Harlan Coben’s shelter, which has now been released in full on Prime Video, really stuck to the mantra of Mickey’s father: “You can’t hit if you don’t swing the bat.” For eight episodes, he wildly swung the stick in all directions, madly turned it over his head and swept it in a circle, possibly blindfolded. If there was a blow to be dealt, Shelter would try to hit it – and with some success.
It was the story of Mickey Bolitar, a grieving teenager who investigated the disappearance of a classmate, but discovered much more. Adapted from Harlan Coben’s YA spin-off for his mega-hit series Myron Bolitar, the thriller changed its tone enormously (the combination of real-life Holocaust atrocities and child abuse with teen comedy seemed tasteless at best), but its distractions, hooks, twists and charismatic cast have certainly caught your eye.
The big Brad Bolitar Twist!
Who would have thought that a Gwen Stefani track could save someone’s life? They are the creators of Harlan Coben’s shelter. When Mickey heard his aunt Shira singing “Hollaback Girl” on the other side through the lines of the Bolitar family home, he realized that when Lizzie / Bat Lady said that she still sometimes heard her late father’s voice, she was not speaking figuratively. Lizzie heard Brad’s voice through the pipes of her labyrinthine house, because he was not dead, but still alive and was imprisoned in an isolated, soundproofed room in a system of underground tunnels to which the house had access.
The entire series ended with Mickey breaking into the burnt remains of Bat Lady’s house and discovering her father alive and locked in a secret room under the house. Mickey Bolitar’s book series (Shelter, Seconds Away and Found) took three novels to get to this point, but the TV adaptation moved quickly through the story. So, who locked Brad up there? Read.
Luther and Little Ricky
The Los Angeles paramedic with the facial scar (not so progressive in choosing the villain, Harlan Coben’s shelter), who took Brad’s body away after the traffic accident in which he apparently died, was not a paramedic. His name was Luther, and he had a decades-long revenge against Brad after the death of his younger brother Ricky, when he and Luther were still children.
In the 1990s, Luther and Ricky were among a group of boys rescued from an abusive foster home by Abeona – the Lizzie/Bat Lady organization that protects abused children. Teenager Brad was in charge of the rescue operation after finding Lizzie and her work years earlier through his friend Dylan Shakes from Little League (more about him below). During the escape from the nursing home, Luther severely cut his face on a nail, an injury for which he blamed Brad. When the rescued boys were hidden in Lizzie’s soundproof basement, Luther’s younger brother Ricky had an asthma attack and died. Since then, a traumatized Luther hated Brad and blamed him for Ricky’s death.
Therefore, Luther took the opportunity to take revenge when Brad, Kitty and Mickey returned to the USA. He staged the car accident, took Brad’s body from the crime scene, faked his death. and locked him in the same soundproof basement where Ricky died. Luther also tried to kill Lizzie by stabbing her, locking her and Mickey in his secret photo room and setting his house on fire, but Mickey managed to escape and the two survived.
The Butcher of Lodz
Lizzie told Mickey that Luther – presumably still an outlaw – was “her butcher”, in reference to the butcher of Lodz, a Nazi war criminal responsible for atrocities during the Holocaust, of which she was a survivor. She photoshopped Luther’s face onto a picture of the Lodz butcher and gave it to Mickey when he was researching the time for a school project to warn him about Luther – but teacher Martha recognized the fake.
Ashley Kent
Saving Ashley (not his real name) from a child trafficking operation was Brad Bolitar’s last job for Abeona before he “died”. Under the guise of a camping trip with son Mickey, Brad conducted the rescue operation and Ashley was accommodated under her new identity, but enrolled at Kasselton High School together with Mickey.
Their kidnappers, assisted by the school’s acting teacher, who worked in parallel in the child trafficking business, tracked them down and after being rescued by Rachel from an attempted kidnapping, they took her with them. Ashley was held in a dungeon under a very modest club where underage girls are sexually trafficked. When she was about to be sold to a rich pervert, Mickey and the gang save her. “Octo-Face” arranged for her a fresh start in a new home under a new identity. ” I’ll always wonder what could have been, Mickey,” Ashley said as she left. ” Me too, maybe one day we’ll find out,” he replied. If the second season is confirmed, maybe yes.
Dylan shakes sunglasses, Lizzie and Martha
27 Years earlier, the city of Kasselton was shaken by the disappearance of a little boy, Dylan Shakes. It turned out that Dylan’s father physically abused him, a behavior that was noted by Dylan’s Little League coach Martha and his doctor.
When Dylan’s father intentionally burned Dylan’s eye with a cigarette, Martha led him to Lizzie, who made sure that he was taken to safety via Abeona. Martha wanted to adopt Dylan, but instead Lizzie decided to send him away from her father as far as possible.
That’s how Brad Bolitar was recruited for Abeona at such a young age. When his older sister Shira asked him to enter the Batwoman’s house, he found his friend Dylan there and swore secrecy to him for Dylan’s protection. An adult Dylan, who was never seen without sunglasses (hence the nickname), was also recruited by Abeona and has been helping Lizzie ever since. It was he who, at the end of the first episode, shot down the theater teacher / child trafficker from Kasselton High.
Unsolved: Why was Löffel’s picture on Lizzie’s wall?
In episode seven, when Mickey confronts Lizzie with her theory that she killed her father because he wanted to leave Abeona, Mickey finds her in a secret room surrounded by photos of thousands of children that Abeona has helped over the decades. Ashley’s picture is there. The photo of Luther and Ricky is there. The photo of Dylan Shakes is here. And so – still unexplained – is Loffels
In the series we are told that Arthur / Spoon has known losses and knows that he lives only with his father, but what is his relationship with Lizzie and Abeona? Is he adopted? Is this picture really of him or an identical twin saved by Abeona? That’s another thing to explore for a possible second season.