'The Institute' Episode 6 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Kate Dead?

The fifth episode of The Institute had the bombshell revelation that Luke’s parents had been killed by the facility’s kidnappers because they had woken up when the kid was being taken away. On top of that, the people running the facility painted Luke as the one who had murdered his own parents and then committed suicide. Sure, the authorities were looking for Luke’s “body,” but in a country where such incidents are rampant, it’s only a matter of time before they file Luke as a cold case. Luke wanted to give up, but Nicky’s “graduation” to the back-half reignited his motivation to escape, which he successfully pulled off with the help of Maureen and Avery. Speaking of Nicky, it was through him that we learned how the facility was pulling off assassinations without leaving any trace of their presence at the crime scene. They were essentially using the back-half kids to hijack the minds of people with access to politicians, bureaucrats, and other influential people, and then puppeteering them to commit murders. In addition to all that, despite being warned by Stackhouse to stay away from the facility, Tim continued to probe into the matter. Did that cause Luke and Tim to cross paths in the sixth episode of The Institute? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Tim Meets Luke

At the dead of night, Luke uses the scissors that he had gotten from Maureen to dig a hole near the fence around the facility and escapes by crawling through the gap between the bottom half of the fence and the ground. Before doing so, he chucks the scissors back into the facility for reasons that I don’t fully understand. Later on, those scissors are discovered by Sigsby, and by then, Luke has made it far, far away from the facility. So, yeah, sure, the discovery of those scissors doesn’t really affect Luke’s escape plan. But when you know that you are about to run through a forest that is full of things that you have never encountered in your whole life, wouldn’t you want to have something sharp at your disposal, even if you have telepathic and telekinetic powers? I don’t know. This has always been a pet peeve of mine when characters in movies and shows just discard weapons without thinking twice, and then the screenplay has to bypass that illogical move by not putting any insurmountable obstacles in the path of the character who has discarded said weapon. Anyway, going back to the plot, Tim makes his way to the Red Steps and finds the remains of a cabin where the teens who had died in that tragic “accident” used to hang out. 

Before he can look into it any further, he gets a call from Wendy, who requests that he return to the town because it is dangerous to lurk in the dark at that hour. Tim seemingly opts to go back home and continue his search in daylight, but a few seconds later, we see him continuing his search and running into Luke. This might be an editing error—and we just didn’t get to see Tim going back home, freshening up, and returning to the Red Steps the next morning—or it’s possible that Tim actually didn’t go back home and, much like Luke, has been out there all night. Of course, Tim has a hard time convincing Luke that he isn’t a threat, but as soon as Tim gives Luke his jacket, because he is shivering, the kid calms down. Luke then says that he is supposed to meet Maureen at the Red Steps before Stackhouse gets to him or Maureen first. Since Tim has already met Stackhouse, he realizes that Luke is an escapee from the facility, and he makes it abundantly clear that he honestly wants to hear the kid’s whole backstory because Luke is living proof of the fact that Annie’s “crackpot” theories are true.

The Thermal Vision CCTV

Coming back to Sigsby and Stackhouse piecing together the method that Luke used to escape, I guess they give some information on why the guards weren’t able to see the kid even though he was right in front of the CCTV cameras. So, I had assumed that Luke had sabotaged the CCTV cameras in such a manner that they were only showing a static image instead of live footage. I missed the part about the air-conditioning. I mean, I did see the guard in charge of monitoring the CCTV cameras complaining about the heat, but it didn’t click for me that due to the heat, people have been rendered invisible. Maybe because that’s not how thermal optics work. Yes, this is a fantasy show where people have telepathic and telekinetic powers. Hence, it’s pointless to question its understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology. But if the show is using actual science to explain a subplot, I have to question it a bit, right? I have to wonder whether raising the temperature of a room to match our body temperature (which is around 37 degrees Celsius) will make one invisible. Body temperature is always fluctuating. Therefore, as soon as the room temperature is going to increase, our body’s internal regulator is going to go into overdrive to stop our body from going into shock. 

That said, it’s never going to match a malfunctioning air-conditioning system that’s increasing the temperature of a whole building. There are going to be slight variations in temperature that are at least going to expose your outline to the CCTV camera with thermal vision. So, yeah, the security guard being fooled by a faulty air-conditioning system and not even switching between the regular mode and the thermal vision mode is kind of stupid. Anyway, going back to the conversation between Sigsby and Stackhouse, the latter informs her that Tim won’t be a problem anymore, because he has essentially warned the night-knocker from wandering around the facility unless he wants to become an employee there or a body in the incinerator. For a second, it seems like they are going to see eye to eye about the issue at hand, which is Luke’s escape, but then they start bickering about the aforementioned scissors, how they’re proof that Sigsby doesn’t have a handle on the staff, how Stackhouse’s security services are a sham, DEI hiring, and office affairs. Since these are topics that they can fight about endlessly, Sigsby advises Stackhouse to focus on the scissors and finding the one who gave them to Luke.

Maureen Is Dead

I have to point out an odd thing that I noticed. Before this conversation between Sigsby and Stackhouse regarding the scissors and whatnot, Maureen is asked to meet Stackhouse, but we never see that conversation happen. The next time we see Maureen, she is seen infiltrating Sigsby’s office while Sigsby and Stackhouse are having a conversation about the scissors in the room with the air-conditioning controls. Either this is another editing error, or the video that’s playing on the TV in Sigsby’s office is a recording. Why did she play a recording of her conversation with Stackhouse and leave the room? I don’t exactly know. Maureen uses Sigsby’s absence to make a call to Kate, informing her about Luke, the flash drive that’ll help expose what’s going on in the Institute, and where Kate can find Luke. Last week, I had predicted that the journalist Maureen was talking about was Kate. So, this revelation didn’t exactly surprise me. 

