I Predict A Riot
Episode 3 of The Feed begins with Max awakening, unaware of him writhing in pain in the middle of the night. Holding off on his proposal for now, he and Eve get ready while Tom makes a detour, visiting Danny in hospital after his seizure. Switching off his feed, Danny struggles with anxiety, having serious issues constructing sentences until he turns The Feed back on again. This poses a particularly interesting idea stemming around Feed addiction. While Lawrence tells Ben to take a break following his stunt with Evelyn, Meredith prepares herself as mobs begin to circulate the streets. Arriving at a secluded area, she prepares for the arrival of the President. As she sits patiently waiting, Lawrence struggles to bridge a connection with her, seemingly blocked. President Quan arrives soon after and immediately brushes over the seriousness of the protests, telling Meredith they’re minor before requesting to get down to business. Attaching a strange stick-on implant to his temple, Quan sees a myriad of different visions, all brought about by Meredith’s latest invention. Meanwhile, Max experiences a minor blackout as he slices his finger open while preparing dinner. However, Tom arrives soon after and they begin talking about the issues with The Feed. As the riots outside begin to grow violent, Meredith is forced to leave her meeting early while Lawrence continues to experience issues getting through to her. Instead, he checks the news and sees the violence first-hand. While Meredith waits this out, hidden inside, Ben feeds back his hunch to Lawrence, searching inside the sleep cycles of both Sarah and Anton. There, he stumbles upon a clue which may lead to whoever was controlling them. Back at the mansion, Tom tells Max about the incident with Anton causing him to begin crying. It’s a bizarre reaction and one he brushes off nervously. Afterward he speaks to Kate about the possibility of them living in the countryside, and instead, she suggests the Lake House. Unfortunately their positivity is shattered as tensions with Max rise as he struggles to keep his grip on reality. Driving out with Tom and Beatrice, Max tries in vain to fight off his headache, slamming his foot on the brake suddenly and clutching his head. Shaking, he turns to Tom and sputters out the word “Run”. Tom grabs Beatrice and begins running down the street while Max silently grabs the bow from the boot of the car and chases him down the street, trying to hit with with the arrows. After a tense few minutes, Max finds him and Beatrice hiding in the woods and he immediately tries drowning Tom in the water. Believing he’s succeeded, he grabs a rock and stumbles toward Beatrice while Tom sneaks up behind and stabs him in the thigh. Just before he kills Tom, Kate arrives and shoots Max, while Eve grabs the baby. With tension throughout and some great plot progression, The Feed delivers its best episode yet, with plenty of drama surrounding Max throughout the episode. The unsettling atmosphere around him and his hack really helps keep everything anchored to one spot and the isolated farm offers a much-needed aesthetic change from the cold, grey cityscape. The cliffhanger ending certainly leaves things hanging in the balance too after a dramatic finale and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for some answers!
