Intruders S1E1 - "She Was Provisional" Recap

It's 1990 and the setting is Barstow, California. A girl named Donna is having her birthday and blows the candles out on her cake. In her yearbook, we see the football captains Gary Fischer and Jack Whelan. For those who didn't already know, Jack Whelan is the top bill on this show and played by John Simms (The Master on RTD-era Doctor Who).

She goes to sleep, only to wake with two men in suits looming over her. One shows her a yellow, circular object and says he is giving a secret back to her that she had given to them several years prior. He then shoves the object into her mouth. She vomits and begins convulsing before mumbling in an unrecognisable language. The men leave her a bus ticket to Seattle and a black card with the number 9 on it.

Donna wakes up later that morning on the front lawn. She calmly goes back inside and looks over the ticket and card and her pupils dilate. She writes a note that states, "Because in the beginning there was death. I am not Donna," underlining the word "not" multiple times. Not-Donna fills the bath, slits her wrists, and bleeds out while the blood splashes onto her note, which is addressed to Gary Fischer.

In Seattle, Washington, present day, a man claiming to be an FBI Special Agent Shepherd knocks on a woman's door. He was one of the men who shepherded Donna but hasn't aged a day. He forces his way inside, demanding to know where her husband Bill Anderson is. She insists she doesn't know and he shoots her dead before also killing her son Matt as he calls the police. He sets a fire in the basement before leaving.

In Birch Crossing, Washington, former cop Jack Whelan is shown to be concerned over his wife Amy, who hasn't been acting like herself lately. It's her birthday and he catches her dancing alone to jazz music, something she's never done before.

In Reno, Nevada, Oz Turner is broadcasting on a pirate radio station. He's spouting conspiracy theories about Bill Anderson and his recently deceased wife and son, along with a society known as "Qui Riverti," the ones who tried to kill him. Shepherd is shown to be listening to the broadcast.

Amy blows the candles out on her birthday cake and Jack proposes a trip to Paris so they can rekindle their relationship. The rekindling begins with a countertop lovemaking session. During this, her pupils dilate enormously.

In Finley Beach, Oregon, Madison O'Donnell is about to celebrate her 9th birthday. Her father calls and her mother sternly tells him on the phone that he can't see her. Madison runs outside without blowing the candle out. She stands on the beach and Shepherd stands back before mysteriously holding up a sand dollar, setting it down, and walking away. Madison then comes over, picks it up, and examines it.

Amy leaves for her business trip and tells Jack not to call her office. Jack receives a visit from his football co-captain from high school, Gary Fischer. Jack knows that Gary was following him and has waited to make contact with him till after Amy was gone. Gary wants to talk to him about something but insists they not do so in the house. They head out into the woods, where Gary tells Jack about Judy and Matt Anderson's murders. Jack assumes it's the father, Bill, but Fischer says that when Matt called 911, he said there was an "intruder" in the house. Gary wants Jack to investigate and their conversation also dances around the reason why Jack was forced out of the LAPD.

Two days pass and Jack hasn't heard from Amy. He receives a call by a cab driver who says the phone was left in the back of his vehicle. Jack is further confused since she also didn't check in at her hotel and her calendar for the next month is completely empty.

Shepherd makes contact with Turner on his radio transmission. Shepherd knows Turner's name, which causes him great stress. They set up a meet. Shepherd returns to Finley Beach, Oregon, and gives Madison one of those black cards with a 9 on it. He calls her Marcus and pulls a gun on her. She cries out that she is just a kid and shouts for her mother. He hesitates to pull the trigger and she runs away.

Jack borrows a car and heads to Seattle to get Amy's phone back. He uses it to call her office and they simply say they'll have her call him back. The phone has strange texts to unknown numbers, including one that reads, "We must wait until he's dead." When Jack tries calling the number, he only hears jazz.

Shepherd meets Turner in a booth in a bar. Shepherd plays the role of a conspiracy theorist also interested in Bill Anderson's murder. Turner talks about some of Bill's way-out-there ideas as an acoustic engineer, including one related to cathedral organs. Apparently, European cathedrals have pipes that produce sounds too low for the human ear to hear and that apparently if humans could hear them, they would hear how to never die. Shepherd leaves quickly, saying they'll talk about "them" soon.

Madison is having nightmares related to strangulation. She draws a bath, writes a note, and is visited by her cat Loopy. She initially greets him cheerfully but her demeanour abruptly changes and she proceeds to drown him. After a moment, she reverts back to her normal self and becomes distraught at realising what she has done.

Turner returns home and is then visited by Shepherd who says he is risking his life to tell him something about Bill Anderson. Once Shepherd gets inside, he tells Turner he should be proud of himself, saying, "They do exist. And we don't die. You do." He then shoots Turner with his own shotgun.

As Shepherd is leaving, he receives a call from Madison, who is now "Marcus." She scolds him for bringing him back too early, mentions something about a shepherd, and that "what goes around, comes around." She then leaves the house with only a backpack.

Intruders airs on Saturdays at 10PM on BBC America.