Lake Diving – As this episode of Night Sky begins, Byron (Adam Bartley) is surprised to see the spacesuits created by Franklin (J. K. Simmons). Although he relied on a whole online community of wackos for research, he could never get the pressurization right. Byron is pretty handy himself and asks what is the worst that could happen. Franklin warns him he could suffocate. They visit a diving store as Franklin learns that Byron got a settlement from the big vitamin factory in Champaign where he worked as an engineer. He was a whistleblower who told everyone they were misreporting the riboflavin in the multis. Byron tells the clerk that he wants to rent six tanks and four regulators. Denise (Kiah McKirnan) tells the others that they’re almost there. She doesn’t think it’ll be hard to find Jude’s dad since the city is so small.
They reach the Nettle House Inn which is where Dunlap dropped off Gabriel. Irene (Sissy Spacek) tells Jude (Chai Hansen) not to overthink it because he’ll do fine. They meet with Hannah (Sonya Walger) who seems a bit odd. She instantly recognizes Gabe when Jude shows her his picture before learning Gabe is his father. They go inside where Jude tells Hannah his name and Denise says they’re just friends. She says Jude is years late to find Gabe and she doesn’t know where she went. Jude asks for any small details that might help. Hannah explains that Aunt Linda passed and left her the house that she figured she’d turn into a bed and breakfast. The building was in a bad state and needed a lot of work. One day, Gabriel showed up at her door looking for a place to stay.
She let him stay and help with the work, but they became more than friends. Eventually, she got the feeling that Gabe would be moving on and he did. Denise and the others discuss getting back until Hannah convinces them to stay the night to listen to more stories about Gabe. Jeanine (Cass Bugge) reminds Byron that they have a BBQ tonight, but he says he isn’t going to make it. He tells her that he has to help Franklin with something although he won’t say what. He says it is out of this world big. Jeanine accuses him of jumping from the election to a new scheme. Jeanine reminds him that she left everything in Champaign. Byron complains she is making it sound like what happened was his fault. She says people lost their jobs and a woman spat on her in the supermarket.
Byron argues there is a price to pay for standing up for what is right. Jeanine fires back by saying there is a price to pay for standing outside the pharmacy claiming the whole town council is corrupt. Byron realizes it was his wife who called the county and told them he forged Franklin’s signature. Jeanine refuses to be uprooted and embarrassed again. Byron always remembers people tagging him as the guy who ran his mouth and talked a big game and then belly flopped. He believes his own wife thinks that too although she denies it. They both know Byron wasn’t her first choice. She said yes to him so he isn’t going to let her down. He insists he is going to be special. Jeanine asks why he has to be special and why he can’t just be himself. Stella (Julieta Zylberberg) puts up fliers while Toni (Rocio Hernandez) waits by the van.
Toni wonders if they should just get Nick. She sees a picture of the man on the poster and says he doesn’t look so bad. Stella tells her that looks can be deceiving. She knows he is bad because they told her. Toni asks if she always believes them. Stella does because she has faith in them. An officer interrupts to remind them that they can’t park here. They pretend to have a fight in Spanish to convince the officer to leave them alone. He just asks them to move the van. Irene tries to call Franklin, but he doesn’t answer. She leaves him a message letting him know that they’re going to be spending the night. Irene hears something that leads her to believe there is someone else here, but Hannah says it is just them. Denise and Jude join them to tell Irene about Hannah working on a fishing boat.
While Denise goes to get them more drinks, Irene asks Jude what he thinks about Hannah who she describes as strange. Jude wants to trust her. He believes it must count for something that his dad liked her. Irene reminds him that he doesn’t even know his dad before quickly apologizing. She admits she is worried about Franklin being home all alone. Denise returns. Irene decides to go to bed and refuses to let Denise help her get upstairs. Jude tells Denise that she has been going through a lot, but Denise says Irene is always like that with her. Hannah opens a hidden door and talks to a man who tells her the phone call was just a sappy voice message to her husband. He plays Franklin’s voice and says that is the guy with the coins. He says they’re all the same people. Although he always believed Hannah, he is shocked that it is finally happening.
Meanwhile, Byron tries on the spacesuit. When Franklin asks what his wife thinks he is doing, Byron assures him that she doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t think she’d care anyway, but Franklin isn’t sure about that. Once Franklin admits that Irene knows nothing about Byron going to the planet, they agree to keep it that way. Byron tries the suit and everything seems to be working. He says he is going out there. Hannah sits outside with Jude and asks what his deal is. Jude says he doesn’t have a deal. He doesn’t tell her much and insists it was just luck meeting up with these nice people. Hannah admits she always had the feeling that Gabe was involved in something weird and he was hiding something dangerous. Hannah takes Jude to Gabe’s favorite room where he would read for hours.
Once she leaves, Jude looks through his father’s old books and finds The Count of Monte Cristo. He finds strange notes written in the book. Then, he discovers a slip of paper with weird symbols on it. Denise hears Irene fall to the ground so she rushes into her room to check on her. Irene promises she is fine and tells Denise she can go. Denise asks why Irene doesn’t like her, but Irene says she loves and likes her. She feels like Irene is always pushing her away ever since she was little. Denise wonders if it is because of her mother or because she is black. Irene quickly denies that. Denise feels like Irene doesn’t want her love. Irene thinks Denise grew up without her father because of her. She was responsible for keeping Michael safe, but she couldn’t do it. Irene doesn’t think she deserves Denise’s love.
