As always, there are spoilers ahead. This is a recap and review of episode 9: "The Disappeared."
Zack returns home to find Matt has become infected. Ephraim deals with him and sends Zack off with Abraham while Eph stays back to clean up. Nora stays with Eph and eventually the two finally hook up. Vasiliy and Dutch Velders head to Dutch's house and she finds her roommate took her laptop and all her money. They find the apartment complex has infected in it and must leave. Dutch opens up to Abraham that she hacked the planet (Hackers reference!)
Gus and Felix remain locked up and Felix is getting worse. Gus pleads to get Felix some help but Gus has to take him onto the transport to Rikers Island. Felix turns in the van and sticks the officers in the front seat. The show cuts back to World War II where Abraham is digging a ditch under Thomas' watch. Abraham gets his first glimpse at the Master during this time. The Master has a chat with Abraham and crushes his hands. Thomas discovers his hands the next day and puts him into a group that will be killed. Luckily, the allied forces show up just in time. Thomas escapes and finds himself with The Master's casket hiding out.
What works infinitely better than the last episode is that there's numerous interweaving storylines instead of the group just being stuck somewhere. Each of these stories has their own merit and adds to the episode as well as developing some of these secondary characters who haven't had a lot of screen time. It's giving the overall show a lot more depth and frankly I'm just happy we have more than one setting for this episode. I loved the fact there was a lot going on. If there was a story that didn't interest me, such as the Nora/Eph hook up, it was fine because the segments were shorter and over before I knew it.
It's pretty hard to understand The Master at times when he talks. His voice and the effects they used are pretty cool, but the whispering becomes tough to make out at times. As for The Master's look, I'm a bit mixed. The profile looks good but the straight on shot looked a bit cheesy. He was a much more intimidating character when he stayed under the hood. Here's your proof:
That's pretty rough. It doesn't look too bad until you get to the mouth. Keep the hood up... you look silly.
Overall, "The Disappeared" offers an exceptionally well put together episode that works with all the characters, instead of just tossing them in a room and seeing what happens. Can you tell how much I disliked last week's episode? We finally get to see Abraham and The Master's first meeting and how Abraham escaped the concentration camp. Felix finally turns and Gus escapes the police as well. There was a ton of stuff going on and all of it ranged from "great" to "pretty good." The only down side was The Master's face, which looked pretty rough in the straight on shot.