Genre: Mystery/Sci-Fi
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Jimmy Ellis & John Malone
Cast: Walton Goggins, Christoph Waltz, Connie Britton, Madelaine Petsch, Michael Pena, Ruth Wilson, Allison Janney, John Carroll Lynch, David Dastmalchian, Jonathan Majors, Kris Kristofferson
Plot: A man in an elegant suit, Abraham Goodrich (Christoph Waltz) stands before a large mass of people. He steps toward a microphone as the people’s chatter quiets down. He begins to speak and commemorates yet another year of successfully living in Bunker 17. He takes the moment to also gloat about this being his 40th year as Director of Bunker 17. He reminds the men, women and children that this bunker has been here for 2 generations and he persists that the bunker will remain for at least another 2. After more deliberation about the excellent state of Bunker 17 he steps away from the podium and down the stairs to return back to his office.
A knocking is heard at a door. A sleeping man, Andrew Thane (Walton Goggins) wakes, he is wearing a security officer’s jacket and grabs a taser from his bedside table (not that he has ever had to use it). He reaches the door and opens it. On the other side of the door is Miriam Goodrich (Madelaine Petsch), The Director’s daughter, sobbing. She is unable to physically speak so signs to Thane to follow her. He follows her to Abraham’s office where blood is coming from Abraham’s mouth. Miriam crawls up into a ball in the corner of the room and cries her heart out. Thane checks for a pulse and there is nothing. He is unsure what to do, he believes that Abraham has been murdered however since Thane was born in the bunker there have been no incidents like this, certainly not murder. Thane tells Miriam to go back to her room with her mother, she does so. He heads to the security offices where the CCTV is. He pulls it up and it has disappeared, there is no recording for Abraham’s office. Never having to investigate a murder before Thane seeks out help from someone who has.
Thane knocks on another door and pokes his head through. An old man, a former security officer Noah Devine (Kris Kristofferson) is sitting in a wheelchair and questions Thane about his visit. Thane says that he needs his help, he says that he believes the director has been murdered. Noah is only a little shocked at the news, he tells Andrew that he had many enemies. Thane asks him what to do and Noah tells him to start off by interviewing those that have had direct contact with Abraham in the last week or so. Thane leaves but not before thanking Noah.
Thane meets with the Vice Director, now interim director, Joshua Kane (David Dastmalchian). Kane knows that he will indeed be a suspect to the death of the director and reassures Thane that he will co-operate 100%. Thane thanks him for that and asks that Kane hold an assembly for the rest of Bunker 17.
At the assembly Kane explains that the death of Abraham is extremely saddening and sends his regards to Abraham’s wife and daughter. He also asks everybody not to interfere in Thane’s investigations into the death, Kane says that he hopes that the culprit will be brought to justice.
Thane gathers up all of his suspects and they stand in a line up against a wall, the suspects from left to right; Claudia Goodrich (Connie Britton), the director’s wife. Joshua Kane the interim director. Seth Carson (Jonathan Majors), the director’s personal aide. Judith Weiss (Allison Janney), the bunker’s chief botanist and Israel Nero (Michael Pena), the bunker’s Maintenance Chief.
The first person Thane calls into the “interrogation room” (the cafeteria) is Israel Nero. Nero sits down and asks why he is here. Thane tells him that he knows how much Nero hated the Director, he also adds that although Nero has never acted on his words/threats all it takes is one worse day then the rest. Nero slams his hands on the table telling him that he is no murderer. Thane asks for an alibi to which Nero gives him, he tells him that he was working on the lights in the meeting hall for the director’s big speech. Thane looks over the tapes and it is revealed Nero is telling the truth. Before Nero leaves he tells Thane that he was recently down near the life support system of the bunker, he tells Thane that there is not much life left in them, he says he estimates around 1 more generation of life. Thane unsure of what to do thanks Nero and calls in his next suspect, Claudia Goodrich.
Second, the widow, Claudia Goodrich comes in with tears in her eyes, she asks what she is doing here she needs to be with her daughter. Thane with a soft voice tells her he just needs to ask a few questions it will take barely a minute. He asks if she loved her husband. Of course she says yes. The tremble in her voice proved to Thane that she couldn’t have done it, she can’t be the murderer. He tells her to go be with her daughter and he wishes her all the best for this tough time.
