DARK ANGEL
Episode Guide
Season One
“Dark Angel: The Complete First Season” has a couple of plot lines that make Max both the hunter and the hunted. Max is always on the lookout for her “siblings,” the other kids who escaped from Manticore, while Lydecker (John Savage), the head of the secret program is trying to find both them and Max to return them to government service. Meanwhile, Max’s days as a cat burglar are over when she tries to rob Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly), a rich kid who is the secret cyber-journalist known as “Eyes Only,” who enlists her into his idealistic crusade to clean up corruption in Seattle. Of course, the two are made for each other, but we have to wait for them to catch out to this rather obvious fact. What really makes “Dark Angel” work is the extent to which this futuristic dystopia has been worked out. This is not so much a series where the mythology emerges over time, as it is one where the premises are so strong that they sustain multiple episodes and provide compelling sub-text for the rest. Compare this to similar series that take a while to find themselves, and you can see why these solid premises allowed this one to be able to have so many solid episodes early on.
Creator James Cameron’s imprint is clearly on this production, but mention should be made of the show’s Vancouver crew, which obviously includes a lot of “X-Files” veterans. The production values on “Dark Angel” are pretty striking in creating the seedy world of post-pulse Seattle and its icon Space Needle where Max likes to go and contemplate existence. But the sense of style comes as much from the characters as the setting. Alba is truly stunning as Max, able to play hard, soft, or whatever the scene demands. Weatherly has one of the squarest jaws in television history, and Savage has fun milking everything out of the bad guy (he really does care for his children, but duty never gets in the way of such emotions). The supporting cast has some compelling texture types, from Normal (J.C. MacKenzie), the overbearing dispatcher at Jam Pony (“Bip! Bip! Bip!”), to urban philosopher Herbal Thought (Alimi Bllard), and everybody’s favorite, Original Cindy (Valerie Rae Miller), Max’s roommate and co-worker, who basically has the right attitude for every occasion.
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Season Two
Season 2 of the Fox sci-fi drama Dark Angel is alot different than the first. Without giving the season one finale away, our transgenic heroine Max (Jessica Alba) ends up back at Manticore, but doesn’t stay put for long. She escapes after taking the prison (that’s basically what it was) down and releases all of the imprisoned transgenics. About that, not all of the “gennies” are quite human. Max has a bit of cat DNA herself (the episodes where she goes into heat are hilarious), but she still has a human appearance. The older ones, not so much. See, they were given too much animal DNA in their genetic cocktails so they possess more freakish appearances.
Like Joshua (Kevin Durand), Max’s friend and adoptive brother. He was the first transgenic Manticore ever created and has a human body with a dog face. Still a sweetheart though. Anyway, all the gennies are freed and manage to escape into society. The “regular” folks freak out and new villian Ames White (Martin Cummins) is called upon by the government to cover up the Manticore crimes by exterminating them. Needless to say, Max is on the top of his list. She feels it’s her job to protect her transgenic siblings while laying low as best she can herself.
Her relationship with Logan (Michael Weatherly) becomes complicated too. While back at Manticore, the bad guys figured out Max was in cahoots with Eyes Only (they still don’t know he’s Logan) and infect her with a virus that will kill him on skin to skin contact. The two try their best to keep their romance going, but Logan’s new assistant Asha (Ashley Scott) tends to get in the way as well. Another new character is fellow X-5er Alec (Jensen Ackles). Max meets him back at Manticore and the two form a love/hate sibling-like relationship. Alec (as in smart aleck) is a nice guy overall, but always looking out for himself and constantly on the look out for some get rich scheme. Sweet, but not too smart since he manages to get himself in trouble alot.
Original Cindy (Valarie Rae Miller), Sketchy (Richard Gunn), and Normal (J. C. MacKenzie ) also return, but there’s no mention of Kendra (Jennifer Blanc) or Herbal Thought (Alimi Ballard). Where’d the hell they go? Beats me. Anyway, Joshua (who’s guaranteed to warm your heart) and Alec are welcome additions to the cast. While the second season does border on a gimmicky “transgenic of the week” feel, it also has a powerful message of “people fear and hate what they don’t understand” that’s relatable to everybody. Season 2 is also darker and more somber than the first. Not to say season 1 was always happy, but most of the episodes held on to some form of hope. The second season finale is awesome, although there are a couple of storylines that don’t get completely wrapped up. Enjoy!
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1. Season
Pilot 1.01
Regie: David Nutter
Drehbuch: James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee
In the year 2009, a group of genetically engineered children escape from a military installment in the Wyoming Mountains. Despite best efforts of COLONEL LYDECKER and his men, MAX and a few others make it past the perimeter guards and to freedom.
Ten years later, the U.S. finds itself mired in a depression brought about by The Pulse, an electromagnetic shockwave that wreaked havoc on the world economy by obliterating every computer system in operation. Max now works as a seemingly ordinary bike messenger in Seattle. Unbeknownst to her friends, however, Max has an extraordinary hobby: she’s a cat burglar who steals from Seattle’s richest citizens to finance her ongoing investigation into her past. Unfortunately, so far Private Investigator DAN VOGELSANG hasn’t been able to come up with anything useful that’ll bring Max closer to finding ZACK, JONDY or any of the other Chimera that escaped with her in ’09.
It is during a seemingly routine burglary in a posh high-rise that Max stumbles across LOGAN CALE, aka “EYES ONLY,” an underground cyberjournalist who is the only voice of truth left in the corrupt city of Seattle. Logan is using his fortified apartment to keep a source (LAUREN) and her daughter (SOPHY) out of harm’s way. Lauren is a former employee of evil entrepreneur EDGAR SONRISA, and she has testimony that can put Sonrisa away for life. Obviously, Sonrisa would like nothing more than to silence Eyes Only and kill Lauren.
Max bails on Logan’s apartment at the first opportunity, but Logan tracks her down; he needs to make sure that she doesn’t present a security risk to “Eyes Only.” Although Max has no intention of compromising Logan’s operation, she also has no interest in joining the “Eyes Only” crusade to save the world. Logan tries to change her mind by offering information – he knows about Manticore, the military base where she and the others like her were trained. He knows about the escape, about her genetic make-up. He can help her, but he needs her help first: she could be invaluable in keeping Lauren and Sophy safe until Lauren can testify against Sonrisa. But Max has no interest – she’s too busy looking out for herself to risk her neck for people she doesn’t even know.
Max goes about her business, trying to ignore her conscience… until matters hit too close to home to ignore anymore. Sonrisa’s men kidnap Sophy and shoot Logan, whose sacrifice allows Lauren to escape. To make matters worse, Sonrisa’s nefarious business dealings cost Max’s neighbor his life. After sneaking into Logan’s hospital room to make sure he’s okay, Max springs into action.
She infiltrates Sonrisa’s mansion during a party and convinces him that she can deliver Lauren to him. Instead, she turns the tables on Sonrisa and his thug BRUNO, who gun each other down. But the hard part is still to come. In order to rescue Sophy from Sonrisa’s remaining goons, she has to sneak past the goons as well as Lydecker’s men, who have gotten wind of her whereabouts by tapping Vogelsang’s phones. Outsmarting the gun-toting villains, Max pits Lydecker’s men against Sonrisa’s, sneaks Sophy out the front door and returns her safe and sound to Lauren.
A few months later, Logan has recovered sufficiently to return to his “Eyes Only” duties. He’s paralyzed from the waist down, but he’ll live. He thanks Max for her involvement in the Sonrisa case, and reiterates his desire that she join the “Eyes Only” team. Again, Max declines, and again Logan baits her with information – this time, on Zack, the one Manticore escapee Max is most curious about. Logan and Max make a tentative agreement. Quid pro quo. She’ll help him save the world if he’ll help her put together the puzzle of her past, one piece at a time…
Heat 1.02
Regie: Michael Katleman
Drehbuch: Patrick Harbinson
For the past few days Max has been suffering from a peculiar side effect of her hopped up DNA. Seems the scientists at Manticore added a dash of feline genetic material to her personal cocktail, and while it makes her musculature that much more efficient, it also puts her in heat two or three times a year. Max has been preoccupied the last 48 hours, desperately trying not to give in to her raging hormones.
Max takes care of some bad guys for Logan, in exchange for his promise to further develop the information he has on Zack. However, once that’s taken care of, she heads to Crash and takes home a young man named ERIC, with the intention of finally giving in to her baser impulses. Max is more than a little relieved when Eric passes out in a drunken stupor before anything can happen, thus saving her from herself.
The next day, Logan pages Max and gives her the information she’s been waiting for – he’s located HANNAH, the woman who picked Max up on the road the night she escaped from Manticore. Hannah lives just outside the city on Sedro Island. Logan warns Max that this could be a trap, and that Lydecker could be waiting for her, but she ignores him. If Hannah’s in trouble, then Max is the one who put her there, and it’s up to Max to get her back out.
Max is getting the bike ready for a road trip when Eric shows up unexpectedly. She’s all set to give him the brush off, when he tells her that his uncle is a big guy in the sector police. Since this trip to Hannah’s will involve passing through checkpoints, Max decides to take Eric along with her.
Unfortunately, at the checkpoint Eric confesses that his uncle is not nearly as important as he had implied (he’s a janitor), and Max has to crash her way through. She leaves the hapless Eric on the dock to watch her stuff while she swims to Sedro Island.
Max finds Hannah’s house, and Hannah welcomes her in. She calls work to tell them that she’ll be late, and she and Max talk briefly. Meanwhile, Logan pages Max and is surprised when Eric returns the call. Eric tells Logan that Max is on Sedro Island.
Max tells Hannah that she knows the phone call she made before was really to let Lydecker know that Max was there, and that he must be on his way. Hannah cries and asks for Max’s forgiveness. Lydecker had threatened to kill her if she didn’t cooperate. Max assures Hannah that he’ll kill her even though she did cooperate, which is why they have to get out of the house right away.
Max and Hannah run for their lives while Logan hacks into Lydecker’s radio transmissions. The island is now surrounded and crawling with soldiers.
Max and Hannah come to a dam. There seems to be no way across, except by bridge, but the soldiers are converging on it from both directions. Max and Hannah hide, sure that they will be spotted at any second. Suddenly, a call comes through the soldier’s radios that another team has already captured the prisoners. The soldiers on the bridge disperse. Max spots an old power cable. She grabs Hannah and they ride the cable across the dam to temporary safety.
Meanwhile, Lydecker is waiting for his prisoners to be delivered, but when his men arrive they tell him that someone’s been jamming their transmissions. We find that it was Logan, giving Lydecker’s men false information to steer them away from Max and Hannah. The women get to the shore and find a boat, but Max can’t get it started. All seems lost, until a speedboat coasts up to them, with Eric at the helm. The three take off, just seconds ahead of the bad guys.
Later, Eric says goodbye to Max (“We are two very different people”), and Max reluctantly says goodbye to Hannah. But before they part, Hannah gives Max some information about her birth mother…
Flushed 1.03
Regie: Terrence O'Hara
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
Max is having a particularly bad time with her seizures. Needing extra Tryptophan to calm them, and not having any money to pay her supplier, Max “borrows” the cash that Kendra had collected from the other squatters in the building to pay off Walter Eastep, the cop. Max steals a gangster’s ride and tries to sell it to replace the cash, but the fence can’t pay her till the next morning. Max leaves empty-handed.
When Max gets home, Kendra and Original Cindy are waiting for her. She’s been acting odd lately – sick, forgetful, short-tempered – so they searched her things and found the pills. Assuming that the Tryptophan is a drug of some kind, they’ve tossed them down the drain and now want Max to get some help. Max freaks. Goes to her regular supplier for more, but she’s out. Desperate, Max tries to steal more pills from the local hospital, but in her weakened condition she can’t fight off the security guards when they discover her riffling the pharmacy. Max is arrested.
Eastep arrives the next morning for his payoff, and when Kendra still doesn’t have the cash, he has everyone thrown out in the street. Meanwhile, Max is getting booked. She meets BREAK, a militant clothing storeowner. Break has been through the system before, and he takes pity on the sickly Max, whose seizures are getting worse without the Tryptophan.
Logan arrives at Jam Pony, looking for Max. Original Cindy gives him a piece of her mind, and accuses him of getting her girl hooked up on drugs. Logan figures out what’s happened, and tells Original Cindy that without the Tryptophan Max will die. Original Cindy is devastated that she’s unwittingly put her friend in mortal danger.
With Break’s help, Max attempts an escape, but she’s captured before she can get over the fence. The WARDEN arrives. Instructs the guards to bring her up to his house.
Logan’s contact on the police force, DETECTIVE MATT SUNG gets Logan some more Tryptophan, and “arrests” Original Cindy so she can get into the prison and bring it to Max. Once there, Original Cindy meets Break, who tells her that Max has been taken up to the Warden’s house. He uses his connections with a guard to get Original Cindy assigned to work detail at the house.
Meanwhile, Vogelsang gets a call from a friend of his at the prison, telling him that a girl with a barcode on her neck has been brought in. He tips off Lydecker, who promptly mobilizes the troops and heads out.
Max wakes up at the Warden’s house and meets MARIA, the maid. She’s sweet, very young, and seems happy that Max will be staying with them. Max, in her delirium, dreams that Maria is really LUCY, her former foster sister who was abused by their foster dad when Max was a child. Max still feels guilty that when she escaped the foster home she didn’t take Lucy with her. It’s clear that the Warden has been sexually abusing Maria, but Max is too weak to stop him. The Warden has plans for Max too, just as soon as she’s feeling a little better.
Original Cindy infiltrates the house, and Maria tells her where Max is being kept. Lydecker has arrived at the prison and is searching the population, but the Warden is smart enough to know he’ll be searching the house next. He goes to get Max to turn her over, but Original Cindy has given her the Tryptophan and Max now handily overpowers him. Original Cindy grabs hold of the Warden’s gun, and they force him to take them to his car. Max, not willing to make the same mistake she did when she was young, insists that they bring Maria with them. The Warden drives off the grounds while Original Cindy holds his own gun on him, and Max and Maria hide in the trunk.
The Warden pulls a fast one and knocks Original Cindy unconscious. He’s about to shoot Max and Maria through the trunk lid when Max bursts it open. Just then, a jeep full of prison guards arrives. Max takes them out and jumps behind the wheel of the Jeep. The Warden has trained his gun on Max, but she slams the Jeep into his car, which knocks into him and sends him off a ravine.
Lydecker attempts to retrieve Max’s prison records, but Logan has hacked into the system and deleted them. Logan also finds a home for Maria, and sends a personal “Eyes Only” video to Walter warning him to quit shaking down the squatters…
C.R.E.A.M. 1.04
Regie: Chris Long
Drehbuch: David Zabel
A young woman, ALINA, comes to “Eyes Only,” asking him to help her find her missing father, NATHAN HERRERO. Herrero was a journalist, and he made a lot of enemies in his day. Two years ago he “disappeared” – kidnapped from his home by persons unknown and has never been seen alive since. Alina wants “Eyes Only” to find out what happened to him.
Logan discusses taking the case with Max. It becomes clear that, back in the days of the free press, Herrero was something of a mentor to Logan. Max, who finds herself naturally empathizing with a girl who’s looking for her missing family, encourages him to help Alina. She also agrees to do the necessary legwork.
Max’s first assignment is to get Herrero’s police file from the municipal building. She tangles with a security guard, but eventually retrieves the file and escapes on her motorcycle.
Meanwhile, Sketchy has gotten himself into a jam. He’s been working as a mule for a local mob boss/casino owner named RAFE, delivering packages of money. One package has disappeared, and Sketchy’s on the hook for the missing $15G.
Logan checks out Herrero’s file and uncovers a lead – Herrero’s housekeeper, REBECCA, purchased an apartment soon after he was snatched. Logan suspects that she may have been paid off by someone, and sends Max to bug the place. However, when Max arrives at the apartment, she sees that Rebecca doesn’t live there alone – her “roommate” is the very-much-alive Nathan Herrero.
