Episode 205 – The Mailman
Xavier meets Gary and learns how Teri survived the three years since The Day.
I apologize for the VERY late review of this episode, but I was sick with a virus and am finally back in the game! Let’s jump into episode 205, The Mailman!
We open with the titular mailman, named Gary, working sometime before The Day. He encounters a young boy on his route who lives with parents who seem to constantly fight, leaving him to fend for himself. Gary spends his free time gaming and talking with a friend he met through video games named Ennis. They start talking about what they would do in an apocalyptic scenario and mention that they don’t really have anyone in their lives. They seem to be talking about a hypothetical situation but talk through the details of the type of people they would need to survive in a group. Gary asks, “What if the guy with the gun turns on us?” (Uhhh…definitely missed that line on my first watch.) They are keeping up to date with the same scientist that Sinatra listened to. Gary finds out that the post office he works out of was a designated fallout shelter and that it would work as a place for 5-10 people to live if something were to happen. He and Ennis continue planning and Gary begins to stock the shelter with supplies.
On the morning of The Day, Gary hears about the tsunami on the news and calls Ennis. The plan is officially in action as the world around them delves into chaos. After picking up Ennis, Gary decides to go tell the little boy he needs to stay inside but upon seeing that his parents are passed out in the house from using, he decides to take the boy with him to protect him (he clearly won’t be missed). Ennis is not happy about having another mouth to feed. While Gary and Ennis are picking up eggs, the young boy gets out of the mail truck to see people panicking, including Teri on her last phone call to Xavier! Transformers around them start exploding. Teri sees the boy alone and approaches to try and help him, and he informs her that his name is Bean. Gary and Ennis come out and meet Teri. Gary manages to convince her to come along with them. Ennis is NOT THRILLED. Jumping back into present day, Gary tells Xavier that Ennis betrayed their group and gave up their location, and that an armed group took Teri.
Back on The Day, the group arrives at the post office to see the rest of the group that Ennis has been organizing with. They make introductions and their group includes an engineer, a carpenter, a mechanic, a gardener, a survivalist, a nurse, and Teri who’s a mycologist (she studies mushrooms). Teri learns that they plan to stay in the shelter for the next 3-5 years and mentions that she needs to get to Colorado to be with her family. We’re not sure what she’s been told about the bunker. Present Day Xavier, enters the post office with Annie’s baby and sees the shelter that they’d been living in all this time.
As the group begins to settle into their new shelter, Gary and Teri take the most responsibility in caring for Bean. Gary lets her know that Ennis doesn’t like her and only sees her as another burden and mouth to feed. Gary promises to help get Teri to her family as soon as it’s safe, but that will be a long while from now and he convinces her to get on board and be a part of their team.
In the present, Gary says that the men took Teri and Bean both. Gary shows Xavier the group that has Teri. Xavier uses his Secret Service training to evaluate the group to figure out the best way to find and rescue Teri. He clearly does not trust Gary and tells him he won’t let him touch Annie’s baby. Xavier starts strategizing and looking for materials to make some sort of explosive.
In the past, Teri insists on helping Bean to have an actual childhood, not merely survival. She makes a makeshift Christmas tree, and the group uses the packages that never got sent out on The Day to have a Christmas morning gift exchange. Ennis clearly hates this and sees it as a waste of time. Gary takes Teri aside to show her that his gift to her is a radio he built so that they can hear what’s going on in the world and so that she can try and reach her family. She’s so grateful, and as she reaches to hug him in thanks, he COMPLETELY and wildly misinterprets this and attempts to kiss her. Ummmm hello?! Dude. Reality check, maybe? Teri very clearly sets a boundary with him.
Over time, the group gets the radio set up and Teri constantly tries to reach anyone that might be able to help her get to her family. At least three years pass, marked by Bean’s growth chart. One day, Teri finds that the radio has been destroyed by Ennis.
The nurse and mechanic decide to leave the group and join another community at a swap meet in order to help more people. In the present day, Xavier and Gary arrive at the swap meet in search of something to work as a detonator. They meet up with the nurse and mechanic who help Xavier secure a car battery. When he hears that Teri had them reading to Bean, he decides to trust them with watching Annie’s baby until he can rescue Teri. This clearly hurts Gary’s feelings, but Xavier goes with his gut.
In the past, Ennis lets Teri know that he doesn’t hate her and he in fact respects her. He even apologizes for destroying the radio and admits to not even being an engineer. A train is heading in their direction, so Gary and Ennis set out to investigate and see what they want.
In the present, Xavier tells Gary that he knows there is something he’s not telling him and that he better fess up soon.
As Gary and Ennis approach the train their met with an armed group but talk to the woman in charge. The guns are just a precaution, but they learn how the group on the train has managed to survive and even travel. She mentions that she’s not even leading the group, but that it’s a young kid. Could it be Link?
As they head back to the post office, Gary reveals that he was in love with Teri. The flashback reveals that Gary shot Ennis so that Teri could never find out that she would be able to join the train group to get a ride to Colorado. XAVIER WAS RIGHT NOT TO TRUST HIM!!!
