'Beyond' Recap: 'Fancy Meeting You Here'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Freeform's Beyond continues to amaze me. Every single time it appears to be heading into traditional superhero territory, or adopting a standard plot line, the show takes a sharp left and does the complete opposite of what the audience is expecting. It makes for fresh stories and fascinating character development and this week's episode has continued in that proud tradition since 'Fancy Meeting You Here' threw more surprises our way, and even provided a few answers along the way as well.  

But the answers we will get to in a moment, because the big surprise of the night, is that Holden is not the only one who emerged from a coma in fine shape and armed with newfound powers since last night we met Charlie, a tough as nails young woman who awoke from a four year slumber with the inherent ability to run incredible mathematic equations through her mind on a moment's notice, giving her quite the edge when it comes to anything that can make her money, and she's been on Hollow Sky's radar for some time now. While she's been able to avoid their advances with little issue, this time around she's listening to what they have to say since Tess makes a personal visit and impassioned plea to Charlie to help bring Holden in...because of the fact that Arthur is trying to contact him, and the mere mention of Arthur's name, seems to motivate Charlie to help Hollow Sky out. 

That matters because Arthur and what exactly his ties are to this whole coma mess are something we'e all been wondering for weeks and at last, the show decided to address it head on by way of Willa, who, curious after Holden made mention of 'others' finally made a move to uncover all the details about her grandfather, and she carefully watched his old video tapes chronicling his research on coma patients and how he firmly believed that in the comatose state, the brain traveled someplace else. But while it was neat to see that his visionary work was indeed truth, a troubling moment came about when a patient went into cardiac arrest on camera...and Arthur called out his colleague, Doctor Frost. So. Yeah. All this time Frost and Arthur have known each other, deepening the mystery as to what Hollow Sky wants with the research, while raising all kinds of questions about Arthur and Frost's relationship. But since that mystery will have to wait for another day, the show at least decided to answer why Arthur is so focused on Holden, because he needs his help.

Of course Holden didn't discover that until late in the episode, well after his umpteenth attempt to fit in with the rest of the regular world. This time around Holden took himself to college, spending time with his brother at the University to get a taste of adult life and try to rekindle things with Jamie as well. But the visions are still there and after a series of unfortunate events; another blast of the visions at karaoke, Jamie saying goodbye and oh yeah, getting hit by a car...the visions came in waves and at long last, Holden had a chunk of his memory restored and went to Willa's where he saw Arthur on the tapes...and asked to see him. Naturally Willa obliged and that's when it became clear that Holden had to return to the Realm using special gear to save Arthur, but another vision, one where Holden lost Willa, in that mysterious place was enough to prompt Holden to smash the gear in the hopes of never having to lose Willa, or return to the Realm ever again...

Perhaps what was most surprising about this episode, is the fact that Holden will do anything and everything to get away from his destiny, despite his belief in fate and that everything has a reason and his desire to stay away from his powers and his purpose comes from a simple line of logic that was revealed in this story...the fact that he feels he has absolutely nothing in this life. There's no job for him, he technically has no education. His family is a shell of its former self, and Holden simply feels lost and well...it's making this story quite the tragedy since he is ready to abandon something he doesn't understand in the slightest all in the hopes of having something to hold on to and in his eyes, that something is not a thing at all, it's Willa and he'll go to whatever lengths to protect her...and that may be his weakness and what finally brings out the power within him when others possibly choose to exploit said weakness. Either way, this was another fascinating episode and it should be interesting to see what kind of fallout comes from Holden's desperation come next week. Until then.

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