The Day After
Episode 2 of Curon begins in the past as the bell from the clock-tower rings, causing Anna to clutch her head in pain. As Thomas drives her away, a strange figure emerges from the water and stalks them. Back in the present, Mauro and Daria discuss what happened the previous night. Thomas greets them and Mauro immediately questions what he saw in the room. When Mauro heads inside the room though, he finds the place completely empty. Strangely, Anna is nowhere to be seen and Thomas matter-of-factly tells them that she went away to get some peace up in the mountains alone. Meanwhile, Thomas gets help from his friend who cryptically asks what’s happening. Thomas tells him that Anna is different and as they drive up the mountain, Albert watches Thomas’ car from afar after noticing dead animals lying on the ground. As Thomas and his friend keep searching, they stumble upon a cave that may hold some clues. Thomas grabs his gun and torch and heads inside. In the darkness, two glowing yellow eyes stare back as a wolf steps out the shadows and stares him down. Backing up, Thomas flees whence he came, leaving the wolf to stare menacingly back. While Daria believes the story about their mother, Mauro is not so sure. At school the teen drama continues as Micki’s kiss with Daria gets out after Lukas becomes jealous. As it turns out, Albert is actually Micki’s Father and their family are seemingly incredibly religious. While Daria gets cozy after being invited for lunch there, Lukas greets Mauro and discusses the town’s secrets. He divulges details about legends involving murders and disappearances. As it turns out, Mauro’s family are actually the ones responsible for flooding the town all those years ago. Despite the warnings, Mauro heads down to the docks and mulls over what he’s learned before racing back to school and seeing graffiti on the walls regarding Micki and Daria’s kiss. News of Lukas’ betrayal is too much for Micki to deal with and she rejects him. Back home, Lukas begins to feel ill and his pet cat Figaro acts strangely, hiding under the counter. As Lukas looks in the mirror, he sees himself staring back menacingly. Meanwhile, Thomas finds wreckage and tyre tracks leading off the road but he’s encouraged by his friend not to go down and check, especially given it’s getting dark. At home, Mauro decides to use the drone and winds up seeing a figure walking in the locked room upstairs. He rushes up and sees Albert there, asking questions about Anna. He tells Mauro to trust him and goes on to reassure the boy, telling him Anna is okay but to keep him posted. As he leaves, Mauro finds strange images etched on the wall in crayon. That evening, the trio return home after their own adventures for the day. Daria phones Anna’s mobile and as they follow the vibrating, find the cracked screen stuffed in Thomas’ jacket. Given he found this out in the woods, it’s certainly an ominous sign and one that sees the kids scramble inside the truck and head up to the mountains to go and investigate. Lukas’ condition continues to worsen too as he hears the bells ringing from the tower. Clutching his head, Lukas rises from the water and begins ominously walking to shore. With some great sound design inside the cave and an incredibly creepy scene involving the wolf, Curon balances out its supernatural elements nicely with the ongoing teen melodrama. It is a bit formulaic in truth but it helps to strength the characters and the background to the town of Curon is fascinating to discover. There’s a lot of intricate details here and seeing Albert suddenly appear inside that strange room upstairs is certainly an ominous sign. Even more disturbing though comes from what happened to Lukas involving the strange figure rising from the lake. Is this a doppelganger? When you hear the bells, does it mean you’re going to die or is it a metaphor for being “reborn” as these strange lookalikes? There’s lots of questions hanging over this one and so far, Curon has done a wonderful job creating an air of mystery clinging to this series. Quite what will happen next remains to be seen but this is one mystery you’ll likely see through to the end.
