Mikes Film Talk

‘Hunters’ this week finally reveals why, albeit in a very eclectic manner, Flynn was chosen by alien Abby.  After finding what he believes to be the dead body of Abby in the freezer last week, Carroll learns from Emme that Abby is alive. The FBI agent tracks down his wife with the aid of Emme and it seems these aliens use a sort of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers‘ technology sans the pods. It appears that the creatures have to assimilate human tissue in order to appear human.

Regan (Britne Oldford) talks about the events from last week where McCarthy killed the baby Hunter. She is furious that the infant was murdered and her stress levels are such that she uses her treatment machine (the one used to torture McCarthy) to ease her pain. 

Emme (Shannon Berry) reveals that she met with Abby (Laura Gordon) when she was missing and she helps Flynn to find her. He remembers how he met Abby, in a bar, and later she tells him what really happened on that night.  The real Abby was dead before the Hunter version moved in on Flynn. 

He calls in to the ETU reporting that he has spotted another Hunter. As the organization move in, Regan (who is still affected from her unauthorized self treatment) gets shot.  Abby gets the drop on Carroll and later the two fight. He gets control of the gun and shoots it by her ear, incapacitating the alien.

Flynn interrogates Abby and demands to know why she killed the real Abby and why he was chosen. The reply is puzzling:

Abby: “Because you lived when you should have died.”

As he continues to demand the truth about his partner and the real Abby, Feelers turn up teaching for them both. She tells him to shoot her in the chest, saying it will hurt but she will survive. Flynn refuses until Abby claims to have shot Kevin in the face and hated it when they had sex.

Suckered in by the lies, Flynn shoots  Abby.

Later he tells Emme that Abby is dead and together they go through the five stages of grief. Jackson (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) uses Regan to interrogate the man Abby was meeting; Richard Seraphin. They prove she is a Hunter and the man is drugged to give up all his account details.

Thus far, ‘Hunters’ is a grim bit of fiction. There is no humor and the drama is served up with a capital D.  The premise of aliens among us is not a little scary. It also feels like a subtle lesson in xenophobia, with Hunters taking the place of real life immigrants. All that is missing is the “they are taking our jobs” mantra.

The character of Regan elicits an incredible amount of empathy as the creature caught between two worlds. Her frantic search to make living in the human form more acceptable and her sad recrimination toward Jackson at the end of the episode is revealing.

The overall message from Regan seems to be that the aliens do not have an easy time of it, even one who is one of the “good guys.” Flynn (Nathan Phillips) still has no idea what those scars on his arm signify nor does he really know why the Hunters picked him. 

Carroll and Emme have declared Abby dead, but the Hunter is still living, although she is coughing up blood from the chest wound and we get to see McCarthy’s boss at last.

‘Hunters’ airs Mondays on Syfy. Tune in for some pretty somber science fiction.