After the Olympic-sized blasphemy against our Lord last week, it was a gift to see (finally) A Quiet Place: Day One throw respectful shoutouts to Him. How so? Well, here’s your spoiler alert.

1. When Samira and Eric descend into the waterlogged NYC tunnels to escape the alien infestation, they find themselves submerged into silence. A death-angel (what the lore calls the aliens, hearkening the angel of death from Exodus?) pursues them into the depths, struggles to swim, and then drowns — leaving Samira and Eric free to emerge and escape their near-death-experience. This pairs extremely well with Israel’s escape through the Red Sea: the Egyptian hordes pursue the Hebrews, and then drown en route, leaving Israel free to rise from “death” and slavery to Pharoah. Traditionally, this scene of Exodus is typology for Baptism: the unbaptized person descends into water, pursued by sin and Satan, and then ascends but leaves behind the former life of sin and Satanic enslavement. In Baptism, Christ’s waters and words drown our past and bring us to new life in Him.
2. And where do we see Samira and Eric emerge after their “baptism”? Is it a NYC landmark? Is it a commercialized product placement for McDonald’s or Starbucks? It is an Eastern Orthodox (or possibly Byzantine Catholic) Church, complete with iconostasis, candles, chandeliers, refugees, pews, and priest at the pulpit. The pair rises from the waters, narrowly escapes death by fallen angel (from space) and drowning, and enters the Church.
3. During their stay at the Church, they find safety and hope. At no time is there any sign of danger while the Church is featured: no despairing people crying out and alluring the death-angels, no accidental commotion, nothing that we see elsewhere in the film’s settings. We even see Eric rising to another level of self sacrifice for Samira, which I’ll let you discover yourself.
4. [BONUS] Lastly, we see a powerful depiction of a father-daughter relationship that very often is not portrayed in Hollywood today. The remembered love of her dad calls Samira (who begins the story in despair and nihilism) to great courage, hope, sacrifice, and loyalty. When we see her memories of her time with Dad, drawn out by Eric’s company and questions, we see Samira grow and strengthen. All families must take note: build up that daddy-daughter time!