Logan contacts Herrero and they meet. Herrero tells Logan that he fell in love with Rebecca and was tired of fighting the losing battles, so he faked his own disappearance. Logan tries to convince him that the struggle needs him more than ever – Allan Lans, a major bad guy, is about to be elected police commissioner – but Herrero feels he never made a real difference in the world. Now, he just wants to enjoy what life he has left for him.
Logan tells Herrero about Alina, and how much she wants to see him. Herrero is surprised – he admits he wasn’t much of a father, but is willing to try to make it up to her. Logan is bitterly disappointed in his mentor, but Max sees things a little more clearly: Herrero is alive, and she’s happy to go give Alina the good news.
With business taken care of, Max and Original Cindy set about getting Sketchy’s money for him. They dress up, and head out for Rafe’s casino. Max calculates the speed of the wheel and the ball to win at roulette, but it’s at poker that she really excels – when she shuffles the deck she can see the corner of each card fall into place, and instantly etches them into her photographic memory. Max and Original Cindy win $15G, which they hand off to Sketchy in the alley. He promptly goes inside to pay off Rafe with his own cash.
That night, Herrero’s apartment blows up, and Logan and Max realize that they were played – Alina hired them to find her father so she could sell him out to Allan Lans, who then had him killed for real. Max goes looking for Alina and finds her making her escape by train with a suitcase full of money. Max confronts her. They struggle, and the suitcase breaks open, scattering money out an open train car door and into the wind.
At the same time, Logan receives a package. Inside is a tape from Herrero, made the day before. A thank you for helping to reunite him with his daughter, and some information he’d been developing that Allan Lans was responsible for the death of a Seattle District Attorney. Logan airs the tape as an “Eyes Only” streaming freedom video. Although it may not affect Lans’ election to police commissioner, he’s able to honor his mentor one last time…
411 on the DL 1.05
Regie: Joe Ann Fogle
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
While out riding her motorcycle one night, Max is pulled over by corrupt police officers who confiscate her bike on the bogus pretext of a broken taillight. When Max tries to get her Ninja out of impound, the cops demand three thousand dollars for it – well more than she can afford. Original Cindy suggests that she look in the newspaper for a new bike, but when Max looks in the classifieds, she is surprised to find her barcode number listed there alongside a time and place. Apparently, someone wants a secret meeting with Max.
Logan cautions Max: the meeting could be a trap. Lydecker knows Max’s barcode; he could be trying to draw her out. Max sees the logic of Logan’s argument, but counters with an equally plausible alternative. Zack also knows her barcode number – what if it’s him?
Max arrives at the location, but finds neither Lydecker nor Zack. It’s Vogelsang. He has information on the twelve Manticore escapees, but he wants fifteen thousand dollars for it. He doesn’t care how she gets the money, but he wants it ASAP. Vogelsang is offering a one-time-only opportunity; with or without the cash, he’s getting out of Seattle and as far away as possible from Lydecker.
Meanwhile, at Jam Pony, Normal fires Herbal Thought for smoking pot in the bathroom. The gang protests, but Herbal remains cool. As far as he’s concerned, it’s all part of the Most High’s plan. Normal wastes no time in hiring a replacement for Herbal, a young go-getter by the name of Sam, who is instantly shunned by the rest of the Jam Pony community.
In a desperate attempt to get Vogelsang’s money, Max visits Logan and finds him with his ex-wife, Valerie. Valerie is back in town to make amends with Logan, part of a twelve-step program she’s been working as part of her alcoholic recovery. Max has to cover her jealousy when she sees the rapport between the two. Logan refuses to give Max the money she needs, thinking she’s being played by Vogelsang and insisting that she’s heading down a dangerous path.
Running out of time, Max comes up with a solution that will not only net her the cash she needs, it will also get her back her motorcycle. She breaks into the police impound yard, cracks the safe, steals a large sum of money and recovers her bike. She’s ready to meet with Vogelsang. Unbeknownst to Max and Vogelsang, however, Lydecker has learned of their impending meeting. The bug he planted on Vogelsang a few weeks ago has finally paid off. When Max and Vogelsgang meet, he’ll be there.
In the meantime, Jam Pony has become a madhouse. In protest of Herbal’s termination, the messengers have staged a work slow-down. The only one who’s trying to do his best is Sam, who’s still getting the cold shoulder from the Jam Pony gang. Normal sends him out on a run with Max, and Sam tries to befriend Max over a cup of coffee. But Max is elusive. She’s waiting for Vogelsang to ring the payphone and tell her where to meet; she doesn’t listen to a word Sam says and bolts out of the coffee shop as soon as she receives word from Vogelsang.
With some time to kill, Max kicks back with her friends at The Wall. The comical sight of Sketchy’s uneven tan sparks something in Max’s mind – Logan’s ex, Valerie, had a tan line where a wedding band would normally be. Suspicious, Max follows Valerie and finds that she is indeed married to a young stud named Mitch.
Max then rides to meet Vogelsang, only to find a crime scene at Vogelsang’s rooming house. Someone put a bullet through Vogelsang’s head. The presence of Lydecker’s men gives Max a good idea who pulled the trigger.
Back at Logan’s, Max explains about Vogelsang and the information he took to his grave. Logan points her in the right direction – a tattoo parlor in Chinatown. As she’s walking out, Max stops. She has some bad news for Logan. It’s about Valerie…
Max pieces together a set of clues and hurries to a boarding house where she thinks another barcode kid is lodging. She finds Zack, a.k.a. Sam. It seems that big brother had been keeping his eye on Max and took the Jam Pony job to have a closer look at her life. Max and Zack flee as Lydecker’s men bear down on the boarding house. Afterwards, they have a moment to catch up.
As it turns out, Zack is not the loving brother Max expected. He’s still in full Manticore mode. Ever the soldier, it was Zack that killed Vogelsang to keep the information about the twelve a secret… a secret he refuses to tell even Max. “The less we know about each other, the better,” he says. As her commanding officer, Zack orders Max to leave Seattle; her position has been compromised. Max refuses – she’s not a soldier, and he’s not her C.O. Disappointed, Zack leaves… he can’t be responsible for her if she won’t follow the rules.
Meanwhile, Logan gives Valerie an envelope full of money. That’s what she came for, isn’t it? Valerie feigns ignorance, but Logan says he understands; it’s a tough world out there since The Pulse. Valerie takes the money and leaves Logan’s life for good.
After a small gathering to celebrate Herbal’s re-hiring at Jam Pony, Max stops by Logan’s and they share their recent disappointments. Valerie and Zack both turned out to be different than they hoped. Max and Logan are left feeling very much alone… but at least they have each other.
Prodigy 1.06
Regie: David Jackson
Drehbuch: Charles H. Eglee & René Echevarria, Patrick Harbinson (Teleplay)
Kendra has a new gig. She’s translating Japanese into English for Dr. Yukio Tanaka, a geneticist who is in Seattle to host a genetics conference at the Steinlitz Hotel. When Max learns that Tanaka turned a sickly baby into a healthy child by re-sequencing his DNA, she wonders if he might be able to help her with her seizures. She asks Logan for phony press credentials so that she can attend the conference. Despite his misgivings about “Dr. Feelgood,” he acquiesces.
At the conference, Max introduces herself to Tanaka as Rachel Glasser, a reporter from BioTech Frontiers magazine. She impresses him with her knowledge of genetics before moving to Kendra and making sure her roommate doesn’t blow her cover.
Tanaka begins his presentation, telling the attendees about Jude, a crack baby whose DNA was manipulated using groundbreaking gene-sequencing techniques; not only did Tanaka save Jude from his flawed genes, he turned the boy into a young genius. As Max watches footage of Jude’s first years, she recalls her childhood training at Manticore. While she’s ruminating, a man takes the empty seat next to her in the crowded auditorium. Lydecker.
Luckily, Lydecker doesn’t recognize Max. As it turns out, he’s also here to learn about Tanaka’s work. Remembering Lydecker’s own lessons on the importance of knowing one’s enemy, Max tempers her revulsion and engages Lydecker in conversation as Rachel Glasser.
Suddenly, a commotion interrupts Tanaka’s presentation and armed gunmen storm the conference room. Their leader, Jon Darius, proclaims that they are members of the May 22nd Movement, an anti-technology terrorist faction that takes its inspiration from the Unabomber, the ultimate technophobe. They are here to rescue Jude from those who would exploit him. Before the terrorists can make a quiet escape with the boy, Lydecker pulls the fire alarm. Authorities respond instantly, forcing Darius to take the conference-goers hostage.
Darius contacts the police and demands safe passage for himself, his colleagues, and the boy. He announces that he will kill a hostage an hour until his demands are met. Logan and Bling arrive at the Steinlitz just in time to witness the killing of the first hostage, Dr. Tanaka, who is flung from the roof of the hotel.
When Logan learns that Max is one of the hostages, he volunteers to act as an intermediary. Logan knows Darius – he interviewed the terrorist a few years ago – and thinks he may be able to gain his trust. As a gesture of goodwill, Darius agrees to release the female hostages, but only if Logan will take their place. The terrorists usher Max, Kendra and the other women to the exits as Logan enters. But Max isn’t about to leave Logan and Jude in the hands of armed terrorists; hanging back, she takes out a terrorist and goes back to the auditorium.
Outside, the National Guard has taken control of the situation and is opting for aggressive measures. They land troops on the hotel roof and shoot terrorists at the entrances. Darius is furious; thinking he’s been tricked, he orders Logan tossed from the roof as well. Darius’ men throw Logan over the edge, but Max swoops in at the last possible moment, saving Logan from the same fate as Tanaka. The two smash through a hotel window and onto a bed, where they chastise each other for putting themselves in such danger. After an embarrassed silence, they agree to put the argument aside until later. Saving Jude and the others is the top priority.
Surprisingly, Max and Logan find an unexpected ally in Lydecker, who tries to save the day but is quickly overpowered by Darius’ men. Ironically, Max winds up saving her nemesis’ life. She takes out the remaining terrorists in the auditorium, then goes to find Jude, who has been whisked away by Darius. Max easily finds and knocks out Darius, then turns to the distraught Jude. Tanaka is the only family he has ever known: what will happen to him now? Max assures him that everything will be okay before taking him in her arms and to safety.
In the aftermath of the National Guard siege, Lydecker finds a group of soldiers mercilessly beating Darius. He reproaches them for violating Darius’ right to due process – do they want Darius showing up for trial bruised and beaten? Of course not, the soldiers mutter. Neither does Lydecker; so he takes a soldier’s pistol and shoots Darius dead. Problem solved.
That night, Max wonders if she did the right thing by saving Lydecker’s life. Logan commends Max. She made the right choice, at least morally speaking. Max agrees, but can’t help wonder what will happen the next time they cross paths.
Gold Comfort 1.07
Regie: Jefery Levy
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Two grocers discover a young woman frozen solid in their meat locker. Assuming her to be dead, they receive the shock of their lives when the young woman, Brin, awakens and flees. Brin, like Max, is one of the 12 Manticore escapees. She contacts Zack and tells him she needs his help. But when Zack arrives to rendezvous with Brin, men in black SUVs attack and grab Brin; Zack is helpless.
Meanwhile, a businessman by the unlikely name of Mr. Sivapathasundaram has shown an interest in purchasing Jam Pony. Normal, in an attempt to spruce up the place, designs official “Ride With Pride” jerkins for the gang and imposes an iron-fisted regime. Miserable at the thought of working for the new and improved Jam Pony, Original Cindy vows to take matters into her own hands.
When Max returns home after a day’s work, she finds a wounded Zack waiting for her, about to pass out. “Lydecker has Brin” is all he can say before losing consciousness. Zack wakes to find himself at Logan’s. He explains about Brin: she’d been acting erratically, she called him, but Lydecker’s men took her before he could get to her. Max tells her brother that they have to find her, but Zack insists that she’s gone; they should move on. Max refuses to follow Zack’s directive – she’ll try to save Brin with or without his help. The first step is to find Lydecker. With Logan’s help, they unearth Lydecker’s DOD records, which tell the tale of his shining career in the military… until his wife was murdered. Upon losing his wife, Lydecker descended into a life of alcohol, eventually pulling himself out of it and presumably heading up Manticore. Hoping that Lydecker’s still “in the program,” Max and Zack attend a local AA meeting, find Lydecker and kidnap him.
Meanwhile, the Jam Pony gang springs into action. Having neutralized Normal with laxatives, they take over the place and, as Sketchy leads Mr. Sivapathasundaram on a tour, fake a toxic chemical spill. Sketchy hurries Sivapathasundaram into the back room. They must escape this place, urges Sivapathasundaram. Sketchy directs him to the chained-up trap door that leads to the steam tunnels. That way lies salvation. They bust through the steam tunnels just as Normal arrives at Jam Pony looking for Sivapathasundaram. Original Cindy informs him that the prospective buyer flaked. It’s back to normal for Jam Pony.
Max and Zack interrogate Lydecker, but their nemesis insists he doesn’t have Brin. He informs them that a number of interested parties could’ve kidnapped Brin in order to sell her as a sophisticated weapons system. After all, her DNA is worth millions. With Logan’s help, Max and Zack discover that she has indeed been put on the market by Major Jake Sanders, a former colleague of Lydecker’s who has been using the nearby Fort Xavier to broker illegal arms deals. They resolve to spring their sister from captivity, but Lydecker insists on tagging along. He can get them in the front door. Max and Zack warily agree, but as soon as they are within the gates of Fort Xavier, Lydecker betrays them and puts them in lockup with Brin.
Max and Zack aren’t surprised by Lydecker’s betrayal, but they are taken aback by the condition in which they find Brin. She’s suffering from a form of progeria that is causing rapid aging and could cost Brin her life within forty-eight hours. Max and Zack spring into action, and sneak the ailing X5 out of the brig. Meanwhile, Lydecker and Sanders turn against each other, and their soldiers duke it out while the X5s barrel out the front gate in Lydecker’s Hummer.
But Brin’s condition is deteriorating; Lydecker contacts Max on the radio and convinces her that the only way to save Brin is to hand her over to him so that he can return her to Manticore. Brin pleads with Max… she doesn’t want to die. Max and Zack tearfully return Brin to Lydecker.
Blah Blah Woof Woof 1.08
Regie: Paul Shapiro
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Having recaptured Brin, Lydecker returns to Seattle to pick up where he left off. Instead of scouring the city for Max, however, he will make the city bring Max to him. He plasters wanted posters with Max’s likeness all over the city, offering a reward for $50,000 for the murderer of Dan Vogelsang.
Meanwhile, Dr. Carr informs Logan that he needs surgery to remove a bullet fragment that was left in his spine when he was shot a few months back. The bullet has shifted, and now poses a significant risk to Logan’s health. The operation is risky, but leaving the fragment where it is could be worse.
That evening, Logan comes home to find Zack waiting for him. He fills Logan in on the wanted posters that pepper the city. He’s convinced that Max’s only chance to avoid Lydecker is to leave Seattle with him immediately. Though uneasy with the idea of Max leaving, Logan knows Zack is right.
Zack and Logan bail Max out of a close call with some of Lydecker’s men, and Logan arranges for Max and Zack to leave the country and hole up in his family’s cabin. With Max in the dark about his upcoming medical procedure, Logan and Max share a tender kiss goodbye before he returns to the city.
That night, Max and Zack have a moment of quiet in which Max discovers that her big brother isn’t always the tough commander he makes himself out to be. As Max tries to sleep, however, she’s troubled by the nagging feeling that Logan needs her. When she calls Seattle, her fears are confirmed by Bling, who tells her that Logan is going under the knife. Max resolves to come back to Logan, but Zack chastises her – she’s risking her life going back to a city that has declared her a public enemy. The two come to blows over Max’s decision, and Zack has to wash his hands of her. If she’s going to put her life on the line for foolish sentimentality, she’ll do so without him.
Max returns to find a post-op Logan in dire straits. He’s in desperate need of a blood transfusion, but the Seattle blood banks are practically drained. Lucky for Logan, the X5 class was engineered to be universal donors. She gives Logan the blood he so badly needs, and the two of them share a vision of a beautiful ballroom… of Logan out of his chair… of dancing.
