This episode is the third part of the three part introduction to the series. We’re done with the night of the Pride ritual, and it’s time to cope with the morning after.
The episode begins with a flashback to ten years ago, when everyone attended the funeral of Molly’s parents, who died in a house fire. The entire Pride, and their children, are there. Little four year old Molly sits alone in a tiny wheel chair with a pink cast on her right leg. She’s next to the Yorkes, who look devastated. The entire Pride has the grace to display varying levels of sadness, except for Tina, who looks like the funeral is making her miss another board meeting. The distaste and impatience on her face are palpable.
After the funeral, everyone gathers together for food and memories. Tina conspicuously pulls her sleeve down to cover the thick bandages on her right hand and arm. Geoffrey confronts Robert about Pride members potentially murdering each other, but Robert insists it was a cooking accident. He implies that he didn’t see the cooking accident, saying he’d know if she’d done something to the Hernandez.
Janet and Catherine, who both look more relaxed and human than they do in the present, are nonetheless grateful that it wasn’t their families, since it easily could have been. Stacy and Dale are terrified that the rest of the Pride will find out that they visited the Hernandez hours before the fire, and think that they know something.
Stacy and Dale sit down with little Molly, the most adorable child ever, and ask her if she wants to live with them. Dale holds out his hand, and Molly puts her hand in his.
Flash forward to the present day. Molly is frantically searching for her lost cat pin. It’s special, because it’s one of the few things that she has from her mother. She becomes anxious, her eyes glow, and she accidentally sends her drawer flying across the bedroom.
Gert comes in to check on her. Molly starts to tell Gert about her new power again, but Gert cuts Molly off, assuming she’s talking about panic attacks. Gert’s so sweet about the panic attacks that Molly lets the subject go. The two are as devoted to each other as any biological sisters could be.
The kids all meet at the beach. Karolina got a message from Destiny saying she’s on a church trip to London. She sent a photo that could easily have been photoshopped. Most of the kids don’t see it as enough proof that Destiny’s still alive. They decide to split up into groups and investigate various leads.
Molly suggests that they investigate the monster in her basement, but is shot down. No one else has seen it, and they aren’t ready to deal with a second crisis yet.
Victor, who’s been up all night in his lab, is hallucinating Destiny begging him to let her go. Janet interrupts to collect him for an important charity auction.
She suggests that maybe the problem the night before was with him and not the box, then steels herself for his reaction. They both stand there for a second, waiting to see how he’ll respond. He’s harsh and disparaging, but not violent, or loud/insulting in the extreme, so it’s probably a behavior improvement for him.
Robert and Tina throw Stacy and Dale a surprise party in their lab to celebrate the completion of their Synnergy serum, which suppresses memories. It’s expected to be useful in treating trauma victims, among others. Tina and Robert expect to make buckets of money from it. Stacy and Dale would also like to make it available to the government, for returning veterans. LOLs. Like Tina will let that happen.
Tina bullies Robert into going out on a date that night. He wants to bring Nico, but Nico wants to stay home. It’s the perfect time for her to investigate her mother’s staff and office, which is her assignment from the beach meeting.
Chase and Gert focus on their assignment, seeing if Victor still has Destiny’s body. They explore the lab. Gert tries out Victor’s Xray goggles, which are his own invention. They find the black box and can’t get it open, but Gert can see that it’s empty. Gert wants to follow Molly’s suggestion next, and check out her family’s basement. Destiny could be Stacy and Dale’s latest lab rat. They can use the goggles and view the basement from outside.
Geoffrey and Catherine discuss how to handle their Molly situation. They can’t be sure whether the cat pin means that she saw the secret passage door open or not. Catherine decides to interrogate her, then make her forget using the Yorkes’ memory serum. Geoffrey objects, saying that the serum is too dangerous too use on a young girl. Frank Dean has never been the same since they used it on him. (Alarm bells ringing now.)
Catherine finds Molly at the coffee shop. She gives Molly the pin, shows some very fake sympathy, and asks how it got into the study. Molly tells Catherine that she’s having woman problems, and goes to have more woman problems in the bathroom. It gives Allegra Acosta a chance to show her physical comedy chops, as she uses her powers to find a way to escape the bathroom, then falls asleep against a dumpster. Hopefully Molly can build up her stamina soon.
Catherine finds her passed out by the dumpster and puts her in the car. When Molly wakes up, Catherine questions her. Molly tells Catherine that the older kids made her go searching for liquor. Then she pulls out the “poor orphan who barely remembers her parents” card, and successfully distracts Catherine.
Alex opens the secret passageway door as he calls his dad. It turns out his dad is unexpectedly in the house. Alex can’t get the doors to close again, so he runs to the other side of the vast house to meet Geoffrey. By the time they get back to the study, the doors have closed on their own.
Nico tries to open the glass case that houses the staff, but can’t. She searches the room for a switch. The door opens when she tries to open the bottom drawer in her mother’s desk. Nico takes out the staff. It lights up and extends when she holds it with two hands.
