WiC Watches—The Terror: Infamy
Episode 209: “Come and Get Me”
RECAP
“Come and Get Me” opens with the departure (“repatriation”) of the Japanese-Americans from the Colinas De Oro internment camp on January 29th, 1945, known as “leaving day.” Upon their return to Terminal Island, Henry, Asako, Amy, Yamato-San and Fumi discover their homes have been bulldozed away. Six months later, Henry and Asako live on Skid Row as the unfulfilled Henry works as a gardener in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Asako visits Yuko’s suicide bridge, saying that everything is her fault.
Fearful of Yuko, Chester asks Asako and the bitter Henry to join him and Luz for the birth of their baby in Aguayo. Jirou (Pierce Kang) wakes in Yuko’s false paradise as the twisted yurei plots to capture the baby ‘Taizo’ (Chester and Luz’s new baby) and bring it back into the afterlife with her. Chester barricades everyone and Father Ysidro (Francisco Trujillo) inside Abuela’s house, planning to stay on the run after the baby is born. As usual, Henry and Chester butt heads.
Luz goes into labor. Father Ysidro leaves and returns, but this time he is possessed by Yuko. Luz, Abuelo and the Nakayamas escape in their car, hiding in a remote, abandoned military installation. Luz delivers a baby boy. Chester decides that the only way to save his son is to die, so Yuko can have her Taizo and leave the living world alone. Asako realizes that Yuko has possessed the baby.
Outside the facility, Chester waits to confront Yuko. Inside, phantom Yuko jumps from the baby into Abuela’s body and tries to escape. Asako stops her with an admission of guilt, revealing that Yuko was originally designated to marry Henry and Asako was to go to Hideo Furuya, but once Asako learned that Hideo was dishonorable she had Fumi secretly switch their grooms.
The infuriated Abuela/Yuko attacks Asako. Chester and Henry rush in to find Asako and Abuela bloodied but alive, but Luz and the baby missing. Chester rushes outside but the Yuko/Luz has escaped with the child.
REVIEW
Always great on the atmospherics, “Come and Get Me” starts out slow and easy, letting the sense of departure from a familiar place sink in as the characters leave the camp. As the episode progresses we watch the pieces of the narrative puzzle settling into place for a confrontation: Henry and Asako travel to Chester and Luz in Aguayo, fortifying the house and calling in a Priest as Yuko plans the abduction of their baby.
All along, The Terror: Infamy has been guilty of telegraphing many of its horror punches, and this time the Father Ysidro/Yuko twist is so obvious it blunts any sense of jeopardy. The Yuko spirit-jump from the baby (once it starts crying) to Abuela is obvious because she is the only expendable minor character in the room. By the time Yuko wanders off as Luz with the baby in her clutches, it all feels unfortunately familiar and predictable.
The reveal of Asako’s deep, dark secret works fine, but its effect gets lost in the choice to leave most of Yuko’s reaction offscreen. And why is Chester waiting outside alone with a pistol to fight a spirit he knows can work in both physical and/or invisible form and can pop up wherever it wants?
The Terror: Infamy has a lot going for it. But the effectiveness of its horror has always been inconsistent, and as the show leans more heavily on those elements, the flaws are becoming more apparent. We care about what ultimately happens to Chester, Luz and the Nakayamas, but the series finale has to make a leap in an unexpected direction — and find a darker, more profound truth — if Infamy is going to end up being truly memorable.