That’s when the authorities burst in and take Max into custody. Luckily for her, though, another suspect has stepped forward and confessed to the murder of Vogelsang. That suspect, much to Max’s surprise, is Zack. As much as he disagreed with his sister’s decision to return to Seattle, he couldn’t stand idly by and let her take the rap for a crime he committed. Max is set free, but Zack is taken back to Manticore. When the chopper carrying him crashes, however, Max is able to hold on to the hope that Zack escaped from his captors.
Out 1.09
Regie: Sarah Pia Anderson
Drehbuch: David Zabel
As Kendra helps Max to make a home-cooked meal for Logan, Logan appears and pulls Max away from the intimate domestic moment – he has important Eyes Only work for them to do. He suspects that a gangster by the name Gerhardt Bronck is stealing the city’s blood supply and selling it overseas. Although Max is upset about her ruined dinner, Logan convinces her of the importance of the mission. Max breaks into Bronck’s hangar, only to find it heavily guarded – despite Logan’s assertions to the contrary. Max has to tuck tail and run amidst a rain of gunfire.
Back at Logan’s, Max berates Logan for his constant single-mindedness. It’s like the only thing that matters in his life is Eyes Only. And if that’s the case, says Max, he can count her out. She’s done working for Eyes Only.
Undeterred, Logan continues to investigate Bronck’s dealings with the help of Detective Sung. But Bronck is one step ahead of Logan. The privileged information Sung has just acquired for Eyes Only was planted by the gangster; when Eyes Only goes public with Sung’s material, Bronck realizes that the detective is in league with Eyes Only, and determines to use the noble cop to bring down the cyber-crusader. When Sung gets together with Logan, Bronck’s thugs move in and abduct them both.
Meanwhile, Max goes on a delivery in a violent, gang-ridden area of town and sees Bronck’s men kidnapping young girls off the street. Wondering how this fits into Bronck’s plan, she calls Logan, only to learn from Bling that the man behind Eyes Only was kidnapped by Bronck and his men.
Demanding to know Eyes Only’s true identity, Bronck tortures Sung before Logan’s eyes. Unwilling to let the gangster kill his friend and informant, Logan reveals his secret to Bronck: he’s Eyes Only. Bronck doubts Logan’s veracity, but Logan’s insistence starts to change the gangster’s mind… until a mysterious caller claiming to be the real Eyes Only calls Bronck, demanding the release of his informants.
The mystery caller is none other than Max, posing as Eyes Only via a voice synthesizer. Bronck traces the call and orders his men to intercept the caller. However, Max has already anticipated his move and has diverted the signal to the other end of town, smack into the center of violent gang turf – where Bronck’s men and the gangbangers collide in a hail of bullets and violence. With Bronck’s goons out of the equation, Max must now figure out where Logan and Sung are being held before Bronck realizes he’s been had.
Listening to a tape of her conversation with Bronck, Max’s heightened hearing detects a foghorn in the background as well as the sound of planes flying overhead. She deduces that Logan and Sung must be near a particular airfield and springs into action. She rescues Logan and Sung, and intercepts Bronck as he tries to make his getaway on his private jet. She takes down Bronck and rescues the group of children he had stowed in the cargo hold. It turns out that Bronck wasn’t smuggling blood after all, but running an international prostitution ring, stealing children from the streets of Seattle and shipping them overseas to serve as sex slaves.
With the mission accomplished, Max and Logan mend fences. She was wrong to just walk out on Eyes Only, but he was wrong to put their lives on hold. After all, they live in a broken world, and the world will still be broken tomorrow.
Red 1.10
Regie: Michael Katleman
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee, Jose Molina & David Zabel (Teleplay)
Logan recruits Max to bodyguard an important witness in the upcoming trial of Mayor Leopold Steckler. Worried that witness protection won’t be able to keep this key player safe, Logan insists that Max bail him out of police custody and take him to a secure location. What Max and Logan don’t know until Max snatches the witness away from the cops is that the man they have to protect is none other than Bruno Anselmo, the man responsible for putting Logan in his wheelchair.
Max takes Bruno to Logan’s safehouse, disgusted at having to keep this lowlife safe, even if it is for a good cause. Bruno wastes no time in validating Max’s low opinion of him, summoning a couple of call girls to the safehouse while Max picks up a couple of pizzas for their dinner.
Max is forced to relocate Bruno to an out-of-the-way hotel, but Bruno again circumvents his bodyguard, giving Max the slip and sneaking off to a nearby biker bar. Max finds him about to pick a fight with a local. She quickly dispatches a handful of brawlers and hauls Bruno out of the bar… as a mysterious onlooker by the name of Johannessen watches them go… then picks up the phone and tells the person on the other line to gather the team.
Back at the hotel, Max chews Bruno out for risking his own life, then handcuffs him to the bed and allows him to make a phone call to his little girl, Anabelle. When Max steps out of the room to give Bruno some privacy, she witnesses three thugs arrive at the hotel and rough-up the concierge. Assuming they’re here for Bruno, Max drags the suddenly tender daddy off the phone and they speed off on her motorcycle just as the lethal trio burst into their empty room, weapons drawn.
The next morning, Max informs Logan about their encounter; Logan promises to look into it. Then Max and Bruno are off to the park for a quick rendezvous with Anabelle and her mother, Mary Jo. They have another run-in with a would-be assassin, and Max once again saves Bruno’s hide before escorting him to the courthouse.
In the meantime, Logan has contacted a paraplegic informant by the name of Sebastian, who uses the hotel’s security footage to determine that the trio of assailants are part of an elite South African group known as the Red Series. The Reds are fitted with a brain implant that renders them impervious to pain and makes them inhumanly strong. They would be the perfect soldiers, except that the chip in their brains causes them to burn out and die after only a few months. Sebastian and Logan realize that the Reds weren’t after Bruno – they were after Max. If they can get their hands on Manticore’s transgenic technology, they might be able to keep the implants from burning out. Logan races to the courthouse to warn Max of the impending threat.
At the courthouse, Bruno’s testimony is interrupted by a bomb threat. Max shuffles Bruno out of the courtroom, but he insists that they exit through the garage. Max follows her charge, only to find the Reds and Johannessen waiting for them in the basement. Bruno smiles, his betrayal of Max complete, then proceeds to collect a briefcase full of cash from Johannessen. Bruno bids a smarmy adieu to Max, then exits as the Reds move in on their quarry. Max faces off with the Reds and quickly realizes that this is a fight she might not win.
Logan sees Bruno exit the garage by himself and peels his car into the underground parking in search of Max. Logan screeches into the garage to find Max in dire straits, battered and bloody from her encounter with the South Africans. He pulls his gun and opens fire on the Reds, allowing Max enough time to jump into his car and escape. Logan burns rubber, leaving the Reds in his dust, foiled for the time being, but very much alive and ready to fight another day.
Art Attack 1.11
Regie: James Contner
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
Max agrees to attend a Cale family wedding as Logan’s date. Logan warns her that this probably won’t be a fun affair, but he is grateful that she’s willing to accompany him and keep him sane in the midst of his family’s insanity.
Meanwhile, a man by the name of Runyon contracts Jam Pony to deliver a package for him. He tries to drive home the importance of this delivery to Sketchy, but Sketchy nonetheless uses the packing tube to play-fence with Sky. Unbeknownst to the Jam Poniers, the contents of the tube get switched with those of another packing tube. When the delivery is made to Duvalier, an impatient art smuggler, he discovers that the contents are not the stolen Norman Rockwell painting he expected. He takes out his anger on Arnie Haas, Runyon’s partner, but Haas assures him that there must have been some slip up at Jam Pony. Looking to set things right, Duvalier’s men snatch Normal from Jam Pony and demand their painting.
Normal contacts Original Cindy and begs for help. Original Cindy determines that Duvalier’s painting was mistakenly delivered by Max to an architectural firm. She calls Max and tells her that Normal’s life depends on her retrieval of the Rockwell. Max slips out of the wedding – away from Logan’s abusive Uncle Jonas and his ex-fiancée Daphne – and breaks into the firm where she delivered the painting. She delivers the Rockwell to Duvalier, who pops open the tube and unrolls the painting… only to discover that it’s a forgery. Figuring that Runyon has double-crossed him, Duvalier flings Haas out a nearby window and demands that Max find Runyon and get him the right painting. Otherwise, he’ll throw Normal out another window.
Max finds Runyon and smacks the truth out of him: he sold the original painting to another buyer and tried to pull a fast one on Duvalier. Max and Original Cindy return to the wedding and explain the situation to Logan, who tracks down Runyon’s buyer. Max bolts off to a submarine yard to retrieve the Rockwell from a docked Korean submarine… leaving Original Cindy at the wedding to keep an eye on Logan and Daphne.
Max steals the painting from the submarine captain and manages to escape without wrinkling her fancy dress. She delivers the painting to Duvalier, drives Normal home, then returns to the wedding. Logan can’t believe that she would deliver a priceless work of art to a lowlife smuggler, and determines to get the Rockwell back from Duvalier. He sets up a sting at the airport – the authorities arrest Duvalier for the murder of Arnie Haas as Max casually strolls off with the painting; Logan has essentially managed to frame Duvalier for a murder he did commit and steal from him the painting that he stole.
Rising 1.12
Regie: Duane Clark
Drehbuch: Jose Molina & David Zabel, Moira Kirland Dekker & Doris Egan (Teleplay)
After the death of one of their members, the Red Series are more intent than ever on capturing Max and the transgenic technology in her DNA. Johannessen reminds them that the girl is their only salvation. He’s been working on tracking Max down via her broken pager, but it’s taken longer than expected. Soon, he promises, they will find her.
Blissfully unaware of the looming threat, Max arrives for work at Jam Pony to discover that Original Cindy has found another job. They share an emotional farewell and agree to meet at Crash for a celebration later that night. What Original Cindy doesn’t realize, however, is that the Reds have already paid a visit to her apartment and are trying to use her to get to Max.
Meanwhile, Logan begins to recover sensation in his legs and surmises that the blood transfusion he received from Max is the cause. In an attempt to speed along the healing, Max transfuses Logan again. The transfusion seems to have little effect, however, and Logan’s frustration at being confined to the chair is starting to show.
That night at Crash, the whole gang parties and celebrates Original Cindy’s new gig. The party ends abruptly for Max, however, when the Reds arrive at Crash, forcing her to flee. The Reds give Max a run for her money, their single-mindedness and resilience making them formidable opponents. She escapes two of the Reds and fights the remaining one to the death; as the defeated Red breathes his last, his final words are a plea to Max: “make us live.”
Max and Logan visit Sebastian, who explains that Johannessen has misled the Reds. He’s told them that Max’s DNA can save them from the implant in their brains, but in actuality the South Africans only want Max’s genes to create a new generation of Reds who are impervious to the effects of the chip. Max has no interest in being mommy to a breed of killing machines, so she and Logan set about determining how to defeat the Reds.
That’s when Original Cindy calls Max from her new job at Meridian Insurance. Max hears a frightened tone in Cindy’s voice and instantly determines that she’s in trouble – the Reds have kidnapped Original Cindy to get to her. Max sneaks out of Logan’s apartment and into Sebastian’s, stealing the brain implant they recovered from the fallen Red. Sebastian begs her not to use it, but she knows it’s the only way she can save Original Cindy and vanquish the Reds. She jams the implant into her neck and is seized by the tell-tale convulsions that indicate the implant’s attachment to her brain.
Max crashes into Meridian Insurance and takes on the Reds. The battle is long, violent and heated, but Max eventually prevails. Johannessen emerges from the shadows, standing over a weakened Max, wanting the implant in her head and callously commenting how little he cared about the Reds… at which point Red Five rises up and, with his last ounce of strength, slams an axe into Johannessen’s chest. The Red dies and Max collapses, the implant wreaking havoc on her system. Logan arrives at Meridian in the nick of time and, following Sebastian’s instructions, deactivates the implant and saves Max’s life.
Back at Logan’s, Max finally comes clean with Original Cindy about her past. Original Cindy is surprised by Max’s revelations, and the two have a tearful conversation which ends with the two friends closer together than ever before. Later, Logan has his own surprise for Max. As he rises out of his wheelchair, Max’s look of astonishment fills his eyes. Logan thanks Max for giving him back the life he lost when he was shot, and explains that there’s something he’s wanted to do ever since he met Max. As they ride off on her motorcycle – Logan driving and shifting gears with his newly functional legs – Max ruminates over the potential changes in their relationship.
The Kidz Are Aiight 1.13
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
Original Cindy’s encounter with the Reds gets her evicted from her apartment, so Max invites her to move into her crib. Meanwhile, thanks to Logan’s newly recovered mobility, Max and Logan’s relationship appears to be moving in a new direction. Despite both Max and Logan’s protestations, Bling and Original Cindy know that they could be heading towards the intimacy they’ve denied each other for the past several months.
In the midst of the idyllic romance between Max and Logan, however, lies intense pain… for Zack. He’s been at Manticore for months now, enduring Lydecker’s relentless torture. Eventually, Zack’s body succumbs to the torture and he dies. But his death is hardly permanent; it turns out that the doctor who had been administering the torturous treatments has had a change of heart and has helped Zack escape by faking his death. In his efforts to help Zack out of Manticore, however, the doctor is shot and killed. Having nowhere to turn, Zack puts in a desperate call to Max, interrupting a quiet moment between Max and Logan.
Max leaves Logan behind and comes to Zack’s rescue. He’s so damaged by the months at Manticore that he has trouble remembering anything… including Max’s identity. Max helps him remember the other X5s, prompting him to reveal details about Zane, Krit, Syl and Tinga. They soon realize, however, that Lydecker is listening to their conversation. The Manticore doctor was not helping Zack to escape, but setting him up, bugging him in hopes that he would reveal to another X5 the information he just spilled to Max; Manticore now knows everything they need to track down another handful of X5s.
Max and Zack race to Logan’s with the news, and Logan puts out an Eyes Only message to the imperiled X5s. Zane, Krit and Syl receive the message and go underground before Lydecker can get to them, but Tinga is not so lucky. Zack and Max rush to Portland to help their sister escape, and the three genetically engineered super-soldiers handily defeat Lydecker’s men.
Zack and Tinga hot-wire a car and burn rubber out of Portland, leaving Max to go back to Seattle and Logan. But when Max returns, she finds Logan strangely cold. Max is confused by Logan’s distance, not realizing that his legs have started giving out on him again.
Female Trouble 1.14
Regie: John Kretchmer
Drehbuch: Patrick Harbinson
Fearing that he’s losing his recently recovered mobility, Logan is keeping Max at arm’s length. In hopes of keeping his legs, he’s receiving mysterious treatments from a doctor by the name of Vertes, but doesn’t want Max to know about it. Curious as to what’s going on with the suddenly distant Logan, Max follows him to Vertes’ office and, after Logan leaves, demands to know the truth from the doctor, who refuses to talk to Max.
Suddenly, gunfire erupts from overhead. Apparently, someone wants Vertes dead. Max rescues the doctor and engages the would-be assassin. Although the shooter escapes, Max recognizes her as Jace, one of the X5s who stayed behind at Manticore during the ’09 escape. When Max asks why an X5 assassin would be gunning for her, Vertes feigns ignorance. But Max discovers the answer for herself, searching in her memory and remembering Vertes. She was a doctor at Manticore – in fact, she was one of the key architects of the transgenic program.
When Max breaks the news to Logan, he’s unfazed… and unapologetic for his secretiveness. He explains that his legs are starting to fail him, and that another transfusion from Max wouldn’t help. Only Vertes can get him back on his feet. He wants to walk again – needs to walk again – even if that means going behind Max’s back and seeking help from those who tortured Max in her youth. Upset at Logan’s duplicity, but realizing how important this is to him, Max takes Logan back to see Vertes.
When they get to Vertes’ office, she’s on her way out the door until Max stops her. Confronted with the truth, Vertes cops to her shameful past. Guilt-ridden by her participation in Manticore experiments, she left years ago and went into hiding. Recently, however, some of Vertes’ colleagues have mysteriously died; she knows she’s next. Max convinces Vertes that she’ll keep her safe. She’s not skipping town until she finishes treating Logan.