The fact that Kate didn’t waste a lot of time and killed Maureen in Sigsby’s office also didn’t shock me because she has already proven that she can be pretty ruthless when it comes to murdering people who are trying to “harm” the facility. When did Kate enter the facility to kill Maureen? When did Kate leave after killing Maureen? Where does Kate operate from? Does Kate live in a secret room inside the facility? I suppose the show is either not interested in answering such questions, or they have left it all on the editing room floor. Anyway, all of this finally prompts Sigsby to conduct a physical search of the building, which is how she learns that Luke snipped the tag on his ear and has become untraceable. Again, I am confused. Sigsby knew that Luke had sabotaged the air-conditioning system, but she took this long to check whether or not he was in the facility? In every other episode, she was confronting him every other second, and now she trusts the technology of the system to keep her updated about his status? That’s either a character flaw or inconsistent writing. If you have any thoughts on this little phenomenon, please feel free to use the comments section to voice them.

Kate Is Dead

Upon reaching Wendy’s jeep, Tim and Luke take a breather. Tim gets reception on his cellphone for a brief period of time, during which he does a basic internet search on Luke and learns how he has essentially been framed for the murder of his parents. Tim also tries to get in touch with Chief Ashworth, but the reception on his cell goes away as mysteriously as it came. Luke sees that as a sign that Stackhouse has figured out that something is off, and he tells Tim that they need to double back, go to the Red Steps, and warn Maureen. Unaware of the fact that Maureen is already dead, Luke and Tim head to the pre-planned rendezvous spot. Back at the facility, Stackhouse and Sigsby wrestle with the idea of calling their boss and informing him about the debacle. Sigsby says that as soon as the “Man on the Phone” learns how royally they have botched up their operation, he is going to send both Sigsby and Stackhouse to the incinerator. As per Stackhouse, the only way to avoid that scenario is by bringing Luke back to the facility before news of the mess they have made reaches the boss’ ears. 

Stackhouse trusts Kate, who is already at the rendezvous point to pick up Luke, to get the job done. Once she has him, Stackhouse will send a backup team, and that’ll be the end of that. Much like Luke doesn’t know that Maureen is dead, Stackhouse doesn’t know that Luke is not alone, thereby putting Kate in a bit of a fix because Kate has to not only tackle a teenager but also a fully grown adult (with some combat experience) as well. At the end of The Institute, episode 6, Kate does try her best to make a fool of Tim and Luke, but what exposes her true allegiance is her cellphone. The area around the facility is a dead zone for every cellular device that hasn’t been sanctioned by said facility. So, as soon as Kate gets a call on her phone, it becomes clear that she is working for Stackhouse. Realizing that her jig is up, Kate doesn’t waste another second and pulls out her gun. Luke uses his telekinetic powers to distract Kate by dropping a branch on her, and Tim uses that opportunity to take her down. Tim overdoes it a bit, which causes Kate to hit her head on the stony ground they have been standing upon and then fall into the nearby river. Her body goes lifeless almost instantly after hitting the water. So, yeah, I think she is very much dead. 

Norbert Works for the Institute

Tim confronts Luke about the branch and asks him if he made that happen. Luke confirms that he has telekinetic powers, which probably gives Tim a hint about what’s going on in the facility. By the way, there’s another editing error during this brief conversational scene. The establishing shot of Tim and Luke standing at the edge of a cliff near the river had Tim on the left side of the screen and Luke on the right side. But when they shot that brief conversational scene, Tim was on the right and Luke was on the left. Hence, the editor did the most obvious thing in the name of continuity: they mirrored the frames. That would’ve worked if Luke didn’t have a bit of tape on his right ear, which, due to the mirroring, causes it to go to the left ear. It’s a nitpick, but when you stack it alongside all the abovementioned editing issues, this episode seems particularly shoddy. Going back to the plot, Sigsby finds Kate’s phone, which pretty much confirms the fact that she is dead and Luke is out there in the open and ready to expose the Institute. 

While Sigsby is out there, Stackhouse wins back the fickle-minded Hendricks’ allegiance and orders him to back Stackhouse’s narrative when he makes the move to oust Sigsby, citing management issues. Tim and Luke reach the police station, and when Ashworth puts Maureen’s flash drive into his computer, he sees that there’s a video on it. We don’t see what’s in the video, but based on everything we have seen so far in the show, it’s probably going to be a compilation of the horrifying experiments that are going on in the Institute under the guise of disease prevention. Coincidentally, Norbert, the owner of the hotel where Tim stays, was in the station when Tim and Luke arrived there, and he is revealed to be a turncoat who informs someone—maybe Stackhouse—about Luke’s location. Given how the whole town is in cahoots with the facility, this isn’t much of a surprise. I won’t even be surprised if it’s eventually revealed that Ashworth, Wendy, and Drew are also part of the cult. If that turns out to be the case, it’ll be interesting to see how Tim and Luke manage to defeat all of them or at least escape from Dennison River Bend. Those are just my thoughts on the ending of The Institute episode 6, though. Do you have any opinions on the same? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.

...