At Outpost 3, Emily removes her dress and lights a candle in her room. She hears something moving and looks in the closet, and finds a snake inside. Emily screams and Tim runs in, and Miriam comes in as more snakes emerge from the closet. Miriam suggests that the snakes might have come in through the sewage and kills a snake, figuring that they have fresh protein.
Later at dinner, the servants serve snake soup. Dinah says that they should be grateful for what they have. Evie talks about her past, and Tim asks Wilhelmina who was in her office, pointing out that the alarms went off earlier. Wilhelmina says that all questions will be answered in due course and tells everyone to eat. Snakes slither out of the soup.
Later, Emily and Tim talk privately and Tim wonders how the snakes came back to life after they were chopped up and cooked. Emily is more interested in what Wilhelmina is hiding in her office. Miriam arrives and the two teenagers say that they were going to the library. The quickly join the others in the library. Michael comes in and introduces himself. He says that humanity is on the brink of failure. The other Cooperative outposts in the U.S. and overseas have been destroyed and the people massacred, and Michael says that the same fate will befall most of them. Michael explains about the failsafe sanctuary with special measures to prevent overrun. Miriam wonders why they weren't given the same measures, and Michael says that the answer is classified. Michael explains that he will use the Cooperative's technique, known as "Cooperating", to determine which of them are fit to enter the sanctuary.
Coco says that she's not going to sit for cooperating, and Michael explains that if they don't then they'll stay there and die. Gallant immediately offers to go first, and Michael offers anyone who stays suicide pills so they can die without pain. Once the staff leaves, Coco complains that gallant went first. She figures that Michael will pass up the older Evie. Gallant tells her to shut up, and Evie rambles on about how Natalie Wood told her that she's a survivor.
Michael meets with Gallant and says that he's not going to tell him the criteria they use to determine if Gallant should go to the sanctuary. He says that if Gallant tries to trick him then he'll know and Gallant will stay there. Michael asks what Gallant's sexual orientation is, and Gallant says that he's gay but can have sex if he needs to. He then tells Gallant to tell him about Evie, and Gallant admits that he hates her. Michael asks why and Gallant says that Evie wants him to be a eunuch and shamed him in the past. Michael knows what Evie did to Gallant, and asks Gallant to tell him what he really is. He explains that he doesn't believe in sin because they're rules to avoid chaos, and there is nothing but chaos again.
Gallant talks about the gay lunches that Eve threw and all of the gay guests hate Evie but pretended not to because they thought that they'd get her money if they married Gallant and she died.
Gallant comes in wearing biker clothing and turns on a radio. He puts on a gas mask and drinks bisque through a hope, and Evie tells him that he's pathetic.
Michael is apparently intrigued, and Gallant asks him if he's gay. He admits that the idea excites him and asks Michael what he's going to do about it, and Michael opens the door and says that they'll talk in the future. Gallant wonders if he got in but Michael says nothing.
In their quarters, Tim and Emily kiss. Emily says that one kiss a week is bullshit and she doesn't trust Michael, and they should sneak out and try to find the sanctuary. Tim points out that they don't know where Sanctuary is, and Emily suggests that they search Michael's room. She figures that they're smarter than her and they should prove it.
Gallant wakes up from a dream of Michael when a man comes in wearing a rubber gimp suit. Getting up, Gallant asks if it's phase two of the interview. Rubber Man grabs Gallant by the neck and kisses him, and Gallant says that he's his, body and soul.
Evie is walking down the hallway when she hears moaning. She goes to her grandson's chamber and peers in to see him having sex with Rubber Man. Gasping, Evie walks away, shocked, and goes to Miriam's quarters. She tells Miriam that and says that it could destroy Gallant's chances of going to Sanctuary but it will leave a chance for someone more deserving. Miriam asks her what Gallant did.
Emily and Tim go down the hallway and hide as Michael leaves his room and walks down the hall. They go in and find Michael's laptop, and discover that he sent an email to the Cooperative about Wilhelmina. it says that she has deviated from operating protocols and forbidden sexual contact. As they stare at the email, Rubber Man hangs from the ceiling.