When Jace returns to kill Vertes, Max is ready. As they battle, Max tries to reason with Jace, but her sibling is too well conditioned and doesn’t let up. But just when it looks like the two X5s are at a stalemate, Jace collapses in pain. Vertes examines Jace and learns that she’s pregnant. Max and her sister have a tete-a-tete, but Jace isn’t buying what she considers to be Max’s propaganda. As far as Jace is concerned, Max is a traitor. Max finally manages to talk some sense into Jace; if she goes back to Manticore, she knows exactly what they’ll do to her baby. Jace and her baby both deserve to live free.
Meanwhile, Vertes secretly contacts Lydecker and offers him a deal. She will turn over Max and Jace if Lydecker will spare her life. Lydecker agrees and, with Vertes’ help, he re-acquires Jace. Of course, no sooner does Lydecker have Jace than he turns on Vertes and shoots her. But when Lydecker tries to use Jace to capture Max, the pregnant X5 turns right around and betrays Lydecker. Max and Jace speed off on Max’s motorcycle, Max blowing their nemesis a kiss goodbye as they go.
Logan is despondent at the loss of Vertes… indeed, to the point of contemplating suicide. He quickly realizes, however, that he has too much to live for to take his own life. He helps Jace find passage out of the country, leaving Max hopeful that Logan will recover from the blow to his psyche.
Haven 1.15
Regie: Michael Rhodes
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Max and Logan had planned a “country” get-away, leaving the city for fresh air, campfires, and s’mores. Logan has his job in mind, however, so he takes them to a small town, Camp Haven, where he can track down a possible informant. Camp Haven was a resort town before the pulse, but now it is a small, insular community very wary of outsiders. Nevertheless, Logan has rented a quaint house from the town doctor and her young nephew, Sage.
Max was not aware of Logan’s ulterior motives and blows up when she finds out. She makes him pursue his job on his own, while she relaxes. These leads into two separate storylines for awhile. Logan is trying to find a former Seattle police officer who may have been involved with, or know information about, the massacre of 18 unarmed civilian protesters shortly after the pulse. That police officer is now the sheriff of the town. When Logan meets him, he denies that he’s the person Logan is talking about.
Meanwhile, Max is trying to relax, but her seizures have suddenly picked up and are more severe than usual. She and Sage end up bonding during one of her attacks, and then later they hang out together. Sage is a little odd, and over the course of the episode, Max pieces together his history, which even he doesn’t know. Just after the pulse, some of the town jerks decided that the foreign family that lived in town must somehow be to blame for the pulse. These men attacked and beat the husband and wife and set fire to the house. Sage was the couple’s child, who was hiding in the closet. He was barely more than a toddler at the time, but he managed to get out of the burning house. The town doctor found him in the woods and took him in. The rest of the town believes the fire was accidental and the whole family was killed; only the doctor and the attackers know the truth (they deduced Sage’s identity).
The sheriff visits Logan at the rental house and reveals that he is in fact the police officer Logan is looking for. However, he denies that the people in question were massacred. He provides a lot more detail and color to the events that happened just after the pulse. Society was in shambles, and people were scared. First, they began attacking and killing people that were “different”, then they began looting in general. The police had the impossible job of trying to maintain order and protect people, despite being attacked themselves, and so sometimes they might have gone too far. Intellectually, I can imagine that anarchy must have developed after the pulse, but his description makes it much more real, especially since he includes small, anecdotal details on an individual level. He denies that the police committed a crime by killing the people. Logan is unmoved by all this and stands firm by the fact that when the people were killed, they were unarmed, and so the police massacred them. Logan wants to know who gave the order and who did the actual killing. The sheriff says he doesn’t know.
Max’s and Logan’s separate investigations occasionally cross, and the tension between them increases. Max is on edge because her seizures have been so bad and so frequent. Logan is on edge because he’s back in his wheelchair again. Everything that one of them says to the other, the other interprets as being some kind of insult.
Things come to a head when the murderers of Sage’s parents decide that Max and Logan know too much and come to confront Logan at the house. From previous encounters with them, Logan knows to arm himself with his pistol; good thing he has it, because Max’s seizures have incapacitated her. Sage looks after her. The men demand that Sage be turned over to them (we’re not sure what for), but Logan refuses. Coincidentally the sheriff arrives and asks the men to leave. They wrestle with the sheriff and shoot him. Then they leave, with the explicit intention of returning. (Frankly, I didn’t catch the reason why they were leaving, but it seemed stupid – why wait until someone notices the sheriff is missing?)
Just before the sheriff dies, he tells Logan he doesn’t know who ordered the civilians to be killed, but that they “all” did the shooting. This is a really unsatisfying ending to Logan’s quest, and it happens in just a few seconds. Logan knows the men will return, so he sets up so traps for them, a la MacGyver. Max is still out of commission, so it’s up to him to fend them off, with a little help from Sage.
The men return after dark (just what were they doing?). True to character, Logan warns them he will use force for defense, but then he wastes no time using it. He set up the sheriff’s abandoned SUV to explode (with a trail of gas, something a recent episode of Mythbusters showed wouldn’t actually work), and then uses his shotgun to good effect. However, there are several men, and they eventually get up to the house and begin breaking in.
During the fighting, Sage has flashbacks back to the original attack on his parents, which adds even more urgency to the scene and nearly incapacitates him. Logan finally manages to kill the last of the men, but not before he starts a fire in the house. Sage unfreezes and gets the fire extinguisher just in time.
Shorthies in Love 1.16
Regie: Paul Shapiro
Drehbuch: Adisa Iwa
Original Cindy’s ex-girlfriend, DIAMOND surprises her with a visit at Crash. Diamond was just paroled, and looked Cindy up because she missed her. Original Cindy feigns disinterest, but Diamond swears she’s turned over a new leaf. Original Cindy can’t hide that she still has feelings for Diamond.
Max is beeped and heads over to Logan’s. He needs her help in bringing down Pierpont Lemkin, the go-to guy in the Marbury Cartel. Word on the Informant Net is that Lemkin’s crew is behind the heist of nuclear warheads from March Air Force Base. Logan needs Max to break into Lemkin’s estate and crack the safe where discs containing incriminating information are kept. Logan has downloaded blueprints of Lemkin’s mansion, but it’s not an easy job because Lemkin is known to have a high-tech security system.
Max returns to her crib to find Diamond staying with them. Apparently, Original Cindy and Diamond are patching things up. Max agrees to let Diamond stay with.
The next day, Max, Original Cindy and Diamond are leaving a club when Max spots danger. Four guys come at them from an SUV – Max has no trouble taking them out, but she’s confused – these weren’t Lydecker’s men. She gives Logan one of their guns to find out who these guys are. Meanwhile, Diamond starts asking questions about Max’s transgenic abilities. And then. digging around the crib, Diamond uncovers the blueprints to Lemkin’s mansion with the safe circled. Diamond suddenly realizes that she and Max have something in common. They’re both thieves.
Max, worried about the men in the SUV, tells Original Cindy that Diamond needs to find somewhere else to stay. Original Cindy takes this personally, and says she’ll be going with Diamond. Logan later calls to reveal that the men in the SUV are bounty hunters from a group out of Tacoma known as THE NOMADS. He doesn’t know whom they’re working for, but these guys don’t come cheap. Logan wants Max to lay low. She agrees, but wants to finish the Lemkin job first.
That night, Max easily breaks through the security system at Lemkin’s. She’s in and out of the safe in no time with the discs and money in hand. She’s nearly out when Diamond appears. and trips the security system. Diamond absconds with Max’s bag and Max is hauled down to the police station for questioning. During this interrogation, the bounty hunters show up and take out Max with a tranquilizer dart.
Max comes to at SYNTHEDYNE, a high-tech medical facility. SIDNEY CROAL, the CEO of Synthedyne, demands to know where Diamond is. Max doesn’t know. Croal gives instructions for Max to be killed, but Max breaks free. Max heads to Jam Pony to find Original Cindy and Diamond. When she arrives, she learns that Original Cindy left with Diamond not too long ago. It turns out Diamond broke out of prison because she was terminally ill and wanted to spend her last days with Original Cindy.
Max heads over to Logan’s to see what’s he’s found out about Synthedyne. It turns out Diamond was incarcerated at the Synthedyne facility, a private company that has been using convicts as biotech guinea pigs. SEBASTIAN reports that on Diamond’s cell-block they were testing AN918… which means that very soon Diamond will be highly contagious and terminal.
Synthedyne’s people track Diamond to a Sector Checkpoint and apprehend her. Max arrives on the scene just in time to see Original Cindy and Diamond flown away in a helicopter.
Max heads to Synthedyne where she gains entry and is able to free Original Cindy before she’s infected with anything. But it’s too late for Diamond. Max tells her that the doctors at Synthedyne lied to her when they told her she was sick. She’s been injected with a biological agent that is killing her. Diamond has a last wish – and that’s to take Sydney Croal down with her. Max has no trouble helping her fulfill this wish with a deadly kiss. Finally, Diamond found a man worthy of her kiss.
Max and Original Cindy break free after a tearful goodbye. Later, Max visits Logan. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find Lemkin’s discs in Diamond’s stuff. Logan’s not done with Lemkin. but he’s got enough on Synthedyne’s nefarious activities to put them out of business forever.
Pollo Loco 1.17
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
Logan alerts Max to news of a body with a barcode found outside the city with its neck snapped. It could be an X5 killed on a mission, but when Logan pulls the picture of the barcode, Max recognizes the number. It’s Ben, one of the 12 who escaped with Max and the others.
While Max waits in the coroner’s office, childhood memories of Ben come flooding back. Ben held a firm belief that soldiers who fail are sent to the “bad place” where monsters known as “Nomlies” drank their blood.
In the meeting with DR. SHANKAR, Max learns that the body was found displayed on a rock outcropping with his teeth surgically removed. When Dr. Shankar opens the drawer, Max looks down at a young Asian man – not Ben. Heavy boots heard in the hallway put Max on guard. Seconds later, Lydecker and his men burst in and take possession of the body. Dr. Shankar looks around for Max, but she’s gone.
Max heads back to the crime scene where she finds a medallion of the Virgin Mary. Max knows Ben is somehow responsible for this killing. but why?
At an abandoned factory, Ben gives a medallion of the Madonna to another victim. He then releases this man and tracks him down in what turns into a bloody pursuit.
Logan calls Max with news of this latest killing, and others like it around the country. Each time Lydecker swooped in and shut down the investigation. Max reveals that Ben is responsible for the killings, insisting that she’ll handle it her way.
Max holds a vigil at the Lady of Sacred Heart Church where she finds an offering of human teeth on the altar. Her thoughts again FLASH BACK to Ben and his belief that the offering of teeth to the Virgin Mother made her heart stronger so she could fight off the Nomlies. Ben shows up and a chase between these two ensues. Max loses him.
Ben later returns to the church and abducts a young priest, FATHER DESTRY.
Instinctively, Max tracks Ben down to the Space Needle where she threatens to turn him over to Lydecker if the killing doesn’t stop. He reminds her of the time when they were kids and they killed the prisoner who had a heart-shaped tattoo with a knife thrust through it. Max accuses him of using his own barcode on his victims because he’s symbolically killing himself. Ben finally breaks down.
Lydecker takes a meeting with Eyes Only who urges him to bring the police in on the case. Lydecker, knowing Logan would never do anything to put Max at risk, calls his bluff. He warns Logan that Max isn’t the girl next door. She’s a genetically engineered killer and always will be.
Ben leads Max back to the abandoned factory and opens the door where he’s holding Father Destry. Catching Max off guard, he kicks her into the room and yanks Destry out. It’s time for another deadly game of cat and mouse. Max escapes, and heads into the woods, praying she’s not too late. She finds Ben standing over his prey. She kicks him off Father Destry. As the priest flees, brother and sister circle each other, preparing to do battle.
Dr. Shankar calls Logan – fingernail scrapings from the first body connect the murders to an abandoned factory outside of town. Lydecker and his men are on their way. Logan follows suit.
Max overpowers Ben by breaking his leg. She holds him as Lydecker’s men close in. Ben begs Max to kill him to keep him from going back to Manticore and being given to the Nomlies. Through tears, Max snaps her brother’s neck – finally the killing will stop. Lydecker’s men find Ben – but Max is nowhere to be found.
Later, Lydecker sends Logan a picture of the bloody aftermath of the kids killing the prisoner back at Manticore. Logan studies the picture, chilled by the grisly photo of the children killing this man. When Max arrives, he tosses it way. but his cool tone lets us know that Lydecker’s bloody picture produced its desired effect.
I and I A Camera 1.18
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: David Simkins
The gang gets their drink on at Crash where they meet SNUFFY WILLS, a close friend of Herbal’s who was just paroled from prison. As Max helps a smashed Sketchy out of the club, three thugs try to mug them. Max shifts her abilities into high gear, easily taking out the three punks. Unbeknownst to her, the STREET SWEEPER, a strange guy wearing an aviator hat equipped with a camera, snaps photos of her in action.
The next day, Max volunteers to deliver a package to gang territory where she reunites with the Street Sweeper. He starts to offer her an opportunity, but gunfire down the hallway cuts his explanation short. The Street Sweeper is gone.
Max gets word that Herbal’s friend, Snuffy Wills was murdered. Discussing it with Logan, he reports 6 more unsolved homicides of recent parolees. He’s been trying to hack into the corrections department to get a file of upcoming parolees, but keeps getting booted from their server. Max heads down to the federal building to get the list the old fashioned way.
Max has no trouble breaking into the Federal Building and taking the list, but getting out proves more difficult. A guard is onto her and Max is ready to pounce when she sees the Street Sweeper racing across the grounds at a stellar speed. The guards take off after him, but he leaps over a wall in a single ten-foot bound. Returning to her Ninja, she finds a photograph of herself diving through the air from the night before. Written on the back is the message, “You really do need to talk to me or bad things will happen.”
Back at Logan’s, he scans the files of upcoming parolees. Max can’t believe the hoverdrones didn’t get any footage on the 6 murdered parolees. If the sector cops are sitting on surveillance footage, maybe Logan’s Uncle Jonas can help. When Logan presents his rogue-police-death-squad theory, Uncle Jonas is skeptical. Logan reminds him that scandal can’t be good for business. Uncle Jonas agrees to check it out.
Max breaks into the Street Sweeper’s apartment and finds six photo clippings from the newspaper: Five murdered parolees, their names written under them, their faces magic-markered with a red “X,” including Snuffy Wills. The sixth one, Pedro Benedek, is unmarked. Max reacts – the whack job who’s been stalking her is behind the killings.
Max calls Logan with this news, asking for an address on Benedek. At Benedek’s, she finds the Street Sweeper. He denies killing anyone. Seconds later, a hoverdrone flies over and lasers a red grid on Benedek’s face. The Street Sweeper throws the man out of harm’s way as the drone opens fire.
Max and the Street Sweeper return to Logan’s with news of the killer hoverdrone equipped with twin 45 caliber automatics and silencers. The Street Sweeper suspected Benedek would be the next victim, and since his address was printed in the paper because he was a sex offender, he decided to warn him. The Street Sweeper finally reveals the source of his superhuman powers. Thanks to fate and the Department of Defense, he’s wearing an apparatus on his legs called an exoskeleton that picks up nerve impulses and relays them to the servo motors. The suit enhances strength, speed and the ability to jump.
Max returns with the Street Sweeper to develop the film of the killer hoverdrone. While they’re waiting the Street Sweeper shows Max a picture of his younger sister who was killed when he was thirteen. He admits that he’s always blamed himself for her murder, which is why he ran away at fifteen and devoted his life to helping others.
Jonas calls Logan and sets up a meeting for an hour. He’s got info on the killer drones, but he doesn’t want anyone to see them together. After Uncle Jonas hangs up, Gilbert Neal, Jonas’ longtime business partner, watches as a killer drone guns down Uncle Jonas.
