“Devil in a Garbage Bag” is episode four of season one of Powers.
At the end of the previous episode, “Mickey Rooney Cries No More”, Johnny Royalle had teleported into the Federal Powers Containment Facility to discover that ‘Big Bad’ Wolfe had got free of his restraints, and eaten all but one of the lobotomy team. It had been said before that Wolfe eats people; this does not seem to be a euphemism. He actually does eat people (although where does he put them? He’s apparently eaten six entire people in a short span of time) and the more people he eats, the stronger he gets. If Wolfe eats a Power, he gets really strong.
Wolfe begs Johnny to kill him – it seems that Wolfe doesn’t like what he’s become – but Johnny declines – again. Which means that Wolfe is now free in the facility. Walker and Pilgrim get called in by Captain Cross, but rather than getting some Powers to help, Triphammer says that they can contain Wolfe themselves, using his device – which he calls the Drainer, and is now no longer killing people – to stop Wolfe. Problem is, the Drainer isn’t portable, so it needs setting up in Wolfe’s cell whilst the guards force him back there. Which results in pairs of guards going around a dark place full of corridors that’s occupied by a monster. Very technohorror.
Johnny Royalle is planning to leave town, now that Wolfe’s free, because he blames himself. The lobotomies were scheduled so that Wolfe’s powers wouldn’t grow, making him heal faster. Unfortunately, between the lobotomies, Royalle was slipping into the facility to harvest Sway from Wolfe – Sway is made from Wolfe. He plans to take Calista with him – it seems she reminds him of his sister, who he was unable to save.
In the facility, Walker decides to take Sway himself. Which seems like a truly bad idea; he’s not got any powers any longer, and Doctor Death theorised that normals would be killed by the drug. Retro Girl is suffering a publicity backlash after she reacted badly at Johnny’s club.