Last Light – Season 1 Episode 3 “Darkness Falls” Recap & Review

Darkness Falls

A man wearing a goat mask and with a distorted voice introduces the Apocalypse Watch at the start of Last Light episode 3. The montage shows the organization’s mission and the extremes it will go to serve its ends.

Climate change is something of a global issue and people of this organization feel the governments don’t do enough. Politicians chase the buck disregarding the earth’s needs for replenishment. Hence, they float the idea that they will destroy the resources in a way that countries cannot commercialize them. It is quite clear now that they’re behind this coordinated attack. We cut to the present. Mika takes Andy to a safe house as they lose the gunman chasing them.

He demands to make a call to his family using Mika’s satellite phone. Without assurances of his family’s safety. he refuses to help the government. Although Mika is initially reluctant and cites protocol, she eventually gives in, keeping the larger cause in view. Laura admits Owen to a hospital as Elena and Sam are taken by Yara to a safe house belonging to mainly the homeless and immigrants. Andy deciphers the data from the lab results. He discovers that the contamination in the oil is spreading. When Mika asks how and why Andy says that it’s a bacteria and it is alive. If this continues, the damage will be irreversible.

Elena thanks Yara for her hospitality and wishes to leave to find a way home. Yara says a curfew is in place overnight and they must stay with her family to be safe. Sam concurs and says he is hungry. So, Elene decides to stay. Andy calls Laura using the sat phone. But he is more anxious when he learns Laura hasn’t been able to contact her mother all this while. Andy gives her a task to complete. He asks her to go to his office building and send him photos of the documents in a manila folder in his safe. Andy isn’t forthcoming to Mika about his conversation but she listens in and discovers that a document will be sent to him.

Yara is actually a immigrant. She used to live in Damascus before this and had to relocate after the drought. She has a son, Ben Salim, who has gone out for supplies. Sam starts rubbing his itching eye. Elene reaches in her purse to look for the medication but is shocked not to find it there. She starts hyperventilating and asks Yara where she can find a pharmacy.

Mika calls her boss, Cameron, and informs her of Andy’s conversation. She asks the MI6 HQ to intercept the documents. Yara goes with Elena to look for a pharmacy during the curfew, while Ben stays back with Sam.

The duo does find one and break in. But other people looking for medications also barge in. The police arrive soon enough and a scuffle breaks out between them. Yara takes a medicine, which does not look like the one Lucas gave Elena, but the worried mother has no option but to trust her. They escape through the backdoor. Laura barely manages to send the documents to Andy and escape the building. In between scenes, we also see the spectacled stranger from the last episodes calling various hospitals as Owen’s father and asking his location. It is also revealed that he carries a big bomb in the back of his car. We are also shown a mysterious man sitting in the middle of a huge open area – probably a library – dressed smartly and coordinating the plan. He is perhaps the mastermind behind the entire attack.

Their objective is to get Yeats or his daughter to make sure the solution does not reach the authorities. Yara explains she became a nurse and learned the profession out of necessity. That is why she was able to gauge which medicine Sam needed, even though the exact one wasn’t available.

To get to London, Yara takes Elena to Hassan, a mechanic, who helped get her into the country. He takes a fee and Elena is forced to give her diamond ring as compensation. He gives her a EuroStar card and says that he will get them to the tunnel but they will have to cross it on their own. Mika suspects that Farooq is in cahoots with the organization as he was the only person apart from Khalil who knew where the results were going.

Farooq comes to meet with Andy but a fight ensues as Mika attacks him. Her suspicion is proved right as he attacks back and almost neutralizes both. But Andy is able to get back up in time and saves the day. Laura spots the stranger at the hospital and successfully escapes with Owen. The man is firmly in pursuit and promises his boss that he will get to her. Mika and Andy board a plane for the UK.

On the phone, Cameron informs Mika that the documents revealed a research invention of the same bacteria used in this attack. It was made around 20 years ago and was a breakthrough in cleaning up oil spills. The man who created the bacteria was Andy Yeats himself, indicating that he might be involved in the attacks. On reaching the airport, Andy is arrested by MI6 and taken for further questioning.

The Episode Review

First impressions can be so explosively deceptive. Last Light offered a decent episode 1 but has since derailed in the unlikeliest fashions. It is like a sinking ship going down without a fight. Watching the show has become unbearable by episode 3. I would be very interested to know what the writers were paid to write the teleplay for this one. It is baffling how remarkably unimaginative and unoriginal the plot is.

There is zero buildup, zero tension, and absolutely nothing gripping about this supposed “edge of the-seat” thriller. The storytelling seems to be going all over the place. There is no clarity about what to do next, nor is there anything that you cannot see from a mile off.

Every supposed “twist” has been seen a thousand times before by an experienced viewer. Even for those who might not have seen that many television or genre films, Last Light is proving to be a drag.

Episode 3 is rightly titled “Darkness Falls” as this episode marks the end of any chance of redemption for the show. The chance to do something unique and worthwhile is lost. But the good thing is, there is no downhill from here; they’re already there.