TV Recap: "Furious" Episode 6 — Alice Corners Catherine, but Catherine Strikes Back
Alice Black’s search for answers about Isabel has unexpectedly led her to the same waiting room where the serial killer she’s been hunting, Catherine Grace, is waiting. That was the cliffhanger ending that Hulu’s Furious left us with, and Episode 6 actually backs up just a little bit, showing Catherine Grace’s arrival at the shelter before Alice walked in. Here’s a detailed recap of this week’s installment.
Episode 6: “They Make a Noise Like Feathers” — Written by Colleen McGuinness
“Gracie, honey?” Jean (Marcia DeBonis) asks when Catherine Grace (Lola Petticrew) stumbles into the Crossroads Survivor Shelter wearing a face mask, passing out almost immediately.
Jean uses the depersonalization tactics she taught Catherine to help her calm down. “You were doing so well, you were helping so many people,” Jean says, surprised to see Catherine back after two years. When Catherine asks to stay for a few days, Jean says she saw her picture on the news and needs to know what she’s getting herself into. Catherine tells her that Elena is back with Big Man. “If they get me, will you find her and get her out of there?” she asks. Their conversation is interrupted by the buzzer, someone waiting to get in from outside. Jean moves Catherine into the waiting room to keep an eye on her.
Catherine isn’t paying attention to the woman at intake, struggling to take Aldan’s ring off her finger. The stranger sits in a chair behind her. As she fills out the form, she asks Catherine if she knows what day it is. “No,” Catherine tells her. Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) fills out the form as “Alex Kelly,” using Danny’s last name. “You’re in the wrong place,” Catherine observes, telling Alex that this shelter is for sex workers in crisis. Alice dons a tougher persona as Alex, saying she works online, that her boyfriend found out, and that she now needs a place to stay. When Jean calls Catherine to take her back to a room, Alex asks to use a bathroom and is admitted through the locked door with her.
“She's here,” Alice whispers to Nora Washington (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) on the phone from the bathroom. Nora thinks they have an opportunity to get Catherine to testify against Jay Easton. She asks Alice to keep to small talk and avoid anything that could be considered entrapment. “If we play our cards right, we can get them both,” Nora says, excited by this turn of events. Nora says she has to tell Ed about this, but she smiles as she mentions how long it could take her to get from the basement to the 32nd floor. Nora warns Alice that Hal’s body was found dead with signs of being tortured. She will call Alice to say her mom is in the hospital, her cue to know that the FBI is surrounding the shelter. Jean knocks on the door to tell Alex that her room is ready.
Nora orders a special ops team to cover the shelter. Before leaving C20, she tells Yara (Layan Elwazani) that if Ed’s office calls, she should say she’s on her way up, and it could be a while. Later, we see her in the elevator, having pushed every floor to slow it down. She also tries to make conversation with everyone she passes, asking an agent named Ralph (Tej Patel) to open up about his father’s health struggles.
At his home, Aldan (Steve Way) is questioned by Danny Kelly (Scoot McNairy) and Frank Choi (Rob Yang). He confesses to killing Hal, which neither of them believes. Danny notices the laptop seems out of place and asks if it belongs to Aldan. “What laptop?” he asks. Despite being handcuffed, Aldan manages to move his wheelchair, to Frank’s frustration and confusion.
Outside of Aldan’s home, Danny finds his boss, Marty (Michael Kostroff), upset about being out of the loop on the case. He shares that Marshall was pulled over drunk last night.
We see Marshall Connelly (Jake Lacy) drinking a beer behind the wheel of his car. He can still track Alice’s phone, and he sees that she’s at a shelter downtown. He starts to head that way.
Alex (aka Alice) is brought to her room, which she will be sharing with Catherine. Jean informs her that Bible study is mandatory, that no visitors are allowed, and that she must request permission to leave. Catherine is asleep already, and Alex wakes her, saying she was talking in her sleep. When Catherine says she needs some air, Alex joins her.
On the shelter’s roof, Catherine asks Alex about her sex work. Alex lies about roughing herself up for men, and how she thought her boyfriend was going to kill her when he found out. “He always pulled me out of the shower to hit me,” she shares something true, albeit old. Alex adds that she didn’t have time to wash the shampoo out of her hair. Catherine asks what she was saying in her sleep. “You were saying the name Isabel,” Alex lies, which prompts Catherine to press for more info. Alex changes the conversation to the weather, remembering Nora’s caution. Catherine seems to emotionally shut down around Alex, who talks about how much she likes Jean. Catherine shares more about the shelter’s manager, saying she first met Jean when she was 16 and she even worked there for a while. “She saved my life,” Catherine reveals. But their conversation is interrupted by a call to the prayer meeting.
At the meeting, Alex notices one of the women (Judeline Charles) staring at her quizzically. She anxiously keeps checking the clock, which Catherine notices.
Aldan is fingerprinted at the FBI, still claiming to have killed Hal. Danny tells Aldan he doesn’t believe him, and opens up about his son, hoping to have a breakthrough with him. It doesn’t work. All Aldan wants to know is if “Vanessa” is okay. Danny tries to get Aldan on their side by implying that Catherine may have killed his mom since her death was unexpected. Aldan’s response: “No one’s perfect.”
Ed George (Danny McCarthy) has grown tired of waiting for Nora and is on the move looking for her. When he almost finds her, she ducks below a cubicle to “tie her shoe.” Frank finds her and shares that the tech team is working on the laptop now.
