Review/ Read Along: The End is Near in “The Scorch Trials” Chapters 59-63
Amanda McHugh ‘18/ Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
With one week left until the movie, the climax of the novel hits as Thomas, Teresa, and the rest of the Gladers and Group B prepare to fight for their lives once again. We already know the movie and the book will most likely look very different from each other based on the trailers and what director Wes Ball has already announced. But will they still have the faceless, monsters with orange tumors in it? Though it’d be incredible for this next scene to be in theaters, there is a chance it won’t be. In the book, the Gladers have been fighting to get to the Safe Haven, where as in the movie it looks like they’re running away from WICKED. So will the ending of the book look anything like the ending of the movie?
Either way, in the book Thomas and friends still needs to deal with the monsters stumbling towards them as the wind and dust pick whip around their faces, stinging their eyes. In the moment Thomas trusts Teresa, but he’s still skeptical about her. It’s going to be hard to trust Teresa ever again after the betrayal, but sometimes there isn’t a choice. Through Dashner’s intense fighting descriptions, Thomas figures out that all they need to do is break all the orange blubs on the monster’s body. He looks around and sees others doing the same. It’s weird that WICKED made it this easy for them, but at the same time maybe they were testing if they could figure out the obvious.
When the storm picks up and the lightning strikes down on them, Thomas realizes they need to take cover inside the pods the monsters came out of. Him and Teresa rush over to one and hop in, though it has dirty smelling water inside it. As they’re about to close the door, Brenda and Jorge come over and get in as well. They close the door, with ten minutes left on the clock before their given endgame. The lightning strikes the pod and breaks it, but they’re still safe for the time being inside. Thomas reflects how he misses Brenda in his life, and how he feels bad they never talked about being reunited. It’s odd how Brenda’s role went from so important to almost nonexistent. If the rumors are true and the movie is combining The Death Cure with The Scorch Trials, Brenda will not be left out at all in the film. Brenda’s role in The Death Cure is much more important and prominent than the Scorch Trials.
Outside the pod they hear a loud humming sound. It takes them a few moments to realize that it’s a Berg landing (a berg in the movie is like a helicopter type thing, but in the books its more of an airplane). Thomas and the others climb out of the pods and start making a run for the Berg. There are still orange glowing monsters between them, so they quickly take them out before arriving to it. As they make it to the Berg, Thomas looks down at the field and sees that only a few of them didn’t make it, though he comments how he wasn’t close to any of them. It’s shocking to see how desensitized Thomas is to this situation. It contrasts with when Thomas first had to deal with a death back in the Maze, when Ben died. Thomas went through a mix of emotions when Ben died, and still thinks back to it even while in the Scorch. But looking down on dead bodies of people he barely knew (he didn’t know Ben all too well when he died too) and not feeling anything is a significant change. It just goes to show how much emotional trauma he’s endured during this whole trip. It’d also be interesting to see if the film will include these flashbacks to the Maze. It adds a certain depth to Thomas showing how he still can’t move past the events from the Maze.
Once on the Berg, a man stands before them and tells them they weren’t supposed to bring along anyone else (meaning Brenda and Jorge). So he says they have to pick one to kill. Thomas shockingly picks Brenda. At first this was surprising, but when they start taking Brenda away Thomas jumps on the man and takes the gun from him. He proclaims that there is to be no more senseless killing, no more deaths. It’s over for them, they’re not participating in the trials anymore, and he’s willing to die fighting for this.
The man tells them that the trials are complete, and that they’ll explain everything when the get back to head quarters. For now, he lets Thomas keep the gun as they are fed, showered, and given clean clothes. Teresa comes over to Thomas as they’re all falling asleep and she once again reiterates how she can only apologize so many times. Thomas remains skeptical of her, but doesn’t say anything as he drifts asleep. As he’s drifting, he thinks about how he misses Brenda, and how he hasn’t seen her of Jorge since they arrived there.
It’s still unsure whether or not these scenes will still be in the movie, or if they may be altered in context. From where The Maze Runner film left off, this ending would be hard to achieve in the same way.
Be sure to check out The Scorch Trials in theaters, coming out in one week!