Welcome to New Raccoon City is the first episode of Resident Evil.
Synopsis[]
"While on a research mission, Jade crosses paths with a gang of scavengers. Years earlier, Jade and Billie try to make a fresh start in New Raccoon City" — Official Synopsis |
Plot[]
2022[]
The Wesker drive into New Raccoon City.
It is three months before the pandemic. Jade and Billie Wesker are a pair of 14-year-old sisters. Their family dynamic is complicated, being half-twins born through IVF to a surrogate mother. Their father, Albert, has recently been re-hired back onto Umbrella Corporation's board of executives after a long absence, which requires the family move to his new office in New Raccoon City, a planned community built in South Africa an hour away from Cape Town. Everyone in the city is an employee of Umbrella in some way, whether they work at Raccoon High School or at a cupcake store, and it is due to this commonality that the people maintain an almost Stepford Wives display of happiness when in public, ever watched by CCTV cameras. Albert has had problems with his teenage girls for some time now, with Jade showing contempt for his parenting, his busy work schedule and having to move home so suddenly. Billie meanwhile is the more sensitive of the two, having become isolated after almost being expelled at her old school.
Wesker in his laboratory.
When the family arrives at their new home, they are greeted by Carol, an old colleague of Albert, who displays the same level of fake emotion as the other adults. Jade tries testing her with vulgar and sarcastic remarks, but the two soon leave her behind when Albert gets an urgent call about an incident at an Umbrella lab in Tijuana. Billie confronts her sister about her "bitch act", but only becomes another focus of Jade's displeasure; Jade leaves her alone to talk to a boy, Simon Marcus. In the evening, Jade gets her own back by increasing her stereo music to make Billie's walls shake while Albert takes a blood sample - something regularly done every two weeks - but another phone call about Tijuana distracts him. Jade hands him a blood sample she took on her own due to his distraction. With Albert heading into his bedroom, Jade and Billie sit outside and talk about their upcoming first day at Raccoon High alongside shared jokes about how their dad is probably a vampire due to his unexplained need for their blood. Jade jokes she would be able to dominate the school, though Billie would rather remain invisible after a previous incident of assaulting a student. Albert meanwhile places samples under a microscope for observation, records his findings, then injects the blood into his neck.
At lunchtime the following day, Jade has already made new friends through Simon and sits with them at the cafeteria. Billie meanwhile has not been so fortunate, and avoids sitting with her sister. Her lonesome behaviour gets the attention of Tammy Isaacs, a student who is both a victim of bullying and herself a bully. Tammy listens to Billie introduce herself and mocks everything about it, from her parentage to her veganism, and finally begins punching her after Billie tries standing her ground. Jade spots what is going on, but is unable to help when the other children cluster around the fight and record it for social media.
Billie contemplating of events in school
Back at home, Albert is in an online meeting with Umbrella's sales team - Tanya and Bob - to review the adverts for their new antidepressant product, Joy, which he was part of the development team on. He is displeased by the company's portrayal of a customer as such an idealic figure and wants realism, but agrees with the sales team's own problems - that Umbrella sales have been on a consistent downward trajectory for two and a half years and they absolutely must get the product out without delay. Billie and Jade return home from school, and while Billie heads straight to her room Jade lashes out at her father for not picking up the phone due to the meeting, finally smashing his tablet in anger. She refuses to tell him what happened to Billie when he asks, opening this rift further. When Jade finally gets to talk to Billie, she learns that video of the fight has spread onto WhatsApp with Billie now a laughing stock.
The following day, the two girls head out to school once more, and though Jade has insisted she fight Tammy, Billie instead offers to make amends, only to get a burrito thrown at her instead. Having seen this from afar, Jade cuts class to steal one of the school's Raccoon mascot costumes. When she sees Tammy leave class to play games in the bathroom, she makes her move and bashes her in the head with a rock. Though Tammy would not possibly identify the assailant, she reports it to the principal, Mrs. Morgan, that it was Billie. With Jade having placed the costume's head in Billie's locker, she is directly implicated and both girls' parents are called.
Parents Meeting Room
In the parents' meeting, Dave - a server admin - lays into Billie with threats of pressing criminal charges and a lengthy stay in prison, before mocking her with suggestions she is a paranoid schizophrenic. Albert arrives at the meeting late, but in time to overhear the threats from Dave, who realises too late he has threatened the daughter of a company board member. Albert toys with Dave, first threatening his resignation to pressure the company into firing him, but quickly changes his mind with the threat of using the company's influence to blacklist him from any IT jobs to the extent even PornHub would be too afraid to hire him. Dave is quickly left a broken man, and he not only calls off the charges, but apologises for threatening Billie, then forces Tammy to do the same. Albert is happy to have his edge back and feel like a proud parent, and offers Billie to have lunch with him at his office so they can spend some time together.
