In the swamp, the transformed Alec Holland crawls out of the water. A police car pulls up nearby and the "Swamp Thing" moves off into the trees rather than be seen.
Abby leads the search for Alec, telling Matt that Alec has to be alive. Swamp Thing watches from the shadows as Sheriff Lucilia Cable arrives. Matt figures that they won't find any remains given the explosion, and suggests a spark from the engine ignited the fuel tank. Abby disagrees, and Lucilia sees her. The CDC doctor says Alec was investigating illegal dumping, and Lucilia tells him that all kinds of things happen in the swamp. Abby says that they have to warn their people, insisting that it was like a man. Matt suggests that it was a bear, but Lucilia is skeptical. She tells Abby to go home and the doctor irritably walks off.
Swamp Thing walks away and then collapses.
In the hospital, Susie wakes up as her vitals spike.
Swamp Thing sees his transformed hand and his face reflected in the water.
Susie twists and stares at her hand in shock.
Swamp Thing stares at his hands in shock and tears off the plant material.
Susie yanks off the monitor and clutches at her head.
Swamp Thing clutches at his head and rips off the plant material.
A doctor runs in to check on Susie as she twists in pain.
Swamp Thing realizes that the plants are part of him and screams in anguish as his body regrows.
Abby goes to Liz's place and they talk out on the dock by the fire pit. Liz has heard from the police scanner about the explosion, and says that Alec seemed like a good guy. Abby tells her friend that she liked Alec.
Harlan checks on Susie and asks about her nightmare. The girl tells him that it wasn't a nightmare and "the man in the dark" doesn't understand what is happening to him and she needs to go to him. Harlan figures that it's a dream and tells her to get some sleep. Once he leaves, Susie looks at the branches of a tree bumping against the window.
Swamp Thing collapses in the water, the vines on his body growing around him.
The next day at the Sutherland manor, Avery wakes up and discovers that Maria isn't next to him. He gets up and finds his wife asleep on their dead daughter's bead in her old room. Maria tells him that when Shawna was a little girl, sometimes she would lay down next to her just to hear her breath. She tells Avery that he wasn't around and didn't know her like she did, and Avery says that he lost their daughter as well and leaves.
Abby is sleeping in Liz's guest house, and wakes up when her phone rings. She dreams of a corpse grabbing her hand and calling her name, and wakes up. It's Harlan calling, who tells her that Susie's vitals spiked but they're on it. He also reports that they have two new cases of the same outbreak, and Abby realizes that it isn't stopping. She gets dressed and goes to the kitchen, and finds Liz's lover Margaux there. They introduce themselves and Liz comes in and kisses Margaux goodbye as she goes to work on her shrimp boat. Abby asks Liz if she thinks Alec's boat blowing up was an accident, and Liz admits that she doesn't like the timing. The doctor explains that Alec was tracking the progress of the disease and thought he was onto something, and two new cases come in. Abby figures that she needs to look through Alec's work at his lab, and Liz warns that the police have sealed the lab. Her friend suggests that Avery could give her access since he hired Alec, and Liz is shocked that Abby would go to the Sutherlands after what they did to her. Abby insists that she'll be fine and leaves.
Abby drives to the manor and the housekeeper, Nadine, greets her at the door. Nadine takes Abby to the sitting room, which is decorated with photos of Shawna. Avery comes in and hugs Abby, saying it's been 14 years since he last saw her. Abby says that she's there in her professional capability, and Avery tells her that he knew since they took her in that she would do great things. He has her sit down and apologizes, saying that he should have made it clear he didn't blame her for Shawna's death. Avery admits that he doesn't blame Abby for leaving to avoid Maria's anger, but couldn't bear to fight with his wife. He says that he should have done better by Abby, and says that they'll get through the emotions that Maria is feeling.
Abby figures that she stirred up all of the emotions by coming back, and asks Avery to grant her access to Alec's lab. Avery refuses, saying that it has proprietary information and doesn't think that there's anything there that would help solve the case. Abby suggests that she could get a court order but by then, the proprietary information would be gone. Avery assures her that he'll still love her regardless and she'll be welcome in the house. Unimpressed, Abby leaves.
Maria goes Delroy's to ask Xanadu for her help with the pain. Xanadu tells her to let the death of Shawna rest, but Maria insists that she can't. The fortuneteller has Maria sit and "reads" her. She gets a flash of Shawn's animated corpse and collapses in shock, screaming in pain. A force knocks Maria back against the door, shattering the glass, and Xanadu crawls to her and says that there's been a shift in the balance of the light and dark. Something is out there and she touched it. She tells Maria to let it go and let Shawna rest, and Maria says that she can't.
Harlan discovers that Susie is gone out the window.
Abby and Liz drive to the video store where Alec rented a room out in the back, and meet the owner Danny Cassidy. Danny is an actor with one major movie role, "Blue Devil", to his name. Danny says that the police came by an hour ago, and Sutherland took Alec's back when they fired him. Garou is there, and Danny says that Alec made video logs on the laptop he borrowed from him.
