The Innocents season 1, episode 2 recap: ‘Keep Calm, Come to No Harm’

On the premiere episode of The Innocents, June and Harry run away on the eve of June’s 16th birthday only to discover that she has a previously unknown and terrifying ability — shapeshifting.

After June transforms into Steinar on The Innocents, a man who tried to kidnap her on the road, she returns to Harry at their hotel. To show him she’s June, she has Harry look at her reflection in the mirror. She may look like Steinar but her reflection shows who she’s really is.

Meanwhile, on an island in Norway, Dr. Halvorson runs a secluded facility where he studies shape-shifters, including June’s mother, Elena. Everyone there seems to know about June. In fact, they sent Steinar to get her. They believe she’ll be safe with them.

When the second episode of The Innocents, “Keep Calm, Come to No Harm,” begins, Harry hasn’t responded well to the revelation that June now looks like Steinar. He has run from the hotel and June (as Steinar) has given chase.

More. The Innocents season 1, episode 1 premiere recap: ‘The Start of Us’. light

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Harry finally stops and demands to know what happened to June on The Innocents. But June can only insist that it’s her. Harry is freaked out but so is June. To prove it’s her, June tells Harry something only she would know.

In Harry and June’s hometown, Harry’s mother, Christine, has just figured out that Harry is gone, although she just believes he left the house early. June’s father, John, is more concerned. He goes to her school to look for her. But when no one knows where she is, he breaks into her locker and removes the contents.

At the hotel, Harry has finally accepted Steinar is June. They run through everything June did before she shifted into Steinar. June tells him she feels like herself, not Steinar, but then she says she’s hungry in Swedish. Once she repeats herself in English, Harry goes to get her some food.

Harry walks back to the room after getting snacks from the vending machine, but on the way decides to stop at the car. He looks like he may leave But then he makes a different decision and returns to the room. He even attempts to joke with June.

Harry and June discuss why she went back to check on Steinar’s body. She explains that she wanted to make sure Steinar was alive. If he wasn’t, she was worried Harry would leave. Harry tells her he won’t be going anywhere.

Then he tells her he loves her. Suddenly June starts convulsing. She transforms back into herself again.

Meanwhile, the driver of the van, Alf, has picked up the real Steinar’s body in the woods. When June shifts back to herself, Steinar regains control of his faculties. He’s still injured and Alf wants to take him to a hospital, but Steinar refuses. Now that they know for sure June’s a shape-shifter, he wants to find her more than ever.

June’s father returns home and asks Ryan where June is. He tells Ryan he needs to find her because of her condition. Ryan wants to know what he means but John isn’t quite sure how to explain except to say it’s something their mother also had.

A police car pulls up and two officers get out, one of whom is Harry’s mother. The police got a call about John rampaging through the school looking for June. The school isn’t pressing charges but Christine and John discuss June’s disappearance.

Christine deduces that June didn’t take enough stuff with her for her to be planning to be gone for more than a weekend. She tells John to call if he hasn’t heard from June by the next day and leaves.

John returns to Ryan’s apartment for answers but Ryan ignores him. So, John cuts the electricity to his apartment and tells him he can talk when he’s ready. In the house, a frustrated John pushes June’s books off the table and a letter to her from Harry falls out of one. As John reads the letter, the pieces start to come together. John takes off in his truck.

In Norway, Runa takes Elena to a basement lab. Halvorson wants to run tests on her to determine the original emotional trigger that caused her to shape-shift. He says that emotion is what causes her to continue to do so. He encourages her to let the emotions come but if she feels out of control to remember who she is.

He puts on classical music and shows her a series of slides that she doesn’t react to. Then, an image of a mother humpback whale and her baby causes Elena to get emotional. She flashes back to images of John leaving in his truck without her. Her emotions become more intense as another image, this one of a couple holding each other, reminds her of being with John.

Finally, an image of a dead ant causes her emotions to go haywire and she struggles desperately not to shift on The Innocents. She begs Halvorson to stop the test but instead, he continues showing her slides as he encourages her to remember her mantra. As she shakes violently, Halvorson leaves the room where Runa is waiting. They listen to Elena continue to struggle.

Later, Steinar calls Halvorson with an update. Steinar explains what happened and tells Halvorson about June’s ability.

