Everyone Else Burns – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1 of Everyone Else Burns begins with urgency in the Lewis household. Rachel, a god-fearing teenager in a god-fearing Christian family, is woken up by her father, David, in a rush. “God’s raining down his Armageddon,” he says with conviction that his family will survive. Rachel hurriedly starts packing and panicking.

David’s younger son, Aaron, is already ready. He was dreading this day to come, so much so that he had already packed and gotten straight out of bed. David asks his wife, Fiona, for advice on which wedding picture to take with them, and off they go.

They must make it to Blakely Pike where the rest of the congregation will meet them and pray for the sinners whom God has turned to hellfire…until David reveals this was a practice run. There is no “everyone else burns” yet. Rachel pukes out her worries as Aaron pleads to God, “Let it end!”

David works as a part-time Go Parcel sorting agent. He is absolutely brilliant at his job, even prompting his boss Sid to offer him a permanent one with double pay. But David wants to focus on church and his family. After all, being promoted to an Elder is more important than this partly job.

The entire family goes to the Order of the Divine Rod where David anxiously awaits his coronation as an Elder. He has staked his entire happiness on the event and is convinced he will get the nod…but there’s no announcement. David wants to do everything in his power to convince the others he is the most deserving candidate.

His neighbor and fellow order man Andrew seems like a nice chap. He lost his wife recently and still hasn’t gotten over it. Is this a two-man battle for the post? Definitely seems that way. In order to get ahead, David ropes in Rachel on “preaching duties.” A new resident needs a visit and Rachel reluctantly agrees…even though she needs to up her grades if she wants to attend university. Her subject is Joshua, a young teenager of her age but less wound up.

Although they have a great session, as Rachel is leaving, Joshua reveals that he belongs to the shunned community. Any member of an Order who commits a “mortal sin” is excluded from that group…forever. For instance, the Jay family was excluded from the Order for opening up a café as coffee is considered a drug. Rachel is aghast and rushes out without booking a revisit. Her teacher from school visits home and tells Fiona about Rachel’s plans for university.

David and she are concerned but everything comes after the Elder announcement. Unfortunately, David learns that Andrew has been promoted as the Elder, not him. Back home, Fiona takes the lead as the parents confront Rachel about her future plans. They admonish her for getting straight As in her report card as it bodes too well for her chances of higher education. Rachel is upset that she couldn’t attend the university event in the neighborhood.

She sees Joshua outside, who drops the preaching bag that she forgot at his house. Aaron’s version of hell is ready in the form of a painting. But it is anticlimactic for David, who is placed in boiling tar for his “misdeeds” by Aaron. Fiona, who has been asking David to get the TV working again, goes to her next-door neighbor Melissa for some reprieve. To redeem himself, David organizes another practice run that night as Rachel struggles to fall asleep.

The Episode Review

Episode 1 of Everyone Else Burns is promising. It certainly suggests that the show is special with quirky yet human characters in this refreshing setup. The balance of the introductions is perfect; neither too overbearing nor too underwhelming. As the first season is just six episodes long, episode 1 gets the ball rolling on many fronts. It is quite difficult to set the tone with a good start for sitcoms these days.

But Everyone Else Burns has managed it with aplomb. The core ensemble is particularly well-cast. We didn’t get to see too much of their chemistry here. But all the essentials for future references are neatly stacked upon one another.