The Girl Is Gone
We begin episode 2 of Equinox with Astrid talking to Dennis about Ida’s bel0ngings. None of the family have her things now and Dennis advises against seeing her estranged Mother, Lene. According to Dennis, she’s manipulative and he’s loathe to the idea of her digging up the past. But dig up the past she does, especially when it comes to Ida. Astrid arrives at Lene’s house but she’s erratic to say the least. Her curtains are drawn, the place is a cluttered mess and numerous smiling paintings of Ida show a woman obsessed and unable to move past what’s happened. Lene reaches out to holds Astrid’s hand at one point but her daughter pulls away, uneasy at her Mother’s show of affection. It’s clear there’s a lot of unresolved tension here and Lene does her best to strike common ground surrounding their kids. Finding an opportune time to slip away, Astrid searches Ida’s room, allowing some slick back-and-forth cuts to intersect together and point toward one key character in Ida’s past – her teacher, Henrik. As we soon find out though, there’s apparently no record of Henrik at the school. Astrid takes time out from her investigation to attend Jakob’s funeral. While Mathias reads a few statements about his brother, a woman speaks up and claims Jakob was a murderer. Astrid looks around and notices a shifty guy standing by the doorway. This isn’t an isolated incident though and given he was at Tove’s bar, the school and now at Jakob’s funeral, Astrid senses he may be connected in some way. However, she fails to find him outside. During flashbacks, we see Ida head off to school. There, she meets Amelia, Jakob and Falme. They’re all preparing for an upcoming party and peer pressure Ida into heading out with them to use Jakob’s Ouija board. Ida’s estranged relationship with her Mum continues to drive a wedge between them, especially when Lene berates Ida for heading home late. Given what’s going on with their parents, Ida promises Astrid that she’ll always have her to rely on. That evening, Ida heads out with Amelia, Jakob and Falke where they meet in the graveyard and check different gravestones. Jakob claims it’s a big mystery and promises to tell them what it all means in due time. He brandishes a book (one that was directed quoted as “Jakob’s book” last episode) and begins reciting strange scripture. Alongside this is also a map that points toward an island and a possible ritual surrounding equinox. Later that evening, Jakob makes a move on Ida and even sleeps with her too. This happened to be Ida’s first time and while they lie in bed together, he admits that he likes her. Cutting back to the present again, Astrid continues to investigate and that takes her to the bus driver, Torben Brink. As we soon see, he is not of sane mind but immediately asks Astrid if she wants to play die with her after telling her he knows who she is. Recording their conversation, she asks about the bus and what happened that fateful day. With photos in hand, he immediately changes his expression and grabs her face “The girl is gone.” As he begins humming My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean (the same song Astrid sung at the start of episode 1) he eventually convulses on the floor. Astrid quickly phones an ambulance but while waiting, notices he’s circled Henrik’s face in black pen. What could this mean?
The Episode Review
The second episode of Equinox deepens the mystery as we see more of Ida’s past and flashbacks. There’s hints that supernatural hauntings may be the culprit here for what happened to the bus but it’s still not clear exactly what happened. Instead, we’re given different puzzles pieces including Jakob’s book and this island which seems to hint toward satanic occurrences. Alongside this though is a pretty slow pace that really requires a lot of patience while the plot unfolds. For larges swathes of the show, the sound design does a lot of the heavy lifting but it’s staying steady for now. Each episode has so far ended with a bit of a cliffhanger and that certainly entices you in to watch more.