Billie visiting Umbrella's Headquarters
After school, Billie heads down the street to Umbrella HQ, congratulated along the way by another student Tammy was bullying. Giving her name to a voice recorder, she is let in the building with a three-hour guest pass. The building is heavily automated, with no need for a permanent security force to patrol the building. Offices have glass walls, allowing all employees to be seen doing their jobs, whether it be a sales team reviewing a child-targeted Joy ad, or doctors overseeing the expertise of a prototype SurgeryBot. Albert sits in his office, having an important meeting with Roth about the recent events at Tijuana. Roth provides him with bodycam footage recovered from one of the guards, showing him shooting at another man, commenting that he isn't being killed by the gunshot wounds, and then being killed, himself. The incident has not yet made its way to the press, luckily. Albert's assistant Rhonda notifies him about Billie, who has just arrived outside his office. Back in the hallway, Billie's attention shifts to an attendant, Carl, as he pushes a cart carrying live rabbits into an elevator and, using a keycard, takes them down to level B4. Being opposed to animal testing, she is haunted by this experience for the rest of the day as Albert takes her out to lunch.
That night, Jade enters Billie's room again to apologise for going behind her back, but insists that by pinning the blame on her she will no longer be picked on and has earned some respect. Billie however, is more concerned with the rabbits, having checked online and found that Umbrella has officially come out against animal testing. Playing in to Jade's rebellious nature, the two agree to sneak into Umbrella HQ and get proof of animal experimentation. They plan things out with ease. As their dad is a senior researcher, he has the right keycard. As his phone has voicemail, they can get by the voice reader at the door. As the facility is so heavily automated there are no guards patrolling the facility. The only problem they have is the CCTV, but Jade is sure that by shining torches at them anyone reviewing the tapes will be unable to identify their faces.
Jade and Billie sneaking off to Umbrella's HQ
The two arrive at Umbrella HQ late into the night, and are able to enter the facility with ease. They hit their first snag, however, when they take the elevator down to B4, where an automated message reveals that travel to that floor requires a security escort. On the other side the two find themselves in a lab with cages full of rabbits, rats, birds and monkeys, serving as proof of animal testing. While Billie eagerly takes photographs on her phone, Jade takes advantage of Albert's monotonous nature and inputs his name and most-used password - "Spock21" - into a computer and accesses his files. One file catches her attention, which shows footage of Umbrella security guards firing at people in Tijuana.
Billie mauled by Cerberus
When the security alarm goes off, the girls are on borrowed time. As Billie investigates one last cage, she opens it to get a look at the animal, which is a mutant doberman suffering from a severe case of gangrene. The animal attacks her, but Jade is able to fight it off for the time being and they make their way into the elevator. When they reach the ground floor, however, they soon realise the animal has escaped the lab and is running up the stairs, using enhanced physical strength to burst through doors on the way. Racing down a hallway in search of the exit, the girls hide out in the sales team's office, but their presence triggers the playing of a Joy advert. The dog enters the room, and follows them back out by simply jumping through the window. The girls reach the front door right as Umbrella security guards arrive to investigate the alarm, but are unable to get out as they need Albert's voicemail again. While Jade takes out the phone, the dog lunges at Billie and begins tearing at her neck and chest. With Billie losing blood fast, Jade grabs a fire extinguisher and batters the dog to death with it.
2036[]
Jade walks across Westminster Bridge.
It is now fourteen years after the pandemic began. Earth's ecosystems have been ravaged by the T-virus, and the uninfected human population has dwindled to three hundred million. The remaining six billion have suffered brain damage and have become violent cannibals known as "Zeroes". They have mutated to have enhanced durability, though are physically deteriorating with many now blind and deaf, reliant on the sense of smell to hunt. The national governments that existed before the pandemic have long since collapsed, as have most of the cities. Much of the world has been left as an inhospitable landscape known as "Dead Land", while the majority of humans are living in walled cities called Freeholds, with Umbrella having carved out a large territory for themselves. Outside these entities are vast stretches of land called the "Dead Land", where the Zeroes thrive. Small enclaves exist in these places called Freeholds, where survivors in Boston, Paris, Capetown, Mumbai and Brighton maintain some degree of livelihood.
