Episode seven of The Purge brings us to the waning moments of the Purge Night. People are now wrapping up old scores and reflecting of the horrors they have to live with for the next 364 days.
With Jane tied up and at the mercy of David, we got flashback scenes on her upbringing and how it lead her to this compromising position. Her domineering mother championed using her body and sex appeal to get ahead over education and hard work. The indoctrination began in Jane’s high school years by forcing her into beauty pageants. Even on job interviews her mother would tell her to wear short dresses and show cleavage.
To Jane’s credit, she was bolder in rebuking her mother’s plans as a young adult. But David’s entire demeanor confirmed her mother’s philosophy. It wasn’t hard work that would get Jane ahead, but how often she responded to David’s sexual advances. The anger Jane felt over this destruction of the idealistic “social contract” she envisioned lead her to make the assassination call.
Actress Amanda Warren did an excellent job of conveying Jane’s helplessness. Her emotions seesawed between righteous anger, delirious fear and desperate bargaining. She flat out calls David what he is — an unrepentant rapist. When she tells him she’ll never get over this, he reveals how much he gets off on her fear. He even compares her to a dying animal he once hit on a highway drive.
Luckily for Jane, she had a lifesaver. No, it wasn’t the Matron Saints as teased by the card she gave to Anya. It was Joe, who somehow made it into David’s penthouse. He freed all the women and Jane, her mind now clear on what needed to be done, put a bullet in David for his transgressions.
Can we safely say Jane has now taken out the Matron Saint/Joe philosophy of violence when necessary? It certainly appears so and in the Purge universe, anything less is akin to suicide. Men like David can’t be redeemed on any level. With his money and power, he’d always be a threat to women. He had to go. And something tells me Joe and Jane will have a few more Purge Night loose ends to tie up…
We got less of Miguel and Penelope this week. Most of their screen was spent looking for a safe area to hunker down after escaping the Carnival of Flesh. But there was emotional progress made – the two finally hashed it out and settled their differences. Penelope apologized for pushing him away and admitted her cult phase was about seeking some meaning behind their parent’s death. Miguel acknowledged he was wrong for babying her and shouldn’t have let his temper force him to enlist in the Marines and abandon her.
The reconciliation was short-lived as the two were still in danger. They witness a man being set on fire and ziplined. And they narrowing missed an ambush after Penny was temporarily hung upside down by a booby trap. We have no idea where they’re headed, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they somehow ran into Jane and Joe.
The love triangle that is Rick, Jenna and Lila continues to get more layered and complicated. A bloodied Lila arrives at Rick and Jenna’s home with the story that she narrowly escaped Catalina’s bloody raid. Rick is suspicious, citing to Jenna the holes in Lila’s story. You can tell he’s not happy she’s there and continues to view her as a threat. We’ve been getting teased about Rick’s dark side but now I’m looking at Lila funny. Her story indeed didn’t add up – is she just traumatized beyond belief or more calculating than Rick and Jenna could ever imagine?
I have to hand it to the writers for how well they’ve established the gray areas. Instead of going into overdrive by portraying Rick as an adversary, he came off this week as repentant and solely focused on protecting Jenna mentally and physically. Lila saved both their lives by killing their Purge-minded neighbor Ross and appears appreciative to Rick for letting her stay in the same room with him and Jenna.
If I’m forced to make an educated guess, I’d go with Lila having more to hide than Rick. Sure, Rick is willing to compromise himself to get the power the NFAA has. But Lila has grown up in the NFFA and was raised by parents we have seen ruthlessly murder a defenseless man. We have no idea how warped her mind can be from that upbringing AND her obsessive desire to have Jenna to herself.
Let me hear thoughts on where you want the last three episodes to go. See you all next Tuesday at 10 p.m. sharp for “Giving Time Is Here.”
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 