To The Lake – Season 1 Episode 3 Recap & Review

https://youtu.be/DjXGHsKc0hs

Stalker

Deep in the woods, episode 3 of To The Lake begins with the group seeking shelter in a large tent which they use to try and keep warm.

Tensions between the group continue while Misha and Polina both leave to get some fresh air. Polina taunts the boy and asks him to get her some booze. If he does – then she’ll sleep with him.

In the morning, the cars get moving again but on the way they find numerous dead soldiers on the floor. Blood spattered across the frozen wasteland, their blockade lies in ruins.

Sergey spies the fire truck though and heads in to check it out. Unfortunately, a dying soldier in the back jumps the man and stabs him in the stomach.

With panic gripping the group, Sergey is bundled in the back of one of the cars as they race up toward a hospital. Boris’s hands are shaking so badly that Misha is forced to drive as they find houses ahead that could be their ticket to survival.

While the group scramble inside, Boris starts looking for firewood to heat the place up. A delirious Sergey is carried inside while Anna spies a man outside watching them. It turns out he’s Igor – the same Igor from the previous episode perhaps? For now he seems harmless but there’s definitely something not quite right about him.

Anyway, Anna manages to get a needle and thread from Igor and she uses that to stitch Sergey up. It’s a pretty nasty cut too and the group cross their fingers that he’ll survive.

While Sergey sleeps off the injury, Boris and Misha talk outside while drinking alcohol. Inside, Anna writes in her book and takes the opportunity to have a chat with Ira in her car.

There, Anna admits that Sergey went on his own merit to find her – although she wouldn’t have objected to him leaving anyway.

It turns out Ira and Sergey’s problems stemmed from their sex-less relationship after she gave birth to Anton. She blames herself for not sleeping with him. Anna agrees with her, “Yes you should have.”

Silently, Ira leaves the car and slams the door shut. Well, if that’s not pouring petrol on a growing fire, I don’t know what is.

Outside the car, Anna finds Igor again, coughing and asking for food. As she opens the boot, she shows off all her supplies to him and his entranced look is certainly unnerving. However, he leaves without much fuss for now.

That evening, Misha and Polina fool around in the truck until the latter notices someone watching in the distance. When Misha looks over though, whoever it was has gone.

Back inside, Sergey struggles to see sense telling Anna and Boris to look after the kids and even going so far as to call Anna by Ira’s name later on. With Sergey struggling, Lyonya seizes his opportunity and grabs the keys while everyone is sleeping. While he’s gone, Polina ends up having a bad dream involving the man she killed in the first episode.

Gunshots outside suddenly wake the entire house as an intoxicated Boris returns and confronts both girls about their bickering over Sergey. Thankfully they manage to bundle him to the ground before he can shoot anyone with the shotgun.

With the group fractured, Lyonya returns with Olga – the best veterinary nurse he knows – to help Sergey’s recovery. The vet does her best to help Sergey, before Lyonya drives her back again.

Anna heads out to greet Boris who ends up tied to the car to avoid doing damage to anyone. Thankfully the alcohol has worn off and even better, Sergey awakens from his delirious state to find Anton watching over him.

Igor returns while the group are at the bathhouse and strikes Misha from behind. When Lyonya returns to the house alone, he finds their resources stolen from the boot and Misha lying face-down on the floor.

Unfortunately Igor isn’t alone and he’s brought guests. They’re all infected too and as he heads in with Sergey, they watch in horror as this family of infected stalk toward them. A woman is shot dead by Lyonya as he arrives.

The Episode Review

Igor striking at the end puts the group in danger and the dizzying camera work around this time is beautifully done. Seeing the infected inside is definitely a shock and so far this series has done an excellent job keeping them a legitimate threat while keeping the shots of them brief and infrequent.

This slow burn really leans into its paranoia and so far the human drama has been carefully crafted across the episode. Hopefully this can continue going forward as this one is really starting to come into its own now.