Everyone Is Watching

The narrative returns to the present.

Fern leads the competitors back to the house. Samuel demands an explanation about the high setting on the Tasers, arguing that one of the older contestants could have been killed by such a strong shock. He refuses to take a turn in the Vault. Fern hurries to Cat’s office to check the viewer response to the first episode; she believes making One Lucky Winner “a runaway success” (121) is her only chance at earning Cat’s forgiveness for locking her in the cellar. She’s relieved that the show has great numbers.

Using the intercom, Fern tells Cat, still in the wine cellar, about the first episode’s success. Scheming about how to get Ned eliminated from the show, Fern disguises a pill (implied to be a sedative) as a Game Changer and slides it into a pack of athletic gear.

When Maire wakes, the room is quiet. Only Samuel is still in bed. She finds a stack of One Lucky Winner–branded clothing. When she dresses, she finds the mysterious pill inside. She vows not to use it but decides not to flush it.

When she returns to the bedroom, Samuel is awake. He assures her there are no cameras in the room, so she confronts him. She claims to be affected by their past, while he seems fine. He counters that he is not and will never be “fine […] thanks to [her]” (128). They can play the situation one of three ways: They can own up to knowing each other, pretend not to know one another, or quit the competition. They decide to pretend not to know each other.

Outside the room, Maire encounters Crowley and Ned, who want to know about her Super Clue from the maze. She reveals nothing. An intern leads the contestants, all in branded clothing, to the courtyard area that Ned likens to hell.

The narrative flashes back to Camille’s past as a psychologist in a section titled “Then.”

Camille waits for a patient, Chelsea, whose estranged husband Doug waits outside Camille’s office. He regularly calls Camille to demand she stop interfering in his relationship. She answers a phone call from Travis Wingo, who wants to be her client, but Camille says no, based on his unwelcome advances toward her. The receptionist announces a woman waiting to see Camille, adding that the woman will pay cash.

A timid woman, wearing a disguise to hide her identity, enters and introduces herself as Nan Adams. Nan is there reluctantly: She feels disloyal for complaining, but needs to discuss her boss, who doesn’t see her value, and who should face consequences for treating Nan poorly. Nan references revenge, which alarms Camille, until Nan clarifies that she just “fantasize[s]” about “walking out” (141). They plan several more sessions “off the books” (142). 

Camille gets an unsigned flower delivery and assumes it is from Wingo, who has attached a card that says “Forever Mine.”

The narrative returns to the present. 

Camille looks over an obstacle course that surrounds a surveillance tower. She longs for more mental challenges; for example, the Game Changer she found urged her to covertly say four sentences to her competitors while cameras were watching. Fern, dressed all in white, again seems familiar to Camille. Fern explains the rules of the course, which combines physical challenges, puzzles, and “surprises”—this will be “the most grueling and dangerous hour of [their lives]” (147). Camille manages to slip one of her covert sentences into a conversation with Crowley, referencing “an eight-year-old son” (147).

Camille moves through the obstacle course, ignoring Ned and Crowley when they stumble. She kicks someone in the face when they try to stop her moving through the mud crawl, and then falls when she is shot in the side.

The narrative flashes back to Camille’s past as a psychologist in a section titled “Then.”

Camille again meets with Nan, who is anxious because Chelsea’s husband, Doug, is again loitering outside. Camille gently prods Nan to discuss her employer, who is clearly abusive, though Nan refuses to give specifics. Nan feels isolated dealing with her employer.

Suddenly a brick crashes through the window. This seems out of character for Doug. Nan hastily pays and leaves. Another flower bouquet is on Camille’s doorstep, this time with the message “Forsaken.”

The narrative returns to the present.

When Maire falls behind in the obstacle course, she thinks of her children to motivate her. She passes Ned, whose nose is bleeding after Camille kicked him. Camille asks for help, claiming she has been shot, but Maire ignores her. When another shot lands near Maire, she and Camille realize they are paintballs, not bullets.

As Maire digs for her personalized jigsaw, scorpions sting her three times. She hastily builds her puzzle, which shows her college mascot. Camille’s puzzle shows a purple chair, Crowley’s shows a woman in a jumpsuit, and Samuel’s shows Tanglefoot Lake. Maire races for the rock wall, struggling to ignore the pain of scorpion stings.

Samuel and Camille reach the final obstacle—a shooting range. While Maire and Ned are climbing back down the wall, Ned kicks her in the head, disorienting her, and then cuts her rope just enough that continuing to climb could cause it to snap. 

Camille wins. Determined to finish, Maire continues, but falls, dislocating her shoulder. Samuel helps her pop it back into place and whispers that someone knows about Maire and Samuel’s secret. Maire brushes this off as coincidence and reasserts her desire to win, mentally vowing to use the pill. The show’s director, Alfonso, reminds her that going to the hospital means being disqualified, so Maire refuses medical attention.

Dani, after hearing about her mom’s participation on the show from classmates, logs on to watch One Lucky Winner. She watches “The Confidante” (Camille) open her Super Clue, a death certificate. She worries at Maire’s near fall and wonders why Maire lied. When commenters reference the cash prize, Dani feels guilty that her illness made her father leave the family and is making her mom worry about their finances.

In a vault segment, Ned claims to regret cutting the rope, though he quickly justifies his actions: He needs the prize money to reboot his true crime show, which will return “bigger, bolder, and bloodier” (174). He claims the show is in honor of his father’s unsolved murder.

When one commenter identifies themselves as former employee who saw Ned sexually harass other employees, other commenters debate the truth of this claim.

The narrative flashes back to Maire and Samuel’s college days in a section titled “Then.”

Maire laughs off the flirtatious implications of her invitation to have fun with Samuel. She lies down in the middle of the dark road, citing this as common entertainment in her small hometown. Samuel joins her. When headlights approach, Samuel urges her to move, but Maire insists they wait; she only moves at the last second. They laugh until a man comes out of the car wielding a pipe and begins drunkenly yelling at them.