She uses the staff to open the stuck drawer. Amy’s diary is inside. Nico takes out and admires a cut paper snowflake. Snow begins to fall from the ceiling.
At dinner, Tina feeds Robert and tells him that she’s missed being alone with him. He doesn’t respond. Then she gives him her underwear and tells him she’s booked a hotel room. He’s disgusted with her. She’s shut him out for two years and now she wants to act like it didn’t happen. He leaves the restaurant, alone.
Karolina calls Destiny, but gets no answer. She wanders the administrative section of the church, looking for evidence of Destiny’s whereabouts. Vaughn, who seems to be the 24/7 watchdog for that part of the church, comes out to see what she’s up to. He’s much nicer to her than he was to Frank, but he’s still clearly making sure she stays within her bounds. Karolina doesn’t notice it, though.
He has a bit of a crush on her. They talk about their bracelets. He doesn’t sparkle and glow when he takes his off. Karolina really had a very sheltered childhood if she thinks that could be normal. They consider her grandfather’s mural of a girl with glowing colors flowing from her arms. Vaughn suggests that granddad maybe did some peyote when he was younger. Karolina ignores the comment, because she’s realized that this is a painting of her.
Alex has come over to rescue Nico from the snow in her mother’s office. It’s turned into the Soeceror’s Apprentice, with an indoor snowstorm that Nico can’t stop. Alex tries to come up with a scientific explanation, but Nico thinks the staff is magic, and is creating the snow. Alex asks to examine the staff. It gives him an electrical shock, and the staff turns off. The snow stops at the same time.
The house’s AI tells them that Tina is on her way home. Time to clean up the snow! The AI helpfully gives them a countdown to better induce panic. They finish just in time, and run to Nico’s room. Needing a quick diversion, Nico pulls her shirt off and climbs on top of Alex. Tina finds them on the bed that way, and gets nasty. She throws Alex out.
As Alex leaves, he kisses Tina goodbye. She says that she was faking in the bedroom, but she smiles as she walks back into the house. Seriously Nico. You had a room full of stuff to do. Pretending to go to second base wouldn’t be the first thing on most people’s minds.
Dale and Stacy discuss their secret plan to move to the Yucatan with the girls and the dinosaur as they get food from a food truck for themselves and the dinosaur. They’re looking forward to getting out from under Tina as a boss and the Pride’s hurtful business.
Robert and Janet stumble into a small apartment, making out and on their way to having sex. After, Janet asks whose apartment it is. Robert says that he rented it for them. The Pride won’t matter much longer, then they can leave their spouses and live together here. Janet says that she needs time to process, and gets out of bed.
Chase and Gert investigate the basement. They don’t see anything unusual, except for the outer door to the pet room that’s ripped off it’s hinges, and the heavy, locked inner door with the giant warning sign. Of course they open that door right up. The dinosaur rushes out, but stops to look at Gert. Gert hyperventilates. Chase holds her as she calms down. The dinosaur stands still and watches, until they hear a car in the driveway. Then the dinosaur runs away.
Leslie sits with the old man, who isn’t responding the way he normally does after a sacrifice. She leaves the room, where Vaughn asks her if Destiny is on the church trip. Before she can answer, Tina calls and tells her to turn on the local news. Destiny’s body has washed up on shore. Leslie understands why the old man isn’t responding. They’ll need another sacrifice.
The Yorkes don’t seem to have the same potential for evil as the rest of the couples, since they’re so empathetic, but they joined the Pride. It’s going to be tough to see their evil deeds revealed, whatever they are, if it’s more than developing the serum.
The kids discuss various reasons for their parents’ strange behavior: they’re serial killers, it was a ritual killing, they were LARPing (live action role play), they’re furries (this one’s a little confused, since no one put on a furry animal costume). The lines between who thinks the parents are innocent and who believes they’re evil are firmly drawn according to the kids’ relationships with their parents: Nico, Chase- evil; Karolina, Gert- innocent; Alex- on the fence; Molly- more worried about the dinosaur and her new powers.
They mention that serial killers don’t have empathy. Just including that suggests that someone *cough*Tina*cough* is killing more frequently than necessary. She’s probably keeping Amy’s room intact for a reason other than grief.
You have to wonder how often Tina’s used the experimental versions of the Synnergy serum on family members, especially Robert. It’s the one thing that’s made her look happy. She seems to have some kind of feeling for Robert, possibly just possessiveness, and none for Nico, other than possibly competitivness over Robert.
Catherine also has very little empathy. It takes a lot to get her to engage. It seems like her emotions are learned reactions rather than instinctual feelings. They’ve already shown us that she’ll do whatever’s necessary to whoever, even if it’s someone she supposedly cares about.
I wonder what Frank saw that he shouldn’t have seen. Karolina without her bracelet? The old man? The Pride during a ritual? Tampering with his memory probably ruined his acting career.
Karolina may also have had her memory altered, since she can’t remember ever taking her bracelet off, yet the painting suggests that she used to use her powers.
Metawitches 
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