‘The Institute’ Episode 4 Review
The latest episode of ‘The Institute’ continues the show’s strong run, as it unravels more mysteries. Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, the series follows a group of kids who are held in a mysterious lab, where their unique psychic powers are put to work.
This week, we get to see some of what happens in the “back half” of the Institute, the place where the kids are sent once they’ve developed their abilities to a certain extent, and can use both telekinetic and telepathic powers, allowing them to influence physical objects and people’s minds.
Assuming what Avery saw when he made contact with Kalisha is real, then it looks like that part of the establishment is similar to the front half, only not as appealing to live in (though I’m not sure why, maybe to convince the kids to work harder so they can go home?) It seems this is where they actually take part in the “vitally important” work. Kalisha described it as like watching movies from a first person point of view, and it seems that they take control of people’s minds, doctors, pilots and the like, so they can force them to carry out their missions. We’ve seen that Avery can place thoughts into people’s heads and influence their thinking, so this is likely what they do, so they can take out enemy agents or anyone they like by causing things like the plane crash, with no possibility of any evidence leading back to them.
This seems to take a huge toll on the kids involved, worse than what they go through when being tested for their abilities, suggesting that they don’t survive very long there, and leading to the mystery of what happens to them behind the sealed door.
Another development is with Luke’s powers. He’s TK and TP now, and should have been sent to the back half, except everyone has a motive for keeping him where he is. Hendricks wants to use him in more tests, pushed along by Stackhouse, while Sigsby needs him to stay where he is so she can use him. On top of this, he’s showing signs of being precognitive. He can see things before they happen, though he won’t be able to keep this a secret as the staff know about it.
On the other side of the fence, the decision to kill Annie is looking like a big mistake. Her death has only made Tim more suspicious that she was actually telling the truth, and will likely eventually lead him to the Institute. Her death isn’t easy to ignore, whereas when she was alive she could just be dismissed as a crazy old woman.
This was another good episode. I was surprised how quickly the new arrivals got out of the way. I thought Harry might have been a bigger problem, becoming a bully to the rest of the kids, but it looks like we won’t be seeing him again.
We’re now halfway through the series, and it seems to be pacing itself well. There’s plenty of work still to be done on both sides of the fence before the kids can find an escape route, and it seems like the show will hopefully avoid the middle-episode slump a lot of streaming releases fall into.
