The Changeling season 1 episode 6 recap & review: Aftermath

Open Go TV / October 1, 2023 / Reviews

The sixth episode of The Changeling explores Emma’s experience on Cal’s island. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

Emma discovers a twig in Brian’s baby crib. She hears a siren and leaves her old apartment immediately. She has received a message on the phone.

Emma has been told to ditch the phone, but the person messaging her claims that she really can’t quit on them; after all, only they know what’s really happened. Following that, she is sent words from a children’s book that become a riddle to solve for her.

Emma heads to board a ferry. She is followed by her sister, Kim. Emma is going to Cal’s. This is her only chance to figure out if any of what she is experiencing is real. Kim pushes Emma off the ferry so that Cal’s people can find her.

Cal’s people rescue Emma and bring her to their island. Although Cal claims that the point of doing what Emma was asked to was to remove the illusion of the baby ever being there, all Emma asks for is Brian. She can feel he is here.

The second chance at life Cal is talking about is for the life of Emma. She will be rebuilding her life like all the women on Cal’s island. When Emma demands to be let go, Cal’s people capture her and inject her with a sedative.

In her dreams, Emma sees a book and the same twig she found in Brian’s crib. When Emma wakes up, Cal visits her and explains to her that none of the mothers have ever found their child.

Emma believes Brian is different, and if her husband is alive, he will come looking for her. Emma is determined to find out where the twig that she has comes from.

Emma asks for books, and upon seeing that there are not many books in Cal’s library, she plans to go back to the city. With the help of the mother of a kid named Gayl, who is a resident of the island, she locates a boat.

Emma rows to the city and breaks into the library she used to work at. She picks up the books she needs and comes back to the island after watching the news channels broadcast her missing report.

Emma starts looking for information on the twig that she has. Gayl’s mother admits that she also found something in her baby’s crib. Much like Emma, she saw soil and a leaf.

Gayl’s mother draws a sketch of the leaf and gives it to Emma, who begins searching for a tree with such a leaf on the island. The island itself shows Emma the tree, which is called the Norway maple.

Emma plans to locate every Norway maple in New York. Since there is no internet on the island, Emma needs to go back to the city. Emma is warned that if she gets arrested, she should not speak a word about this place.

Emma is sent on a secret route. Upon reaching her destination, Emma meets a man named Wheels, who gives her a tour of an underground community.

He drops Emma off at a subway station. She is asked to return to the same location. Emma breaks into her library again. Someone arrives at the library. Emma quickly prints the map of New York that has all the Norway maple trees marked.

This is the same day Apollo walked into the library with a gun. Emma escapes the building, but the cops notice her. She manages to reach the subway station and hop on Wheels’ scooter.

Wheels helps Emma solve her riddle. He tells her that the area called the Forest Hills in Queens formerly went by the name Little Norway. Emma goes back to Cal’s. She fills the library there.

Before leaving again, Emma hands Cal the children’s book Apollo was obsessed with. She likes to think that if she doesn’t make it back and her son does, this will give him comfort. As Emma rows away, Cal notices a blue light surrounding Emma, whose eyes glow blue too.

Review

Clark Backo, as Emma, has certainly transformed herself over the course of the series. From a free-spirited adventurer to a depressed mother, Backo doesn’t disappoint with her performance.
At first, this episode feels like another one of those where the series shows the events already mentioned. Fortunately, the investigation Emma carries on is quite important for the plot as well as for the character of Emma. Clearly, Emma was in the right state of mind and not crazy, as everyone believed.
The Changeling has created some fascinating locations, like Cal’s Island and the underground community in this episode, but the latter hasn’t aided the plot that much. At least in this episode, its introduction felt redundant.