The Purge S02E09 Review: Hail Mary – It begins!By Salome G| December 11, 2019 TV Blogs As I’ve mentioned before, I had a lot of issues with Marcus’s storyline. Okay, I had one big issue, in that I couldn’t buy that his neighbors would go all in like that. Be aggrieved on Clint’s behalf? Sure. But turn murderous? Nah. Look, I’m sure Saint Maisy was a lovely, lovely woman. But when it’s for real, when the blood starts pouring, people change their minds. And that’s exactly what happens. Although the Moores’ home seems awfully permeable, it’s deceptively so. Having had the time and the motivation, Marcus and Michelle have given themselves an advantage. Well, they’ve turned their door into a kind of guillotine and that works just as well as anything. It’s enough to snare Sam. With that, they have a bargaining chip and they trade Sam for Clint. It looks like this is where the neighbors started to turn, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their hearts weren’t in it at the start. It’s just so much to ask for a woman whose death wasn’t malicious or even negligence, as far as we know. But whatever their reasoning, they give up Clint. Marcus tries to reason with him, and it seems like he gets somewhere, but Clint is beyond reason. I don’t entirely blame him–he can’t help how he feels. But he could take responsibility for it. I think that he doesn’t, though, because it hurts too bad. Blaming Marcus gives him a purpose and distracts him from the grief and the emptiness. And hurting Marcus, in Clint’s mind, would make him understand. The easiest way to hurt Marcus, the most poetic way, would be to take Michelle. He succeeds only in wounding her, but that seems to be the final piece to break the spell over the rest of the neighbors. Of course, they could always change their minds next week. Because if the NFFA has succeeded in anything, it’s in making this an uncertain world. You think you can plan for all the eventualities, but something can always come up. This is, after all, a world in which children are told from early on, as we’re shown at the beginning of the episode, how beneficial this one day is. Add in some incentives and it gets even crazier. That is to say, we always knew that Esme’s plan would go wildly off the rails once that bounty was announced. Especially since she decides not to wear that blonde wig you all love, and thus, is very recognizable. That is to say more specifically, some guy recognizes her immediately after she makes it to the NFFA surveillance center. She makes it inside to do exactly whatever it is she has planned, but…so does he. Meanwhile, Ryan, Sara, and Doug are headed to one of those creepy NFFA Purge-night events. Unlike the party we attended last year, this is kind of like a fox hunt, except the rich folks are hunting prisoners, like Tommy. Infiltrating it is actually a pretty ingenious plan and Ryan, etc. would have gotten away with it if hadn’t been for Silas Barker. Remember when they tried to slip a jammer into a random rich couple’s safe? Yeah, that guy. When he sees Ryan, he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence, so he and his partner go after the crew. Unfortunately for Ryan, he finds out that Silas’s partner was his brother after he shoots him. It would be funny if it weren’t for all the murder. So Silas, believing that Ryan is after him–and why wouldn’t he?–tranqs him and then buries him alive. Sara and Doug have gotten to Tommy at this point, though, and he’s able to find Ryan before it’s too late. Now it’s onto part I-don’t-even-know-what of their heist–they’re gon’ get the money back. I mean, I guess. Back at the frat house, I was wrong about Ben’s plan. Although it would have been neat symmetry to take Turner to the bridge, I was right about the head-shaving. Ben is too far gone for meaning. He just wants to spill blood or make others do it. So he forces Turner to kill another of their frat brothers. Turner manages to escape later, though, and in his pursuit, Ben is found by a group of God mask-wearing weirdos. Look what you’ve made. Unsurprisingly, the kind of people attracted to that image are not the chillest folks around. Ben gets away from them, but only so Marcus can plow him down. And now Marcus, on his way to a triage center with Michelle, Tonya, and Andre, has a viper in his truck. 7/10 – Although it may be funny, since last season covered one night over 10 episodes, I’m not sure I like having Purge night this season stretched over 2. It just felt like some scenes went on too long and the pacing was a little off. And next week, Ethan Hawke returns to the Purge Cinematic Universe!