Michael goes to Wilhelmina's room and says that she has a gift for making the ugly presentable. He says that he knows that she created her own rules and understands why, and Wilhelmina says that she received her orders via encrypted communique before the Apocalypse. Michael says that he drafted all of the directives, and Wilhelmina tells him that he would be humiliated to know a woman had more information than her. She says that it was men who blew the world to hell. Michael tells her that she's a fighter, and says that maybe some improvisation was needed. He informs Wilhelmina that she's the leader and needs to understand what's really going on. Michael explains that he came across a mother and two children on his way there, and they were contaminated by radiation. A child the mother was carrying was already died, and the mother begged them to kill her other child. Michael says that he didn't and asks who deserves a shot at salvation. He takes out a file about Coco, and Wilhelmina says that she's inbred, gallant is a homosexual, and Evie is a pustule who will not die. She admits that she doesn't know much about Dinah.
Michael says that there's no need for them to be adversaries and tells her to take off her dress. Wilhelmina refuses, and Michael says that part of her cooperation involves a physical examination. He wants to see the part of her that humiliates her the most, and warns that she won't get a second chance. Michael then unzips her dress and reveals her spinal bifida. He asks if it brings her great pain, and Wilhelmina says that it does. She asks if it's part of her test, and Michael says that everything is. Wilhelmina wonders if she passes, and Michael says that she doesn't.
Miriam knocks at the door and then says that she needs Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina bids Michael good evening and walks out. Miriam closes the door behind her, goes with Wilhelmina, and helps zip up her dress. She tells Wilhelmina that she couldn't identify the name of Rubber Man, and Wilhelmina figures that Michael and Gallant know each other. Wilhelmina suggests that the two of them are plotting something.
Later, Wilhelmina has Gallant brought to him. She strings him up and asks how long Gallant has known Michael. Miriam whips him when he says that he hasn't, and Gallant shouts the name of a 70s gay radical every time the whip hits. He insists that their names give him strength, and Wilhelmina tells Miriam to stop because Gallant is enjoying it.
Gallant hangs in the dungeon, and Michael comes in and talks about of how they'll never be free of the desire to be cruel to their fellow men. When Gallant says that he would never have ratted Michael out as Rubber Man, Michael says that he's never been in his room. He tells Gallant that he's too needy and desperate, and dismisses him as pathetic. Michael says that Evie reported Gallant to Miriam, and she would do anything to increase her slim odds of leaving. He suggests that Gallant go to talk to Evie himself, walks out, and releases Gallant.
In the library, Dinah is listening to the music on the loudspeakers. Evie and Coco are there, and Dinah talks about The Hardy Boys and her crush on Shaun Cassidy. Coco is bored and dismisses Coco and Evie as geriatrics. Mallory joins in with her and they talk about all of the options their generation has.
Gallant walks in and pours himself a drink, and asks Evie if she's surprised to see him alive. Evie says that she wants to live and she had to get rid of everyone else. Gallant shouts that she hasn't lived and he hasn't, and Evie tells him that he's screwed up his entire life and she had to clean up after him every time. She insists that she's the bridge between the past and the future, and she'll be there to tell the survivors about the past. Gallant says that all he wanted was for Evie to love and accept him. Evie tells him that it's not in her nature and walks away.
Back in their quarters, Tim wonders what else the Cooperative has lied to them about. They kiss and fall back on the bed. Rubber Man watches them from the shadows.
Gallant sits alone and the music on the loudspeaker switches. Rubber Man appears in the hallway and gallant goes after him. He hears a door close and opens it, and finds himself in a bedroom. Rubber Man is standing in the shadows and approaches him.
Wilhelmina and Miriam find Tim and Emily sleeping together. They yank them awake and drag them out.
Gallant reaches for Rubber Man's mask, but Rubber Man stops him. The former hairdresser shoves Rubber Man on the bed and then grabs a pair of scissors and stabs him. Michael comes in and Gallant looks down and realizes that he's killed Evie.
Wilhelmina tells Tim and Emily that she's disappointed, and Emily says that they know Wilhelmina has been making the rules up. Emily says that Wilhelmina is sick, and Wilhelmina's servant slaps her. Wilhelmina says that the world is strewn with the corpses of seven billion people, and has her servants drags them to the lower levels. Miriam goes with them. They're taken to a chamber and Wilhelmina's servant prepares to shoot them. Tim grabs a gun and shoos Miriam in the side, and she staggers out as the servant knocks him out.
In the hallway, Miriam looks at the wiring in the wound and sobs in shock.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 20, 2018