Unchosen Recap Episode 6: Those Who Fled, Those Who Are Freed

Adam’s mind was very deeply conditioned by the Fellowship. He was both a good and sometimes loving provider, and an abusive husband. Yet, when the going got really tough, when his wife and child were in imminent danger, he loved them enough to let them go. In the end, the weight of his upbringing and what he viewed as sin trapped him within Sam’s web. But, before that, before Sam pulled his last card, the phone video of their sexual act together, Adam found enough strength in him to be a husband first, to be a father first, to be a brother first. Neither I nor the episode forgot Adam’s sins, but just before they left, he gave Rosie and Grace all his strength. It was enough to make me hope that he made it out too.

The seeds of Adam choosing to protect his wife and daughter over following the stern demands of the Fellowship were planted in an earlier episode, when Hannah angrily accused Rosie of letting the then confined Isaac out. Adam, already an Elder, decided to keep Rosie’s sin within the family and not involve the rest of the Fellowship. He did confine her as punishment, along with making Hannah supervise her during the day, but he protected her from the larger community and their judgment. 

Even earlier than this, Adam knew about Isaac’s girlfriend Chelsy, but he kept it quiet until someone else (Rosie) saw Isaac’s forbidden cell phone. Adam has had these small glimpses of putting his family first, above the rules of the Fellowship.

So, when Rosie finally came to him and told him what happened – that Grace saw Sam and Mr. Phillips fighting, that Mr. Phillips said Sam killed Isaac, that Sam threatened to hurt Grace, that Sam killed his girlfriend and her cousin, that she slept with Sam – Adam was confused, hurt, angry, but his instinct was to get his family away from danger. There was a bad storm. The power was out. The phones were down. His brother’s murderer, who had killed at least two other people that they knew of, was nearby. Adam told Rosie that he would drive her and Grace to Norwich where his father’s cousin was an Elder.

But, this show of Adam’s good side came too late. Rosie had already decided to leave him. She told him he could drive them to the station, but that she was not going to Norwich. She was leaving the Fellowship and taking Grace with her. Rosie spoke of her pain right there in the same room where Adam confined and raped her. He told her that she deserved a better husband than him, and asked her if she had a plan. She did, and Adam accepted this.

Husband and wife had a small moment of tenderness outside, when Rosie took Adam’s hand. She was the stronger of the two, the surer of the two, and though she would not change her mind about leaving him, she must have appreciated how Adam reacted to everything she had told him. Of course, she did not know that Adam had his own secret, that he, too, had a sexual encounter with Sam. 

They drove through heavy rain until they came upon a road blocked by a fallen tree branch. Sam came up in a car behind them. Quick thinking per usual, Rosie made Grace give her her hearing aid so that when Sam came up to the window, she was able to show it to Sam and say they were going to the hospital because it broke.

Sam asked if they had any tools at the back of the truck, and though Adam said no, Sam went to check anyway. Adam told Rosie to take Grace and run, just as Sam opened the truck bed and saw their bags.

Adam knew he was no physical match to Sam, yet he stayed, to avenge his brother and give his wife and child a chance to get away. He hit Sam from behind. They had a fight which Sam of course won. Adam was down and bleeding on the road when Sam ran after Rosie and Grace. 

They ran through the woods and headed for Adam’s office, where Rosie knew there were vehicles she could use. She had to leave the terribly frightened Grace outside as she went to search for a key. Sam caught up with her, and for Sam, it must have been deja vu. Here was another woman he fell in love with trying to leave him. Rosie was still able to run out of the trailer office, but outside Sam easily caught up with her. In his rage he pushed her into a water vat and tried to drown her, a callback to how he was able to burrow himself into their lives, by saving Grace from drowning. Somewhere in his consciousness, Rosie’s words about repentance broke through, and he released her. Rosie staggered toward Grace, and mother and daughter were free.

Adam, too, was able to pull himself up, and he came up from behind Sam with a gun, perhaps the same gun that Mr. Phillips had kept in his old office. Sam, who had just been overcome with emotion, who had allowed Rosie and Grace to leave because his love was as real as his evil, switched into his mocking form. ‘Thou shall not kill’, he told Adam, before daring him to call the police. He handed him his cell phone, and there, Adam saw Sam’s final bullet, a video of that night by the fire. Shaken by the video of what he believed to be his sin, Adam fell to his knees.

Sam killed Adam’s brother, but he lost his, too. Mason took one look at Mr. Phillips, who was sleeping on the floor of the locked room where he had likely been confined since his attempt to escape, and left. What happened to Adam, the show decided to allow us to wonder. Rosie and Grace visited Mrs. Phillips, who now appeared to live with her son and his family.

One year later, and Sam was already the leader of the Fellowship. Perhaps the fear Sam had planted in Rosie’s head remained, and she never told the police where Sam Devlin hid. And so he planted his roots deep, right there in a community that distrusted the outside world. 

When I watched and recapped the first episode, I described it as ‘more quiet than quietly compelling’. I’m glad I gave it a chance and watched to the end. This is a finale that made me care even for Mr. Phillips. What it lacked in a powerful, full-throttle narrative, it made up for in genuine character work and great performances. I’m all right with the quiet; in the end, this feels like a story that will linger in me.  

Rating: A

Strays

🏡Sam had Mr. Phillips tied and gagged in his home. When Sam gave him water, he told him, ‘There is good in you. Find the light.’ The way Christopher Eccleston delivered the lines, he was not just trying to get out of this massive jam with a known murderer, he genuinely believed that. He was still a faith leader trying to guide a lost sheep.

🏡Mr. Phillips got loose and managed to run to his old office, where he kept his gun. Sam wisely called Adam, because Mr. Phillips was supposed to be confined in his home. Mr. Phillips pointed his gun at Sam, but Sam was able to grab it, and Adam and two other men came in. Though Mr. Phillips yelled that he was not driving, Sam was, Adam and the others did not believe him.

🏡That final shot of Mr. Phillips sleeping on the floor was devastating. I needed to remind myself that this was the same punishment he meted out to other members of the  Fellowship.

🏡Poor Grace was severely traumatised by her encounter with Sam.

🏡Sam not so subtly suggested that Adam leave the Fellowship. Sam was already in; having Adam there was just a complication for him. 

🏡Thank you for joining me on these Unchosen recaps! It is always nice to go into a show, watch it without knowing much about it, and end up liking it very much. Congratulations to the cast and crew! 

Episode Writer: Julie Gearey

Episode Director: Philippa Langdale

Original Release Date: April 21, 2026

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