It’s mandatory shower time at the shelter as Alex lingers by the door, not undressing with the other women. Catherine notices her hesitation and talks about how many showers she’s taken there. She also mentions a 6-month period where she had her own tiny apartment, which she lost after failing to keep a job and trying to take care of a friend’s kid. “Isabel’s kid?” Alex asks, which evokes a suspicious look from Catherine. She suggests that Alex at least get her hair wet to rinse out the shampoo.
Nora finally gets to Ed’s office, gloating about how they think the suspect can help name Jay Easton as a party to a child sex trafficking ring, and that she has an agent in the field ready to make an arrest. She brags about how Jay Easton’s lawyer’s laptop has been recovered and is likely full of evidence. And then she brings up circumstantial evidence that Ed acted as Jay Easton’s fixer in exchange for information that secured his promotion. Nora says she was just a cub when Ed asked her to close the Jane Doe case in 2012, but now she’s a lioness. Ed denies any quid pro quo occurred, but Nora asked around, and nobody else at the FBI knew more about the Jane Doe than Ed, so all of his information about the deceased came from an external source. Last night she realized Jay Easton was the source on Ed’s big banking case that made him a star at the FBI. “That’s what happened, Ed,” Nora says. “She didn’t have a face, but the dead always speak. They make a noise like feathers. And I have you now.” As Nora walks out, she brags that it’s too late for Ed to stop her from exposing him.
“She’s a fed, right?” the suspicious woman at the shelter asks Catherine in the shower. She shares that she saw Alex questioning sex workers on the pier a few days ago. “You talking to them?” she asks Catherine.
“Mom is in the hospital,” reads a text from Nora on Alice’s phone. Alex waits for Catherine in the bathroom while the other women exit for mandatory bible study. Catherine skips it, heading to their room instead. Alex follows, watching Catherine grab her sequined bag and say she’s going to take off. Alex begs to talk to her, ready to reveal that she’s with the FBI, but Catherine bolts out the door, running away from her. Alice chases her back into the bathroom, where hot water is running, creating a fog that’s hard to see through. Alice begins to have a panic attack, sitting on the ground, having a hard time breathing. That’s when Catherine appears through the mist and injects her in the neck!
Nora tries to reach Alice, who isn’t answering her phone. Frank enters her office, warning that Ed is asking about the laptop on the tech floor. “We have to move now,” she orders. Then she gets a call that enrages her.
Nora bursts into Ed’s office, having learned that he called back the special ops team, and she now has an agent in the field whose life is in danger. Ed grins as he explains that the laptop was scrubbed clean, so there’s no evidence against Jay Easton. He’s going to arrest Catherine Grace. “I’ll be running this from now on,” he gloats, adding that he made a call to human resources that he smelled alcohol on Nora’s breath this morning.
When Alice wakes up on the bathroom floor, she finds Catherine pacing back and forth, holding her gun. Catherine figured out that the text about her mom in the hospital was a code, but also could tell that Alice’s story about being beaten in the shower wasn’t a lie, asking who abused her. “My ex-boyfriend,” Alice shares, adding that he’s a cop. “I know about Isabel,” Alice explains, adding detail about how she gave up her baby before she was murdered. “I think you want me to give you a way out,” she adds. “I think we both want Jay Easton, and we can do this together.”
Catherine rants about the broken justice system, asking Alice if she made a statement when her ex beat her up. Alice admits that she didn’t. “Because you knew it wouldn’t work,” Catherine responds, “because it never works.” Alice agrees, but thinks it could work if Catherine makes a statement about Jay Easton. That’s when Catherine reveals that her memory has holes. She remembers being at Jay Easton’s house, and then Isabel being dead, but nothing in between.
Alice learns that Catherine’s sequined bag was Isabel’s, and that her best friend used to put notes in it for her the way mothers do in their children’s lunchbox. Catherine asks Alice what she could get in exchange for hard evidence of Jay Easton with underage girls. “What do you want?” Alice asks. Catherine mentions Elena, Isabel’s daughter, who is on the street and working for Big Man. She wants to get Elena out of sex work and into a safe situation.
It dawns on Catherine that she and Alice have been talking for a while, and backup hasn’t arrived. “There’s no one else here,” she says, accusing Alice of lying to her. She takes off with Alice’s gun. Alice tries to follow, her limbs still sedated, slowing her down. When she drags herself outside, Marshall is waiting for her. He grabs her, drags her to his car, and throws her against the hood.
“Don’t touch her!” Catherine Grace demands, pointing Alice’s gun at Marshall. She asks Alice if she wants her to kill Marshall for her. In shock, Alice hesitates, and Catherine pulls the trigger. Realizing she’s made a mistake, Catherine drops the gun and runs away.
Agents arrive on the scene, and Ed looks confused as he sees Marshall shot and the suspect nowhere to be seen.
Danny escorts Aldan to the elevators, saying if there’s anything that can help his fiancée, now is the time to share it. Danny is perplexed when Aldan asks him to adjust his seat, but as he leans in, Aldan whispers for him to check between the cushions. Danny finds a flash drive, which Aldan tells him is a copy of Hal’s laptop. “Please don’t let her die,” Aldan whispers.
In his car, Danny pulls out his laptop and plugs the flash drive in. All the video files contain the names of the girls featured in them. His eyes are instantly drawn to a file named “Alice.”
To be continued next Monday, August 24th, in Episode 7, “Some Days It Don’t Come Easy.”
Alice spirals after Danny must decide what to do with sensitive information.