Abby goes upstairs to play the video logs. Alec did a video of the day he was fired, but still went out in the swamp to prove what he was looking for. Another video has Alec reporting that someone is dumping the plant accelerant out in the swamp, and if he finds the boxes then they might be able to stop it. Alec talks about working with Abby, saying that she's very smart and very driven. He admits that she's quite lovely, and shuts the camera off as he finds something. Liz comes up to see how Abby is doing, and Harlan texts to tell Abby that Susie is missing.
Jason Woodrue and his wife Caroline arrive at the manor, Alec there as Alec's replacement and Avery called him saying that there's an "emergency" after Avery funded him to develop the accelerant. Caroline advises her husband not to insult Avery. Nadine directs them to where Avery is working on his golf swing. The couple go around and Jason tends to an ailing tree. He then comes over and introduces himself to Avery, insisting that Caroline is a doctor and she stays with him. Avery then demands an explanation, saying that Jason told him the accelerant would cause plants to grow and produce more product that Sutherland could develop. Jason notes that the accelerant works, and Avery points out that they sick people. The scientist insists that his accelerant isn't responsible for that, and disease emerge from swamps all the time. He agrees to look into it, and Avery tells him to fix it because the CDC is in town saying that it's a new disease. Avery warns that if his name is linked to the accelerant than unpleasant things will happen and he'll make sure they happen to all three of them.
Abby meets Matt at the hospital and tells him what happened, and warns that Susie's condition will worsen if they don't find her. As night falls, they get called to the docks where a fisherman, Conyer, tells them that he found a bloody cloth and figures that Susie ripped her clothing on a nail. Conyer says that the game warden, Robitelle, docks there and took a boat out a few minutes ago heading to Skeeter Cove. Abby notes that's where found the fishermen's boat and Susie went out there.
Susie hides on Robitelle's boat as it goes to the cove. Robitelle hears a report on the radio about Susie, and sees another boat paralleling his. He calls it in but figures that it's locals hunting alligator, and goes over to get a better look. Two men are in a boat pulling up a box out of the water. Robitelle turns on his lights and realizes that one of them is a local, Landreaux. Landreaux says that they were just heading in, but Robitelle tells him that he has to check him out. The game warden comes aboard and sees the box, and the other man Munson kills him with a boating gaff. Munson warns Landreaux that if the law gets their hands on the box, Avery will kill them. Dying, Robitelle looks over and sees Susie.
Munson boards Robitelle's boat and tells Landreaux to pull up the rest of the boxes while he sinks Robitelle's boat. Landreaux hesitates and Munson yells at him to do it.
Swamp Thing emerges from the water.
Lucilia organizes a search for Susie and Robitelle's boat, and confirms that Matt is going out with Abby. She asks her son if Matt trusts himself, and warns that Abby will leave once the outbreak is over. Lucilia warns him that he's been nursing a flame for Abby for a long time, and she's a recipe for disaster. Abby calls Matt over, and he goes after Lucilia warns him to be careful.
As they head for Skeeter Cove, Matt wonders how much the CDC was involved in Abby coming back. He says that people get drawn back in, and Abby insists that she's only passing through. Matt admits that he had a crush on Abby in high school, and Abby says that she had no idea.
Munson pulls the gaff out of Robitelle's corpse and prepares to dump the body over the side. Susie crawls out of the space she's hiding and runs onto the dock and off into the swamp, and Munson sees her. He gets a machete from the toolbox and goes after her. Swamp Thing hears him calling to Susie and goes after him, while Susie hides under the wreckage of an old building.
Abby and Matt find Robitelle's boat and when they board it, Robitelle's body. He's still alive, and Matt sees Landreaux piloting his boat away. Abby tells Matt go after it while she stays with Robitelle, figuring Susie was there and might be on the boat.
Munson finds the ruined building.
Robitelle dies.
Munson goes up on the wreckage and then jams his machete down through the boards. Susie screams and Abby hears her, and follows the sound while radioing Matt to come back. Meanwhile, Susie swims out of the wreckage and sees Swamp Thing. Munson breaks in through a window and Susie climbs up into the building's rafters. As Munson climbs up and finds her, he hears something moving in the water below. Going back down, he finds Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing grabs him by the throat and Munson drives a knife into his shoulder. It has no effect, and Swamp Thing throws Munson into the water.
Susie comes over to the edge and watches as Swamp Thing's wounds heal. Munson comes at Swamp Thing with a knife, and Swamp Thing commands vines impale Munson from behind and then yank him out into the swamp. More vines grab Munson's limbs and tear him apart. Swamp Thing looks up at Susie, and the two of them stare at each other.
Abby finds Susie and sees Swamp Thing behind her, and motions to Susie to walk toward her. The girl hesitates and Abby comes over and carries her away. They leave as Swamp Thing watches, and come back to shore as Matt arrives. Matt turns on his light, and looks back to see that Swamp Thing is gone.
At the manor, Avery finds Maria sleeping in Shawna's bedroom. Once he leaves, Maria opens her eyes and looks over at Shawna's animated corpse, laying nearby.
Matt takes Abby and Susie back to Marais, and Abby asks the girl about Swamp Thing. Susie says that he told her that he doesn't know what is happening to him, and that he said his name is Alec.
Written by Gadfly on Jun 8, 2019