‘The Purge’ Season 2 Finale Recap: ‘7:01 AM’

Last week‘s episode set us up for potential heartbreak of some fan favorites. In this week’s cold open to “7:01 AM,” we travel to New Orleans one week before the first annual purge. As a man is taking his regional inspector on a tour of the NFFA surveillance facility, his keycard cannot access a room that only operators and managers can use to get inside to communicate with the public on purge night. He immediately threatens the man’s life that the NFFA will take measures to replace him.

He will fix the problem. To do so, he calls James Sadin (Ethan Hawke) in the best opening of the entire series. As James walks him through the steps to reset the program, he insists that he has nothing to worry about because they are using the same system he’s using to protect his family, and we all know how that turned out.

Esme Informs The People

As Esme gains access inside of the building, she manages to retrieve a video log of the day the NFFA went to kill Olivia Hughes. Since she cannot transfer the footage, she videos the footage and then clicks to see if she can transfer the footage to the broadcast room. Soon thereafer, Vivian meets up with Esme explains she sent the file to the broadcast room. She immediately warns Esme that by going in there, she would become a sitting duck. Esme doesn’t care as long as people know the truth. She just needs a key card to gain access to the room.

Walking back into the surveillance center with Esme, Vivian goes into Curtis’s office to gain an access key as some random woman does not buy her cover-up. She immediately calls Curtis to report Vivian. As they are walking up the stairwell, he stops them with a pointed gun and inquires what Esme has on Vivian. Nothing, she just wants to do the right thing. He explains the law is to support this country, but Esme insists that the laws are wrong. She tries to explain that the NFFA is killing people who question the purge and that they are killing people off-purge. There’s proof.

Curtis does not want to believe this is true. Vivian didn’t want to believe it was real either, and Esme points out the reason he hasn’t pulled the trigger is that he has doubts too. As they start making their way up the stairs, Curtis lowers his gun and lets them pass him on the stairwell. Just when we think it is safe for them to walk through the door, he raises his weapon once more, and Vivian moves in front of Esme to save her. Esme immediately turns when she hears the gunshot and takes out Curtis before checking on Vivian. Vivian insists that Esme goes to let everyone know what the NFFA is all about and not to worry about her.

Esme makes it there with Ryan’s help. She broadcasts the video of them going to Olivia Hughes’s home to kill her and fake her suicide. Her words stream out as she tells everyone what happened to Dr. Adams. They killed everyone in their study to hide their truth. Esme insists that people need to start asking questions. She admits that the reason the NFFA is diligently hunting her. Esme discovered the truth. As the siren sounds, she declares, “The truth is the only thing more powerful than this regime!” People need to demand the truth no matter the cost.

As the city hears her words, Ryan stands in front of the barrier that protects her from the guards. He is shot to death in front of her as the siren blares, and it strikes 7:00 am. The purge is over. Although Ryan’s plan was for Esme not to die, they shoot her anyway after the purge is over. As the clock strikes 7:01 am, the hit squad is ordered to kill Esme, which the city of New Orleans becomes privy to because no one stopped to turn of the broadcast Esme was delivering before her death.

Ryan Finally Gets His Big Score

The Jackals immediately blow through the meeting point. As Ryan points out, everyone knew that they were not going to hold up their end of the bargain. Who can blame them with that much money on the line? As they reveal their plan, the crew get into their respective vehicles to cut them off before they can leave. As the jackals are driving, the bus Tommy was driving pulls out in front of them ablaze. While they are questioning what is going on, Tommy gets off the bus and flips them a bird.

The jackals realize this is a trap as they begin to back up. However, Sara and Doug hit their car, making them unable to protect the stolen goods. Ryan immediately goes into the plan as he exits the van with dynamite in his hand. With the dynamite in place, some random purgers encroach on their project. The crew manages to clear the area of them before all getting into the van and driving back far enough so that it will not be affected in the explosion. Once they approach the armored car, they see numerous black boxes loaded with more money than they could ask for in this lifetime.

After attaining the goods, Ryan is listening on a scanner to check in on district two to ensure that Esme is okay. However, as he listens to the radio, he hears they have found her. They have ordered a hit squad on her. The celebrating the crew was participating is short-lived when they realize that her life is in danger. They immediately insist that they are going to go with him. Ryan knows he has to go alone. The truth is the rest of them do too. They will wait as long as they can for their return. Tommy tells him that no matter what, Ryan’s mother will be taken care of before he leaves to save Esme.

