What Happened?

**What Happened?** is the first episode of the first season of *The Society*, and the first episode of the series overall.

## Synopsis

After their class trip is cut short, students at West Ham High School return home to discover their town completely empty.

## Plot

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

The episode opens with a school performance of the play *"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"*. Outside of the theatre, Harry Bingham, who plays one of the main characters, is kissing Kelly Aldrich. Kelly notices that the bad smell is back, and Harry questions the fact that it was taken care of, when Cassandra Pressman, who plays the other main character, comes out to find them. During the play, Harry and Cassandra flip a coin, which always seems to land on heads, 85 times in a row. After the play, Cassandra and Allie talk, and Cassandra catches Allie staring at Will LeClair, insisting that Allie tell him how she feels.

Cassandra interrupts Harry, who is inviting all of his male friends to a party at his house later that night. Cassandra sarcastically asks about the party, and Harry scolds her as she wouldn't attend anyway. While walking home, Allie admits that she'll miss Cassandra when she leaves for Yale the following summer.

The next day, Harry stumbles upon a tense meeting his mom (the mayor of West Ham) is having with a mysterious man. Upon leaving the meeting, he looks at Harry and Kelly, before walking off. His mother apologises to Harry but she cannot talk as she has a town meeting in twenty-minutes. At the town meeting, a man speaks of the smell that went away but is now back. He admits that they have asked the federal government for help, and testing will begin shortly; he reiterates that the smell does not pose any health risks. The children, however, will be going to the local National Park, who will take them on a trip up the Great Smoky Mountains.

While walking to the buses, Luke notices some graffiti on the side of the church saying: *Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin*. Grizz notices it as a bible verse, which translates to: *"You've been weighed in the balance and found wanting."* They quickly disregard it, however, Grizz stays a little longer, contemplating what it means.

After saying their goodbyes to their families, they board the bus. Campbell asks to sit next to Elle, who looks uneasy and annoyed. Later that night, the drivers announce that there has been a rock-slide and all buses must return to West Ham.

     As they disembark the bus, they notice no-one is there to pick them up. All five buses quickly depart from the church, leaving the children alone. The children quickly realize something is wrong, and all of their parents and wider society are missing. Cassandra suggests that they all just go home and sleep, however, the majority of them stay and throw a party in the church.

After Kelly witnesses Harry being flirty with another girl, she storms out, with Harry following close behind to talk to her. In the back, Campbell attempts to flirt with Elle, however, she rejects his advancements. Allie approaches Will, her crush. Allie admits her feelings for Will, kissing him in the process. Will, however, rejects Allie, with him walking off, and Allie regretting her decision. Grizz leaves the church to urinate on the church wall, and notices the writing on the wall is now gone, and Grizz leaves confused.

In the middle of the night, Gordie is woken up by a call from Bean, who alerts him to the fact that they are completely cut off from the rest of the world; with no internet or phone signal outside of their new town.

The next morning, Cassandra says that she will get a car and drive to Greenwich, the closest town, to get help. Harry disagrees with this, asking why she should go. Cassandra responds by asking if he is even sober. Harry organises his own group, compromised of Luke, Grizz, and Clark to leave with him for Greenwich. Once

they reach the city limits, however, the road ends, turning into a dense forest. Deciding to check the other way, they discover the other road out of town, and the train tracks blocked by forest. Meeting with the others, Cassandra suggests that they stick together, however, Harry disagrees, and decides to leave, asking for Kelly to come with, however she refuses.

Over at the pharmacy, Cassandra, who has a heart murmur, is desperately trying to get to the prescription cabinet., however, the gate is locked. Gordie tries to comfort her, but it’s no use. But, he does promise to take care of Cassandra and offers to become her “doctor”, promising to take care of her.

Cassandra gathers everyone at the Church, attempting to console them. She gets into an argument with Harry, with Campbell later firing a gun off into the air, and pointing it at Cassandra. She says that if he wants chaos then to shoot her. Campbell says he never intended to shoot her, and he agrees with Harry and says anyone who agrees with Harry and he should leave the church.

The scouting party, consisting of Luke, Grizz, Emily, and others are taking a break and eating. Someone asks for the peanut butter, and while Emily is getting it, she is bitten by a snake. Luke and the others attempt to save her. Grizz tells Luke that she was allergic to the bite, and she becomes the first death of the series.

## Cast

* Rachel Keller as Cassandra
* Alex Fitzalan as Harry
* Jacques Colimon as Will
* Kristine Froseth as Kelly
* Gideon Adlon as Becca
* Sean Berdy as Sam
* Toby Wallace as Campbell
* Olivia DeJonge as Elle
* Jose Julian as Gordie
* Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Helena
* Alex MacNicoll as Luke
* Jack Mulhern as Grizz
* Olivia Nikkanen as Gwen
* Spencer House as Clark
* Emilio Garcia-Sanchez as Jason
* Grace Victoria Cox as Lexie
* Naomi Oliver as Olivia
* Chloë Levine as Emily
* Seth Meriwether as Greg Dewey
* Alicia Crowder as Erika
* Chaske Spencer as Mr. Pfeiffer
* Anastasia Barzee as Karen Bingham
* Benjamin Breault as Blake
* Kiara Pichardo as Madison Russo
* Amy Carlson as Amanda Pressman

## Trivia

* This marks Emily Warner's first and only appearance in the series; she is introduced and killed within the same episode.

## Multimedia

### Soundtrack

 Personal Jesus
 Jump Ur Bones