Next up Thane calls in, Seth Carson. Thane says that Seth had the easiest way to kill The Director, he was with him almost 24/7, and the only other person that has more access is his wife. Seth speaks up and says that he would never harm the director, why would he. He adds that the director is like his own father, who would kill their own father. Thane questions him about an argument the two had the day of the murder. Seth says that it was a minor misunderstanding about how he wants his food the morning after, he says he was trying to convince him to have some healthier foods but the director wanted none of it. He adds one last time that he would never kill someone that treated him as well as the director did. Thane tells him that he was basically a slave and did anything the director asked. Seth yells and says he is not a slave he was his aide. Thane thanks him for his time and lets Seth go. Before Seth leaves he says that he saw Reuben Kaufman and The Director arguing only hours before the big speech. Thane looks intrigued.
Thane finds the bunker's food coordinator Reuben Kaufman (John Carroll Lynch) in the bunker's pantry. Kaufman is clearly frustrated when Thane enters and starts asking about the argument he had with The Director. Kaufman says that he was mad at him due to his working conditions. He motions toward the depleting food reserves in the pantry and says that he can't provide very good meals for the community with the tools The Director had provided him. Kaufman admits to the heated exchange, but says that he is too busy figuring out how to feed everyone to have the time to plot the Director's demise, even if it would be one less mouth to feed. Thane feels like he can cross Kaufman's name off his list of suspects after that exchange and heads back to the cafeteria.
When Thane returns to the cafeteria he sits down with the botanist Judith Weiss. She tells Thane that she will not be sorry about Goodrich's death because she feels the bunker will be better off under a more enlightened Director, although she has her doubts that Kane may not be that person. He asks what her problem with Goodrich was and she says that he simply turned a blind eye to the bunker's increasing inability to grow plants for food. Thane asks why the bunker is having trouble growing plants, and Weiss says that the quality of the soil has been getting worse for years, but The Director kept ignoring the problem and hoping it would just naturally go away.
After Weiss leaves, it just leaves the interim director Joshua Kane waiting to speak with him. Kane says that he always wanted to be named the bunker's director, but that he certainly wanted it to be under less bizarre circumstances. Goodrich was a mentor to him, even like a father, and that he would never want to hurt him. Kane then confides in Thane that he is secretly afraid to be the new Director and asks Thane how he should protect himself if the killer comes after him now that he's director. Thane tells him to simply keep an eye out for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary and tells Kane that he can be on his way. As Kane leaves the cafeteria, Devine is walking by. Devine jokes that there's no way Kane could be the killer. Thane asks why he says that, and Devine says that Kane is too much of a wimp to pull off such an aggressive feat. Thane watches as Kane walks down the corridor away from the cafeteria, stopping at every door to make sure nobody is about to attack him. After seeing that, Thane tells Devine that he agrees with his assessment.
Thane heads back to his bunker room where he is greeted in sign by his wife, Naomi (Ruth Wilson). Naomi is deaf and only communicates in sign language. She asks if he is ok and if he is coping with the investigation. Signing back Thane asks what she thinks of what he is doing. He asks for the truth. She tells him that she believes Thane is in over his head and isn’t sure if he is capable of solving this murder, however she signs that he needs to try and solve this. He tells her that he is tired and needs to rest she tries to give him a kiss but he is to stressed and walks straight past her, lying in bed and going to sleep.
Thane wakes up and without second thing gets changed and heads straight off to his office. At the door he hears a ruckus, he slightly opens the door even more and is shocked to see Miriam, Goodrich’s daughter there. He questions her and she says that she was only looking through the evidence just wanting to find something about her father. She wants to know who the killer was, she wants them brought to justice. Thane reiterates that he is sorry for the loss but that going through the evidence will only slow down the investigation. She apologizes as Thane tells her that she needs to hurry back to her mother.
Later on Thane is searching through other security camera footage from the day of the murder. He discovers a video of Miriam and Nero talking with each other, however there is no audio. He decides to take it back to his wife for translation.
