Second Chance Clinic
Episode 2 of Open Your Eyes Season 1 begins with brief flashes to the past. Julia is taken out of a building on a stretcher by a man named Janek. She’s wrapped in a protective layer, seemingly reinforcing that she’s been burned. As she’s injected with something in the neck, Julia wakes up breathing heavily. Heading in to see Magda, the woman happens to be hooked up to a complicated machine across her head, keeping her docile. Music is played for her as Piotr, one of the workers, shows up and confirms the girl is a complicated case. We’re definitely not being told everything here but we’ll have to wait and see what secrets these guys are keeping. It’s visitor day at the Second Chance clinic and all the kids are looking forward to it. Julia however, races back to Zofia’s office when she finds out. It seems like her aunt Julia may be there for her – the woman whom our protagonist was named after. Zofia believes that the piano may be one of the keys to unlocking Julia’s potential, and hands over a songbook for her to play. Clair De Lune is the song she constantly goes back to though, and her playing is beautiful. As she plays the piano, kicking off her shoes and closing her eyes to feel every note, Julia hears buzzing coming from the ground. As the camera pans down, we see Zofia and Piotr together underground, discussing a strange black object that seems like some sort of mainframe computer. That evening the kids head outside and gather around a small fire. Burning the pills seems to give off some sort of hallucinatory affect, which Julia experiences briefly on her way back to the facility. Those strange whispers of “Karolina” return, followed by a faceless woman stalking her. However, she seems to be the only one sober enough to see this, as Pawel, Adam and Szymon are all completely stoned and acting erratically. A grave for a woman called Ariela could hold some clues here too. The next day rolls round and the kids are paired up for their latest task. Adam and Julia are teamed, with both encouraged to wear blindfolds while facing each other. They’re tasked with reaching out and touching the face of the other. When Julia does this though, she feels a faceless woman, whose face melts away at her touch. Julia reveals these hallucinations to Zofia too, although how wise that is remains to be seen. Anyway, Julia is encouraged to take her pills to stave off the hallucinations but it also seems like these visions could well be the clues to the past she’s seeking. Visitor’s Day rolls round and Julia tentatively heads out to the reception to see if her aunt has shown up. While everyone else heads off with their family, Julia is left to wait with Adam for her aunt to show. She finds comfort in the boy, especially when she learns he doesn’t get any visitors either. A photo from Julia’s past could well hold some clues, although the girl she thought she could see in the backseat seems to be another hallucination. It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not here, as the motif of ravens returns again. This is definitely significant and there’s certainly something eerie and off with this clinic. When Julia falls asleep that night, a strange redheaded girl – the same one from the photo – shows up and starts stroking Julia’s hand. She looks pretty menacing too, as she stares daggers at Julia.
The Episode Review
More of the past starts to bleed through now as it seems there’s something much more sinister lurking within Second Chance. What is this facility? And what did Magda mean by everything being wrong? It seems she’s being dosed up for knowing too much but so far the show has done an excellent job keeping its central mystery at arm’s length in the wake of these revelations. Likewise, the show slowly starts to unveil more about Julia’s past. She’s pretty gifted on the piano and the black alarm clock is actually quite a nice way of showing he progress she’s made from the first episode up until this point. The ending hints that we’re about to experience a much darker and more sinister side to all this though so we’ll have to wait and see what this has in store for us. For now, Open Your Eyes bows out with a solid follow-up chapter, leaving lots of question marks hanging over the direction this one is likely to take next.
