Containment Season 1 Episode 2 Review: I to Die, You to Live

at .  Updated at .

Raise your hand if, two episodes in, you've contemplated buying a set of HazMat suits with Amazon Prime? I don't even know how I'm typing this right now because my hands are high, high up in the air.

After Containment Season 1 Episode 2 we know this threat to the city of Atlanta is far from contained and way, way bigger than anyone first imagined, all thanks to some dumb kids who just HAD to buck authority.

Maintaining Control - Containment

Not gonna lie, you guys. This show is sort of freaking me out and we're only two episodes in. Thinking about epidemiology and just how easy it is to spread highly contagious diseases like this one makes me want to live in a yurt in the middle of nowhere, farm my own food, and use a dowsing rod to find water.

If the thought of two adults living with two kids and four dogs in a house made of found items didn't sound equally as terrifying to me as dying from the plague, I might consider it. 

Thanks to some dumb teenagers who decided to throw a raging party for the duration of the quarantine, this virus is now, well, going viral. What was one family of five in the hospital's isolation ward has now grown to a group of I'm not even sure how many. 

(Side note: How many isolation rooms does this hospital have?)

When Jake found the photo of the girl and we as the audience already knew she was sick, my heart rate ticked up a notch or two. I felt legit terrified for these fictional people facing a horror they can't imagine.

Bravo, producers! I'm thoroughly hooked. 

The stakes are high for those inside and they're growing higher, just like the cordon itself. 

Because of her connection to the teens at the party, Teresa now fears she might be infected, and while the flash forward from last week's pilot episode makes me feel confident she's safe, the fear that she might be sick, and that her baby might therefore be in danger, is no less real. 

I don't know enough about Xander yet to know whether I want him to try and do something foolish like climb the cordon to get inside, but the pragmatic part of me hopes he doesn't. If something happens and Teresa doesn't survive, someone will need to care for their baby. 

Micheline needs someone to care for her, too, and I'm pretty scared Burt's not going to make it. An interracial couple who got together before that was acceptable and have lasted thirty years together, I'm not really keen on seeing either one of them succumb to this virus. 

I'm also not keen on seeing Jana and her coworkers die of starvation when they're surrounded by clean rooms. Can you imagine? You're in probably the safest location you can be thanks to the kind of work you do and you have no way to get food for a quarantine which is going to last who knows how long? 

I would suggest Teresa deliver food to them but since she's potentially infected, that's a terrible idea. 

Does anyone at all trust Leo Green yet? Can he be trusted?

Leo is a member of the press, sort of, and he uses his position to make Lex Carnahan into a hero overnight. Then he uses that same position and following to cast the Atlanta Police and Lex as the quasi-villains in this story. 

He's right though. Where there's a mouthpiece, there's a secret. And there's definitely a secret here.

Katie's onto it. 

She asked a very intriguing question, one I'm not even sure I caught. 

Dr. Sanders and her boyfriend were presumably infected by Patient Zero. Patient Zero died after the both of them. What would be the cause of that? 

Is it as simple as different people having different immune systems as Dr. Cannerts stated, or is that a pat answer from a scientist as he tries to figure out what the hell is going on himself? (My money's on the latter, FYI.)

As much as I'm loving everything about this show so far (in only two episodes) one thing keeps ringing false to me, and I can't put my finger on why.

Jake's anger doesn't play. Maybe we need to know more about his history for it to make sense. Maybe it doesn't work for me personally because Chris Woods is one of the nicest people I've ever interviewed and it just doesn't work to see him so ragey. 

I don't know what it is. I'm sticking around to find out, but it's weird right now. As is his burgeoning relationship with Katie.

It's clear there's some sort of tension/love interest there, but it's been 24 hours at this point. It's too soon. They feel thrown together for the sake of throwing two people together even though I really like the idea of the tough guy cop and the tough girl teacher coming out of this together and alive. 

We have 11 more episodes to go to see how it all shakes out. 

What did you think of "I to Die, You to Live"? Are you sensing the Katie-Jake pairing coming like I am? What secret is Lommers hiding? Let's explore it all below! Don't forget you can watch Containment online to find out what you missed!

Catch Containment Season 1 Episode 3 next week!

I to Die, You to Live Review

Editor Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
  • 4.0 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 4.9 / 5.0 (12 Votes)

Miranda Wicker was a Staff Writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in 2017. Follow her on Twitter.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Containment Season 1 Episode 2 Quotes

In my experience where there’s a mouthpiece, there’s a secret.

Leo [to Lex]

You’re determined to get me killed in here, aren’t you?

Jake [to Lex]