School’s Out
While we reel over the events that took place in the last episode, we return to Black Summer with Rose and the others reaching a school. Upon entering, they split up and search for supplies, creeping through the eerily silent corridors. After some deliberation, they find refuge upstairs for the night and hide out in the music room. At this point, we find out Ryan is deaf and mute, unable to hear the noises the others hear coming from above them. As they all leave the room to go and investigate, they notice a strange kid walking the hallways, instantly running away as soon as he spots them. While most of the group are in agreement to go after him, Spears pleads with the others to leave, sensing something is off with the school. Doing the absolute worst thing, the group split up instead. Ryan and Rose go one way while Spears and the other guy go back in the music room, only to find their supplies stolen. Meanwhile, Ryan and Rose find a pile of dead bodies which immediately sends Ryan running down the hallways, away from the others. Unable to hear the call, Rose is distracted by cries for help from the voice of a young boy. Finally coming around to Spears’ way of thinking, she grabs a knife before investigating the noises properly. As she arrives in a bathroom, she finds a megaphone attached to the toilet itself. As she staggers back and looks around, the call for help changes to laughter, leaving her banging on the door whence she came which is now bolted shut. After a bit of a mad scramble, Ryan winds up captured by a group of teenagers who tie him up and take him away. At this point, we come to realize Spears’ warnings were certainly well-advised as more kids show up, revealing they’ve turned the school into a refuge. Extremely organised and playing host to a lot of weapons, Spears and Rose reunite in time to come face to face with this group. They have Ryan and want the guns in exchange for his life. Unknowing that Ryan is a mute, they tell him not to move but he walks toward the group only to be shot in the chest by a young child in the front lines. Unfortunately, Ryan then turns into a zombie and chases the remaining survivors around the school. After narrowly escaping, Rose and Spears are joined by yet another man who teams up with them as the episode ends. In terms of stand-alone episodes, Black Summer does a pretty good job with this one. Although it doesn’t necessarily do much to advance the overarching plot, there’s some good work done here atmospherically to make it one of the best episodes in the season. The school and general tone of the episode works really well and despite the abundance of chapter breaks, their placement is better this time around. It’s not perfect but in comparison to the first two episodes, Summer School is a pretty solid episode in its own right.