When the photos of the killer drone don’t come out, the Street Sweeper and Max head down to where he’s seen the drones refuel. Max and the Street Sweeper break into the hoverdrone control room where they discover that Logan is the drone’s next target.
The hoverdrone has Logan in its sites when Max arrives. Pulling out all stops, Max battles this killer machine. It’s a brutal fight, but in the end the machine is no match for Max.
Later, Max and Logan discuss the death of his uncle. Uncle Jonas’ partners will get away unless Eyes Only exposes them. They both know this will mean the end of Logan’s money. but it’s a price he’s got to pay.
As Max helps the Street Sweeper get on a bus to see his mother for the first time in years, the Eyes Only hack appears on a nearby television.
Gilbert Neal arrives at Madame X’s office with a killer deal. He’s willing to sell her the face recognition hoverdrone technology at the bargain price of ten million dollars. She agrees, but as Neal exits her office, she snaps a photo of him. Could be she’s going to test her recent purchase on its creator.
Hit a Sista Back 1.19
Regie: James Whitmore, Jr.
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Max spots Tinga’s picture on a milk carton with the plea, “Have you seen my mommy?” Tinga, holding a small boy, is listed as Penny Smith, missing from Portland. From a payphone, Max dials the number on the carton and reaches Tinga’s husband, Charlie. She warns him to stop searching for his wife. Her real name is Tinga and she’s not missing. She’s in hiding from some very bad people. Her advice to Charlie – take his little boy and run.
Despite Max’s warning, Charlie walks Case to school as usual and drops him off. Case, who’s starting to exhibit accelerated learning abilities, is assigned to a special instructor to help cultivate his gifts – DONALD LYDECKER.
Max stops by Logan’s apartment to get an address on Charlie. Logan warns Max that Lydecker will be all over this. Max can’t be swayed. Tinga would help her family if the situation were turned around.
That night, Max keeps watch over Charlie and Case’s apartment from a distance. Suddenly, a black-clad figure takes Max by surprise. Max reacts, ready for a fight. Her attacker turns out to be Tinga.
In a basement utility room, Max fills Tinga in on the situation. Lydecker has men posted out front and possibly inside the building. It’s going to be tough to get Charlie and Case out and both know it’s a one shot deal. Tinga suggests waiting until the morning. Charlie walks Case to school every day.
Madame X pays Lydecker a visit, inquiring about recent developments in the search for X5-656 – Tinga. Lydecker confirms that he’s got men covering Charlie’s apartment 24/7, and he’s playing point with her child. Lydecker reveals that Case is showing signs of having inherited X5 abilities. This is a first, making Madame X even more eager to get Tinga and Case back at Manticore for further study.
In the morning, Tinga and Max watch as Charlie and Case arrive at the school. Lydecker’s men are posted there too. Max has to practically hold Tinga back when they see Charlie hand Case over to Lydecker. They’ll have to grab them later back at the apartment.
Meanwhile, Lydecker is alerted to a call that Charlie made to his sister in Phoenix. He told her he’s coming for a visit. His call can only mean one thing – Charlie’s been tipped off. Lydecker has to move in and move in fast.
Max and Tinga shift their plan to grab Case and Charlie into gear. but never expected Lydecker and his crew to crash the party. Much to their sadness, a brainwashed Brin heads up this charge. Using a smoke grenade to throw up a shield, Max and Tinga make it into Charlie’s apartment. But on their way out, they’re cornered by Lydecker’s people. Zack arrives on the scene and helps get them to safety. Max has a run-in with Brin, but in the end Brin lets her go. Max saved Brin’s life once. now they’re even.
Back at Logan’s apartment, Case develops a high fever and a barcode appears on his neck. Oddly, there are fourteen numbers compared to the normal Manticore dozen. It occurs to Logan that this could be a phone number – probably to Lydecker’s private office. Logan’s theory turns out to be right.
Using nanotechnology, bioengineered cells have been injected into Case. Lydecker has it within his power to kill the child within six hours. His deal – the child’s life in exchange for Tinga. This is no deal as far as Max is concerned, but Lydecker reminds her – this is not her call to make. Tinga can’t stand by and watch her baby die. She’ll return to Manticore if it means saving her son.
Madame X doesn’t understand Lydecker’s thinking. Why would he give up the boy? Lydecker warns her that if they don’t make a deal with these kids, they won’t get anything. Something in Tinga’s genetic makeup allows her to pass certain traits to her offspring. In the long run, Case won’t be that important to them.
Max, Zack, Charlie and Tinga show up to make the trade. After a tearful good-bye, Brin leads Tinga to a Hummer. Inside, Brin calls for back up. Suddenly, a sedan screeches onto the scene and grabs Case. The sedan speeds off, but Zack swoops in with a bad-ass machine gun and saves the child.
Lydecker later finds Brin’s Hummer crashed. the soldier in the backseat is dead and Tinga is gone. Lydecker is furious with Madame X for changing his plan – now they have nothing. at least that’s what Madame X wants him to believe.
Madame X later commends Brin for a job well done. Brin asks when Tinga will be moved back to Manticore. Madame X offers only a vague response, stressing that operational secrecy remains in effect.
Madame X later enters an abandoned silo. Inside, there’s a massive tank set up. Through the glass we see Tinga, immersed in a thick, clear liquid. A breathing tube is inserted in her mouth, and other tubes, dark in color, protrude from her body. It’s unclear what the hell is going on here, but it’s safe to say that whatever it is – it’s making Madame X one happy bitch.
Meow 1.20
Regie: D.J. Caruso
Drehbuch: David Zabel
Logan needs a microchip for the exoskeleton, but it’ll take at least 12 weeks if Sebastian orders it from his contact in Singapore. Unfortunately, Logan wants the exoskeleton up and walking around (with him) in time for his 1 year anniversary of meeting Max, which is two days away. Sebastian suggests that he ask Max to steal an identical microchip from a local nuclear plant. So what if the exoskeleton is a surprise? Logan doesn’t have to tell Max the truth about the microchip.
Logan takes this advice and makes up a story about why he needs the chip. Max agrees. Logan then reminds her of their anniversary and invites her to dinner. She could use a little celebrating – Tinga being returned to Manticore has done little for her mood. She just heard from Zack that Tinga wasn’t taken back to Manticore. He’s still trying to find out where they’re holding her.
Back at her crib, Max hears something outside her window. She looks down to see Lydecker’s guys speeding onto the scene. Dropping down to the alley, she takes them on in a stunning display of catlike prowess. Snagging a gun from one soldier, she orders him to take his clothes off and get onto a bed, which has magically appeared in the alley. The soldier nervously complies, and as Max starts to kiss him, he transforms into Logan. Max, back in her own bed, bolts upright. Oh, no – she’s in heat again. Max confides in Original Cindy about her condition, asking Cindy to punch her if she starts to venture toward her darker side.
Back at Manticore, Lydecker confronts Madame X about not notifying him of an Executive Committee meeting. Madame X didn’t include him because she was doing her best to keep the Committee from asking for a full procedural review on Lydecker for losing Tinga.
Instinct tells Lydecker there’s more to this than meets the eye. He queries Brin about what happened. Why did she try to capture Tinga’s little boy when he made a deal to secure Tinga in exchange for the child? Brin maintains that the scope of the mission was changed during the briefing. She assumed Lydecker was in the loop since it was Sandoval who gave the briefing.
Later, Lydecker takes a meeting with Zakes Kani, the South African behind the neural implant technology of the Reds. Kani makes an offer – he’ll bring in Max in exchange for genetic data. Kani reveals that Max has one of their implants in her head. Lydecker agrees to the exchange, but will only turn over data from early Manticore prototypes.
Max, still plagued by her fiery condition, heads out with Logan to get the microchip from the nuclear plant. She makes it into the plant and gets the chip, but getting out proves more difficult. Dodging bullets, she takes a dive into a cooling pool surrounding the reactor. At least that helps cool her down…
Lydecker, determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on, plants a bug inside Sandoval’s pen. He listens in as Sandoval and Madame X discuss his turning over classified info to the South Africans. Madame X insists that it’s time for them to “contain” Lydecker for the good of Manticore. She hands Sandoval an I.D. photograph of Lydecker for the killer drone – Sandoval knows what to do. So does Lydecker.
Just in time for the anniversary celebration, Logan gets the exoskeleton up and walking. Unfortunately, Max’s feline DNA has her too hot to handle the invitation, and she cancels. In an attempt to cool off, she speeds off on her bike. Lucky for her, she leaves Sector Five just as Zakes Kani runs a scan for her in that area. Unlucky for her, she runs into a guy she met a few days ago and without Original Cindy around to put the smack down, Max gives into her urge – and he gets real “lucky.”
Meanwhile, Sandoval notifies Madame X: He’s arranged the hoverdrone hit on Lydecker. When he’s done with this dirty-work, X wants him out at Kani’s tracking van. She’s anxious to bring Max in. As Madame X drives away from the silo, we see Zack watching her.
Lydecker meets with Sandoval and the killer hoverdrone flies in on cue, but instead of wasting Lydecker – it takes out Sandoval. Lydecker exchanged his I.D. picture with Sandoval’s.
Max confides in Original Cindy about her one-night-stand. Instead of offering a shoulder to cry on, Original Cindy tells Max it’s high-time she copped to being in love with Logan. Later, Max surprises Logan with a visit. and the truth about her estrus cycles. When she breaks down and tells him about her “fling
...and Jesus Brought a Casserole 1.21
Regie: Joe Ann Fogle
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
The season finale picks up with Max clinging to the lifeless body of Tinga as Lydecker and his men move in, guns trained. Max takes a flying leap at Lydecker. Five soldiers fire their tasers, all striking Max midair. As she convulses, a Specials Ops Officer orders Lydecker and his men to vacate this secure area.
Madame X is alerted and demands that Max be taken into custody and that Colonel Lydecker be placed under arrest. Too late. Lydecker and two of his men are gone, along with Max.
In a briefing with Brin, Madame X blames Lydecker for Tinga’s death. Brin’s orders: Bring Lydecker in dead or alive and return Max to Manticore.
Back at Logan’s apartment, Zack nurses a wound to his leg while both men try to make sense of what happened. They agree on one thing – they need to rescue Max from Lydecker. Zack already called two other X5′s, Syl and Krit. They’re on their way.
Lydecker buys out all the rooms at a cheap hotel and chains Max to a bed. He calls Madame X, who makes it clear that he is out of options. They’re tracking Max via her implant and it’s only a matter of time. Lydecker returns to Max’s bedside and takes his first drink in years. Under the influence, he shares his Manticore vision with Max – the X5s were created to save lives. With Madame X at the helm, that dream is dead. He won’t let them take her back there – he puts a gun to her head, promising to be right behind her. Cuffed or not, Max kicks Lydecker away. He warns that soldiers are tracking them and pretty soon they’ll bust down the door, blow his head off and drag her back to Manticore for reprogramming. Max isn’t into waiting around to find out if he’s telling the truth. She and Lydecker make a run for it seconds before Brin’s convoy pulls up.
Zack and Logan meet Syl and Krit at a warehouse where they make plans. Logan gets word that a military convoy just swooped in on some motel in Sector 8. It’s time to move out. Just then, a Hummer bursts in. It’s Max. and Lydecker. With Lydecker’s help, Max explains that they’re going to take down Manticore. There are more than a few skeptics in the room, but Lydecker reminds them that he knows the facility and its defensive capabilities like the back of his hand. The mission: Destroy the DNA Lab – without the ability to develop new soldiers, Manticore will die.
At the same time, the tracking van gets a hit on Max. She’s close – so close that she knocks on the door and commandeers the vehicle.
Max then accompanies Lydecker to meet with a friend about gaining entry into Manticore. Outside a strip club, Lydecker knocks his old friend McGinnis out. With a spoon, he scoops something off him, and places it in a plastic baggy.
Lydecker, Logan and the X5s set up the tracking van outside Manticore. Logan loops fake footage into the surveillance system. He’ll be able to view the real feed, but the guards won’t see anything but the fake loop. As the X5s head out, Lydecker hands Zack the baggie – McGinnis’ eyeball is their ticket into the DNA lab.
Max and Zack arrive at the DNA lab. Working fast, they set the charges and get out. But Madame X is onto them when word comes down that McGinnis just entered the DNA Lab. Not so – he’s sitting right in front of her – sans one eyeball.
Playing catch-up, Madame X realizes that the DNA Lab is rigged with explosives and sends Brin to deactivate the charges before it’s too late. Max surprises Brin in the hallway and cuffs her to a bar. When Max and Zack are clear, Lydecker detonates. Decades of Manticore research goes up in flames.
Max and Zack head into the woods where they’re caught in a hail of gunfire. It’s a platoon of X7s. Max freezes when she’s confronted by a younger version of herself. Without thinking twice, Young Max fires at Max point blank. Max blurs sideways and the two “‘sisters” battle. Max overpowers the younger version of herself and with Zack, races back to the tracking van where Krit and Syl are waiting – they did it! They took down Manticore!
The group celebrates at Crash. Max and Logan don’t stay too long though. Back at Logan’s, they make love for the first time. But the candlelight is quickly blown out of this romantic scene when Logan takes his hand off Max only to see that it’s covered in blood. Wait – this isn’t really happening.
Back at the command vehicle, Logan knows something is wrong. With the aid of the exoskeleton, he races to her and cradles her in his arms as she dies. Lydecker orders Logan back to the truck. Max is gone. Logan won’t leave. He wants to take her into Manticore. No deal. Lydecker knocks him out and carries him back to the truck.
Moments later, a Manticore trauma unit rushes Max inside with no pulse. They jolt her limp body with a surge of electricity. Nothing. Another jolt. Nothing. Max is gone.
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2. Season
DesignateThis 2.01
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Eyes Only streams its news about Manticore and its genetically building perfect soldiers. Eyes broadcasts that some of the soldiers are loose on the streets. As Logan longs for the dead Max, the very-much alive Max is really being put through boot camp training at Manticore. Her X-5 designation is 452, but Max is only playing along as a willing soldier.
Madame X shows Max the now-test subject body of Zack. He shot himself so that his heart could be transplanted into the body of Max, saving her. Madame X tells Max that she destroys everyone that she loves, and that Eyes Only will be next – because she plans to kill him. Later that night, Max slowly chisels through her cell wall, desperate to break free and regain her identity.
With the help of the freedom group S1W, Logan scams his way into the Veterans Administration files to find out where the Manticore facility is. Although he watched her die, Logan can feel that Max is somehow still alive. After lights out, Max is visited by who she thinks is Ben. It isn’t really him, but another X-5 that resembles Ben. He is sent to impregnate Max, but she fends him off. She names him Alec. McGinnis contacts Lydecker and asks him to give up Eyes Only in return for his reinstatement.
Max manages to dig through her cell and she climbs into Manticore’s basement. There she befriends a transhuman named Joshua, who has traits of a dog and a human. There are others like him being kept secret in underground cells, all fathered by someone named “Sandman.” Joshua exhibits powers to rival Max, and he has sonic hearing. He shows her a window and she makes plans to escape. He too wants to be out in the real world. When Max returns to her cell, she is busted by Alec. But he doesn’t turn her in.
Lydecker meets with Logan, but it’s a setup for him to be captured by McGinnis. Lydecker lets Logan go, and demands from McGinnis to know what’s happening to his “kids.” McGinnis gives up that Madame X is trying to learn more about the X-5′s DNA. Then Lydecker kills him. Madame X is worried that the Committee will be pissed off if Eyes Only broadcasts Manticore’s location. She threatens to burn Manticore, with all of the X-series soldiers inside, unless Max helps her find Eyes Only. They get the information out of her. Alec and Joshua help Max escape, and she heads straight for Logan’s apartment to save him. He is overjoyed at the sight of her, and kisses her. Suddenly, he crumbles to the ground in pain. Alec is there, and informs them that he injected Max with a genetically targeted retrovirus that goes active with any intimate contact. She has infected Logan with one deadly kiss. But to get the cure, Max has to bring Logan to Manticore and turn herself in.
