The I-Land – Season 1 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Past Crimes

Episode 5 of The I-Land begins with Taylor grabbing the raft and dragging it into the water, while Blair pleads with her to stop, reminding her about Bonnie and Clyde’s warning. Pushing her away, she continues to drag the raft into the water while Blair rushes off to inform the others what Taylor’s doing.

Inside the abandoned building, Chase continues to look around for clues before spying a picture on the wall that appears to hold some relevance to her life. Taking it down, she rips open the back and finds an envelope full of photos, schematics and other useful information inside that may hold the clue to escaping the prison. Among the pictures is one of her and Cooper, together as a couple.

Shipwrecked and covered in cuts and bruises, Taylor breathes heavily before spying a skull that has “Property of I-Land” written on the side of it. Crawling back up to the mainland, she manages to make a fire and catches her breath, finding a bowl next to a plank of wood that has the word “Chicken Soup” carved on the side, which she hungrily gulps down.

As the visions continue, most of the episode reveals that our various characters are connected in the past as we see the events that led to them committing the crimes prior to them being imprisoned. All our characters are connected in the worst possible way too, as we see violence consuming their past and understand just why they’ve all been bickering and arguing with one another all this time.

After overhearing Bonnie and Clyde discussing the game and the rules their “boss” has given them, Cooper catches up with Chase where she shares the pictures of Texas with him – including the one depicting them both happy and hugging. As they discuss just what this means, we cut back to Taylor who’s approached by Bonnie and Clyde. They congratulate her for making it to a place called Two-Land where she uncharacteristically asks to speak to their manager. They mention that the one person on the island with her is a cannibal and the food she’s been eating isn’t chicken. It’s actually her own fingers.

Despite a joke at the end that goes down like a lead balloon, most of the episode sees our various characters exploring their pasts and understanding just why they’ve been picked for this experiment. While some of these visions do go on a little too long, it’s certainly needed for the conflict to come. Still, there’s plenty to digest here and given the connections all our characters share, The I-Land poses some very interesting ideas going forward.