Warning: General spoilers ahead

While last week’s Pilot of Dead of Summer may have been a tad bit slow, the sh*t finally gets real this week. Camp Stillwater is officially open for the summer, and with all of the kids having arrived, there are now several dozen more opportunities for bad things to happen. Episode 1.02 is one dense hour of television, with several major developments and also a couple of shockers.

First off, if your gut told you that Alex (Ronen Rubinstein) is a 2-faced asshole, you have very good instinct. Alex Powell is the first character whose full backstory is revealed, and it is done through a series of perfectly-timed flashbacks. Starting out as the little boy “Alexi” in the Soviet Union and immigrating to America with his parents, young Alexi watched as his family — particularly his father — was ridiculed and taken advantage of because of their heritage. Alexi vowed none of that would happen to him, and so, it is then that “Alex” is born. This new “Alex” is nothing like his father and is calculating, manipulative, and makes a point to always get what he wants. Oh, and yes, those stolen clothes from the dry cleaners factor into all of this and will be explained by the end of the episode.

Also, the older black man (Tony Todd) we saw in the opening scene of the Pilot has a big presence in this episode. He needs help doing some things, and so, he recruits THE most vulnerable kid in the camp — a young Russian boy, Anton Melnikov (Allan Daniel Fisher), who’s the butt of all of the other kids’ jokes. The camp counselors think Anton just has an imaginary friend when they catch him talking to himself, but in reality, he’s talking to this old man AKA “Tall Man” who gives him specific instructions and ends up luring him from camp. Fortunately, because of the Russian heritage they share, Alex and Anton get pretty close by the end of the hour. But, will the friendship be enough for Alex to figure out what’s going on and realize Anton’s “friend” isn’t imaginary — and before “Tall Man” unleashes whatever hell he has planned for Camp Stillwater?

Episode 1.02 of Dead of Summer  is titled “Barney Rubble Eyes” and airs Tuesday at 9/8c on ABC Freeform.

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