The Innocents season 1, episode 4 recap: ‘Deborah’

On the previous episode of The Innocents, June and Harry managed to stay out of Steinar’s reach, but that didn’t mean June’s ability didn’t rear its head.

In fact, it seems she put a girl, Lil, in a coma when she shapeshifted into her at a club in The Innocents. June, feeling guilty, rides with Lil in the ambulance and gets checked into the hospital under her real name. Meanwhile, June’s father and brother are checking every London hospital for the pair while Steinar and Alf follow closely behind.

As the fourth episode of The Innocents, “Deborah.” begins, Steinar sits in a bar in Norway. It’s sometime in the past. A waitress apologizes to him about the death of his parents.

Then Steinar is cautiously approached by Halvorson. Steinar is surprised but happy to see him. It seems he used to be a patient and Halvorson helped him. Now Halvorson needs Steinar’s help.

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In a flashback, we see Halvorson go to a facility. He has been called in to help with a patient because it’s Christmas Eve and he’s the only available doctor around. He is told that the patient is a paranoid schizophrenic.

It’s a younger Runa. She’s not making sense and she’s scared. Another man approaches her trying to calm her down, but when he touches her, she shifts into him.

Back in the bar, Steinar thinks Halvorson is lying or playing a joke on him. Halvorson wants to use Steinar’s parents’ house to work on his new discovery and he wants Steinar to partner with him on the new endeavor.

Steinar gets up to leave. He still doesn’t buy what Halvorson is selling. But Halvorson convinces Steinar to come to his car to see the patient. In the car is another Halvorson. Steinar is shocked. He asks the Halvorson who he’s been talking to who he is. Runa introduces herself in Norwegian.

In the present day, June and Harry are still at the hospital. And Steinar and Alf are still in their van shadowing John and Ryan.

Alf is starting to question who Steinar really works for. Is it a cult? Steinar tries to tell him he only wants to bring the girl to her mother but Alf doesn’t seem so sure anymore.

They watch as John and Ryan return to their vehicle. John gets a call from Christine, who tells them the name of the hospital where June was admitted. They drive off with Steinar and Alf on their tail.

At the hospital, Lil is finally awake but she’s still not out of harm’s way. A pregnant nurse, Deborah, questions Harry and June for any additional information on the drugs Lil took. Harry tries to explain that what happened to Lil is due to the shapeshifting, not the drugs.

Deborah, of course, has no idea what Harry’s talking about, but Harry gets increasingly distraught. June is dangerous and he doesn’t know how to help.

Deborah prepares to take some blood from June. But June gets stressed when she sees the needle. She has a flashback to what happened when Steinar tried to grab her on the road in the first episode of The Innocents.

Deborah tries to comfort June, but when she touches her, June shifts into Deborah. Harry catches Deborah as she loses consciousness. Harry decides they need to leave immediately.

Meanwhile, John and Ryan have arrived at the hospital. They walk right past June as Deborah to the exam room where they believe they’ll find her while Harry hides around the corner. After seeing them, June and Harry make a hasty escape.

They go to the nurse’s car as Steinar and Alf watch from a distance. Alf recognizes Harry but not June. However, Steinar knows no matter what she looks like, June’s with Harry.

Harry looks for the keys in the car but it’s June who finds them. Somehow she knew where the nurse hid them.

In Norway, Runa discusses her concerns about her mind with Halvorson. She suggests that she re-start the treatments but Halvorson chalks the idea up to her jealousy at having to share him with the other residents still in treatment, Elena and Sigrid.

Runa denies it but Halvorson is distracted by Elena. He goes to help her. Elena tells Halvorson she’s ready to continue her treatments and be well, for June’s sake.

Halvorson then turns his attention to Sigrid. It’s the day of her final treatment. In the lab, she tells the story of her first time shapeshifting. She became her after he told her he was going to leave her mother for another woman, All the while she looks at slides and classical music plays. Sigrid makes it through the treatment successfully.

In London, Harry and June go to Deborah’s house. June makes herself at home. which annoys Harry. In his frustration, he cuts himself with a knife. June uses the skills she seems to be getting from Deborah to stitch his wound.

June and Harry discuss the reason June turned each time, a total of three now. Ultimately, June was frightened and when she touched someone skin to skin while experiencing that emotion, she shifted on The Innocents.

Then June feels a kick from the baby. She’s really pregnant. She doesn’t understand how the baby could be with her and Deborah at the same time.

June is freaked out by what she is. She wonders if she can just remain Deborah and she and Harry can stay at her place for a while. But Harry can’t believe June wouldn’t want to be herself. He walks away.

Outside, Steinar is plotting how to get June as he prepares a syringe to subdue her. Alf has his reservations. As far as he knows, June’s not even in the house — and who would want to kidnap a 16-year-old girl anyway. He wants to know if someone is forcing Steinar to do this.

