This article contains spoilers for The Institute Season 2, Episode 1, “The Reckoning”
In Season 1 of The Institute, we were introduced to kids being held hostage and experimented on because of their unique mental abilities. It was all for an apparently grander purpose that the people in charge described as saving the world. However, some kids escaped with help from outsiders and destroyed the institute before fleeing.
Following Stephen King’s 2019 sci-fi horror novel, the season was full of interesting ideas, though some things didn’t work. Perhaps Season 2 of The Institute can be a more consistent show.
The Institute Season 2 Introduces Dangerous New Threats
Episode 1, “The Reckoning,” picks up right where Season 1 ended, with the survivors on the run. Tim (Ben Barnes), Luke (Joe Freeman), Kalisha (Simone Miller), Nicky (Fionn Laird), Wendy (Hannah Galway), and George (Arlen So) jump into a train car and take a breath to decide their next move.
They remove all the trackers from their ears. When the train stops, Luke scatters them to throw off the hunters. It’s virtually impossible to hide six people in plain sight, though, and they are soon recognized. However, a sympathetic truck driver stows them away, and they escape, at least for now.
Flash forward four months, and the group has found a place to hide and survive while planning their next move. Ms. Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker) is also planning her next move, in hiding after her leadership at The Institute failed and contributed to its destruction. She is presumed dead, but those behind these experiments know otherwise. She holds an ace in the hole, a flash drive with enough incriminating info to take them down.
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Amazingly, while mourning her father’s death and her failures, she still wants back in. She pitches the idea to the high-ranking official in the organization, played by Jeff Fahey. He is underwhelmed by the idea, or, more accurately, those in charge would not be interested.
The group, led by Barnes’ Tim, seeks out legitimate reporters to get their story out, but none will without proof. Meanwhile, Luke’s mental powers grow, including the ability to see into the future. It becomes a struggle to ignore the bad things that are going to happen without doing anything about them. The risk of being seen or caught is too great. However, with no real proof in hand and four months having gone by with nothing changing, the pressure to do something builds.
One of the intriguing storylines in The Institute’s Season 2 premiere is what the company behind the organization will do next. Cue the introduction of Nolan Reeves (Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen). He is a tech billionaire and the primary financial backer of the organization, which is helping fund everything.
This is a new character who isn’t in the source material, and it’s a bit refreshing. He plays someone with no morals and lots of money. Nolan and the Director (Fahey) visit a new site with much older test subjects. Nolan looks over the “product” as he readies his AI program to cut out some of the human element. I’m sure that will go well.
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Luke finally gives in to the guilt over his visions and acts on one of them. He saves a woman and her baby but puts everyone at risk. He then goes a step further, sneaking out at night to try to hunt down the flash drive. His visions point him toward Ms. Sigsby, and his actions compromise their hiding place.
While everyone is out except Wendy, a thug, posing as a maintenance worker, arrives and shoots Wendy, killing her. Meanwhile, Luke finds what he’s looking for and confronts Ms. Sigsby in her car, gun in hand.
Will The Institute Season 2 Escape Season 1’s Problems?
The Institute is taking some welcome risks this season, specifically the AI storyline and the introduction of a brand-new character. Alfie Allen seems to be having fun as Nolan. He has great interactions with other cast members, including Dr. Daniel Hendricks (Robert Joy). He is a survivor from the first season and still plugging away at his own vision, morals be damned.
However, the premiere asks a lot of the viewer, with some silly dialogue and plot points. It feels familiar from the first season, where there was a constant battle among solid story, suspect acting, and questionable decision-making.
The Institute story boils down to the big, evil corporate institution versus the little guy and the innocents. To that point, there is still a solid setup here. However, Season 2 has a lot of work to do to make the new storylines more than throwing ideas against the wall and seeing what sticks.
The Institute Season 2, Episode 1, “The Reckoning,” is now streaming on MGM+.
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