Dear Doves,

If I thought last week’s episode was too much to take, this one was even worse. It dealt with the weird cult The Guilty Remnant, and the brutal murder of one of its members, named Gladys.

Ever since the rapture, there has been an emergence of various cults. The whole subject of cults is quite interesting, and I’m going to make a separate post on what I know on that subject.

The Guilty Remnant are a real bunch of weirdoes. They wear only white, never talk, walk around town stalking and staring at their fellow citizens, and during the last episode’s Christmas Party, they sneaked into their previous homes and removed pictures of themselves from photographs while their relatives were at the party. As you can imagine, no one likes these people. They are basically the walking dead.

We also saw them in the previous episode buying up Rev. Jamison’s church, painting the stained glass windows white and throwing out the Bibles. They don’t care for God…or anything other than obeying their despicable leader named Patti.

The number 2 in command is Gladys, who walks out at night with another member. They are at a gas station when Gladys is abducted and brought into a wooded area. She is duct-taped to a tree and….stoned. It is a most horrifying scene. After several hits of rocks and being very bloodied, she breaks her vow of silence and audibly begs for her life. One guy (I think it was a guy, they were all wearing masks and dark clothing) hurled a rock like a fastball into her face, that killed her. It is nauseating and stomach turning…and then you realize this happens in the real world in muslim countries where women are still stoned. It is beyond brutal.

The police chief, who has had issues of insanity, is going to investigate this murder. His own father, the former chief of police, is locked away in a mental institution due to his “imaginary friends” and hearing voices. So, all along, the current chief (Kevin, the son of the former chief of police), has been wondering if he has also been losing his mind, as it might be hereditary.

The bald guy named Dean, who is the mysterious man who goes around shooting dogs, is real and not a figment of Kevin’s imagination. That’s good news for Kevin. At a town meeting, Kevin wants to institute a curfew after the murder, but Dean and other townspeople are vehemently opposed to it. Kevin goes to the Guilty Remnant house and gives them a bucket full of loud whistles. He tells them to use those when they are threatened and also tells them to stop angering the townspeople. His wife, Laurie, joined them after the rapture and now wants a divorce…which he doesn’t want. He wants her to come home, but she is too tied in with this cult and is sticking with them.

Back at the police precinct, one of Kevin’s detectives mistakenly gets the FBI involved in this town’s murder. As we have seen in a previous episode, a govt entity raided the cult compound of Holy Wayne (who escaped, along with Tommy and Wayne’s pregnant girlfriend). The govt entity just raids places and kills people whenever they want….no trials or formal justice…they are the executioners.

After the murder, Kevin brings in Rev. Jamison for questioning. His church was sold out from under him to the Guilty Remnant, and Kevin wants to know what the Rev was doing on the night Gladys was murdered. It turns out he was in a Bible study group, and supplied the names of those alibis as to his whereabouts. The Rev says he would never kill any of them, because they “are dead already”. That much seems true.

Also, subsequent to the murder….Cult leader Patti takes Laurie out for a “day off”. They both dress in normal clothes rather than white pants and jackets, and go out to have breakfast at a diner. Patti talks…but Laurie stays silent. Patti doesn’t want to lose Laurie going back to her family, that’s the reason for this outing. Patti tells Laurie that “doubt is fire”, and that it will burn her up and turn her to ashes. Patti says she had this same type of outing previously with Gladys, and that Gladys never cracked. Patti grabs Laurie’s hands into hers, and kisses them. So far, Laurie seems to be buying into all of this garbage.

The Rev shows up later on at the Guilty Remnant house, with a few others, to pray for them. Laurie hears them outside, comes running out. The Rev sees her (remember his dream about her from the last episode)…smiles brightly, but….when she gets next to him, she whips out the loud whistle and repeatedly blows it in his face as he is reciting a prayer. Cue Patti with an evil smirk on her face, obviously proud of her obedient brainwashed minion. Did we really think left behind people would be nice to one another?

At some point, Kevin relents and brings the Rev to the morgue where he can pray over Gladys. Problem is…her body is missing. It was sent to the FBI in Virginia. Kevin calls down there, real mad. He leaves nasty messages…but….he eventually speaks to an agent who says he never got the messages. This agent tells Kevin that the govt will send in a SWAT team to take out the Guilty Remnant Cult (kill them) and the town can all go back to normal. Kevin declines, saying he and his town can handle it themselves. The agent wishes him good luck with that. All of this kind of reminds me of Waco….remember Waco? Fiery Waco…?

The last scene shows Gladys’s body being transferred to the govt entity AFTEC: Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, Explosives and Cults! It is on a conveyor belt heading into a crematorium. As her body enters into the fire, the whole screen turns to fire and the episode ends with Gladys being turned into ashes.

This series is very disturbing, and relentlessly depressing. I don’t think it’s for most people. But then I guess the very end time with the actual left behind people is going to be even more disturbing than that.

See you next week….God willing.

YsiChrist,

Patty RP