Strange Angel this week opens in the Agape Temple. Jack (Jack Reynor) is there and he looks irritated. He’s reliving the argument with Rich (Peter Mark Kendall) from last episode and a flashback of his supervisor offering him a promotion at the factory. He thinks about his discussion with Susan (Bella Heathcote) about what he should do, and talking to Ernest (Rupert Friend) about it. Susan wants to go to the Temple and it’s Jack who was hesitant. So they went. Jack doesn’t see to like Susan being there.
Later, Susan meets with Alfred (Greg Wise) for her purge session. She talks about how shocking the mass was. Alfred says he’s failing her, because the mass wasn’t helping her let down her walls. They discuss the vision of the girl in Ruth’s yard that Susan had. He asks again and again who the girl was. Alfred can’t figure out where her essential agitation is. He says it’s like she’s made of air – he can’t grasp what her essential nature is. When she leaves, Jack wants to know what they talked about and what they did. Wow, Jack is getting a taste of his medicine.
Out at the rocketry lab in the desert tents the team is beating its head against a wall with Jack’s successor. He can’t find a solution because he doesn’t believe it is possible. Chung points that out.
Marisol is in a play. There are only like 6 people in the audience but Rich is there, and he gives her a standing ovation. He’s apparently seen the play several times. He wants to have dinner with her and the Parsons – he wants to have the women present so when he talked to Jack about the project it won’t “turn into a bloodbath.”
At a fancy French restaurant they all meet. Susan recognizes her from the Agape Temple but doesn’t immediately give it away to Richard. Rich wasn’t sure Jack would come. Susan talked him into it – and he forgives Richard. Marisol excuses herself to the ladies’ lounge to freshen up. Susan finds her there and confronts her about it. Marisol admits the Magus sent her after Rich to make sure the rocketry project progresses. Susan wants to know why Alfred cares about that and Marisol says it’s because he cares about his flock. She isn’t being forced – she was just supposed to boost his confidence but going out with him was her idea. Being adored by Rich and maybe starting a family was what she truly wants. Rich doesn’t know because he wouldn’t approve. Susan tells her that she should come clean. “Nothing good ever started with a lie.”
At the table, Jack wants to know what Richard really wants. Rich wants his help even though they have a new chemist. The chemist is using Jack’s notes and Rich wants his help. Jack is furious. As the ladies return he tells Rich to make sure Marisol is with him for the right reasons and leaves.
Susan later confronts Alfred about Richard. But Marisol seems happy, Alfred says, and that’s what they are all about at the temple.
Susan has a session with the Magus to try to figure out who the girl in the garden with the orange peel in her mouth was. She recalls avoiding the orange grove behind her house because oranges make her sick to her stomach. Suddenly she realizes the girl was herself. Why was she so frightened of herself?
Cut to Jack arriving at the rocketry lab. He’s taking his notes away and the other chemist confronts him, telling him he’s honored to meet him. The chemist tells him the project has ground to a halt. His solution – a fuel that is liquid and solid at the same time – is impossible. Jack puts his things down. He wants to know the solution.
Rich shows up with the rest of the team, who are clearly happy to see Jack. Rich is being kind of a jerk, and they have a confrontation about Marisol. Jack leaves.
At home, Jack is furious because Rich used his plans for the lab, the testing facility, and the notes. Rich has basically stolen all Jack’s ideas. Susan has just gotten out of the bath and she sees a dark figure in the bathroom mirror. It’s another scary vision. I’m wondering what horrible thing happened to Susan in that orange grove. Jack rants on, and then goes to the shed to think about the fuel problem and do some experiments. Next door, Ernest is doing a blood ritual around Jack’s lighter and the scene cuts back and forth for a while. Suddenly Jack knocks on the door and asks for help. He wants test the fuel he just made and he can’t decide if he should take the promotion. He isn’t sure if he wants to crawl back to Richard. He feels like he’s face with two bad turns in the road. Ernest says he will be shown the way.
They launch the rocket. It shoots WAY up and explodes. Jack’s read to give it all up and Ernest argues him out of it. He can’t give up his dream. Jack’s going home. Ernest doesn’t want to let go and Jack shoves him. They fight. Ernest pulls a Mike Tyson. He’s not a supervisor! He’s a Marvel! Suddenly Jack knows he’s part of Ernest’s workings and tells him to stay the heck away from him.
Rich does the math on the odds on women and him and LA, and says Marisol is one in a million. She’s mathematically and literally the one for him. She tells him he doesn’t need math, he needs faith. He’s never felt this way about anyone. He’s trying to tell her he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. Marisol says she has to tell him something. She admits that their original meeting wasn’t a coincidence.
At a purge session, Susan tries to remember. She was in the orange grove and Virgil killed a boy that she was smiling at. She’s about 12 or 13.
Flash to Jack- he takes the promotion. At home, Ernest’s house is empty, and Susan is not home. Jack drinks his champagne alone on the porch. Drunk, jack tears down all his notes in his shed and then tears a bunch of stuff up. When Susan gets home, he’s having a bonfire. He’s giving up his dream. He’s learned his lesson and he wants everything to go back the way it used to be. She can’t go back, she says. She learned something about herself. She can’t bring herself to tell him. He asks if the Grand Magus knows. Obviously he does. Jack just wants his wife back. He blows up some more stuff and catches the roof on fire, and has a vision of a great beast in the flames.
- STRANGE ANGEL Recap: (S01E10) The Sacrificial Dance - August 16, 2018
- STRANGE ANGEL Recap: (S0109) Sacrament of the Ancestors - August 10, 2018
- STRANGE ANGEL Recap: (S0108) Evocation of the Elders - August 2, 2018