He promises he has everything under control and returns to the van. Alf, who is just a hired hand, questions what happened with June and Harry and why Steinar is so adamant about finding June. Steinar explains that June is special and he has to take her back with him. Alf agrees to help. Steinar tells him to go to June’s home as he reasons she’ll go there if she’s scared.

At the house, Ryan finally resolves to go talk to John. He braces himself and leaves his apartment butt his agoraphobia makes him want to go right back inside. He’s locked himself out, though, so he runs to John’s house.

As he waits for John to return, Ryan sees Alf and Steinar coming up the drive. They break in and Ryan hides in a closet. They search for June, but when they don’t find her, they leave. Before they depart, though, Ryan overhears Steinar mention June’s name.

At the hotel, June and Harry go to their car. June offers to go home but Harry says they should continue on their journey. He still believes they can get away from all their problems together. They head towards South London.

When they stop at a gas station, Harry and June continue to discuss Steinar. They search his clothes to try to learn more about him. He has Norwegian coins in his pocket. And June discovers the video message from her mother on Steinar’s phone.

In the message, Elena cryptically refers to her desire to help June through her emotions as she turns 16 and tells her to trust and go with the man who shows her the video. Elena says she didn’t want to leave June and Ryan but John made her.

June is touched by the message, She explains to Harry that her father said that Elena left because she didn’t want June or Ryan. June believed Elena didn’t love her until seeing the message.

Meanwhile, Steinar and Alf try to figure out what to do next. Alf, who was photographing June from a distance on her last day at school, shows Steinar a photo.

They go to the apartment of the man Harry bought his car from in the previous episode. Steinar punches the man when he opens the door and forces him back inside. He tortures the man to get him to reveal where June and Harry went.

Elsewhere, John meets Christine at her house. He tells her Harry and June are together and shows her the letter he found from Harry to June. They argue over whose kid was responsible for the situation.

Ultimately, Christine concludes that they likely planned the whole thing together. She believes they’ll come back eventually and tells John if they haven’t returned by tomorrow she’ll get a search put out

Christine has to leave when she’s called to the apartment where Steinar broke in. The man there, Dean, insists that it was a break-in. But Christine notices the ring Harry gave him as payment for the car. She tells Dean he needs to tell her what really happened.

John returns to his house and finds Ryan waiting. He’s shocked Ryan went outside, but Ryan ignores his questions about that and gets straight to the point: Two men broke into the house and one said June’s name. John and Ryan are both worried.

Ryan admits June was supposed to call him but hasn’t. John insists Ryan tell him where she is. Ryan makes him agree that if he tells John where she is, he comes with him. John agrees and Ryan desperately tries to manage his anxiety as they drive to find June.

In Sweden, Halvorson and Runa discuss Elena’s test. Halvorson finds her test especially contradictory.

They also discuss the news that June is indeed a shape-shifter. Halvorson is excited. It’s rare to find a mother and daughter pair.

That night, June and Harry are excited to make it to London. They go to an apartment to stay with some of Dean’s friends.

The living arrangements aren’t exactly what they had in mind, but Harry reassures June that no one will come after them there. They can start over and be whoever they want.

As they look at the view of London from the roof, Harry asks June if she thinks her mother really has epilepsy or if her father knew about the shape-shifting. June is skeptical but Harry believes that all of John’s rules may have had to do with his knowledge of what could happen to her. As he talks, June watches Alf’s and Steinar’s van pull up outside the apartment.

Harry and June run to their car and speed away. Steinar and Alf see the car drive past the alley where they’ve parked. They run back to their van and drive after them.

June observes that her mother’s video says she could trust Steinar so she’s not sure that running is the best plan. But Harry seems certain it is and keeps driving — until he loses control and hits a parked car. They leave their damaged car and continue to flee on foot.

Meanwhile, Steinar and Alf have lost them. When they hit a roadblock and can’t drive further, Steinar gets out of the van and walks away in hot pursuit.

dark. Next. The Innocents season 1, episode 3 recap

This was a dynamic episode of The Innocents but we didn’t learn a great deal about what’s going on with June. The most interesting scene showed Elena’s test. Meanwhile, June and Harry continue to run from everyone, even though, as June observed, that may not be their best strategy.

Will Harry and June continue to spend a majority of their time running away from Steinar and Alf? We’ll see in the next episode of The Innocents.

Our recap of the third episode of series will be available soon. In the meantime, share your thoughts on episode 2 in the comments, check out our episode 1 recap, and stream The Innocents on Netflix.

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