Aftermath of Zeroes attack
Jade is now a researcher for The University, an organisation devoted to research and preservation of artefacts from before The Fall. Sent out on a research project to record any new mutations in the Zeroes, she has spent the past six months moving around the Dead Lands of Britain. On one day she holds an internet call with her partner, Arjun and daughter Bea, who is celebrating her birthday; Jade tries to bond with her over her trip to Disneyland at her age, but being gone for six months is drifting her and Bea apart. After her call, she gets ready for work on day 167, with her new project being Pack #2426, a group of about 40 Zeroes in London. She runs her test as usual, setting up cameras and releasing a rabbit to lure out the Zeroes. The pack soon leave their hideout and into the street, where they begin chasing the rabbit. Jade spots their inability to capture it, indicating lack of coordinative skills, a common problem in Zeroes. During her observations, Jade slips and cuts her leg on a rock. With their enhanced smell, the pack quickly determines where she is, and she runs back to the camp. A Zero is able to grab her, but she knocks him back into the security perimeter. As the other Zeroes arrive, they are incinerated by flame throwers. Though she is safe, her observations are now ruined due to the premature death of the subjects.
The Giant Caterpillar.
Suddenly, a massive forty-foot long caterpillar digs its way under Jade's camp, having felt the chaos above. Their fight is brief, with the caterpillar getting the upper hand by lifting her up by its mandibles and dropping her into the windshield of a car. The creature is killed by gunshots from a team of survivors - Tate, Yen and Maskey - who have come into London by helicopter to salvage anything of value. Confirming that Jade is neither dead or a Zero, they decide to rescue her, but soon take notice of a tattoo on her wrist marked "NRC002". They recognise its meaning immediately - she is a survivor of the incident in New Raccoon City.
Inside of Brighton Freehold
Jade wakes up in the Brighton Freehold in a medical bay, having been treated by one of Umbrella's SurgeryBots. Tate comes in soon after, and shows her around the settlement. Much of it is a shantytown, with the Zeroes kept back by series of well-placed shipping containers. With the Zero population on the other side of the wall measuring anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand over the course of the year, the only means of transport is by helicopter, with Paris and Oslo being regular destinations for their trade in computer parts. Heading into a bar, Jade explains to Tate her research task, while Tate tells her about how he escaped the pandemic by being put on a refugee boat sailing from Glasgow to Fair Isle where he spent the next ten years. Their conversation is cut short when Yen reports that an Umbrella helicopter is on its way. When Jade realises they are working with Umbrella, Tate has to take a gun out to keep her confined to her seat. Umbrella has a bounty out for all New Raccoon survivors, with Jade their topmost target, and he intends to hand her over in exchange for settlement on the West Coast where Umbrella is in control.
Jade escaping Brighton Freehold
Soon, three Ospreys fly over the camp and deploy troops, led by the overweight Richard Baxter. When Jade is pointed out to him, he immediately shoots Tate dead and orders his troops to wipe out the other survivors. As the two factions enter a shoot-out, Jade tries to hide in the medical bay, soon followed by Baxter and a flame trooper. With the building set alight, she heads back out, seeing how the Brighton survivors small arms are unable to penetrate the soldiers' armour. With nowhere else to go, she climbs up onto the shipping containers, ready to throw herself into the mass of Zeroes. Baxter soon spots her and orders the troops to detain her. Though he is able to pause her suicide attempt by telling her her sister is alive and is looking for her, Jade rejects his surrender offer and jumps down to the mass of Zeroes.
Production[]
This episode was written by series showrunner, Andrew Dabb. It was based on an earlier draft, dubbed "One". "Welcome to New Raccoon City" was directed by Bronwen Hughes as part of Block 1, filmed simultaneously alongside Episode 2 in February and March 2021. It should be noted that despite the name, "Welcome to New Raccoon City" was not named after the 2021 film, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. At the time the episode's name was announced in August 2020, the film was going to be called Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Design[]
The Brighton Freehold set used in the middle and later portions of the episode was constructed at Cape Town Film Studios. It was 1:1 in size and included interior and exterior features.
Editing[]
Following completion of filming, Netflix considered excising the giant caterpillar from the episode, but this was ultimately kept.
