The Changeling Episode 4: Plot Summary and Review

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Apple TV has another really good TV series on its hands

This article will contain spoilers from episode 4 of The Changeling.

The Changeling Episode 4 Plot Summary

The 4th episode comes to life in the past. Lillian drags a suitcase to the edge of a dock and throws it in.

Apollo is seen on that same dock with Patrice. The pair meet with Willaim to sell the signed copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. William meets the pair by the dock, and they drive to the marina. They drink a couple of beers at the bottom of a houseboat, where William admits the reason he’s buying the book. He has been separated from his wife for 11 months and is trying to win her back.

After listening to William, the story flashes back to Apollo’s apartment, where he is having dreams about the torture he endured at Emma’s hand. Apollo meets Kim, Emma’s sister, to pay her back for all of the things she handled during the time Brian was alive. She initially refuses the money, but takes it and leaves sombrely.

Apollo suddenly gets a mysterious text saying Emma is alive. He is sent a location and instructions to come to said location. He follows the map, arriving at the location. To his surprise and anger, it’s William.

William tells Apollo that he’s found Emma. William had a bunch of people scour the internet for information and found her on an island. He says she is with The Wise Ones. William gives him a file with proof that Emma is alive. Unsure what to think, Apollo rushes to Patrice’s house. Using Patrice’s home computer system, they open the file. Shocked, they see images upon images of Emma fleeing to the island William had mentioned.

William and Apollo set off in the dead of night to try and reach the island. Frustrated and emotional, Apollo throws his wedding ring into the river. He then ties the string from Emma’s trip to Brazil onto his finger. Fog limits their visibility, but they eventually find the island.

There’s a big ‘No Trespassing Sign’ but the pair set off to find Emma anyways. Apollo confronts William on why he’s helping him. William confesses that his wife didn’t take him back and that he’d rather be helping Apollo than sitting alone in his basement.

The pair find some type of a complex, and Apollo rushes into the courtyard. He starts yelling for Emma and gets the snot beaten out of him almost immediately. The attackers throw him into the fountain and nearly drown him. As he’s passing out, all of the happy moments in his life flash by. All of a sudden, he is filled with strength and he overpowers his assalants.

He starts yelling about Emma killing his baby, and the women realize who he is. They take him to Cal, the apparent leader of the ‘Wise Ones’. Cal explains that the first man to find them killed 3 women and 7 children, so they are a lot more aggressive now. Cal goes on a monologue, talking in riddles, before showing a puppet that comes to life. At this point, Apollo finally clues in to why everyone keeps saying ‘It’s not a baby’.

At that moment, William is discovered and both men are transported to some kind of jail. Cal realizes who William is, and beats him to a pulp. For the third time in this episode, William admits to being more than meets the eye. He’s been looking for the island for months. He admits to knowing a lot more about Apollo than he initially said. Greta, William’s wife, also killed one of her daughters.

Although Apollo thinks William is crazy, he starts to empathize with him. He understands William’s struggle. William warns Apollo that if he doesn’t help William, everyone on the island is going to die. The episode ends by showing the red briefcase at the bottom of the ocean, and present-day Lilian standing in the same spot she was many years prior.

The Changeling Episode 4 Review

Episode 4 is slightly shorter than episode 3, and it feels that way. The episode doesn’t have as much going on as the last two, and it moves slightly slower. William and Apollo are the main characters of this episode, and I like the duo. Apollo is desperate for some answers, and William is clearly hiding things. The oddities in both men conjure up an atmosphere of uncertainty, and I like the weirdness in the air.

William is an oddball, and his vibe is awkward, but I thought Samuel T. Herring does a great job of channelling that energy. William has a lot in common with Apollo, in terms of losing a child, but it’s interesting to see the other side of the coin. Instead of being sad, William got obsessively involved in trying to find his wife after they lost their daughter.

The first half of the episode is pretty slow, building up William’s character and the ‘Wild Ones’, but the back half is great. William and Apollo searching for the Wild Ones, and then the chaos that follows was really interesting, and it reestablished the creepy, violent tone that made the first couple of episodes so great. The ending is fantastic, and it left me on edge.

William is creepy, but that last line was next-level. Is he threatening to kill everyone, does he know more than we know, of course, he does, or is there something else at work that we know nothing of yet? Regardless, I loved it and can’t wait to see where we go next episode.

The level of violence gets the creepy atmosphere going again, but my favourite part of the episode was the introduction of some actual magic. We’ve seen creepy things, things that indicate magic is real in this world, but seeing the puppet actually talk moves magic from theoretical to real in a hurry. It adds an element to the story that we knew was coming, but I’m excited for it anyway.

Overall, Apple TV has another really good TV series on its hands. The pacing has been an issue, as the start and end of each episode are phenomenal, but the middle tends to really slow down. The characters are intriguing and they are developing nicely. Both of our current leads have put on great performances, and I’m excited to see what comes next for Apollo.