S01E04 The Cult – A Mother's Love (2009)

Director	Scott Reynolds
Writers	Peter Cox and David Brechin-Smith
Starring	Renato Bartolomei, Latham Gaines, Gareth Reeves, Kate Elliott, Danielle Cormack, Scott Wills, Rachel Nash, Andrew Grainger
Genre	Thriller
Tagline	None Listed
Country

Review

This review is basically a hash through the questions answered by episode four, with a few critical points toward the end. I feel we need to nail down exactly what we know as The Cult continues to weave it's complex magic.

A Mother's Love starts to answer some of the questions that we may have been asking ourselves from earlier episodes. Daniel, the guy who went missing after Michael crashed the car in episode one, was clearly a plant as he knows Saul, the cult's hard man. What became of Daniel isn't made absolutely clear, but given Saul's penchant for violence I'm not holding out much hope for him. Regardless that answers one question that had been bothering me.

Also pertinent to the episode and I think looming large in the not too distant future is the fate of Jenni, the daughter of Liberators Frances and Harris. There was one confusing moment in this episode where we went from Saul accidently killing Rick, the solar panel dude, to Saul having a body in the back of a Momentum van. At first I thought this was Rick's body but as it turned out it was Saul disposing of Jenni in the woods. According to Nathan Jenni died in the “white room”, however when Saul goes back to check on the body it's missing. There's a hint that Jenni befriended Saul hence a slight bit of misdirection aimed at Edward North might have gone down. It would also explain the chick who turned up out of the blue at the Hermit's place, if you remember back to episode two.

Under Director Reynolds' capable stewardship this season has gone into the must watch category!

During A Mother's Love we also discover who the mysterious third party is and why they are interested in both the Liberators and Momentum. Without giving too much away in the form of spoilers, we discover there is a deprogrammer on the scene who has been contracted to rescue someone from Two Gardens. Saul and the deprogrammer have a run in with both showing they can handle themselves in a fight.

Probably the final thing worth mentioning about the episode in terms of plot is that different members of Momentum really want Nathan back, and we are unsure if this is due to information Nathan might have or something far more sinister. Saul spends most of the episode trying to track down the Liberators in order to get to Nathan. Cynthia Ross, the Two Gardens Medic, orders Saul to use whatever force he feels necessary in capturing Nathan. And we get the feeling Edward North is unaware that Nathan is no longer at hand.

Director Scott Reynolds is firing on all fronts during the episode and turns on one hell of an excellent hour of television that would put many feature length Directors to shame. For example during a flashback scene we listen to classical music as it appears a boy's parents are dancing in another room. Reynolds fixes on religious icons and presents what appears to be a scene of suburban bliss. The camera pulls back and we discover the boy is listening to the music via head phones and the two people in the other room are infact fighting rather than dancing. Reynolds closes out the scene with a straight cam to the sort of religious painting that Catholic households are apt to display prominently. Whether or not the Director is indicating that religion is not the wonderful institution it's Marketers claim it to be is a moot point.

I was also impressed with Reynolds use of photos to symbolise relationships, the typical happy snap here takes on far more importance than we would believe, especially when Saul finds a photo of the Glen. There's almost a talismanic intent with the photos, the Director is on fire with this aspect.

During the episode Reynolds re-emphasis the isolated nature of the location with some aerial shots, this was a necessary reminded as the local hospital doesn't have much in the way of staff and the Police are notable by their absence.

If last episode saw The Cult finding it's voice then this episode points out that things are going to get a whole lot more tense. Edward North is clearly involved in something a whole lot bigger than simply a fringe religious group and the Liberators are on course to smash right into what ever that might be. If The Cult previously was quality television, it's up the anti with A Mother's Love to entering “must watch” territory. Television as an art form? We're not that much off it with The Cult

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...