Daybreak – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

And The Baron is…

Episode 4 of Daybreak sees Wes trying to encourage Josh by training him in the art of the samurai. Determined, Josh promises to kill both Turbo and Hoyle. It’s a bold statement and one that sees Principal Michael Burr take to the floor for narration duties. Here he talks about Hoyle and how much trouble he was in school. All of this leads us back to the Mall where Angelica checks on Baron Triumph while Josh and Wes head out. However, spies at the mall feed back to Turbo that he’s on the move, prompting him to rally the troops.

Sensing that Josh is catching on to his lie, Wesley leads him on a wild goose chase away from Baron Triumph and Turbo. Only, this actually has the adverse effect as the golfers corner them and Turbo rushes to the scene. Baron Triumph arrives soon after and kills one of the golfers, prompting all the kids to try scurrying away, but to no avail.

They awaken in the Goblin Flakes factory but despite some lock-picks in tow, Josh fail to break all the locks, having dropped one on the floor. Despite managing to get out himself, Wes remains chained up while he teams up with the workers who don’t appear to speak English. Getting nowhere, he hurries off where he finds Hoyle tied up like a roasted pig. As he removes his gear, we see that it’s actually Principal Burr who’s Baron Triumph.

As we jump back in time, we see that all of this was an elaborate play as the Principal needed a plan to get rid of Hoyle from school. That plan happened to involve arresting him for sleeping with an underage girl. Incredulous, the Principal’s secret is finally revealed as Josh laments the Principal’s plan and holds him up at sword-point. Despite the pleas from everyone around him, Josh decides against killing him outright and instead snatches his keys and frees the prisoners before trapping him in the factory.

Back at the mall, Ms Crumble and Angelica both have makeovers. Despite some initial hostilities, they’re invigorated as Josh brings the exchange students home. As the episode closes out, it’s revealed that Wes and Turbo happened to be in a relationship together, which is what Wesley’s big secret was all along, while something happens to be stirring in Principal Burr’s body.

With Wes’ secret finally out and plenty of drama to chew through, the halfway point of the series sees a dramatic switch as the main antagonist of the series changes to that of Principal Burr as the Baron. If I’m honest, I did see this coming early on and I’d imagine a fair few others will have figured this out too. Despite that, Daybreak continues to deliver decent enough drama, even if some of the plot twists feel like they’ve been placed for shock value rather than genuine narrative consistency.