Krone needs some (TLC) Tender Loving Care!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Krone reads the letter given to her by Isabella, saying she’ll be reassigned as a mom at a plant that just got a new opening, so she’ll be leaving this location immediately. But while this seems to be exactly what she wanted, Krone is infuriated that Isabella is trying to get rid of her. So, once she leaves and meets Grandma, their superior, at the gate, she outs the children who know the secret and reveals the detail she uncovered relating to Ray…only to find out that Grandma already knows AND is not willing to let Krone interfere. And so, as she flashes back to childhood and training to become a mom, she is killed by one of the demons, begging for the kids to find out a way to stop Isabella’s plans by escaping.

Back at the house, the kids execute their next plan to inspect the wall, unaware of Krone’s departure. Ray intends to distract Isabella while Emma and Norman do the inspection and Don and Gilda play lookout. However, Isabella reveals her letting Krone go AND that she no longer needs Ray, having found out about his being a double agent. She then locks Ray in Krone’s former room and goes to confront Emma and Norman. Don frees Ray, but not in time to stop them from being caught. With their covers blown, the kids and Isabella talk straight for the very first time as she tries getting them to stop resisting, wanting them to enjoy their lives until the very end of their time there. Feeling that captivity isn’t worth dying for, Emma and Norman try to make a break for it, but Isabella breaks her leg to show that she will do anything to stop them. And lastly, she reveals that Norman will be shipped out tomorrow.

OUR TAKE

Oh, how the tables have turned. Not only does this remove Krone as both a threat and potential ally to the kids, it also splinters the core team by removing Norman, all as a massive power play by Isabella to show just how in control she’s been this whole time. As much as it’s been interesting to see how Emma and the rest have planned and tried to keep their schemes under the radar, we do need to remember that they are ultimately just kids trying to outwit adults who have been through everything they have and more. Whatever they could have imagined, Isabella has likely made contingencies for, including having to physically harm them in order keep them in line.

It’s through that gruesome-sounding leg break that we learn the true menace behind Isabella’s intentions, including why she’s been the greater threat compared to Krone. While Krone had no real love for the kids and was driven solely by her own desires for a mom position, Isabella is fully dedicated to keeping them put for their purpose of feeding the demons. Only the oldest kids are her special projects, smart and tasty meat that are only worthy of being eaten by (I assume) the highest level of demon. Not that she doesn’t care about their attempts to escape, in fact she seems to be almost PROUD of their intelligence, but she truly believes that their most beneficial fate is simply to accept how things are die happy living in total ignorance. Defeating her and escaping will require combating the very idea of this whole system, which is something they just aren’t equipped to handle right now.

And it looks like their lack of preparedness is going to cost them Norman, as next episode looks to be about the sheer hopelessness of his oncoming departure. When the show started, the threat of another child being taken to be dinner was always looming over them, so we couldn’t possibly go the rest of the season without at least one more to punctuate how everyone’s life is at risk. But unlike Conny, who was mainly defined as a cute girl to better punctuate how tragic and awful this system is, we could now be losing Norman, someone we’ve been following as an actual important character who was likely the most intelligent of the core three. Will Emma and Ray be able to prevent this? If not, how will they carry on? The answer to either or both of these questions next time.

Score 9/10