Containment Review: Nothing Gold Can Stay (Season 1 Episode 11)

We should have seen it coming the second the title was released.

This week’s episode of Containment, entitled “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” was pretty much the biggest spoiler to date.

Nothing gold can stay, guys.

Nothing.

I’m in tears, to be honest. Everything about this episode is so painful, sad, and just completely heartbreaking.

This week, Katie dies.

Gosh, I really had hope that Cannerts had some sort of formula to slow it down. I really had hope that we would see more of #Jatie.

I really hoped that Katie would live.

For herself.

For Quentin.

For Jake.

For everything she stood for: hope, humanity, and love. But alas, Julie Plec bests again.

Plec has this way of making us fall hopelessly in love with her characters, and then having them die in a way that doesn’t leave us feeling mad at her — we’re just heartbroken.

Everything about Katie’s death is beautiful.

She gets to say her goodbyes, and she hopes only for the best — for both Quentin and Jake.

Kristen Gutoskie should win all the awards ever for her final scene with Zachary Unger. We can see her trying so hard to stay strong for her son as she says goodbye, just like he was trying to be strong for her, and it all just… hurts.

But the last scene of the episode, the one with Jake, is what really starts the waterworks. Throughout “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” we see Jake stay strong, and even offer words of hope to Katie and advice to Quentin.

And then Katie says it.

Katie: “I love you”

And he breaks.

Jake: “You don’t get to say that… until I can hold you when you do.”

It amazes me so much, the character development Jake has had in the past 11 episodes, and how organic and natural it’s all felt.

Would the guy punching a wall in the pilot episode have said the same thing? Would he have run to Katie’s side in a lab suit, holding her, whispering “I love you, I love you” over and over again?

I don’t think so.

Yet, here we are.

Now, one of two things can happen. Either Julie Plec can pull a #Slexie, and kill Jake off too. The whole “they’ll be together in heaven” thing. (For those who don’t recall, Shonda Rhimes did this on Grey’s Anatomy when she killed off Sloan and Lexie.)

Or, Jake will keep his promise to Katie and take care of Quentin, and want some sort of justice done to whoever really created the virus.

Either way, I’m so numb at this point, that I’m fine with either.

Containment has always been a realistic show to some extent. Being on the CW, and having great looking actors didn’t mean that it could not show us the harshness and realities of new virus outbreaks.

That’s what this week’s episode does.

People die in situations like these. People will be, and always have become, the victims of bio-terrorism or an experiment gone wrong; although which one this show is centered around still seems to be a bit grey.

That’s just life.

It will be interesting to see how Jake reacts to Katie’s death in next week’s episode, and if Lex and Leo are really on to something.

While I knew Lommers would not resign, its surprising to see her throw Cannerts under the bus.

To be honest, I think he may find a cure, but die in the process of redeeming himself and clearing his name.

It would have certain dramatic irony to it.

Either way, I’ll just be here, watching fan videos and reading #Jatie fan-fiction, while eating Haagen Daz.

How are you coping? Let us know in the comments below!

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Containment airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.