Naomi and Thane watch the footage over and over again. Naomi begins her best translation by just reading the lips, she deciphers that Nero was telling Miriam that her father, The Director, doesn’t care that the life support systems are dying and asks Miriam to try to talk to him about it. Nero says that he already talked to Claudia about it but she refused to believe him. Miriam asks why she should believe Nero when her mother wouldn't. Nero tells her to talk to Weiss if she doesn't believe him - she knows that the systems are slowly dying as well from the poor food production.
Thane goes off straight away and calls in Weiss and Nero to his office. He interrogates the both of them together regarding their knowledge of the possible life support issues. Weiss pretends not to anything and doesn’t move a muscle. Nero however gets heated, and starts venting about how he has told everyone about the lack of power in the Bunker, however they all brushed him off, even the new director Joshua Kane. Thane is shocked at this but doesn’t 100% believe Nero. He sends the two off and continues his walk.
As Thane is walking around the bunker he comes upon the server room that stores all of the security footage. As he gets closer he sees a figure running out the door. He demands that they stop however the suspect keeps running. Thane gives chase but the person slips into a ventilation shaft and escapes.
At a loss in his investigation, Andrew Thane decides to revisit Goodrich's office again to see if he missed anything his first time around. He looks around the office, but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. Thane takes a seat in the late Director's chair and puts his head down on Goodrich's desk. Thane starts looking through the desk drawers and discovers that the key to the bunker's evacuation elevator is missing. It's his first break in the case in a while, so he decides to go tell his wife the good news.
When Thane enters his residence he finds Naomi and Nero having sex. Thane is furious and throws a lamp at the wall, shattering it to pieces above the bed Naomi and Nero are sharing. Nero jumps out of the bed and begins apologizing. Naomi chastises Thane for never being able to get her pregnant. If he could get the job done, she wouldn't have needed to look elsewhere for companionship. Thane leaves the residence without saying another word.
Thane goes to see Joshua Kane to see if he knows about the missing evacuation elevator key. Kane tells Thane that he had no idea that the key was missing yet since he hasn't really had much of a chance to settle into the director's office yet. Kane asks Thane why someone would steal the key, and Thane mentions that Miriam said she had mentioned the failing life support systems to Kane and her father. Kane tells Thane that this is news to him as he has never had such a conversation with Director Goodrich or his daughter Miriam.
Realizing Miriam was lying to him, Thane heads over to the Goodrich residence. He walks in and begins a search for the keys. Claudia tries to protest, but Thane tells her that if she interferes with his investigation that he arrest her. Thane makes his way into Miriam's room, which he aggressively searches. Finally, Thane finds the missing security tapes in a dresser.
Back at the security office, Thane watches the found security footage of Goodrich's office. He fast-forwards through the footage until he comes upon a struggle between Miriam and her father in the office. Miriam is seen trying to get something out of the desk, probably the evacuation elevator key, but Director Goodrich is blocking her path. The two begin shoving, and Goodrich is knocked back, hitting his head on a corner of the desk, killing him.
Thane heads to the evacuation elevator where he finds Miriam about to start the elevator to try to go to the surface. She tells him that her father refused to listen to any warnings about the bunker's life support systems and that she tried to get him to commission an expedition to the surface to see if it could support life again. He told her that he would never allow such an expedition under his directorial duty. His job was to keep people safe in the bunker, not risk contamination by sending people above ground. Miriam explains to Thane that she tried to get the elevator key, but her father physically stopped her. In the struggle, Goodrich accidentally hit his head, killing him. She breaks down crying, saying she never wanted her father to die. She just wanted him to listen and think about the future, not just the present. After weighing his options, Thane handcuffs Miriam to a pipe. She asks him what he's doing, but he doesn't answer. Thane simply tosses the key to the handcuffs across the room from Miriam. Thane then uses the key to power the evacuation elevator. Thane turns to Miriam and tells her that someone should be along for her shortly, but his life in the bunker is over. Thane then steps into the elevator and presses the button. Thane begins to sweat as the evacuation elevator creaks toward the surface. The elevator stops at the top. Thane takes a deep breath as the elevator doors open. He shields his eyes from the blinding light and steps out into the unknown.
No comments:
Post a Comment