After kicking Alec’s butt, Max helps transmit Logan’s last streaming message. She returns to Manticore, finding it engulfed in flames. She manages to unlock the cell doors so that all the X-series and transhumans can escape. Max takes Madame X hostage for the antigen to save Logan. But when a guard shoots at Max, Madame X steps in the bullet’s path. She warns Max that she can never be rid of her virus. Before she dies, Madame X tells Max that she is the one they have been looking for. “Find Sandman,” X whispers with her last breath.
Logan heals miraculously after being given the antidote, but Max keeps her distance from him to not infect him again. Yet now there are more like her out in the world. She hopes they can keep a low profile like she has done.
Bag `Em 2.02
Regie: Vern Gillum
Drehbuch: Marjorie David
Original Cindy is woken by Max. She’s glad to find her friend alive, but figures out that Logan is really Eyes Only. Max asks Cindy to keep her mouth shut. Meanwhile, a group of X-series soldiers follow a signal above to regroup on a bridge and meet up with Manticore command. Agent White is waiting there, and his armed guards kill them.
A transhuman in military wear is pursued by X-7 clones through the woods near Manticore. The creature has the bar code on its neck, but it has a second eyelid and its skin retains water. It was probably a desert soldier created to shield against sand. The clones capture the creature and bring it to Agent White. The transhuman attacks White, but it is restrained. White orders the hunting down of all Manticore escapees. Alec, meanwhile, hides out in a motel and spots a group of X-series soldiers fleeing. He narrowly escapes the police and runs into the nearby woods, finding a trail of snack food bags that lead him to hiding X-6s and X-8s in a barn. There is a lone X-7 among them who stands silent. Alec explains to them that Manticore was not attacked, and that the signal they are following is bogus. Manticore really wants them dead. Not believing him, the X-series soldiers set off to the signal’s beckoning. The X-7 remains.
Max returns to Jam Pony, showing her heart transplant scar to Normal as proof of her “medical emergency” leave. Logan pages, informing her that the resistance group S1W is being framed for the fires at Manticore. Although Max doesn’t understand the group’s significance, Logan is upset and wants to protect the integrity of the S1W. Logan shows Max the Manticore signal beamed in the sky, and she explains its purpose, knowing she has to protect her siblings. When the X-6s and X-8 arrive at the bridge, Max rams her motorcycle into the guards to allow the X-series to escape. One gets clipped in the leg, so she picks him up and brings him back to the barn, where Alec is hiding. Max cauterizes the boy’s wound to save him. She then organizes the X-6 and X-8 group, assigning them all names. She orders one to fix an old truck in the barn. Later that night, the X-7 sends a telepathic transmission to his brothers, providing White with a photo and map to get to Max.
Agent White is given Madame X’s briefcase found in the fire. In it is a DNA work-up of Max. He orders his men to capture her. Lydecker arrives at the bridge, and breaks into White’s tent to steal back Max’s DNA chart. White finds the briefcase empty and Lydecker gone. Lydecker calls Logan to warn him that Max needs to get out of the woods near Manticore. Quickly.
Suddenly, armed guards and other X-7s ambush the barn with gas. Max realizes that the one X-7 in her care is a traitor. The X-6s and the X-8 escape in the old truck, but the guards capture Max and bring her back to White’s base camp. She meets the transhuman in the cage next to hers. White informs Max that she has no junk DNA, which means that all of her DNA is encoded for specific purposes. However, he does not know what those purposes are. He does intend to find out.
In the truck, the X-6s and X-8 resolve to go back and find Max. Alec secretly follows them to White’s base camp. They take down the guards one by one. Alec frees Max and the transhuman from their cages. She and Alec change the signal to warn the X-series to scatter, then destroy the transponder. As they are about to be attacked by White, the transhuman saves their lives and Max and Alec escape. White shoots the creature dead.
The next day, Logan gives Max fake IDs and passports for the X-series troop to cross the border to Canada. Max tells them to stay together because they are family. Before they leave, they all pay respect to their siblings who perished.
Proof of Purchase 2.03
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Tommy Thompson
Normal watches a blood-sport boxing match between defender “The Mangler” and “Monty Cora” (who is really Alec using an assumed name). Although he is a dwarf compared to the Mangler, Alec uses his supersonic speed to kick the reigning champ’s butt. After winning his prize money, Alec gets zapped with a stun gun by Agent White. He is knocked out. Logan, meanwhile, makes dinner for Max. She absentmindedly tastes the sauce he has made and puts her spoon back into the pot. She then realizes that doing so will afflict Logan if he gets her saliva’s DNA in him. Max becomes distraught over their current no-touching situation.
Lydecker phones Logan, saying that Max’s genetic DNA makeup has surprised even him. Lydecker gives him a lead on a Manticore lab tech named Engel who spliced Max’s DNA with the virus strain. Logan gives Engel half of $10,000 to kill the virus, and the guy gets to work hoping for the other half when complete. Meanwhile, Joshua comes upon a familiar house, but the current inhabitants are alarmed by his intrusion. They manage to get a photograph of him before he splits. At Crash, Max sees Joshua’s photo on the cover of the New World Weekly tabloid. She sets out to find him before the rest of the world does.
White finds Alec, saying that he’s been sent to wipe out all evidence that Manticore ever existed. To save his own life, Alec offers to help White locate all the transgenics let loose. White injects a microexplosive into Alec’s neck that will kill him in 24 hours if he doesn’t bring in three transgenics’ barcodes as proof. Alec shows up at Logan’s apartment, and he tags along with Max to find Joshua in the sewers of Terminal City. It turns out that a man named Sandeman lives in the house Joshua broke into. Max remembers that Joshua said his father was named “Sandman,” and that Madame X told her to find that same name. Max goes to Sandeman’s house, but the guy is clean. Alec, meanwhile, comes upon a black-furred, lion-like She-Beast transgenic in the sewers. He stabs the creature and skins off her barcode.
After finding in White’s tent an R.D.F. company ID card bearing Madame X’s photo, Lydecker goes to that now-defunct company’s former warehouse. He photographs the gruesome skeletal remains on the ground there, and recognizes a lion wall painting as the Manticore chimera logo. Lydecker sends his photographs to Professor Long, who determines that it eerily sounds like a Kiloma Indian fable about a woman forced to impregnation by white fur trappers in the 1800′s. Her first two babies were killed because they were stillborn and deformed. When the third baby was born, it was stolen, and the mother was murdered. The skeletons Lydecker found just might be the same people. Lydecker immediately drives to hand over the photographs to Long, but he is followed and driven off the bridge into the river. Lydecker’s body is not found.
On the street, Alec finds an X-6. He knocks the kid out, and slices off the barcode. When he comes up short with only two barcodes in his possession and two hours left, Alec asks White for more time. But White produces the still-alive body of the X-6, proving that Alec didn’t really kill him. White gives Alec another chance at finding a third transgenic.
When a sighting of Joshua blares over Logan’s police scanner, Max takes off to rescue her friend. Yet Joshua manages to escape her grasp. Logan figures out that Joshua had been looking up all the Sandemans in an out-of-date phone directory, and he sends Max to the remaining two addresses. Alec goes with her, and they find Joshua. Suddenly, Alec shoots Max with a stun gun, and Joshua lashes out at him. Alec manages to get Joshua down, but finds no barcode on his neck. “I was first – special,” Joshua tells him. Knowing he needs to produce a third barcode, Alec sets his sights on killing Max, but he can’t do it. Max takes Alec to Engel, who offers to remove the microexplosive for $10,000. Alec only has half the money, and Max offers the other half of her money that was to be used for curing her virus. Engel skips town, causing Max to vent her anger at Alec for ruining her last chance with Logan. Alec is truly sorry, but Max sends him away anyway.
Max takes Joshua to the last address on the Sandeman list. Although it is deserted, Joshua remembers the house, and Max recognizes a lion statue as being the chimera on the walking stick of a man who comforted her as a child at Manticore. Was it the creator? Joshua is convinced that, if they ever find him, his father will be the one to help cure her virus.
Radar Love 2.04
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Joshua wakes in Sandeman’s house. It is now his place. He traces a scent along the streets, ending up at Max’s door. Original Cindy is thrown off, but settles herself when Max introduces him as a friend. Meanwhile, in Chinatown, a grossly disfigured man in an overcoat and fedora moves through the street market. A young Chinese man stumbles. Blood trickles from his eyes and nose. Cyril Elroy approaches him to help, shouting to the assembled crowd for an ambulance. The Overcoat Man scurries from the commotion to hide in an alley and tape up his bleeding hand. There is a barcode on his neck.
At Logan’s apartment, he updates Max about the dead-end leads on Sandeman. Asha lets herself in and, without seeing Max, begins to recount her day and discuss Manticore. She calls the escapees “Max and her furry little friends.” Max shows herself, and Asha is embarrassed. Max takes off on her bike, fuming over Asha, when a car backs into her path and she goes flying over her handlebars. The driver bolts out the door and approaches her. It’s Rafer (last seen in “Meow”). As he begins to check underneath her clothes, Max flips him over to warn him about trying to cop a feel. He claims he is really a paramedic. Max arrives at work with what’s left of her bike and Normal gives her a hard time. Rafer shows up – in a paramedic uniform. She softens when he returns the pager she lost in the spill. He also brings her a bag lunch. Rafer apologizes for that night they spent together, and Max starts to rearrange her thinking about this guy. As she explains to Rafer the difficulties of her relationship with Logan, Logan is doing the same to Asha over lunch in his apartment. Both couples get increasingly close over conversation, and Rafer and Asha both sense the respective awkwardness.
Detective Matt Sung is examining the Manticore walking stick, when he sees a sketch of the Overcoat Man from an eyewitness’ account. The police are worried that the dead guy had been exposed to something from the Overcoat Man. At a rundown tenement in Chinatown, the Overcoat Man rents a room from Henry, a young boy. Nearby at the bus station, Original Cindy and Sketchy make deliveries when several Chinese people collapse with blood spilling from their noses and eyes. Cindy and Sketchy book out on their bikes.
Detective Sung tells Logan that the victims were all Chinese, and they had been subjected to an unknown pathogen. He thinks the carrier is one of the deformed Manticore escapees hiding out in Chinatown. Logan poses that theory to Max, but she shoots him down. Although she’s pissed at him, she agrees to help Asha, who’s been arrested for not having ID. Max breaks into the sector police interrogation room to save her. Arriving at Crash, Max encourages Asha to go in. She’s not sure how things are going to play out for her and Logan, so Max takes off. Yet while Logan waits at Crash, he meets Rafer and they talk about Max. When Rafer realizes that Logan is the one Max spoke longingly of, Rafer offers to split. But Logan is also unsure about his situation with Max, and he leaves the bar instead.
Henry climbs up the fire escape to spy on the Overcoat Man. His father calls for the police. When Henry begins to fall, the Overcoat Man saves him. Seeing the boy in the grips of the deformed creature, Detective Sung shoots the Overcoat Man dead. At the morgue, an autopsy reveals that his body did not contain the pathogen, which is genetically engineered. Max is upset when she sees the Overcoat Man’s barcode, and worries for Joshua. After examining the evidence, Logan surmises that someone is running some kind of field test and using the Chinese people as guinea pigs. Later, Logan meets Asha at Crash, while Max meets Rafer there as well. Although they don’t see each other at first, Max and Logan make eye contact and briefly feel jealous. They realize they’re both in the same boat and smile sadly, going back to their respective companion’s conversations.
Cyril, the Good Samaritan from Chinatown, is really the perpetrator of the evil pathogen targeted on the Chinese race. It was only a test for a real project, patronized by Agent White. White hands him an X-5 as a test subject so that Cyril can spread the disease to kill all the transgenics. Cyril lets the X-5 loose in Sector 4 and disperses the pathogen in the air, hoping to retrieve that X-5′s body later. Logan gives Detective Sung a lead on an address of someone who recently bought launchers for the pathogen, and they find Cyril’s workshop empty. Logan discovers that an X-5 is the target, and Max sets out to save him. She follows the kid off a building, and they fall into a holding pool. He struggles, but she shows him her barcode and motions him to stay underwater. With their time up, they come to the surface for air and see Cyril. He points his gun at her, but he is killed by Sung before he can shoot her.
Max brings the X-5 to Joshua’s place to hide out, and Logan tells her that he convinced Sung to give him all the evidence from Cyril’s workshop. He also says that nothing turned up on Sandeman’s cane. They apologize to each other for the night at Crash. At the same time, their beeper and cell phones ring. It is Asha for Logan, and Rafer for Max. They ignore the rings, but are unsure what to do next.
Boo 2.05
Regie: Les Landau
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker & Charles H. Eglee
Max enters Logan’s apartment to find him and Asha working on an investigation. He doesn’t need her help on this one, and Max is feeling a little replaced. She invites him to a Halloween party at Crash, but he thinks he’ll probably be busy with Asha all night. Max is bummed, but heads for work. Rafer is there, and he mentions that he’ll be at Crash for the party. Some little trick-or-treaters come knocking on Joshua’s door, and they scream when he opens it. He screams as well, but Max assures the kids that he is only wearing a costume. Joshua asks if he can go out because it’s Halloween and no one will notice him, but Max wants him to lay low.
Rafer shows up unexpectedly at Max’s pad while she’s in the bathtub. He asks to take a detour before the party – to his mom’s house. Serena, who has heard all about her son’s date, is a psychic, and she reads Max’s fortune. Serena sees in her crystal ball that Max’s name is only a number. She also predicts danger and death ahead of her. Suddenly, Max sees Joshua outside Serena’s window and she goes outside. Joshua has found Sally, a Manticore refugee, on the ground. Sally’s body lies face down, but his head is face up. He explains that he was built with no bones and only cartilage, so that he wouldn’t fracture on the battlefield. Max tries to wring him around, but Joshua twists Sally’s head and it snaps off. Sally’s head, however, is still talking, as his body runs off into the night. With starfish in his cocktail, Sally’s body parts are self-sustaining and regenerative. He explains that his body has a mind of its own. Rafer appears, and Max throws the head to Joshua. Sally wants to call other transgenics for help, and Rafer drives them in his ambulance to look for “some friends” on a “scavenger hunt.” They meet up with Dieter, a reptilian ‘nomile wearing a football helmet, and Katarina, a feline-enhanced prototype. Rafer thinks the strange characters are merely normal people wearing costumes. Sally gives up that he was supposed to meet a girl at Crash, so the gang heads there, thinking the body has already gone ahead. When they arrive, Max spies Logan and Asha making out in a booth across the bar. But it’s not really them – just two people who look similar. The couple does, however, point her to a back room where the headless body was seen. Sally’s body darts out the door, grabbing a high-powered rifle on its way out. Rafer and the transgenic crew pile into the ambulance to chase the body, which flees on a motorcycle. But Rafer’s wheels run out of gas, and the body gets away.
Sally fesses up that his body has a rifle because he’s on a mission for Manticore and Pierpont Lempkin. Max figures out that Lempkin must have been Logan’s button man for Manticore, and Sally is his hitman. Logan gets word that the target may either be one of a priest, a minister or a rabbi who are outspoken leaders in the community. Max gets Sally to admit that it is a Father McAllister, just as Rafer gets a good look at the decapitated head talking. Max coldcocks Rafer to keep him quiet, and she gathers up the mutant gang to search for McAllister at an award dinner run-through. They split up, and Max finds herself face-to-face with the barrel of the body’s rifle. It fires at her, but she fights the body off. Sally’s head distracts McAllister so that the body can shoot the priest. As it takes aim, Max comes after the body and kicks it in the crotch. The other transgenics take Father McAllister to safety, and Max makes up a story that it was all a Halloween prank. Suddenly, Logan and Asha arrive to take all the credit and ask the priest to marry them. Then Normal, Sketchy and Rafer burst in with a phalanx of riot police. They slap handcuffs on Joshua, Sally, Katrina and Dieter, and ask Max if she’s one of the “creatures” too. She sadly says that she is not one of them.
