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

Review

Guess what I have failed to do thus far through this episode guide is point out the excellent package that Distributor Rialto delivers. Season one comes on four discs with plenty of extras and an eye to making your viewing pleasurable. One of the slight issues I've had recently with DVDs coming out of Kiwi-land is slight glitches in the actual discs, you know the stopping or irritatingly slowing down of the movie in crucial scenes. Rialto have dropped an awesome disc set on me with no issues thus far.

Francis doesn't believe Nathan about Jenni being dead, and the audience is pretty much on her side of the belief system. Eventually Francis learns from Saul that he left Jenni alive, if not well, in the bush. Michael rescues the errant girl from the old hermit, though it would appear that Cynthia's experiments are taking their toil on the test subjects. Surprisingly Nathan seems fully recovered, remember he's schizophrenic, while Jenni is in a sort of trance like state, which may or may not have something to do with an existing medical condition.

Meanwhile back at the Two Gardens compound we learn that Edward North may not have the iron willed control he thought he did. Edward is unaware that Jenni is missing and seems relaxed about Nathan remaining at The Glen, location discovered by Saul already. Cynthia convinces Edward that they need new test subjects, which isn't good news for either Ryan or the pregnant Hannah.

A new Director in Charlie Haskell continues the excellent quality we have come to expect in the first season of this awesome thriller.

Things are certainly on the move in episode five of this excellent series with a number of plot arcs resolving themselves and with more intrigue being layered on by the Writers as characters prove to be not as cut and dry as we imagined, there's a major surprise coming at the Audience with a couple of characters knowing a lot more about Momentum than we initially supposed. Got to love a show that springs surprises, that while left field, are completely logical in construction. The mystery of what Edward North and Cynthia might be up to with the medical experiments deepens with other branches of Momentum being seemingly unaware of human guinea pigs in the New Zealand hinterland.

It's taken a lot of hints and speculation for us to finally tie together the disjointed pieces from episode one. We now know what Saul was doing in the bush late at night and two thumbs up to the Director for giving us events from Saul's point of view. That's not to say that all things have been neatly tied up with ribbons and bows, that yellow flower seems to be a constant motif through the first five episodes, exactly what is it's meaning?

We are also slowing getting into Cynthia's laboratory of torture though we still don't know exactly what the medical researcher is up to. For sure she is using human patients to experiment on, but exactly what she is hoping to discover remains a mystery. Hannah might well become the latest victim of what ever insane idea Edward and Cynthia have cooked up. For sure it's going to go Jonestown if the Liberators get too close to discovering the secret I think. So hold onto your linen for the middle block of the season, things to learn, and it's going to be one hell of a learning curve.

Secrets and Lies sees us learning more about Francis and Harris, and how exactly Jenni came to be in the grasp of Edward North. There's a big hint in there of manipulation and underhand medical procedures. In a series of flashbacks we learn Francis and Harris are trying to get pregnant, though unfortunately for the couple Francis can not bring a baby to full term. Or can she? Needing space, Francis leaves Harris, only to return some weeks later with baby Jenni who she has acquired clearly, though not stated, through nefarious means. We learn the baby has a genetic condition called Anderson's disease, but with the right diet and lifestyle she can still live a long and fruitful life. Surprisingly Jenni is one of the few Momentum members to arrive at Two Gardens with her parents' blessing. A mistake in and of itself as we find out, as there are wheels within wheels, to borrow a term from another thriller genre.

It would appear that The Cult is giving each Director two episodes to make their mark before cycling to the next person. Charlie Haskell breaks his franchise cherry here and delivers an episode in Secrets and Lies that is seamless with previous episodes. You get the feeling that the Writers have constructed a very intricate, yet aggressive, framework and new Directors are being injected regularly to keep things fresh and interesting. Haskell had previously made a name for himself with The Power Rangers and Xena franchises, and brings his full understanding of action into play.

Season one of The Cult continues to provide some intriguing questions and to weave itself through what's becoming an increasingly complex plot, who exactly did send those messages that drew the Liberators to The Glen? With over half the season still to go this season has become perhaps the best New Zealand made television thriller I've ever had the privilege to watch. If you haven't joined The Cult yet then book a session, you are going to thank me.

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...