Alf tells him he knows things got bad after his parents died but Steinar tells him he has no idea how bad. Steinar tried to commit suicide. Then he met a doctor, Halvorson, who saved his life. He gave him something to live for and a new family. Alf still can’t understand what Steinar’s doing.

In Norway, Sigrid is celebrating the end of her treatments. She is planning to leave soon. Elena says that she thinks she’ll stay at the facility even when her treatments are over along with June. But Sigrid says she doesn’t believe living there is a real life.

In London, Harry calms himself and goes to find June again. She’s looking at ultrasound photos. She shows Harry and comments that she thinks the baby looks like her uncle. Harry can’t believe it, whose uncle is she even talking about?

He goes to search for money so they can get out of there. June doesn’t want to steal from Deborah but Harry’s angry. He thinks June could be herself again but she isn’t trying hard enough. Harry leaves again in anger to get supplies from a nearby store.

Steinar and Alf watch him go and Steinar makes his move. Alf tries to stop him but Steinar won’t be deterred.

Steinar comes in the back door of the house into the room where June is sitting. When June sees him she asks him questions about her abilities but Steinar doesn’t answer. He just pulls out the syringe and tackles her.

Alf comes in to find June struggling with Steinar. In the commotion, June manages to get away and Alf punches Steinar.

June runs out to find Harry coming back to the house. Harry drops his groceries and they run off. Meanwhile, Steinar and Alf continue to fight. Steinar strangles Alf until he desists and then Steinar runs after Harry and June.

June and Harry hit a dead-end and June protests she can’t run anymore. She doesn’t want anything to happen to the baby. She can remember Deborah’s thoughts and experiences and she knows it took her a long time to conceive.

Harry finds a garage where they can hide. He suggests that maybe the safest thing for Deborah and the baby is for June to let them go. He also thinks she has to want to be herself again to turn back. The problem is June doesn’t want to be herself. Harry encourages her and shares memories of their history and she starts to shift as Steinar tries to break in.

Steinar runs away when he hears police sirens and June becomes herself again. Harry and June flee.

Elsewhere, John and Ryan sit at a cafe looking despondent when, to their surprise, June calls. She asks to meet them. When they get to the meeting place, Ryan tells John that they only have one shot to get June home so no matter what she asks just tell her the truth.

Inside, June tells John that she’s not coming home but she wants to know why her mother left. John says he can’t tell her there. So June shows him the video of Elena from Steinar’s phone.

June wants to know if John really made Elena leave. John just says that Elena had demons. But June counters that John controlled her whole life because he knew what she was. Ryan doesn’t know what June’s talking about but John says he always thought of both of them as his kids and he loves them. He was just doing what he thought was best. John insists that Elena was sick and she hurt and used people. But June knows better — what happened wasn’t Elena’s fault.

June says she’s going to find her mother but John insists Elena can’t love June like she needs her to. And Harry can’t be a knight in shining armor for June. June starts to get extremely stressed. John goes to touch her but Harry blocks him and Ryan holds him back as Harry and June run away.

In Norway, Halvorson, Runa, Sigrid, and Elena are having dinner. They toast to Sigrid and discuss her future. Runa looks forward to when Elena and June will follow in Sigrid’s footsteps but Sigrid corrects her that Elena doesn’t plan on leaving.

This is news to Runa. Elena explains that Halvorson said she could stay there indefinitely. Runa isn’t pleased.

Halvorson tries to play off the news and get back to the celebration but Runa’s jealousy gets the better of her. She thinks Halvorson is creating a new family, one that doesn’t include her. Runa yells at Elena in Norwegian and angrily stalks away.

Halvorson follows Runa who accuses him of wanting Elena instead of her. He tells her she has to get her anger under control, it’s why they can’t share a bed. But Runa thinks it’s always about others and not her. She starts to have an episode, so he gives her a sedative to calm her down.

In Harry’s hometown, his mother has learned about Deborah’s coma. The symptoms remind her of what happened there to her husband and others years ago. Her husband has never been the same since. Christine thinks it’s happening again and Harry’s in the middle of it.

In London, June and Harry get a hotel room. June and a surprised but open Harry decide to have sex for the first time.

Elsewhere, a mysterious man views footage from the club. Someone caught June shifting into Lil on video and has posted it online. The man comments on the video. He knows what the video is showing and he can help.

Next. The Innocents season 1, episode 5 recap. dark

Well, that can’t be good. If people discover shapeshifting is a thing and that June is a shapeshifter, there’ll be even more people looking for her throughout The Innocents.

Also, it seems John may be right that Elena did hurt people when she was with him. And it seems June is repeating the pattern. But why are some people, like Steinar and Halvorson, able to come into contact with a shapeshifter and go through a shift just fine while others aren’t? Is this just a convenient plot device or something else? The mystery deepens. Hopefully, we’ll get more clues on the next episode of The Innocents.

Our episode 5 recap for The Innocents will be available shortly. While you wait, check out our recap of episode 3, stream the first season on Netflix, and share your opinions on The Innocents‘ fourth episode in the comments.

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