Mr Westcott’s Stratagem
Susannah is working with the Mr Westcott, Bryony and Paul, and there appears to be harmony in Midwich. However, Susannah is not the only one who is feeling the heat. Another time jump has taken place 2 years after Susannah made her promise to the kids. The kids have not seen their mother in that time, but they are beginning to worry about her. They are also starting to question whether or not she really means what she said when she said she would come back for them.
Mr Westcott admits that he wants to take some of the kids into a military base several miles out the village to do some tests. He’s confident that they’ll want to go ahead and leave, especially as they’ve been talking in Ward 300 about what lies beyond the village.
Zoe and Sam’s child Ellie is getting along well, while Curtis has moved out and is sharing custody of David, who really isn’t a fan of his father. There’s a rift in this family, one that Joe nestles himself firmly in the middle of. As David is forced to leave with Curtis, Hannah watches from the window and seethes with anger. Zoe urges Hannah not to get involved. ..
While most of the kids are taught over at the Prep School, a couple of the kids head off to the military base for testing. Those happen to be Evie and Nathan. They’re taken up to the research centre, but it’s a limited access area, meaning Paul and Susannah can’t actually follow and are forced to wait in the jeep outside.
The kids at the school are working together to control the military force. A brief flash seems to reinforce this idea.
David Westcott, a student at the prestigious Prep School, is found by his classmates in the basement of the school after he has had a mental breakdown. David does not recognize his own mother and is whispering. Worse, he was overheard by Rachel Westcott, who is determined to take her son away from the school. ..
Rachel tries to drive back into Midwich though, three of the girls are there and they control her car, forcing her to crash into a van. A large wood block impales straight through her skull, leading to a gnarly and bloody “accident.”
Now, it appears that the kids are convinced Susannah has “broken their truce”, as a big town meeting gets underway. Jane, Cassie and Susannah all decide to walk out of the meeting, while Westcott breaks the news that the kids have decided to leave Midwich and stay in a government facility from now on. ..
That night, Paul meets with Susannah in confidence. He’s found that toy robot and the basement where the kids joined together that fateful day of the military base visit. Two of the kids appear like the sisters from The Shining and force Paul to hand over his keys. He’s told to join them, as Susannah is unknowingly locked in the basement.
Nathan, the other kids, and Paul all head out at night to help each other with pain blocks. Nathan wants to help Paul because he admits that pain can’t hear everything that’s going on in the hive mind. If Nathan can help stop this from happening, then he could be the key to stopping everything here.
As Mr Westcott begins to explore the basement, he notices something strange. He has the same glowing eyes as the others in this group, and he can’t help but be suspicious. He starts to ask around, and soon realizes that everyone in this group is also part of some kind of cult.
The Episode Review
As the final episode of The Midwich Cuckoos comes to a close, it would appear that the children have come up with an alternate plan to deal with Midwich. After their research into military outfits, not to mention their ties with Mr. Westcott, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this whole operation has a far deeper connection to what’s happening.
The drama involving the kids is continuing to reach fever pitch, although it’s interesting to see that Nathan is actually the weak link in all this and could be key to stopping the hive mind and breaking what they’re doing.
It would have been nice to see more of the other mums in the community, as the series seems to be focusing almost exclusively on 2 or 3 sets of parents rather than the whole community. For example, seeing Jane walk out on her daughter loses the emotional gravitas it could have had if we actually saw her journey, especially as we know she’s religious and was featured quite heavily in episode 1. Since then she seems to have disappeared from the screenplay.
Sunny has been noticeably absent from this episode after previously starring prominently and we still don’t know why the kids have suddenly burst into action after she returned. ..
Despite the complaints, The Midwich Cuckoos leaves plenty to whet the appetite for the final chapter, which is actually the longest episode of the whole season at just over an hour long.
