Trouble has Kevin’s fingerprints all over it.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Thats what Damon Lindelof told EWin his season 2 preview.
Credit: Van Redin/HBO
Noras emotions, on the other hand, are more anger than delirium.
Kevin is off the leash!
Did it happen again?
she asks the 911 operator.
Are the people gone?
Kevin makes it home in one piece, but Nora curtails their embrace and silently takes Lily upstairs.
She wont even leave him alone to take a shower.
Nora is not playing around.
If someone else finds your phone, you could say you just lost it today.
Nora is tough, and her brain might operate on a different level.
(John would appreciate it.)
Shes not cursed with naivety.
One of the cops gives Kevin a hard time near the crime scene.
Wow, how the officer changed tunes at the mere presence of the Miracle Fire Chief.
He puts his Bible down long enough to help, and theres some romantic chemistry between them.
I wonder if her disappearance, whatever its cause, took something of him with her because theyre twins.
Does he feel different incomplete in some way because of what she experienced?
At the end of the days search, Kevin still hasnt found his phone.
Oh well, he tells Nora, with a shrug.
Nora makes it clear that hes not coming home until he finds it, damn it.
Love you, he says to her, though its more a request than a statement of fact.
I love you too, Kevin, she answers formally as she drives away.
Its dark and everyones left when Kevin descends back down into the lake bed.
Patti comes along to lend a hand.
I know exactly where your phone is.
I can tell you what happened to those girls, too.
All you have to do is ask, she says.
Kevin is still refusing to engage with her, in the hopes that shell go away.
But shes never going to give him up, she taunts, in theimmortal words of RickAstley.
And she does have answers for him.
She helps him find the phone in a puddle of sludge.
And she warns him not to get in the vehicle thats approaching.
John is back, and he eyes Kevin suspiciously.
Did the police already identify that muddy palm print?
Does John know that Kevin was there the night before?
He insists that Kevin hop in with him rather than wait for Nora.
What youre looking for is to feel safe, he says.
[But youre no] safer here than anywhere else.
Of that, I am sure.
There are no miracles in Miracle.
When John drives past their street, Kevins worst fears rise.
But he can rest easily for now, at least.
Looks like you framed someone without even trying, Patti tells Kevin.
This does seem like a fair question, since Kevins ride-along felt essential only as a tense storytelling ploy.
And its not like he needs a wing man.
He was cheating on her and fancied some extreme kink.
When Patti caught him in the act, she saw a woman defecating on his chest.
Before he can break it down, a bullet comes through the door in the opposite direction.
John brought a bat to a gun fight.
That tends to happen when you burn a mans house down and throw him through a glass window.
Nora needs a drink, so she swings by the liquor store for some booze and cigarettes.
When she realizes she left behind her wallet, a stranger offers to help.
His name is Virgil, and he tells Nora, Im sorry for your loss.
Is he another healer, like Holy Wayne?
During the days search, shed seem him in a prayer circle, which she quickly disengaged with.
Now, she blames him for bringing her here.
He promised her something special, some place that was different, that was safe.
But Matt insists he was not blowing smoke.
On the first night he was in Miracle, Mary awoke and was her old self.
They talked for hours and fell asleep in each others arms.
But when morning came, she was back in her trance.
But that night made Matt a believer.
But the minister interrupted him so that he couldnt.
Miracle is what it is because the people believe it had been spared, that it had beenchosen.
But now, with Evie and the other two girls gone, Miracle is just Jarden, Tex.
Its residents may see themselves and each other in a different light now.
Kevin drifts off into the empty town square.
Patti, though, has not relented.
She questions his relationship with Nora, calling it damage control instead of true love.
She flicks his manhood over Noras decision to buy the house and challenges his love for his family.
Finally…finally…he speaks to her…rudely.
But he acknowledges her.
Laurie was Pattis therapist, and in a way, Patti is now Kevins.
Why are you trying to kill yourself if you love them so much, she asks.
He protests that hes not really suicidal.
Well, youre certainly entitled to your opinion, she says after describing his recent attempt.
Im just glad we finally talked about it.
Its the Pillar Man, who witnessed it all from his perch above.
But the question is, did he only see a crazy man having a one-sided conversation?
Or, is he someone who can see Patti?
In life, Patti was a devil at least to Kevin and most of the people in Mapleton.
But in death, she might be something else.
Perhaps thats the way forward for Kevin, also.
Perhaps Patti whether she be real or imagined is the only path to sanity for Kevin and his family.
In the final scenes of the episode, Michael chips away the orange sticker from his familys house.
Nora suggests that she and Kevin sleep in handcuffs to prevent another dangerous nocturnal excursion.
But theres no doubting that Erika and Patti were correct: Things are gonna change.
