In our current political climate, as I watch the sides battle it out in their beliefs of who is right and who is wrong, I can only wonder whether either would have the temerity to survive if circumstances reached a boiling point.

While it may not be quite boiling yet, the events of Colony Season 2 Episode 8 are only going add fuel to the fire.

Survival continues to depend upon gray areas. If you're staunchly black or white, i.e., unwilling to temporarily work with the other side to gain information and ensure you live to fight another day, your days will be numbered. There's no question about it.

What many of us have already determined, and what it appears those we appreciate the most on Colony are also realizing, is that these groups cannot continue to function as silo organizations and hope to outwit the Raps. 

There is killing a lineup of people because you're an ass, as Burke did on Colony Season 2 Episode 7, and there is killing a lineup of people because you are trying to save your ass, as we witnessed Snyder do.

I've never lost hope in Snyder, and he didn't let me down. 

Helena, too, has come around in a way I'd never have expected. She protected Snyder when she could have very well let him disappear without a trace.

Little by little, the people we've come to know have determined who is worthy to fight alongside them, and even if it looks like they are hand-in-hand with the Raps, the lengths they are willing to go to protect one another proves their motives ultimately differ from the oppressors.

I'm sorry. Was I, in my state of utter distress, babbling in tongues? YOUR FRIENDS ARE ALREADY DEAD! This is damage control. Either some of us die, or all of us do. You get the honor of deciding which one of us it's going to be.

Snyder

• Permalink: I'm sorry. Was I, in my state of utter distress, babbling in tongues? YOUR FRIENDS ARE...

Snyder needed names from Bram because the house was falling. Everybody was dead. Sure, Snyder seems to have cried wolf before, but in doing that, he may have only been saved by those above him. 

Bram thought it was pretty neat playing resistance guy, running with the cool kids, even after Maya gave her life for them. It's not all pretty, and Maya's wasn't the first life Bram saw lost for the cause. 

There is a time to like and there is a time to tell the truth, and learning to understand the difference is probably the most difficult aspect of keeping your feet in the Colony world. Bram had lied too many times for Snyder to believe him when the sky was falling.

I know someone who was up for a job at the CIA recently. It wasn't as an operative, and he didn't have to worry about things like smoking pot. But when he underwent days of questioning while strapped to a lie detector, lying was out of the question. Fear made him lie. He didn't get the job.

Whether it was fear or the believe he could continue pulling the wool over ol' Snyder's eyes, Bram told partial truths, just enough to get his friends and allies killed while Snyder determined how truthful he was being.

Snyder: I'm not playing a game, Bram. My life is at stake. Lots of lives are at stake, so I need the truth. All of it!
Bram: No, no, no don't! He didn't do anything! I swear to God he didn't do anything. No, don't!
Snyder: Was anything else involved?
Bram: No.
Snyder: You were just lying to me. Why should I believe you now?
Bram [sobbing]: I want to go home.
Snyder: You're a loose end. WAS ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED???
Bram: NO!

• Permalink: I'm not playing a game, Bram. My life is at stake. Lots of lives are at stake, so I need the tru

That was terrible. In that case, it was effective because Bram isn't a skilled operative. 

Back home, Will and Katie were trying to find the loose thread from the safehouse. Will was under the gun from Dan the Man and against Burke and his methods, while Katie had her first mission back with the resistance.

Broussard was sharing the "good" news about the death camp to his contacts, but it still didn't mean there was much information disseminated with regard to what it means to his group or how they'll try to connect with others to make their cause stronger.

In fact, the immediate group, which was already small, got smaller when Eckhart proposed that he and Morgan leave for another group. He believed there was another out there holding his mother as a recruiting mechanism or simply offering him a way out in return for Broussard.

Morgan turned on him and Broussard killed Eckhart quickly, which is more than we can say for what would have happened if he'd landed elsewhere.

So many dropping like flies, though, is unsettling. If the biggest and the best are dropping, connecting will be needed to replenish the ranks.

After a day of utter annoyance at the hands of Charlie, Lindsey was put out of her misery by the Red Hand brigade Charlie had Gracie and protected them both, but I don't think it was necessary.

How are Snyder and the Red Hands connected? They are, right? What about Helena?

This is the part where you all yell at me for not paying attention. I'm on a train at the moment and cannot watch again, but if I can before the review, I will. Otherwise, I need you to fill in the blanks.

Will and Katie didn't have any hesitation leaving their home for a new apartment for the family's safety. Gracie was disgusted, but it's about time she comes to realize what the new world is all about. And Charlie has her back, she'll be fine.

Helena had no interest in using The Greatest Day to cover up the supply ship explosion and was pretty damn pissed when Ocala did it anyway. She has other interests in The Greatest Day, and that makes me more interested, too.

It was also of note that the phrase was being used, again, both in reference to the religion and a specific day. Are those who follow somehow in the know about the day of extinction ahead of time and preparing for it by way of those pods? 

If so, that leaves them out of the equation for joining the resistance or helping with recruitment. That would be a big loss. 

When Helena learned the fate of the labor camp, she made a beeline for the place to rescue Snyder. They've had a mutually beneficial relationship no matter what's happened in the past. The same goes for Snyder and Will and Bram. Snyder hasn't once reneged on a promise.

Bram: You killed everyone.
Snyder: Yeah.
Bram: You work for them.
Snyder: So does your father So does everyone who's holding out hope that someday things will be different. You survived. Don't forget why. [walks to the car] Give my best to your dad.

• Permalink: So does your father So does everyone who's holding out hope that someday things will be...

So how did someone know to charge into Bowman's house and kill Lindsey? How did Snyder know to take Bram to the apartment complex and Bram know to knock on the door of his new home?

This small group of people are looking out for each other, right?

But how does Frankie's cell fit in? Where does Karen fit in? She couldn't have known what happened at the camp because they don't exactly have phone privileges and she lost her entire inside team.

Karen: I know I'm going to go to the factor just for being Frankie's mother because that what you people do.
Will: Not all of us.

• Permalink: Not all of us.

The way she uses people, including her own daughter, to recruit bothers me. Maybe she has motivations beyond what I understand, and we'll come to know them soon. Laura Innes didn't join to cry over Frankie and disappear.

Needless to say, this was another stunning installment of Colony Season 2 as we head toward what is sure to be an amazing finish. Where do you think we'll end up?

I'd like word on a renewal please. It has to continue at least until extinction, if not beyond. I'm not asking. 

Be sure to watch Colony online if you need to catch up. It's wonderful!

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.