Grace reminisces about a secret cabin Jason and her found when he was still alive. The episode begins with her waking up in that cabin, having slept off the humiliation from the high school party she crashed in the previous episode.
As a means of impressing Rita, Officer Dorf divulges confidential information about the “man-eating bear” that he and Officer Brooks uncovered. Local men overhear.
Ralph, the local loon, cannot quite discern between reality and hallucinations of his time in the war. As he skins a rabbit, an article of clothing is removed from his clothing line from an unknown figure. As he momentarily questions his sanity, he crouches to find big foot prints in the door.
Pamela Voorhees and Office Brooks clean out Jason’s bedroom to reach a semblance of catharsis, they both bond over grief. She mentions that she does not let herself relinquish control (as exemplified in the last episode with the quack motivational guru), let alone in bed.
Office Brooks gets a tip about a car renovation, where he finds blood in the trunk. He requests the help of his sister at her newsroom about tracking details about the driver of the renovated vehicle, Carl Egan (one of the men Pam likely killed in the first episode), “an invisible man working for a ghost company” called Subsun Solutions that does not exist. They speculate that Egan is one of the men with pelvic remains they found in the woods.
Claudette harasses Grace in the school bathroom for breaking Barry’s back car window with her heeled shoe at the end of the previous episode. Grace does not know what Claudette is referring to (as that was Jason marking his territory by breaking Barry’s window), then blames her for starting the altercation when a teacher enters to break up the fight.
Two lunch ladies in the school cafeteria casually mention the “man-eating bears,” which freaks out Pam–her cover almost blown. She walks out hyperventilating when she spots Grace’s mom picking her up from school, disciplining her roughly, while Pamela watches, horrified by the encounter.
Pamela visits Grace at her house while her mom is at work, trying to placate her after the heavy hand her mom laid on her earlier. Eventually, Grace’s mom returns to find Pam in her kitchen. Pam steps in, concerned, when Grace’s mom raises her voice at her daughter. Grace’s mom kicks Pam out. Upon exiting the doorway, Pam notices a cigarette burn on Grace’s arm. Grace pleads for Pam to not say anything.
Office Brooks tries to dissolve a group of men, some that overheard Officer Dorf’s rumor from the diner, seeking to hunt the man-eating bear. Nonetheless, against his wishes, the men take off, determined to protect their town. One of them is shot by one of his fellow peers, and the last thing he sees before he perishes: the large silhouette of a mysterious figure.
Pam pays a visit to the diner in which Grace’s mom works, where she piously attempts to guilt her into being a less violent parent. Her justification for this undue intervention was that her father disciplined her roughly while she was young, and does not want to see Grace turn out with the same resentments to her parent that she had.
“She deserves better than you,” Pamela forewarns, contemplating a heinous act.
The unsolicited advice engenders an offensive stance from Grace’s mom, who tells Pam, “Maybe if you raised your kid right, he’d still be alive.”
“I couldn’t save my son, but I could save her,” Pam declares.
Pam strikes her with a meat tenderizer that dislocates her adversary’s jaw. She hits her once more, the pressure pushing her into the hot oil of a deep fryer. Pam puts out her cigarette, which sets the restaurant ablaze.
At home, Grace sits in front of the television screen, her arm wrapped tightly, as she lights a cigarette to inflict on herself.
This episode bids its audience bloodbath galore with a hint of mystery and an unsolved case that places more hysteria on a scapegoated bear. There is more behind Grace that the audience cannot quite see just yet. Nonetheless, her strained relationship with her mother and self-harming tendencies make her an easy object of the attention of Pam, who could not save her son the way she could with her son’s wounded friend.
Rating: 8/10