Teacup (2024) – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Episode 3

Episode 3 of Teacup begins the following morning. Donald is still sitting outside, staring at his wife’s mutilated body. In the Chenoweth’s house, Maggie wakes up and asks Meryl to look after Arlo.

She and James discuss what to do next. James decides to head out and Maggie suggests he take Ruben. He doesn’t want to and Maggie calls him out, saying it’s because of his affair with Valeria. Janes admits the truth but insists that the affair is over and he loves Maggie. Of course, that’s not nearly enough. Unbeknownst to them, Ruben overhears the whole thing.

When Valeria wakes up, she notices something is off with Ruben as he heads outside. He goes to the barn and tells Maggie that he’ll accompany James. He also gives Maggie a rifle for the women’s protection.

Maggie then brings Donald inside the house. Ellen and Valeria walk as close to Claire’s body as possible and throw a blanket over it. Inside, Maggie helps Donald with his injury. He talks about how he and Claire wanted kids but they couldn’t have any. He then tells Maggie about the body in the woods.

James and Ruben head out on their horses through the woods, trying to reach their closest neighbours, the Navarros. Meanwhile, Meryl and Nicholas find Arlo learning words from a dictionary. Nicholas asks Arlo who he is and Arlo replies that he is the harbinger, while the real Arlo is asleep and resting. The Harbinger says they are trapped.

Meryl doesn’t believe the Harbinger is real and in a tussle with Arlo, she falls over and knocks a glass of water. The water spills over a rainbow drawing and spreads the colours out at one end. Suddenly, the Harbinger says that they aren’t trapped. He pulls Meryl and says they have to go somewhere. The real Arlo comes to and tells Meryl to trust the Harbinger.

Elsewhere, Ellen and Valeria talk and Ellen reveals she knows about James and Valeria. Valeria talks about being unsatisfied by the farmer’s life with Ruben. Suddenly, they see a car rounding the corner. A blonde man in a bullet proof vest walks out and crosses the line, entering the circle.

Meryl and Nicholas follow Harbinger through the woods. Nicholas has carried a small knife to protect them. Harbinger brings them to a part of the forest where the ground looks burnt up and animals are lying dead. He says “this is mine” and points to the sky, saying that’s where he came from. He collects a rainbow coloured liquid on the ground into a glass jar and tells the others it’s poison. He says they have to drink it.

Ruben and James reach the Navarro house and they separate to search the area. James finds the dead bodies of some of the Navarro family. Inside the house is another boy’s body. Meanwhile, Maggie goes to the forest to look for the dead body Donald was talking about. She calls the woman Carmen Navarro.

Back at the Navarro house, James hears something in the basement and goes down the stairs. A hand shoots out and pulls him down at the end of Teacup Episode 3.


The Episode Review

Teacup Episode 3 brings out the truth of James’s affair which sparks some tension between the characters. Maggie struggles to keep her emotions in check while still taking charge of the situation. We also see Ruben deal with the shock of the news and his cryptic comments to James show that he’s certainly not going to let this go.

The crux of the episode though is the separate identities of Arlo and the Harbinger. Arlo’s explanation clarifies that the Harbinger is a separate identity hiding within him. But can we believe Arlo when he says the Harbinger is good?

All signs here point to an alien invasion that seems to be studying the human race. With Harbinger perhaps trying to stop the senseless killings. While the horror quotient remains at a minimum, the series continues to maintain suspense and intrigue, particularly by adding a strange newcomer to the mix.

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Read our Season 1 review of Teacup here!

  • Episode Rating
    (3.5)
3.5

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