Patrick stays with the President while Jason, Shen May and Leon head back out into the White House to investigate. For the next few minutes, we get some good old fashion zombie brawls, a jump scare and one of Leon’s famous one-liners. The next morning, the White House is being cleaned out while Jason and Leon discuss what could have possibly happened.
Downstairs, Claire has arrived for her meeting with Press Secretary Spacer, but she can’t find him. The only thing they will say is that he is currently on leave and to check back later. Claire is about to leave when she spots Leon walking by. He is just as surprised to see her and she explains that she is here with reps from Penamstan’s provisional government. They are looking for aid to get schools and hospitals built since the US wants a military presence there as well.
Claire then asks Leon to look at the picture she found of what the civil war looked like six years ago. She cannot get anyone to go on record about what happened there, but she believes it looks a lot like what happened in Raccoon City. Claire also believes that this means there must have been another outbreak in Penamstan. Before Leon can put in his two cents, Jason walks by and tells him to get a move on.
Claire realizes who Jason is but decides not to pursue him. Leon warns her not to get into any trouble and heads off to follow Jason. Before he gets too far, Claire lets him know that his outfit doesn’t suit him one bit. In the Oval Office, Wilson informs the President that the information contains info on a bio-research facility in Shanghai. Wilson wants to send Jason and the team to investigate, but Ryan (Brad Venable) isn’t sure that’s the best course of action. Wilson, however, won’t hear it and demands they do something. The President decides to allow the mission to commence.
Jason, Shen May and Leon prepare for their mission and board the sub to take them into China’s waters. Jason debriefs that team that they are heading into the bio-research facility to investigate the White House hacking and zombie attack. The rest he will share once they reach the shore. Leon doesn’t understand why they need to go to the facility when they could just hack them. Classified. Time limit or information about the facility? Also classified.
Jason goes off to check the gear and Leon takes a seat with Shen May. He asks her if she wants to get some dinner when this is all over and she says sure. But she does have a young man waiting for her afterward. When Leon pushes the conversation, she hits him back with another classified. A little later, Leon is walking around when he spots Jason injecting himself with a needle, but he doesn’t stop to question him.
Episode one of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness comes to an end with the same flashback from before. Except for this time, we see the zombie attack happening and that poor boy trapped underneath the rocks in some kind of cage. The only thing he can do is to sit and watch as the chaos happens.
RELATED: Need a catch-up on Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness? Check out all our recaps!
Now that is one way to kick off a Resident Evil tv series. We have suspense, mystery and tons of zombies to keep us occupied. They are really setting the stage well for Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series brings. I also need to see more of Leon and Claire working together like in the old days, but I am sure that will come as the series progresses. Speaking of the old days, how does this all relate to Raccoon City. Could this be another T-Virus attack, like Leon said, or is something else going on here?
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Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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