The Clearing Season 1 Episode 4 Review: The Foundlings

Halfway through the season, The Clearing earns its place among the most twisted mysteries on TV. The Clearing Season 1 Episode 4, “The Foundlings,” reveals that Freya’s involvement with the Kindred may be more complicated than she lets on.

The arrival of her “brother” Anton dredges up some old memories and new suspicions. She may still have a fondness for Adrienne, but there’s no love lost between these two siblings.

It creates an interesting dynamic for Palmer to play with as an actor since Freya has to show a bit more teeth around Anton.

In the flashbacks, he plays the foil of the loyal son to Amy’s rebellious daughter. In the present, he’s a chaotic, dangerous presence that threatens the fragile safety Freya created for her and Billy.

If you don’t trust him from the start your apprehensions are soon justified. Anton is the key to several bombshells dropped in the past and present.

He quickly sabotages Freya’s newfound relationship with her daughter by revealing Freya almost let Max die as a baby. The even bigger bombshell is how he knows about Max at all.

The revelation that Adrienne is the one who helped Max find Freya in the first place raises a ton of questions about what are her intentions with Freya. On The Clearing Season 1 Episode 3, “Suffer the Little Children,” the amount of time spent on Max’s arrival seemed out of place, but now the pieces start to fit together.

Add to that Anton seeing Dr. Lathan, there is certainly something going on between the three.

There are some emotional moments as well, like the flashback to Amy having dinner at Joe’s house and hanging out with his teen daughter. Any sympathetic feelings towards Amy are lessened when we learn that the story in her diary about Henrik taking Asha home and her running away was all set up by Adrienne to purposefully frame him.

Her guilt while visiting Henrik in prison makes all the more sense. What still doesn’t make sense is her motivation to find the new missing girl who is recovered by the end of the episode.

It’s unclear whether she is just worried about something happening to more children or if she’s looking for a way to make up for her involvement in what happened to Asha.

Is she just seeing clues where she wants to, or is Anton really involved? In this aspect, The Clearing leans more towards a psychological drama than a true mystery.

You don’t need a cop or any sort of formal detective to make a mystery worth watching, but there is usually at least one character investigating. Freya is interested in what’s happening, but you would hardly call her actions a real investigation.

Freya is playing both sides, still talking with Adrienne yet having a friendly relationship with Joe built on lies. She’s unreliable, which is emphasized on screen by the framing of her moments of blurred vision which seem to be some sort of psychotic breaks.

Unlike its contemporaries, The Clearing lacks a clear central figure to root for.

Will Freya eventually step up to become that figure? Or will her trauma and selfish motivations to maintain her innocence hold her back?

What did you think of this episode of The Clearing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Clearing airs Wednesdays on Hulu. 

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