Denise tells her otherwise. Irene says she should’ve done more and apologizes before they hug. In a flashback, Irene finds Michael sitting on the swing outside her house. He reveals the job didn’t work out after all. He gets in his car every morning to go in but finds himself driving around all day. Leslie doesn’t know yet. He asks whether Irene can talk to someone at the school about a job cleaning up the cafeteria or something. Irene isn’t sure that would work. She says he has sapped it all out of her. Irene reminds him of everything he has now. When he says he is trying, Irene encourages him to try harder. He needs to try as hard as it takes to actually make it word. Irene says they’ve given him so many chances, yet he has thrown it all away. At some point, he has to take responsibility for his own life.
Michael says she is right. When Franklin joins them, he offers Michael a cup of coffee. Michael claims he was just passing by. He saw the swing and couldn’t resist. Franklin reveals that the tree was half this size when he put the swing up. Before Michael leaves, he tells his dad he loves him. He says sure to dinner on Friday. Michael drives down by the water where he shoots himself. Franklin meets with Byron and offers him a piece of advice about him and Jeanine. Frank says everything is not a joke. When you choose to spend your life with someone, you take that seriously. He goes on to say they’re young and things aren’t perfect. He has to find a way to make it work because he loves someone who loves him. Byron says okay although he wants to test the door first.
Meanwhile, Toni and Stella hang out at a motel. Stella is getting ready to go out before Toni finds the video of Jude singing at the karaoke bar. She asks her mom if he is the apostate. Stella leaves her daughter behind because it is going to be dangerous now. Once she leaves, Toni calls Nick (Stephen Louis Grush). Stella goes to the bar where she shows a woman Jude’s picture and claims he needs help. The woman gives Stella Chandra’s card and says he was looking for this address. She loads her gun before visiting Chandra (Beth Lacke) who asks if there is a reward. Chandra says she isn’t working, has back taxes, and could lose her house. She wants $3,000 for any information about that guy. The little boy outside says Chandra doesn’t have friends.
Hannah gives Jude and the others handmade granola and apologizes for not being able to help more. She urges Jude not to give up. He promises to say hi from Hannah when he finds his father. Once they leave, Hannah calls her friend to tell him that they just pulled out. Paul (Ian Owens) begins following them. Franklin suggests checking the suits again to be safe. Byron says they’re going because humanity needs this. Franklin says he isn’t going to go because he doesn’t want to go without Irene. Byron wants Frank to tell the world he did something in the event that something goes wrong. Franklin tries to talk him out of going, but Byron won’t listen. Byron says it is going to work before he steps outside. Franklin talks to him through the radio as Byron describes it like being in heaven.
Byron believes he is looking at a piece of furniture. He keeps walking further away as the radio signal cuts out. Franklin begins panicking and expecting the worst. When Stella returns to the motel, the tall man (Piotr Adamczyk) tells her that Nick’s nose is on the mend. He never expected this from her. Stella tells him about Chandra while suggesting it’d be easier to pay her. When Jude and the others arrive back home, Irene asks Jude to go in alone. Irene takes her into the backyard so she can show her something. Jude finds Franklin sitting alone inside. Jude tells him that he didn’t find anything. Franklin says there is nothing to report. Jude goes to his room where he begins looking through the book with the symbols.
Denise learns that they thought it was a bomb shelter at first, but it isn’t. Once they sit down, Irene says they found it a few days after Michael died and she got everything tangled up. Now, she doesn’t think it has anything to do with him. Irene tells her what will happen if you stand in that circle and how it’ll transport you to another planet. It was hard to keep living after Michael. She thought this could help her, but she believes she should’ve been helping Denise. Irene reveals that this is how Jude for here. Denise complains that they all lied to her before leaving. The tall man and the others meet with Chandra who receives a bag full of coins. She doesn’t want to take the gold coins. The tall man grabs her hand and forces her to tell them where the apostate is.
Stella doesn’t understand why he snaps her neck, but he believes she has gone soft. He claims they’re going to fix that for her own benefits before they burn the evidence that night. Stella promises her daughter that it is going to be okay.
Night Sky Review
It is hard to believe after seven episodes that Byron would become the most interesting character of the bunch. It was great that the character decided to take charge and find out what was going on even if he never returns. The story is becoming even more complicated with the additions of Hannah and Paul. Wikipedia had spoilers for their role in the story. Unless it specifically states this in the last episode, I likely would’ve never guessed it. I won’t mention it here for spoiler reasons.
I’d like to know how Jude teleported to the York residence while Byron somehow gets stuck in outer space. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing Byron take the risk and head out there. Some of the minor actors and actresses can’t keep up with the veteran lead actors, but that has been easy enough to ignore so far. It was a bit off-putting that they tried to turn one of the leads into a racist midway through the episode.
When looking at the totality of Irene York, it is really silly to even consider such so the writers were just going with the mainstream trend without adding any value to the show with that line. That was a real eye-rolling moment that degraded both characters. The episode did a good job of setting up the finale with Byron’s disappearance, Stella getting closer to the package, and everyone back at the York residence. The episode scores a 7 out of 10. Recaps of Night Sky are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.
