‘The Passage’ Season 1, Episode 3 ‘That Never Should Have Happened to You’ Recap: Past Life

After the Bureau’s successful home invasion, Project NOAH now has its most valuable test subject. Cooperation from the test subjects usually took time, so a little resistance is nothing out of the ordinary. However, the latest test subject will not give in easily and will have help from the Bureau’s former top agents. Still, nothing can stop The Passage once it begins.

In this week’s episode of The Passage, Agent Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) guards Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney) as she undergoes the procedure. Meanwhile, Shauna Babcock (Brianne Howey) manipulates Clark Richards (Vincent Piazza) into stopping her execution. Elsewhere, Dr. Lila Kyle (Emmanuelle Chiriqui) manages to get the story about Project NOAH to the press.

Appeal to Emotion

FOX

‘Virals,’ which is what Dr. Jonas Lear (Henry Ian Cusick) calls them, can communicate with each other telepathically and also use dreams to talk to non-Virals. Knowing that her execution is at bay, Shauna decides to use this to keep herself from dying. She manipulates Clark, showing him snippets of her life before her arrest. Shauna was an aspiring make-up artist who wished to start her career in Las Vegas, but her dream shatters when her stepfather steals her savings. As her mother defends her husband from Shauna, Shauna tells her mother about his stepfather’s episodes of sexual abuse towards her. Upon knowing that her mother knew and did nothing to stop her stepfather, Shaune kills the both of them, hence her ending up in prison.

Clark watched all of these while he and his team brought Shauna to the execution chamber. Ultimately, Clark’s humanity caused him to cancel the execution, thinking that Shauna is a victim of all the things that happened in her life. Shauna’s plan worked, perhaps guaranteeing her seat in Dr. Tim Fanning’s (Jamie McShane) grand scheme.

Getting the Story Out

As Lacey Antoine (Kecia Lewis) recovered from her injuries, Lila runs down the names of the prisoners that Brad brought to Project NOAH. Most of the prisons declined to comment, almost immediately ending the phone call as soon as Lila mentions a name of a prisoner. However, the prison where Shauna Babcock previously spent her jail time confirmed that Shauna was taken out of the jail by an FBI Agent. With that, Lila approaches a journalist to bring her story. Despite the mention of inconsistencies in Lila’s statement, the journalist agrees to have an interview with her on the subject.

Snooping Around

FOX

After Nathan (Carson Holmes) goes over the incident in Shauna’s cell, a security guard bursts into the room, informing Dr. Major Nichole Sykes (Caroline Chikezie) about the demands of the girl, Amy. Surprised, Nathan asks about the girl, but he is ordered to return to his post. In the room where they kept her, Amy refused to cooperate until they brought who she wanted: Brad. Before they got separated, Brad and Amy came up with an escape strategy; a strategy they now could finish.

Still, they could no prevent the inevitable. Amy had to get the shot with the formula. Its effects do not manifest immediately, so the duo decides to get some rest. Brad woke up to the sight of Nathan, staring worryingly at the sleeping Amy. Nathan warned Brad about Fanning, who would take Amy. Security guards came and pushed Brad back inside the room, giving him the angle to steal a knife. After a security check, Amy befriends her neighbor, Anthony Carter (McKinley Belcher III).

Brad could not get the things Nathan said about Fanning out of his mind, so he decides to investigate. Brad memorized the passcode to the room, so he quickly exited. At the right moment, Brad follows Nathan into the elevator to knock him out. Brad then drags Nathan to bypass the retinal scanner. After this, he uses the ID to enter a strange, dark chamber. To Brad’s surprise, Dr. Lear reveals himself just as the lights went on, standing behind him. Dr. Lear gives him a 3-minute window to explain himself before security systems go online. As Brad revealed what he knew about Fanning, Dr. Lear considers what he says to him, thinking that the Virals are still partly Human. Brad learns this the hard way: Fanning visits him in his dreams, warning him not to interfere with his plans.

‘The Passage’ Season 1, Episode 3 ‘That Never Should Have Happened to You’ Final Verdict

Finally, the show gave its antagonists a name: Virals, not Vampires. The exciting thing about the Virals is that they can telepathically communicate with each other as well as Non-Virals if they wish to. This ability is probably one of the reasons why these securely contained test subjects managed to mark the end of the world. The show is noticeably taking much time to develop the origin story of the outbreak, which is a good thing. It does seem to be better to do that than add a series of flashbacks into the episodes.

The Passage returns Monday, February 4th with ‘Whose Blood is That?’ at 9/10c on FOX.