Max sits on the Space Needle, lamenting about only wanting a normal night out, when Original Cindy appears. They both have a quick flashback of Joshua asking to go out, Max telling him no, and O.C. pleading his case. O.C. tells her that the worst part of the horrible evening was that Max denied who she really is. Strangely, Max sees that she is naked atop the Space Needle. Something’s not right. She wakes up to find that the whole night was a dream, and she is still in her bathtub as she had been earlier in the day on Halloween. O.C. reminds her to get her costume ready for the party at Crash, but Max says that she isn’t going. Instead, she goes to Joshua’s to check up on him. He is laying low, like she told him, but Max offers to take him out for the night. On the street, they come across a headless body. Max winces, but realizes it’s just a harmless trick-or-treater. She takes Joshua’s hand and they head off. It’s a good night.
Two 2.06
Regie: Allan Kroeker
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Max breaks into an art museum to steal Sammy Sosa’s home run baseball, but Alec is right behind her, pulling the same job. After a quarrel, they fumble the ball and leave empty-handed. Max gets to a checkpoint, and the guard at the gate, Pearson, lets her through. Pearson’s attention is diverted by a figure digging in a trashcan. He approaches the unseen creature, and it growls back in warning. The creature attacks Pearson, and he screams in horror.
Max brings Joshua food. She wakes him, but he lunges at her. He shows her his wound from his “trying to steal food from a dog.” She warns him not to go outside, and she heads for work. Much to her chagrin, Alec shows up at Jam Pony, looking for work. Normal recognizes him as “Monty Cora” from the boxing fights, and sets Alec up with a job, a bike and a sector pass. Later that night at Crash, Alec pays Sketchy to make a delivery for him in Sector Four. Sketchy tells the torrid tale about Pearson getting jumped by a dog-faced mutant, and Max fears the worst. She goes to Joshua’s place, but he’s not there. Meanwhile, a young sector cop patrolling the streets is attacked. The creature who rips out the guy’s tongue looks exactly like Joshua.
The next morning, Logan tells Max about the cops being jumped by a half-man, half-animal. Max admits that she couldn’t find Joshua, and Logan starts to make a connection. In Sector Four, Sketchy tries to deliver Alec’s package and gets his butt kicked by Bird and Eddy, two steelheads who are into implants and biotech. When Sketchy returns to Jam Pony battered and bruised, Alec fesses up that he is dealing Androstamine, a synthetic hormone for bodybuilders. Sketchy says that the steelheads warned him not to sell on their turf.
Logan sneaks into the hospital and questions the ailing Pearson. The man picks out Joshua’s face and a barcode as the creature who attacked him. Still with no sign of Joshua, Max notices drops of blood on a manhole cover outside his house. She goes down into the sewer, and Logan calls her on a cell phone to tell her that Pearson ID’d Joshua. Max tells Logan that Joshua doesn’t have a barcode. She sees Joshua in the distance, but he growls at her. She realizes it’s not really him, when the real Joshua pops up behind her, yelling, “Run, Isaac! Run!” Suddenly the police appear, spraying bullets. They stun gun Joshua and take him away. Isaac escapes.
Alec confronts the steelheads that took his package, and beats them up. He and Logan then go into the underground tunnels to look for Isaac, where they see tongues hanging on a clothes wire. Isaac leaps out from the darkness and jumps on Logan. Alec manages to get the creature off, but Isaac crawls out a trapdoor, locking the two guys inside his lair. Max meanwhile, rescues Joshua from the jailhouse. He explains that Isaac is angry at the Manticore guards because when he was younger, they cut off his tongue. Now he lashes out at any kind of man in uniform. Max pledges to find Isaac at any cost, but Joshua blames her for releasing all of them from Manticore. Again she warns Joshua to stay put, but he knocks her down and rushes out to find his brother. When Max enters the tunnels looking for Joshua, Isaac attacks her. Joshua sees him about to kill Max. He stabs his own brother to save her.
Later at Crash, Logan gives Max money from Alec to cover the doctor. Maybe he’s not so bad after all. Alec makes a move on Lux, a girl with razor-wire hair and tiny diamonds embedded in the skin around her eyes. She tells him that she is friends with Bird and Eddy, the steelheads he jumped in Sector Four. She looks at Alec’s barcode and whispers in his ear, “We know what you are.” Alec is slightly alarmed as she walks away. In Joshua’s backyard, he puts together a make-shift monument at a grave for Isaac. Max comes to him, even though he tries to push her away. Joshua succumbs to the reality of what’s happened – he failed to save Isaac when Father told him to protect his brother. Max comforts Joshua as he mourns for Isaac.
Some Assembly Required 2.07
Regie: Nick Marck
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
British Eddy and his Steelhead gang ransack an electronics store as the clerk tries to close his shop. But among the three Steelheads is a fourth member. The next day, Logan shows Max the surveillance tape from the store. She sees that the fourth guy is her brother, Zack, who was presumed dead. The left side of Zack’s face has been replaced with a sheen of metal plating. His left eye is a black orb with a glowing red dot in the center. The last Max knew, Zack donated his heart so that she could live. Logan suspects that his missing organs were replaced with artificial ones. He makes the connection between Zack and the human organ peddling-Steelheads, but neither of them knows how to find this gang. Original Cindy and Sketchy point Max towards Alec, who knows where these Steelheads hang.
Alec takes Max to the marketplace where he first fought off Eddy and his crew. She convinces Alec to pretend he’s dealing steroids again to flesh the Steelheads out. Even though the gang warned him not to deal in their area, he obliges Max’s blackmail. Eddy gets wind of Alec’s Andie-peddling, and sends his crew out to reclaim their turf. Alec and Max fight off the Steelheads, but when Zack appears, he doesn’t recognize Max. She shows him her barcode and he has flashbacks of Manticore. Zack leaves safely with Max and gets examined by Dr. Carr. Zack’s organs were replaced with biosynthetic materials, and an exoskeleton was grafted onto his arm, but parts of his brain were replaced with a cybernetic implant that is rebuilding itself. Dr. Carr recommends that more memories might be triggered if Max took him to a place that they had been together. When Zack sees Logan, he has flashbacks of their argument (in “Cold Comfort”). Later, Max takes Zack to her crib and he has some more memories of Manticore. As he sleeps, Zack dreams of more Manticore flashbacks. He goes into Max’s room, crying. He remembers that he failed to save Brin, Tinga and Max, and he vows to never let Max down again. Bird and Tuck report to Eddy that they were defeated not only by Alec, but also by another female “Manticorian.” Eddy orders them to stake out Alec at Crash to find out where Max took his “soldier,” Zack.
The next morning, Zack wakes to find his face has regenerated skin where the metal was. His eye is also restored. Eddy had been filtering Zack’s blood to prevent the nanocytes from repairing his tissue. After one night off the blood machine, Zack’s face is almost back to normal. Now he wants to have a normal life to go with his face. Yet when he has a flashback of the Eyes Only banner, Zack becomes defensive to Logan and blames him for the botched Manticore assault. He apologizes to Max, and she tells him about all the other escapees. Zack sees more flashbacks, but they are of him and Max kissing. Later, they meet up with the gang at Crash. Alec intimates to Max that he thinks that Zack has a crush on her. She scoffs at the notion. When Max goes to the bar, the Steelheads kidnap her and take her to an abandoned funeral parlor. Yet the bumbling crew forgets to pick up Zack, who arrives to set her free. He leans in to kiss her, and Max shoves him back. Zack pledges his love, and then has flashbacks of Logan and Max together. He claims that Logan had actually betrayed them, and was the reason that Zack was turned into a machine. Zack runs off to get his revenge on Logan. Max warns Logan, who straps on his exoskeleton and barely escapes down the elevator. In the parking garage, Zack shoots at Logan, hitting a section of the exoskeleton and rendering it useless. Max roars in on her motorcycle, knocking the gun out of Zack’s hand. She and Zack fight, and he manages to get the rifle back. As he is about to shoot Logan, Max puts a live electrical wire into the puddle that Zack is standing in. He is electrocuted, and Logan is saved.
Dr. Carr reports that Zack will survive, but the shock overloaded the circuitry in his brain. He won’t remember anything that’s happened since it was turned on. There is still a chance that he may carry out his mission against Logan. Max makes the most difficult decision of her life, and lets Zack go. Logan arranges for a new identity and a rancher to take him in with a fake story about his past. Max only hopes that Zack will have the normal life he always wanted.
Gill Girl 2.08
Regie: Bryan Spicer
Drehbuch: Marjorie David
A fishing boat in the harbor pulls up what they think is a dead body. It is a girl, very much alive, breathing through gills on her chest. Agent White is alerted to the find.
Logan is saddled with his niece, Brittany, a precocious six-year old who won’t behave. Max reads the little girl a story about a mermaid. When Logan’s cousin comes for the girl, Brittany kisses Max and Logan goodbye. Logan suddenly becomes ill, and Max believes that he may have been infected with her own DNA from Brittany’s lips. She calls Asha, and they rush him to the hospital. As Dr. Carr tends to Logan, Max and Asha helplessly wait outside. Max is praying for his recovery in the hospital chapel when Asha informs her that Logan is merely suffering from chicken pox and will be fine. Max has a feeling that a miracle was somehow granted.
In order to avoid a last minute Jam Pony run, Alec invites Normal to join him and Sketchy to Mako’s Tavern, a strip club in Sector Nine. At Mako’s, the girl with the gills is swimming in a fish tank over the bar, and Alec notices the barcode on her neck. He takes Max to see her, but girls aren’t allowed in Mako’s unless they are working. She goes to the back entrance and, after pulling off her sweater to reveal a tank top, is invited in by the doorman to be a stripper. At the tank, Max hears the Gill Girl’s dolphin-like calls. Max responds with a series of Manticore hand signals: Hang on. We’re going to get you out. Be ready. To her relief, Gill Girl seems to understand. Max approaches Alec and he pulls her into his lap, pretending she’s one of the dancers for cover. He has spotted a suspicious guy making a move on the fish tank. Believing it to be one of White’s goons, Max jumps in his way, claiming he has crossed the line with her. Alec tosses him into the alley, ripping part of the guy’s clothes. Underneath, the guy is wearing a wet suit with tubes filled with water. The guy has gills, and can’t breathe without the water. Max realizes he isn’t aligned with White after all. Suddenly, gunshots emanate from Mako’s. Max runs inside amid the melee. The Gill Girl is gone from the tank.
White holds the Gill Girl in a dry crate at a power plant. She is barely alive. White’s lackey, Otto, suggests that the Girl was probably designed by Manticore for amphibious sabotage. Meanwhile, Max and Alec bring the Gill Guy to Logan’s and place him in a running shower. Max feels bad that she jammed up the Gill Guy’s escape mission, which put the Gill Girl into White’s hands. Through police scanners, Logan has tracked the van carrying the Gill Girl to Sector Twelve. He believes that White may have set up his operation there. After Asha mends his wet suit to help him breathe, the Gill Guy goes to leave. Max is convinced he knows where White is hiding the Gill Girl. Instead, the Gill Guy directs Max and Alec to a remote shoreline where he tends to some eggs in a tidal pool. Max realizes that those are the Gill Girl’s eggs, and she assures the Gill Guy that they will rescue his mate. Logan phones – he has found White’s place.
He sends Max, Alec and the Gill Guy to an old steam-generating plant where White has taken up shop. The Gill Guy swims into an underwater drainpipe while Max and Alec penetrate the building from its roof. They meet inside, and the Gill Guy returns his mate’s dolphin calls. From his command post, White sees on the security monitor that Max and Alec are inside. They, meanwhile, fend off the guards to get to Gill Girl’s crate. White’s men fire from a catwalk above the plant, and Alec is hit in the arm. He covers Max as she rams a forklift into a boiler. Steam is released upwards, forcing White’s men back. The Gill couple escapes into the water of a cooling pool, and Max and Alec burst out the side door.
Asha and Logan meet them at the shoreline. The Gill Girl and Guy tend to their babies and wave a nod of gratitude to Max. They swim off into the water, together.
Medium is the Message 2.09
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Agent White’s team finds a bald transgenic in Terminal City. White orders his henchman Otto to transport the creature to Forensics and to keep it alive. Otto reaches for the phone, and the Bald Transgenic’s hands slip out of their shackles. The creature attacks Otto, and White is forced to kill it. “Never turn your back on them,” White says calmly.
Max tries unsuccessfully to decipher a Manticore doctor’s scribblings about Logan’s virus. Logan, too, is on the hunt, and has resorted to calling Lydecker. He hopes to hook up with another former Manticore doctor for a cure. Logan finds out that Lydecker’s car crashed into the river, but that his body was never found. Logan shows Max some photos of an archeological dig that were found near Lydecker’s crash site, but she doesn’t recognize them.
Joshua stumbles upon his father’s art kit, and accidentally swirls some paint on a canvas. He enjoys painting and has found himself a new hobby. When Alec admires the gilded frame around Joshua’s finished piece, Joshua thinks Alec is admiring his work and he gives Alec the canvas. Alec takes it to the Iconographic Art Gallery to sell the frame. Rita, the gallery’s owner, is instead interested in the painting, and she gives Alec seven thousand dollars for it. When she inquires about meeting the artist, Alec tells her that Joshua is shy. Eager for more cash, Alec helps Joshua make more paintings. In the frenzy of the moment, Alec inadvertently grabs Max’s wrinkled virus papers, and Joshua adds them to his work of art. Alec sells Joshua’s second piece to Rita. When Max comes looking for her virus papers, Joshua realizes what happened. Without telling Max the truth, he warns Alec that they must find the documents. Alec tries to buy back Joshua’s second painting, but Rita won’t budge. She asks for two more original works to trade for the piece with the virus papers. Despite Alec’s pleading, Joshua’s not interested in painting any more.
Logan meets with Wendy Olsen, a woman whose son, Ray, has been mysteriously kidnapped. He agrees to take on her cause because she will make a sizable donation to the Eyes Only cause. Logan realizes from the boy’s birth certificate that Wendy’s husband is Agent Ames White. Later, Logan tells Max that he doesn’t think that Wendy knows what her husband actually does for a living. He pulls up the security camera footage from the White’s home, and there are two masked figures vertically leaping up to the roof of the house. With such capabilities, they assume these men are transgenics. Logan is convinced that they took the boy as retribution for White’s transgenic hunt. Believing Wendy and her son to be innocent of White’s treachery, Logan feels that he must warn her about becoming the next target. Max begrudgingly agrees to help Logan, but when they go to Wendy, she doesn’t believe the allegations they make against her husband. Suddenly, Agent White enters his living room and holds Max at gunpoint. As Wendy begins to doubt White, Max grabs his gun and holds him down. Yet Max eases up, and offers to help track down the boy.
Rita doesn’t like the two new Joshua paintings, and Joshua is desolate over failing to get Max’s papers. He decides to steal the painting, but Alec shoots that idea down. As Joshua tries to confess the truth to Max, she gets a call from Logan, who has traced the ID badge on one of the kidnappers to R.C.F. Environmental Clean-up and Disposal (the site where Lydecker made his find in “Proof of Purchase”). Max goes to the R.C.F. site, and comes face to face with the two kidnappers from the White surveillance footage. She identifies herself as a fellow Manticore escapee, but they attack her with superhuman strength. She realizes that they do not have barcodes and are not transgenics. She sees White’s son, Ray, being lead into a holding room. As Max escapes, she sees the bones from Lydecker’s photographs, and she recognizes the Manticore lion symbol painted on the warehouse wall. Later, Logan references the symbol to burial sites dating back thousands of years. They don’t understand the symbol’s connection to Manticore or to Lydecker.
White gets a phone call at home from the kidnappers, demanding that he bring money in exchange for his son. Max follows the Whites to an abandoned warehouse and waits outside. White admits to his wife that he set up the whole thing, and Ray was not really kidnapped. Wendy had been chosen as his breeding host, but White mistakenly fell in love with her and couldn’t get rid of her. When Wendy sought help in recovering Ray, White is forced to kill her. Wendy is stunned by this confession. Logan calls Max as she hides outside the warehouse, explaining that there is some kind of genetic reproduction that has been going on for generations. After the first two newborns are disposed of, the mother is killed. It turns out that the Whites had two miscarriages. As White is about to shoot his wife, Max crashes through the window and fights him. Agent White is resistant to any of her punches, and he mysteriously vanishes into thin air.
