The River

As the show opens, Justin (Clancy Brown) is standing on a bridge, apparently contemplating suicide. He jumps off, and washes up on shore, where he's found by two strange Russian children, Alexsei (Jordan Orr) and Irina (Erin Sanders), brother and sister. Justin is badly injured, and begs them to help him, but they claim they are being pursued by their father, "an evil man," and treat Justin with suspicion. The boy turns out to have a mysterious and deadly power. Iris (Amy Madigan) is visited by Tommy Dolan (Robert Knepper), who uses his radio show to take on the local politicians who opposed Justin's church. Meanwhile, Lila (Debra Christofferson) tells Ben (Nick Stahl) about Ruthie's (Adrienne Barbeau) past relationship with Scudder. Ben angrily confronts Ruthie, and gets into a scuffle with her son, Gabriel (Brian Turk), who falls and breaks his arm. Later, Ben secretly takes Gabriel to a nearby lake and demonstrates his frightening power. Libby (Carla Gallo) is desperate to leave the show, and Stumpy (Toby Huss), distraught over Dora Mae's death, agrees to drive her to Hollywood in the hopes that she'll be "discovered." Sofie (Clea Duvall) decides to leave Apollonia (Diane Salinger) and go with them, but Rita Sue (Cynthia Ettinger) is not willing to let her husband and daughter leave. This episode was directed by Alison Maclean (Jesus' Son).