‘The Purge’ Season 1, Episode 9 ‘I Will Participate’ Recap: Trial

A mysterious man rounds up a group of seemingly unrelated people. Everyone holds grudges. Usually, atrocities like this range from something done in the past to something relatively recent. The Purge becomes a holiday in America, so people find it as a means of serving justice, or maybe getting even with these grudges. The thought-to-be survivors face this fate.

In this week’s episode of The Purge, Joe (Lee Tergesen) recounts the reasons behind his capture of Charlie (Garrett Kruithoff), Eileen (Allison King), Paige (Kelly Murtagh), Penelope Guererro (Jessica Garza), and Rick (Colin Woodell) and Jenna Betancourt (Hannah Emily Anderson). Meanwhile, Pete The Cop (Dominic Fumusa) and Miguel Guerrero (Gabriel Chavarria) work together to follow Joe’s trail.

Purge Night Tradition

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During their search, Miguel finds out about Pete’s reputation. During the very first Purge, Policemen thought of the holiday as an easy way to serve their brand of Justice. Pete, who was part of the force at the time, did not agree with this, so he killed most (if not all) of the cops who made attempts to do so. Because of this, Purgers celebrate his heroism by creating a tradition: Don’t mess with Pete The Cop.

However, not everyone agrees with this tradition. After searching Joe’s house, Miguel and Pete find out where he currently is: an old closed-down high school. As they drove away, they hear an RPG headed for their car. Luckily, both of them make it out alive. Rex (Christopher Berry) finds out that there were no bodies inside. Now he is definitely in trouble: he messed with Pete The Cop.

On Trial

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Moments after Joe captures Penelope, he locks her, along with his other prisoners in a cage. Before he starts, he explains the rules. Each of them will hear his testimony and will receive judgment according to their confession. If he finds their confessions compelling, he will set them free. If not, he will purge. However, he does not follow this rule, since he kills Charlie, his former high school bully, despite his confession.

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After he throws Charlie’s body away, it is now Eileen’s turn, who runs away. Unfortunately, Eileen triggers one of Joe’s traps. Now, it was Jane’s turn. Jane’s argument soon involved everyone as they wondered why they were there in the first place. Because of this, Joe explains that Penelope and her generation is to blame for all the country’s problems since they are full of privilege. Meanwhile, Rick and Jenna underpaid him when he installed their Purge Security System. Weeks before the Purge, Joe sprayed something on Rick, Jenna, and Penelope that helped him track them down.

Shame

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Joe met Jane through a dating app. However, their date did not go well. Joe held on to this fact and therefore made her part of his list. On her trial, Jane put up a fight, but Joe strangled her to death in the end. Now, it was the Betancourts’ turn. They had to come up with a plan to save themselves before it was too late.

‘The Purge’ Season 1, Episode 9 ‘I Will Participate’ Final Verdict

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This chapter perfectly presents the complexities of life in a world where The Purge exists. It reveals how determined and how disturbing a person could be. Also, it layouts a smooth transition into what could happen in the next episode. Finally, we will now see how the battle to save Penelope and her companions turn out.

The Purge continues on Tuesday, November 7th with ‘A Nation Reborn’ at 10/9c on the USA Network.