Debris – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

You Are Not Alone

Episode 2 of Debris begins with the ground shaking as a whole host of metal items move across the ground in different directions. Is this another Debris incident? You bet it is! This forms the crux of the case we’re going to be dealing with this episode, as we cut across to Finola and Bryan. They leave their jet and discuss the former’s family while heading to the crime scene.

With a cover story already concocted (Russians. It’s always the Russians!) Finola and Bryan talk to a man named Lester who mentions how the metal items moving around are selective.

In the town, they find a strange man inside a shop called Eric. He can’t remember his surname and seems to be suffering from memory loss. Finola believes this is the work of the debris, and tasks the other officers to take him back to base.

While they do, Finola gets some satellite scans and it turns out the metal is circling the town and forming a sort of metallic cocoon. While they figure this out, Bryan talks to Finola about her family. Specifically, Finola’s father. He passed away several months prior and the final text message he sent to his daughter seems to be significant: “You are not alone.” Alas, the plot thickens.

After chasing down Eric, it turns out he’s inexplicably been cloned, with three different versions showing up and hysterically spouting out gibberish. With the group split, they all try to get some answers from their Eric. He doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but claims he needs to change this. Eventually Finola’s Eric calms down and asks if she’s hidden the ball of light.

On the back of this, Finola catches up with the group and deduces that these versions of Eric aren’t the real one. They may well be fragments. A quick browse of Eric’s social media shows that he’s just got a job in San Francisco and broke up with his girlfriend several days before.

They then receive a call from HQ confirming that the metal items are forming a perfect circle around town. The center of that circle? Eric’s house.

With hazmat suits on, they enter the house and find a chunk of debris. They also inexplicably see Eric materialize before them. Well, they begin searching but stop momentarily for a quick call home. Finola talks to her sister Dee and tries to explain she’s here for her. She can’t go home though, which causes a rift to grow between them, but does promise to phone later on.

In Eric’s garage they find a trail of blood that seems to have stopped where his car would have been. They come to the realization that he may be in a car on the fringes of town, prompting Finola and Bryan to head off and find him. After smashing the windshield, Bryan scoops the man up and tries to haul him to safety. Only, as he does a shockwave from the debris suddenly begins pulsating around the circle.

Finola tasks the other agents to shut the power down, while Bryan pulls Eric free from the car. This is the real Eric and he phones through to his ex girlfriend, telling her he’s going to stay.

Meanwhile, the CIA bosses discuss the George Jones situation, with Harrison desperate for answers. After all, Jones was buried months prior so this seems like foul play. Well, MI6 ring through and begin to divulge the truth surrounding what they know. A tearaway group called Influx seem to be the ringleaders and upon hearing this, the CIA get to work figuring out what this means.

With the case wrapped up, Bryan speaks to Langley and feeds back what he knows about Finola. It turns out the agents are going to dig up George Jones’ body to figure out what they know. As Finola and Bryan prepare to drive, the latter looks at his colleague with a long gaze before riding out.

The Episode Review

So it seems like the pieces of Debris are directly tied with human emotion, which makes sense given this episode is chock full of soapy melodrama. After the intriguing and mysterious pilot last week, Debris delivers another episodic slice of weirdness, but does so at the expense of characters talking about their feelings and delivering exposition that we could have perhaps done with last week.

Finola’s fractured family is certainly a big talking point, and it seems like her Father either didn’t die in the first place, has an identical twin or may well be a debris-powered clone. This would certainly tie into what we’ve seen in this episode, with clones wandering about and metal scraping across the floor.

The case is certainly interesting though and alongside showcasing more sci-fi elements, Debris drip-feeds details about the different government agencies and how they fit into the bigger picture. It seems like this Influx may be the tearaway group at the center of this, but right now that’s still an unknown factor.

Having said that though, Debris delivers another good episode, even if it does steer a little too much into soapy territory. As long as this doesn’t turn into another Manifest and sticks to its Fringe/X-Files influence, we should be okay!

Given Network TV’s recent run of middling mediocrity, this could just be one of the more interesting shows to be released in quite some time. Roll on next week!