Impulse review: A look at three storylines from episode three

Jenna and Townes help Henry get answers about her strange abilities. Cleo confronts Henry and Thomas. Dominick tries to protect his family in Impulse.

In a continuation from the end of Impulse episode two, “State of Mind,” Henry’s (Maddie Hasson) panic attack in the bathroom causes the school to be evacuated due to an assumed bomb detonation, which Henry makes look like a prank.

Henry then links up with Jenna (Sarah Desjardins) and Townes (Daniel Maslany), an autistic classmate who has been enthusiastically trying to convince Henry she has superpowers. Meanwhile, Cleo (Missi Pyles) tells off Thomas (Matt Gordon) for a keeping a major secret from her, and a teleporter named Dominick (Keon Alexander) tries desperately to protect his family.

Here’s a look at three storylines from episode three, “Treading Water:”

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1. Henry goes cliff diving for science

Though Jenna initially dismisses Townes’ seemingly outlandish theories, she starts to come around to the idea of teleportation after embracing her nerd side and realizing it could explain what’s been going in a “completely detached from reality way.”

Deciding to trust her new friends, Henry tests their hypothesis that fear could be triggering her teleporting abilities by jumping off the edge of quarry into the water in the middle of winter. (Yeah, she’s not very excited about it.) Theoretically, Henry should be so terrified that she will teleport before her body hits the water.

Unfortunately for Henry, since it’s only 20 minutes into this episode of Impulse, the arc can’t be wrapped up that easily. Henry gets drenched, but as Townes says “disproving theories is just as important as proving them.”

As Henry later figures out, though, their theory wasn’t wrong, their experimental design was. In a horrifying suspenseful scene, Henry returns to the cliff without telling Jenna and prepares to drown herself, believing fear of death is the only way the teleportation will work.

Major props to Jenna, who drives around looking for her and is about to dive in after her when Henry proves their hypothesis correct. Fear, real “no safety net” fear, is the key.

2. Cleo and Thomas question their relationship

Having learned from Deputy Anna Hulce (Enuka Okuma) that Henry was in the truck with Clay when he was injured, Cleo first interrogates Henry, which goes very poorly. I honestly don’t blame Henry at all for reacting as she does, even if her mom was only trying to help her in the long run.

Cleo’s storyline in the episode really gets going, though, when she yells at Thomas for not telling her that Anne had already come by the house to ask about Henry calling in Clay’s accident. Thomas, who’d claimed Henry had been at home, tells Cleo that he was only trying to protect Henry.

Cleo is furious that he kept a secret about her own daughter from her, but Thomas cannot seem to see the situation from her perspective. He also fires back that Cleo still hasn’t committed to their four-month-long relationship since she hasn’t fully moved into their house.

After some reminiscing and flirting with a handsome patron (David Alpay) at a local bar, Cleo ultimately goes home alone. She and Thomas both acknowledge the truth in what each of them said, and their relationship grows stronger for it.

3. Dominick tries to protect his family

Dominick, a teleporter, is introduced in episode two when he narrowly escapes from Nikolai (Callum Keith Rennie), who is hunting him for reasons that as of now remain unclear. It has something to do with Dominick’s status as a teleporter, though.

Dominick is desperate to protect his wife Sabine (Alex Paxton-Beesley) and young son Tristan (Raphael Bergeron-Lapointe), and he believes he could get an edge on Nikolai with help. He asks his old friend Sam (Duane Murray) to take apart a device Nikolai had used to dampen his powers. Sam reluctantly agrees to help, but what he uncovers has deadly consequences.

Next: Impulse Ep. 4: Why Jenna is a refreshingly complex character

It turns out the device has a tracker inside, but Nikolai doesn’t attack Sam and Dominick. He instead goes to the device’s last location: the “safe house” in which Sabine and Tristan are awaiting Dominick’s return. Sabine sacrifices in an effort herself to protect Tristan, but Nikolai ends up kidnapping him. A horrified Dominick teleports home as soon as he realizes where Nikolai will be but only returns in time to get an ominous phone call from him.

What are your thoughts on the third episode of Impulse? Be sure to tell us in the comments below!

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Impulse: A look at three storylines from episode three

By Catherine Palmer | Jun 9, 2018

Jenna and Townes help Henry get answers about her strange abilities. Cleo confronts Henry and Thomas. Dominick tries to protect his family in Impulse.

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