In episode 7 of Harlan Coben’s Shelter, the children finally set out to rescue Ashley from her captors. The episode is streaming on Prime Video.
Recap
Spoon and Ema find Mickey’s location from an app that Spoon had downloaded on each of their phones. They find him unconscious and immediately take him to the hospital.
Troy stops off at Mickey’s place to drop his varsity jacket and he tells Shira to stay away from his family because he believes she is sneaking around with his dad. After he leaves, she gets a call from the hospital about Mickey.
Spoon and Ema visit Lizzie and blame her for Mickey’s state. She says that they can avenge him and help in the same cause for Abeona, along with Rachel who also shows up there.
Rachel gets the download of the investigation so far from Ema and Spoon, and they decide that their next lead is to check out the club that Mickey and Rachel staked out.
Dylan visits Mickey and tells him that he needs to stay strong. He also tells him the story of what happened when his father was locked in Lizzie’s house.
Spoon tries to sneak in through the vents of the club but ends up getting caught when he drops down in the wrong place. He is saved by one of the girls over there who knew Ashley.
Ema and Rachel sneak into the club and manage to get the code for the dungeon so that they can save Ashley. Spoon is being taken away by one of the goons to be taken care of but the girl sneaks into the van with him.
They fight off the goon but she is shot down and dies in Spoon’s arms. Ema and Rachel get to the dungeon door but the boss shows up and starts fighting them before Ashley shows up and knocks him out.
They get to the outside where they are stopped by more goons. One of them holds a gun to Ema’s head and tells Ashley that her buyer is waiting for her in the car behind them.
Mickey drives up and knocks out the person holding Ema hostage as she jumps out of the way. Ashley escapes as the buyers drive off and then Octoface shows up.
Rachel is about to shoot him but Ashley says that he’s part of Abeona and is trying to help them. They get out of there and Octoface tells Mickey that he knew his father quite well, giving him Brad’s final letter he sent.
Ashley has to leave because it is safer for her and she and Mickey have an emotional goodbye.
Review
- Spoon is such a great character and Adrian Greensmith does an amazing job with this role. His comedic chops are impressive but in this episode, he gets to showcase a much more dramatic side of him.
- The moment when Candy dies in his arms is so emotional and Greensmith sells it so well with his performance. Her death was a genuine surprise when it happened.
- Octoface turning out to be a good guy is another swerve that could not have been predicted by anyone who hasn’t read the books before. It’s a testament to good storytelling that he was considered an outright villain just because of a face tattoo.
- This felt like a suitable end to Ashley’s arc and set things up for Mickey’s adventures with Abeona in the future as well. Good structuring on the director’s part.
Also Read: Shelter season 1 episode 6 recap & review: Candy’s Room