Ryan parks after seeing random purgers, as well as the NFFA hit squad, go by. He manages to sneak inside moments after the NFFA as he makes his way through the surveillance center. Heading up the stairwell, he confirms that Curtis did not survive purge night. Carefully rounding each corner, he discovers that hit squad and hits back behind the wall. Somehow he manages to take down the majority of the hit squad, but not without sustaining some damage himself.

Just as Ryan is about to get shot, we hear another gunshot go off. Esme has found him instead of him locating her and manages to save his life in the process. Upon making her way to the access point and the broadcast room, Ryan does not try to stop her. He insists that people need to know the truth. When he asks her for the key card, he goes outside of the room with the bulletproof glass to stall them. Instead of shooting her, they will have to arrest her. There’s no way that Ryan will survive the night this way. Esme pleads with him not to do this even though he explains he is right where he needs to be as the NFFA takes him down.

Marcus Saves Michelle & Marcus Faces Ben

As they attempt to get to the triage center, they pass a truck that has people trapped in the back. They are screaming for them to stop and help. I cannot imagine that kind of moral dilemma. Would you have stopped to help them? Or would you have marched forward to get your loved one to the triage center? Despite wanting to stop, they march forward.  Once at the triage center, they immediately get Michelle out of the car and mention that they also have another person in the back that needs help as well to those helping that evening.

Meanwhile, The woman treating Ben insists that he is safe there as she checks his lungs. The biggest problem is while he might be safe, she is not. As Ben is trying to regain any cognitive skill set, he looks over to see the scalpel nearby. Fans know that his murder spree will continue no matter what in that moment.

At the same moment, Marcus explains to Dr. Jason that Michelle needs a chest tube due to her wound. He is thankful to find out that Marcus is a doctor because they are low on doctors. He asks him if he needs anything, and he merely needs another set of hands as the man agrees to give him a third-year med school student, Lindsey. Michelle is scared, but Marcus promises her that there is no way she is going to die that evening. Clint is not going to win. Marcus manages to get the chest tube into Michelle to save her life in the nick of time.

Once Michelle is stable, Marcus goes into the triage center to see who else he can help. As soon as he does, we witness someone who has lost both legs and hear screaming for the doctor, Marcus initially spoke with upon entering the triage area.Marcus needs some vaccines and starts yelling for Dr. Jason as well. When he doesn’t hear from him, he goes into the next room over and finds blood. This room is where Ben was resting in earlier.

No one has seen Dr. Jason in a while, and no one can reach him or Lindsey. Marcus knows something weird is going on and requests that Tonya and Andre stay with Michelle. As he is moving further into the triage center, a jump scare moment happens mere moments before he finds Dr. Jason, Lindsey, and two other people who came to help in the triage center that evening.

As Marcus asks Lindsey what happened, Ben closes the door behind him. Marcus stares up at him in horror, and I’m betting he wishes that he would have left Ben as a hit and run victim now. Ben even confirms that it was a horrible move on Marcus’s part. Marcus insists that they were all just good people. Ben insists that by them treating the victims out there, they deny purgers of their rightful kills. Their patients should have died. The doctors there are trying to play God, but they are not God. Neither is Ben despite the fact he believes so.

To fend off Ben, Marcus must inject him with something. Instead of killing him, Marcus takes him outside. He’s too dangerous to keep inside, and he mentions that they are going to let the purge take care of him.

The Start of The Resistance

Tommy, Sara, and Doug made it to Panama, which is all Ryan would have wanted ultimately. They make a toast to Ryan while agreeing to move some funds around for a much needed contribution somewhere. We learn they are moving funds to aid the newfound resistance. Esme’s face appears as face of the resistance.

Some people fighting for the cause are Turner and Vivian, while Darren is leading the cause.  Other survivors of the evening, including Marcus, Michelle, Tonya, and Andre, are there as well. They all know that the leaders broke their own rules and shot Esme after the sirens ended. Darren unleashes one of the most powerful speeches in the history of the show and with the aid of Esme’s sister, Sofia reminds everyone that a change must occur. She wants everyone to know that her sister’s death was not in vain.

Not everyone feels the same way though as the resistance speech is spliced with Ben sharpening a blade and putting on his mask once more. He is a prime example of what Dr. Adams was trying to prove all along.

What did you think of the season two finale of The Purge?  Did the characters you thought were going to die tonight die?  Could you have let Ben go if you were Marcus?  Do you want to see more of these characters next season on the show?  Should the next movie focus on them as well as the surviving characters from the first season?  Let us know your thoughts below on tonight’s episode of The Purge.

Stay tuned for more information on The Purge as it is reported via Fan Fest News.  And make sure to check out our interview with Derek Luke about the evolution of Marcus as well as all things purge.  Until next season, stay safe.