By the end of The Mist Season 1 Episode 3, two groups within the larger community of Bridgeville were on the move again.

Granted, one group only moved elsewhere within a shopping mall, but the other was taking a relatively large risk leaping out into the mist.

We still know relatively little about the mist itself, but Nathalie's post-traumatic stress after watching Benedict shot between the eyes proved the mist either doesn't discriminate or her husband had a dark past she's keeping to herself.

Nathalie is a fascinating character.

While everyone was twiddling their thumbs in the church trying to plot their next moves, she settled upon the young man who helped her distribute wine to the group in honor of Benedict.

Nathalie: I never thanked you for helping me out yesterday with the wine.
Butterfly: Yeah, helping people drink. That's a talent of mine.

• Permalink: Yeah, helping people drink. That's a talent of mine.

Not only was Butterfly boy sweet to look at, but he appeared genuinely changed after a six-year stint in jail after doing what he called some pretty awful things. Nathalie's only response was to point his gaze toward her dead husband.

I thought she was trying to say the mist didn't choose only bad eggs. But then she decided to die, seemingly knowing very well Butterfly would try to stop her.

What happened to him was horrific, but Nathalie's deranged mind saw beauty in his painful death. 

His death is yet another occurrence that is tied directly to him. We'll never know why his fascination with butterflies (surely that wasn't a moth tattooed on his back, right?), but the mist knew and made a death mockery of him.

Just like he begged Nathalie to tell him what was on his back, she needed to know if others saw what she had witnessed outside the church. 

Nathalie: Did you see it?
Connor: Yes, yes, yes. But why did you go out there?
Nathalie: Because I wanted to die.
Father: Mrs. Raven, please.
Nathalie: It's OK. I don't want to die anymore. I'm happy. I've seen God.
Father: Mrs. Raven, you are in shock. Please. That wasn't God!
Nathalie: Oh, I'm not talking about your God.

• Permalink: Oh, I'm not talking about your God.

Nathalie isn't a religious person. But she's also not an evil person. Could she be happy to have seen a god she's associating with nature? That's what I'm going with now because she's cracked in the head. She's aligning herself with nature, believing she's at one with it.

That will, of course, come back to bite her just like it bites all other humans because humanity is always to blame for natural disasters. No matter how at one with the world one believes themselves to be, they're never natural enough. 

While she was losing a few more marbles, Kevin was making an already difficult situation with Conner more intolerable.

Not only did he manage to get Mia and Bryan thrown into the church dungeon, but while protecting Adrian got himself tossed down into the hole, too.

Thankfully, Adrian had been doing some plotting of his own. The Mist didn't quite go as far as to implicate the priest in gay bashing, but it was far enough. Hollywood won't allow for the fact some priests just don't give a damn if they have gay parishioners. Ah well.

It worked to Adrian's advantage in this case, because Father what's his name (I have no idea what it was, and it's easier calling him Father) was antsy to get Adrian to repent his sins. Honestly, he didn't seem to care what sins Adrian was repenting. 

Alex was getting into it for a minute, and I believe he was sincerely repenting. Conner wanted him to admit setting up Jay for raping Alex.

The entirety of The Mist Season 1 Episode 1 still feels out of place and unworthy of the start of the series, but the rape scene was included to give these people a combined history and angst. There is a secret, and Adrian is feeling the guilt of it, whatever it is. Well, maybe not after the baptism.

But the baptism seemed like something the Father did all the time, and I'd be shocked it was that natural. Catholics and adult baptisms don't go hand in hand. Maybe he's not a priest at all. Perhaps I've read into this church a Catholicism that isn't even there.

Adrian and his smear proof eyeliner (the kid has cried and rubbed more than I do in a single day and that stuff is wearing WELL, I tell you) saved the day. He's the reason the gang is outside the church now.

The weirdest thing to happen at the mall involved the title. "Show and Tell" might have had more meaning when the hour was being devised, but after editing it's more of a means to siphon off the smaller group from those who want to create rules.

Vic and his gamer buddy tossed the two dead military peeps out into the parking lot as bait. It did nothing but rile up the rest of the mall patrons. The entire way the dead bodies were discovered and revealed was stupid (rolling them out in shopping carts).

The group also let the Army private off relatively easy after he revealed he was "only" a private and then didn't appear to follow through with searching the other patrons for dog tags. 

If they're all that sharp, it's a good thing the group isn't sticking together.

Of course, Alex is still the most angsty teen girl ever, not pleased with her mom for siding with her nor asking how she is and certainly not when Jay the alleged rapist shadily tracks her down and touches her.

That was freaky. Whether he did anything or not, Jay shouldn't have said he'd leave Alex alone ONLY after she listened to him and allowed him to touch her. What kind of freak, even one wrongly accused, would do that to a traumatized girl?

One who is probably the traumatizer, that's who. 

Alex remembers nothing, relying only on Adrian's testimony to accuse Jay. But the way Jay is behaving isn't scoring him any points. In fact, it only got worse when he opened his trap at the "rules" meeting.

Eve and Alex were already heading off on their own to "camp," but now they're going to have new friends along for reinforcements.

How long until they have people from the other side of the mall tracking them down begging to live there, too? Either that or they'll start seeing those who misbehaved being abused and tortured to death in the mist outside the garage windows.

I thought Mayor Gus was doing a good job when I reviewed The Mist Season 1 Episode 2. Boy, was I wrong. By letting the inmates run the asylum and not leading, they were immediately in a situation where all rules were considered viable.

Only an idiot would give the green light to sending people outside the mall to their deaths for an infraction the nature of which was mentioned. It will snowball from there. At least that will be fun for us. Not so much for them.

When you watch The Mist online, what faction will you be championing? The church, those in the car, Jay's team or Alex's? Let me know in the comments. 

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.