'Beyond' Recap: 'Out of Darkness'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

Behind every great hero, stands a destructive and terrifying villain. These are the men and women that press our hero into service and make them stand tall for all that is right in the world. Sometimes, they are easy to spot in a story, especially when they make their presence known to all early on in the tale, and other times...they are extremely hard to spot as they work from the shadows, pulling all the strings necessary to give their evil plan the life it so deserves and for a long time...it truly seemed as though the Man in the Yellow Jacket was the true villain of Beyond. 

​Sure he answers to other people, but the fact that he was just around the corner from Holden's family, has his fingers in just about every aspect of Holden's life and has hunted him to the ends of the earth to capture him, he truly seemed like the greatest challenge Holden would ever face. It turns out that I was completely and utterly wrong about everything. Yellow Jacket was nothing more than a pawn and the muscle to bring in Holden and reveal to him and all of us the true monster of the story; Issac Frost. It's a name we know, it's a face we've seen and it's no secret that he's the head of Hollow Sky and obsessed with the Afterlife and reaching it in order to give peace to those who have lost loved ones and cannot recover from said loss, but last night's episode 'Out of Darkness', gave us some grand insight into Frost, his pain and how that ache in his heart has driven him to become one cold, calculated monster.

Granted the episode started off showing him to be nothing of the sort since he was so gracious to Holden. He cooked him breakfast, allowed him to roam the house of his own free will and even offered our hero a fine deal; hear his pitch, nothing more and if Holden wasn't interesting in helping him out, the Matthews family would never hear from him again and to top if all off...he made one hell of a pitch. He showed Holden the kind of pain people at Hollow Sky were going through, how much they needed some kind of support or direction in their lives and what it would mean to them to finally know that they see or speak to their loved ones once again. But despite the sales pitch and the kindness, Holden couldn't let go of the fact that Hollow Sky had come for him and his family and declined the offer and well...that's when Frost revealed his true colors.

He made it quite clear that one way or another, Holden was going to help him reach the Realm and the place where we go when our time on earth has expired, going so far as to drug Holden so he cannot use his powers and lock him up until he could figure how to properly persuade him and unfortunately for Holden, a rescue party consisting of his brother, Jeff and Willa...were discovered on the property's perimeter while Jeff was looking for a way in, giving Frost exactly what he needed to convince Holden to join him in his quest. So here we are, Willa is already back in the Realm. Frost knows he has Holden exactly where he wants him and one way or another...we are headed back in for the season one finale of this fantastic show.

A day after watching this episode however, I am still chilled to the core when it comes to Frost. It's rare to see such an apathetic villain pop up on television and what makes him so chilling is the fact that this man cares about nothing outside of seeing his beloved Celeste one more time, and the moment when he and Willa finally meet, where he accuses her of being responsible for Celeste's death is downright heartbreaking as well. Not to mention, he's totally okay with using her for bait to get Holden back into the Realm. Either way, what a stunning penultimate episode, and I love the fact that it set everything up for the finale in subtle and wicked fashion and I am hoping that Holden finds a way to defeat Frost come next week because truly...he's an outright mad man that must be stopped at all costs. Until next time.

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