Debris S01E04: In Universe

© NBC

Finola is shook, and new debris powers are revealed
by Chuck Duncan

Guest Cast: Alexander Soto, Humberly González

This week's episode of Debris really put the focus on Finola as she grapples with the side effects of a newly revealed debris power and even more shocking news that shakes her faith in Bryan.

The main story centered on a farming community in Nebraska where all was well until the rain started. Oddly, the rain was falling on just one small location but it was having a serious effect on the people inside the shower -- once they stepped outside of the rain's perimeter, they died. This weather anomaly drew the attention of Bryan and Finola, and upon arrival they made a gruesome discovery: the rain was transforming the area inside the event to a chlorine-based atmosphere, and it was transforming any human inside the perimeter into chlorine-breathing beings. The result being they suffocated once they stepped outside into the normal oxygen atmosphere.

So how do they get the family and farm workers inside the rainfall outside safely? Things are complicated when the brother of the one dead man they found outside the rain shows up and wants to be with his family, including his brother's wife and kids who he vowed to take care of. But these debris events are still highly classified, so no matter how badly Finola wants to tell him the truth, she knows her hands are tied and is forced to have the man restrained while they figure out what to do with the people inside the rain area.

Donning environment suits, Bryan and Finola are able to enter and make contact with them, and locate the debris that is causing the event. The news only gets worse as the rain perimeter begins to expand, revealing that the debris seems to be terraforming the area, changing it into the atmospheric conditions of the alien ship's home planet. It is also causing strange plant growth in the area. But with the rain area growing, Bryan has no choice but to order the debris shut down even if doing so means the people inside the rain area will die. Finola is not okay with this, and remembers that there is another piece of debris found by a different team (so now we know the existence of multiple debris seekers) that puts people into a kind of suspended animation. If they use that piece to save the people inside the rain, they can keep them in that state until a way is found to reverse the damage done to them. But that could take years.

Bryan reluctantly agrees, and Finola goes off book and tells Efraim the truth about what's going on and what they are about to do. She releases him from the cuffs and he runs into the rain to be with his family, his lungs instantly transformed the minute he crosses the perimeter. The debris is rolled in and everyone lines up, but it's not clear if any of them aside from Efraim is aware of what is about to happen to them. The debris is activated and they are all encased in a glowing membrane, immobile but still alive. The whole event, the moral decision that Bryan was about to make, sacrificing everyone inside to save everyone outside, put a wedge between his and Finola's relationship.

And to make matters worse, Finola received a call from her boss at MI6 revealing that her father is still alive. And if that wasn't shocking enough, she throws Bryan under the bus and tells Finola that he has known this for sometime. So we can expect more tension not only between the two agents, but the two government agencies as well.

And what is up with Director Maddox? This week we got a short scene with him at home doing some kind of exercises with his son, who is in a wheelchair and doesn't speak, his upper body motor skills being tested as Maddox tosses a ball to his son. When his wife's cell phone rings, he sees it's an unknown caller and answers but there is no response on the other end. His wife walks in and lashes out at him for daring to pick up and answer her phone. Her emotional outburst puzzles her husband, but it also seems to have an effect on her son who witnesses the angry exchange. Now we're left with the question of Dario Maddox's condition -- was it caused by the debris? We'll have to wait to see what happens next.