'The Terror: Infamy' episode 9 review: The mothers put up a good fight against the new horrors unleashed upon them
This article contains spoilers for episode 9.
This week, 'The Terror: Infamy' episode 9, 'Come and Get Me', focuses on the plight of mothers. We have Asako battling her own guilt to come out undefeated by the evil spirit of Yuko, and Luz doing the same to save her and Chester's newborn baby from being snatched away once again. Even Luz's abuela does her bit in protecting the family, and as the horrors of the internment camps wash away to reveal newer, destructive ones, it is only the mothers in the community who are putting up the good fight.
When the episode opens, we see the Japanese-American community finally being released from the internment camps, as Walt Yoshida and Toshiro Furuya make their way back in the army vehicle as part of the 442 regiment, being shipped off to fight for the country. We see slight guilt riddling Amy as she is the first one to rush out of the camps, but all of that is soon suppressed with the glee of finally returning to their own land. But as Amy's guilt leaves us second-guessing whether it will manifest as something else later, fresh new horrors of their lands being seized by the American government, and the houses and establishments of the Japanese community wiped completely paint a different picture. After months, they are finally allowed to go home, but there is no home - forcing them to resort to dingy little dorms again which Henry tries to pass off as 'very comfortable' to his American employer.
Speaking of home, Chester - all the way in Albuquerque - seeks out his own; in a tiny little phone call, he comes clean about having married Luz and is expecting yet another baby with her. But there is no happily ever after for the newlyweds yet as Yuko has found her way to take what's hers once again - Taizo, or the third son, aka Chester's soon-to-be-arriving baby. It is bittersweet to see his parents react to the scenario. His mother is just relieved to see Chester, while he offers the warmest hug for Luz. Henry, on the other hand, remains stoic and undeterred despite him seeing his little boy after what has been like nine months at least. As Chester fills them in on the ritual Luz's abuela performs to help him reach out to his dead twin, Jirou, we see the other side of the story where Jirou, is still stuck with Yuko in their paradise of make-believe. Yuko keeps insisting that she, Jirou, and the new baby Taizo will be together again, thus painting a formidable side to the episodic pattern of mothers and their sacrifices. And this makes her attack the family right when Luz goes into labor and they call upon the priest to pray over her and ward off Yuko's demonic presence.
Even with their sing-song lullabies and secret codes, Yuko is relentless and undefeatable; she possesses the priest and manages to get close to Luz's unborn baby as her contractions keep getting closer. Thanks to the tough fight Henry and Luz's cousin puts up, they are able to get the priest away from harming Luz and carry her to a factory/ warehouse establishment so Yuko can't hunt them down. It is only once Luz gives birth to the baby that things get complicated: Chester wants to sacrifice his life to save his child's, as Yuko wants her baby and she won't stop until she succeeds. His father, despite his stoicism and pride, does whatever he can to protect his son, sort of offering closure to their distance all these months.
The toughest battle is that between Asako and Yuko, however, as we learn more about Chester's birth and how things went so incredibly wrong for the Yurei exuding radiance. After Luz's baby is born, everybody is worried why the child - a boy - isn't crying. It is then that Asako realizes the inevitable has happened, and Yuko must have possessed the baby's body. Earlier in the episode, we see Asako on the same bridge that Yuko had jumped from, where she speaks to the dead spirit asking if she will be happy to see Asako give up her own life. Later, when Yuko possesses the baby, and eventually Luz's abuela, who is cradling the baby, Asako divulges it all, revealing why she is riddled with guilt. Turns out, Yuko and Asako were sisters, and Yuko was the one supposed to marry Henry Nakayama. When Asako found out about Hideo Furuya's far from approvable nature, she played her cards right so she herself could end up marrying Henry, and the rest is history.
Asako, however, tells Yuko that after everything she has put her family through, she does not regret doing what she did one bit and would repeat it in a heartbeat if she had to do it all over again. This causes Yuko to lash out, and she ends up possessing Luz - adding just the dash of horror this episode needed from being an otherwise PG-rated one. Luz attacks both Asako and her abuela and runs off with the baby - her skin pale and sweaty, neck cracking in signature Yuko style as she sings a lullaby, carrying her baby away from the Nakayamas. For a brief moment there, it really seemed like Chester would sacrifice his own life to make the story sadder and even more gut-wrenching. But right now, the odds are all stacked against Luz, even though the poor girl has been through enough at such a tender age.
'The Terror: Infamy' airs on Mondays at 9pm only on AMC.