Post-production[]
With the use of LIDAR and photogrammetry, a purely CG recreation of the Brighton Freehold set was created by the VFX team so it could be modified where needed. According to VFX lead Kevin Lingenfelser, this allowed the CG Zero models to interact with the ground realistically.[2]
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Ella Balinska as Jade Wesker
- Tamara Smart as Jade Wesker
- Siena Agudong as Billie Wesker
- Adeline Rudolph as Billie Wesker
- Paola Núñezas Evelyn Marcus
- Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker
Guest starring[]
Co-starring[]
- Anthony Oseyemi as "Roth"
- Mpho Osei Tutu as "Yen"
- Nicholas Pauling as "Tate"
- Richard Wright-Firth as "Maskey"
- Adrienne Pearce as "Mrs. Morgan"
- Michelle Allen as "Rhonda"
- Lauren Steyn as "Carol"
- Ashish Gangapersad as "Dave Isaacs"
- Evan Hengst as "Carl"
- Kayla Jordaan as "Kid"
- Bianca Mannie as "Spokeswoman"
- Suraya Rose Santos as "Spokesmodel"
- Gavin Werner as "Bob"
- Siobhan Hodgson as "Tanya"
Stunts[]
Stunt Zeros[]
Dancer Zeros[]
Uncredited[]
- Heinrich Du Preez (London Zero, USS trooper)[3]
- Nico R. (London Zero, USS trooper)[3]
- Yannick Brand (London Zero)[3]
- Nadine Theron (London Zero)[4]
- Ashley William Robinson (London Zero)[5]
- Caprice Masinga (London Zero)[5]
Dub actors[]
Below are the dub actors as published in this episode's credits; some dub studies reported their actors for just this episode, while others published the actors for several.
- Czech version (DW Argentura)
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- German dub (Eclair Studios)
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- Latin American Spanish dub (New Art Dub)
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- Spanish dub (Deluxe Spain)
- Laura Monedero Romo as Jade
- Iris Lago as Young Jade
- Elena Barra Villaronga as Young Billie
- Ricky Coello as Albert
- Marta Estrada as Evelyn
- Marta Colomer as Melinda
- French dub (Audi'Art Dub)
- Mélissa Berard as Young Jade
- Lila Lacombe as Young Billie
- Thierry Desroses as Albert
- Déborah Claude as Jade
- Mario Bastelica as Tate
- Danièle Douet as Carol
- Jean-Baptiste Marcenac as Dave
- Oscar Douieb as Simon
- Caroline Jacquin as Mrs. Morgan
- Joy Feldman as Tammy
- Hindi dub (Sound & Vision India)
- Hungarian dub (Mafilm Audio)
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- Indonesian dub (Kantana CS Pro Indonesia)
- Darmawan Susanto as "Roth"
- Muhammad Guritno as "Bob"
- Hermano Suryadi as "Albert Wesker"
- Eunike Lanti as "Jade Wesker"
- Agus Mahesa as "Yen"
- Nanang Kuswanto as "Simon"
- Agus Tunggono as "Baxter"
- Fransiska Kristiana as "Carol"
- Sri Hastuty as "Bea"
- Endy Fazila as "Dave"
- Mikael Teguh as "Carl"
- Vita Novita as "Mrs. Morgan"
- Jani Nur as "Rhonda"
- Italian dub (Nexus Tv)
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- Japanese dub (AC Create)
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- Polish dub (Iyuno-SDI Group Warsaw)
- Brazilian-Portuguese dub (Delart)
- Tamil dub (Sound & Vision India)
- Thai dub (Kantana Thailand)
- Turkish dub (Studio DSE-NP3)
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- Ukrainian dub (Tak Treba Production)
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Music[]
The episode features the use of several songs, including (arranged by chronological appearance):
| Artist | Song |
|---|---|
| Billie Eilish | Oxytocin |
| Ghost | Faith |
| Best Frenz | Ugly Ending |
| Two Feet | Devil |
| George William Cooke | Wikipedia:I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy Joy In My Heart |
Gallery[]
Further notes[]
- The "Joy Bear" was designed by OpalUnicorn.
Sources[]
- ↑ Instagram - "Spread Joy."
- ↑ @FUCHIPATAS (Aug 22, 2022). Cool #ResidentEvilNetflix BTS VFX piece showcasing the power of LIDAR & Photogrammetry to recreate the Brighton Freehold location at Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa. Allowing the CG Zeros to interact with the ground realistically. #ResidentEvil #VFX #REBHFun #REBH26th.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Instagram - "Resident Evil Season 1 Episode 1 on Netflix. Played as a Action Extra: Zero & Trooper.〰️♥️〰️♥️〰️#netflix #residentevil"
- ↑ Instagram - "Just a few of the CRAZY make up and Prosthetics looks we had for @residentevilnetflix. Great Work @creationfx.studio and Marika and team."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Instagram - "My first BIG stunt job!! Thanks to @momarais and @powell321 who made it possible! ❤️ You made me realise that I found a new passion! They’re basically my parents in stunts at this point. 😂 I was the most talented and stunning @ellabalinska stunt double. And omg, she treated me like her little sister. 😂❤️ I’ll be bombing y’all with content soon. 😂"
External links[]
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