Colony - 2.11 Lost Boy - Review

Over the last few episodes Colony has been compiling a lot of juxtaposing stories about young adults sacrificing themselves for what they believe is a greater cause and considering the Bowmans' children have been a bit more central this season, it seems inevitable that these stories would be working some major turning point for the Bowmans through the actions of their oldest son, Bram.

The episode is also unique, as changes it's format. Viewers are shown a series of events centered around Bram's choice to join the Red Hands and partake on a mission that includes attacking the people that live in The Green Zone, but also done in nonlinear event order and through the points of views of many characters from Bram, Will, Katie, Maddie, Snyder, and Ambassador King, all to make the viewers question how far Bram was actually willing to go.

The actual event order starts out with Bram coming in late on a mighty and harrowing speech given by the Red Hand leader, Karen, who was also the former mother of Frankie. From there we learn Bram had been sneaking back and fourth between the bunker and meetings, which eventually Charlie tells Katie, and in which later Katie tries to console or reconcile with Bram.

But ultimately, Bram made a decision to act. He is partnered up with a young man named Patrick, and Patrick is man of few words. Viewers witness pairs of young Red Hands enter the Green Zone posing as repair workers, as each sets out to designated houses. Bram and Patrick enter the house of an Ambassador named King whom was just visiting the Block. 

Through King's and Snyder's viewpoints the viewers learn that Snyder was visiting members living in The Green Zone, including King, to help campaign support for Helena by politically getting others to turn on Alcala. Snyder just barely makes it out alive, as he was dropped off at another official's house, where after hearing sounds of gunfire and explosions, he makes a run for the woods and is later found by the Red Hats. As for King, his story in these events come off as more intense or tragic, as he was not only just visiting the block, but didn't know how to protect himself. He was able to get instructions from Homeland over the phone, leading him to be able to kill Patrick, but that didn't stop him from being murdered by Bram!

From there Bram tries to make an escape for it and is able to make it to his Aunt's house. Both Maddie and Bram lie about recent events involving Bram's parents, but this doesn't stop Maddie from trying to save Bram's life when he asks her to drive him out of the Green Zone. Maddie however gets stuck at checkpoint and also realizes from intensity of gunfire and government military personal running around that Bram severely lied to her, but yet can't bring herself to just turn Bram in. Using a tactic that Snyder would, Maddie insists that they can check with Nolan about Bram spending a day with his Aunt in the Green Zone, which works! But Maddie is furious, as her whole life is in jeopardy again should Nolan or other officials find out! The minute they're out of the Green Zone she yells at him and makes him get out of car!

After going back again to bunker, Bram finds himself being confronted by both his parents, admitting to some of what he has done. Katie is more understanding, knowing she's really not in a position to judge Bram, considering it's her actions to join Broussard at the beginning of season one has been a major factor towards the Bowmans spiral downward, but Will's reaction is furious, as he has never understood the philosophy of many resistance groups, especially those like the Red Hands, who nearly murdered them all just for trying to save Emmitt and seem to think that killing those they deem as alien collaborators, somehow solves problems of the human condition and justifies more innocence lost through collateral damage.

It's unclear how exactly this is going to play out, but the episode being so character driven towards Bram and his ability to finally kill another human being by his own hand surely feels like a bigger turning point, if not a swan song. On one hand it's easy to imagine that his actions have real world consequences, especially because he's betrayed something in himself that he may never be able to get back. On the other hand, unlike a lot of the other characters his age on this series, it's clear that Bram struggled to be his own person, as it really was his family that kept him from going down the roads others his age had and so, there is a tragedy in that his parents got so caught up in their survival, that they couldn't really be there for Bram or realize how traumatized he was from his experiences at the labor camp. His death would amplify that notion onto the Bowmans story, who have, in most respects, been lucky up until this point. I would also like to think that Bram's sense of loyalty is not completely diminished and perhaps, if the character is going to die, maybe he will do something helpful in relation to the gauntlet. Of course I could also imagine a plot where his family thinks he's dead, they're about ready to leave the block, only to catch a glimpse that he survived and viewers see a story in season three about how a boy becomes soldier and if that soldier can persevere and ever find his way home again? But Maybe, just maybe, this is all subterfuge and a red hearing to trick viewers from seeing what's coming? What do you think?