Max takes Wendy to hide out at Logan’s. Logan learns that Agent White is using an assumed name. He is part of a breeding program that has been around for centuries, yet Logan does not know what that has to do with Ray. Meanwhile, White says goodbye to his son, telling him, “It’s time for you to be with other people like us.” The boy was included in the pretend kidnapping plot.
Joshua breaks into the Iconographic Gallery to steal back his painting, and Rita catches him. He tries to hide his face, but Rita is open to his strange appearance. She believes his work reflects someone who is seeing the world for the first time but who also realizes that he can’t be part of this world. Rita kisses his cheek and gives him back his painting. Joshua returns home to find Max sleeping on his couch. He takes out a fresh canvas and begins to paint her portrait.
Brainac 2.10
Regie: Stephen Williams
Drehbuch: Chip Johannessen
A teenager named Brainiac watches nine television sets, seemingly waiting for Eyes Only to interrupt the broadcasts with news of the S1W. He heads to a video arcade where he masters a game that he’s never even played before. Brainiac seems to know before it happens that the S1W’s headquarters in the back room will be raided. The Brainiac even anticipates the S1W’s leader getting shot. Yet when the police corral Asha and her compatriots into a paddy wagon, Brainiac tries to get arrested along with them. The police don’t seem to notice him, and he is left behind.
At Jam Pony the next day, Normal hears a news report about the arrest. It turns out that an anonymous tip led the cops to the S1W’s headquarters. After Max sympathizes with the S1W’s plight, Normal starts to wonder if she’s at all connected to them. He asks Alec about it, but Alec is suspicious of Max for other reasons. Max goes to the video arcade and slips into the cordoned-off S1W office. She is surprised to find Alec there too. He is looking for Asha’s address book because he thinks that his number is in there. Max finds the Whitman poetry book, Leaves of Grass, with a poem on note paper inside. She assumes that is Asha’s. Alec prods Max about her motives to protect Asha and their connection to Logan. Although she claims it’s not about her own interest, Alec discovers that a high-scoring name on one of the video games is Max’s name with a heart. On top of the machine is an XXXL sweatshirt with candy wrappers inside the pocket. They question a kid at the arcade, who tells them that their suspect is a forgettable guy who seems to know things before they happen. This guy even knew to duck a bullet during the arrest. Alec and Max head toward the address written on the label inside the sweatshirt.
Brainiac prepares himself and an overnight bag for Max’s arrival, but he’s annoyed that she has brought along Alec. Max and Alec bring him to a secret location and tie him up, allowing them to confer with Logan about how to help free Asha when the police transfer the S1W prisoners. Logan stays with Brain, while Max and Alec go after Asha. As they leave, Brain cryptically warns Max to “break an egg.”
Max and Alec raid the police bus holding Asha and the other S1W prisoners. Unable to find the keys to release the gate, they are forced to drive the bus while chased by cop cars. Max suddenly remembers Brainiac’s prophecy about breaking an egg, and she plows the bus into a billboard with the slogan “Break an Egg.” The bus safely crosses the tracks of an oncoming train, which prevents the police cars from catching them. Max returns the S1W crew to Logan’s hideout, but she questions how Brain knew what would happen in her escape plot. He admits to being a transgenic X with a barcode. Although his obese exterior makes him physically not a combat soldier, Brainiac was designed to be a battle theorist, able to predict outcomes based on probability. This is how he can “see into the future.” When Alec chides him for turning in the S1W, Brain tells them that the leak actually came from inside the group itself.
Max takes Brainiac through the mug shots of all the S1Ws, but he is not sure who the informant is. He admits that he had a crush on Max when they were in Manticore. She doesn’t recognize him because he was designed to be forgettable. He only got involved with the S1W bust because he knew Max would be involved. Logan tries to allay the fears of Asha and the S1Ws about trusting Brainiac, but Brainiac proves himself by giving the group explicit instructions on how to escape the raid that is about to occur. Brainiac takes the fall by getting himself captured by the SWAT team.
Asha calls Logan to tell him that they have reached the pick up point that will take them over the border, but she is sad about leaving him. Max takes off when she locates Brainiac being held at the Twelfth Precinct. She pretends to be a guard to release him, but Brainiac’s ankle is bandaged and she must carry him out. They make it to an office, and hide from other officers. He tells her that he sees her in a sawmill rescuing the S1W from their traitor. Although he sees her ultimately getting shot, he doesn’t tell her what the final outcome is. On the police desk they are hiding under, Brainiac finds a Leaves of Grass book – the same one as found in Asha’s backpack. He tells Max that it’s an old CIA trick to pass coded messages in matching books. Max does not believe that Asha would be the turncoat because that would hurt Logan. Meanwhile, at the lumber mill, the S1W leader asks Asha for his Leaves of Grass book that she found in her backpack.
As they speed to the lumber mill on Max’s bike, the Brain figures out that the S1W’s leader is the traitor. At the mill, Max fights off the police, and the S1W group fleas for safety. The leader sends them into a trap, locking them inside a room. Max runs to save them, in the exact situations that Brain had predicted. Yet Brain follows her, hoping to change the ending. As she kicks in the door, the leader shoots at her, but at the last second, Brainiac pushes her out of the way and takes the bullet. As he lay dying on the ground, he directs Asha and the S1Ws to a clear passage. When the police run up, he pulls Max down into his cocoon of invisibility. The SWAT team doesn’t even see the pair, and runs off to find the S1Ws. When Max gets up, Brainiac is dead.
Later, Asha shows up at Logan’s apartment. All the police files from the arrest have vanished because one of Brain’s candy bars was shoved into the precinct system disk. She is safe to remain in Seattle. Asha invites Logan to celebrate with the group, but he doesn’t go. At Brainiac’s apartment, Max sadly stares at the many television screens. Alec shows up, saying that he wanted to check on how she is doing. Really, he is intending to sell off Brain’s TV sets. The television is interrupted by an Eyes Only hack. It shows Brainiac’s face, and tells of the passing of a “great and fearless warrior.”
The Berrisfort Agenda 2.11
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
While tagging along with Max on a delivery to Sector Ten, Alec has a flashback from a Manticore mission that involved the house they are at. When no one responds to the door of the mansion, he urges Max to drop the package and leave. A security camera watches them go.
Joshua arranges a dinner party for Max and the gang. When Max teases Alec, he gets upset – an emotion out of the ordinary for Alec. He wanders down in Joshua’s basement and begins to play the piano. He holds a locket on a necklace. Alec has another flashback from Manticore, where he has been trained to play piano for a mission. He takes over the identity of a music teacher for Rachel, the daughter of Robert Berrisford. Yet Alec fell in love with her. Suddenly, Joshua startles Alec, and Alec turns to hit him. Joshua calms Alec down and hands him the locket that fell on the floor. Alec leaves the dinner party. When he returns home, Alec’s cell phone rings. Although there is no one on the other line, a piano plays the song that Alec had once taught Rachel. He goes back to the mansion, watching the windows from the cover of some bushes. Alec has another flashback of he and Rachel sneaking away to share a kiss. It is his first kiss. Alec snaps back to reality when he sees a woman’s shadow walk by the window of the house. He is stunned, believing it to be Rachel. Alec goes back to his place and has another flashback. He had stolen computer files from Robert Berrisford’s computer. When Rachel interrupts Alec to tell him that she loves him, Alec is torn between his job and complicated feelings for her.
The next day, Normal yells at Max for not getting a signature on the delivery to the mansion at Sector Ten. She goes back to the house, and notices that the locket that Alec was holding is depicted on a portrait in the foyer. Max visits with Joshua, who is working on his latest painting. She warns Joshua not to let Alec take advantage of him. Joshua understands that Alec doesn’t even know himself. Joshua points to a dark section of his painting. He explains that it symbolizes Alec’s confusion over Manticore.
Max finds Alec drowning his sorrows at Crash. She is surprised when he opens up emotionally to reveal that things at Manticore got worse after she left. She offers to help him, but he tells her to stay out of his business. Alec is leaving Crash, when two men accost him. Max helps him fight them off. “Stay the hell away from me,” Alec says to her unappreciatively. He later gets another phone call with the piano music.
Max has Logan pull up information on the signature’s name from the mansion delivery. Manticore had once made an attempt on Robert Berrisford’s life because he was in the gene-splicing and stem cell research business. He lived. Logan believes that Berrisford is now seeking revenge on Alec, who Manticore sent to do the job. Yet Alec would probably complete his mission to kill Berrisford first. Max goes out to prevent Alec from doing so.
Alec goes back to the mansion, and has more flashbacks. Berrisford ended Alec’s teaching services because he sent Rachel away. Alec has another flashback of his Manticore orders, where he was told to eliminate both Berrisford and his daughter. Alec planted his bomb on Berrisford’s car, but had second thoughts. He tried to warn Rachel. He admitted that he was sent to kill them, and Rachel ran off crying. Alec saw the car blow up and feared the worst, before Manticore lackeys took him away. Snapping back to reality, Alec goes to the mansion. He breaks in and fends off the security guards there. He sees a dark-haired woman, but it is not Rachel. Berrisford has lured Alec back to the house to enact revenge. He reveals that his daughter saved his life by warning him about the bomb. Unfortunately, she was knocked unconscious by the explosion, but Rachel never woke from her coma. Berrisford holds Alec at gunpoint, and emotionally tortured, Alec asks Berrisford to kill him. Suddenly, Max enters the mansion and knocks out Berrisford. Alec cries over the coma-stricken Rachel. Max realizes that he truly loved this girl.
A few days later, Max visits Logan. She has been covering for Alec, who has called in sick to work. Logan shows her a news report of Rachel’s death, and tells Max to be there for Alec. Max knows that Alec wants to be left alone. At Rachel’s grave, Alec finds Berrisford. The man tells Alec never to return to the cemetery. He admits that, although he wanted to kill Alec, he couldn’t do so because it was not the right thing to do. Alec walks away, hoping if he just keeps moving, he can leave it all behind.
Max sees Alec at Jam Pony, and offers to be available for him to talk. Alec considers this, but declines. She asks if he is alright. “I’m always alright,” he says with a smile.
Borrowed Time 2.12
Regie: David Straiton
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
At Crash, Logan accepts Alec’s challenge to a game of pool, and ends up beating him. Max hands Logan a congratulatory beer, but forgets about the deadly virus. Logan appears to be fine, but Max is upset that this virus is still coming between them.
Meanwhile, Gossamer, a Manticore creature with a long tail, spews mucus on Gordie, the owner of a junkyard, and drags the man away. Gordie is still alive, but trapped in a thick webbing attached to a car in the junkyard. Nearby, the Green family prepares for dinner. Suddenly, something smashes their kitchen window, and mucus is sprayed on Irving, the father. Gossamer’s clawed and scaly hands reach in and yank Irving Green out the window.
The next day, Max tries in vain to figure out the equations on the virus papers that Joshua painted over. She thinks that a squiggle is really an approximation sign, which will provide a useful formula. Joshua shows her that the squiggle is only paint, but she believes that she may have still come up with the answer. She brings her findings to Delbert, a scientist who disproves her numbers. Yet Delbert has hopes that her theory may work. He asks for twenty grand to find a cure. In order to get the money, Max lures Alec to help her steal some film footage from “Star Wars Episode Seven.” Alec realizes that he was used to help Max get together with Logan.
Max pays Delbert his money and gets injected with an antibody. Yet Delbert isn’t fully successful. Although the virus is stopped for the time being, it will return in twelve hours. She rushes over to Logan’s place and explains the situation to him. He agrees that they not let this chance pass them by. They reluctantly embrace and Logan has no side effects. But Max doesn’t want to spoil their brief time with a “quickie.” They decide to have a romantic dinner first.
At Crash, Alec fills Asha in on the news that Max is cured of the virus. Asha is jealous of what she can’t have, and after getting drunk, admits her feelings about Logan to Alec. Alec makes fun of Max and Logan’s unrequited love, and Asha chides him for not being romantic. Alec explains that he merely goes after what he wants, and what he wants is Asha. He asks her to come home with him, and she agrees.
Joshua picks up a scent outside his house and follows it into the sewer. He recognizes Gossamer’s smell and is lead to the street. Hal, a guy on the sidewalk with a bakery box, sidetracks Joshua, but Gossamer appears and spits on Hal. Gossamer swats Joshua with its tail, and he falls. When Joshua gets up, both Hal and Gossamer are gone. Joshua goes to Logan’s apartment, interrupting just as Max and Logan are about to finally pledge their love to each other. Joshua pleads with Max to stop the creature. She agrees to help, but hopes to finish the job quickly in order to get back to Logan. Her time to get close to him is slowly ticking away.
Returning to Alec’s apartment, Asha drunkenly falls asleep and ruins Alec’s big night. He gently tucks her in on his couch. Max arrives and, surprised to find Asha there, gets Alec to help her with Gossamer. He explains that there is more than one Gossamer, and they were used by Manticore to track down things by scent. The Gossamer sprays goo from its mouth to disable its victims. Max gets a call from Logan, who has found out that Irving Green was grabbed in a manner that points to Gossamer. Both Green and Hal had both recently been to the same dentist. Logan and Max surmise that perhaps the Gossamer is hunting for something at the dentist’s office.
Logan leaves Joshua at his apartment with full use of his refrigerator. Logan then breaks into the dentist’s office and finds some dental records. He tries to call Alec’s cell, but gets voice mail instead. Suddenly, Logan is startled by a crashing window. Max and Alec, meanwhile, tread into the sewers and find traces of the goo. They climb up at the spot, finding themselves in the junkyard. They split up to look for Gossamer, and Alec gets sprayed with the mucus. Max, still holding Alec’s cell phone, sees that there’s a message, and she quickly dials Logan. She hears a ringing cell phone in the junkyard, and finds Logan trapped inside a junked car. He is wrapped in fibrous strands from Gossamer and he is passed out. Gossamer appears and sprays Max. She too gets trapped in the webbing inside the car with Logan and Alec. They hear Gordie and Hal call out from another car. They too are wrapped in Gossamer’s web. Logan explains that the dentist was using Kevelar, a material used in weapon casing and armor plating, for teeth fillings. Logan had touched some in the office. Max is hopeful that Joshua will come for them, but Logan reminds her that they told Joshua to stay put. Sitting in the car, helpless, Max complains that she couldn’t even have her one night with Logan.
Joshua notices that the gang is missing, and he follows Logan’s scent to the dentist’s office. Then he picks up Max and Alec’s scent to the sewer. He arrives at the junkyard and pulls out Max. As he works on Alec, Max tries to free Logan. She gets hold of the Kevelar bars he’s been holding. Suddenly, Gossamer appears and sprays Joshua to trap him in the car. Without time to free Logan, Max jumps out of the car to face off against Gossamer. She ducks most of his spray and fights him off. Then Max entices Gossamer with the Kevelar bars and traps him inside another car. Max lifts the car off the ground with a crane and leaves it dangling in the air. She frees all the men, depressed by how much time has passed. Alec shuffles everyone away to give her and Logan their time alone. Gordie figures out that Gossamer was drawn to the junkyard because of all the Kevelar used in old car parts. Alec lets him keep the creature, provided he keeps Gossamer locked up at night.
Max finds Logan sitting in an old Cadillac convertible in the junkyard. With only a few minutes left, he laments that they wasted a year dancing around their feelings. Her beeper goes off to remind her that their time is up. Logan leans over and kisses her anyway. He gets out of the car, and it seems like a goodbye when he tells her that he loves her. Logan walks away without hearing Max whisper that she loves him too. Max cries alone in the car.
Harbor Light 2.13
Regie: Kenneth Biller
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
Max leaves Logan a voice message, and Original Cindy consoles her about still not being able to touch him. The virus has returned full blast. Max plans on going for a ride, but first she needs to score some gas. While waiting on line at a gas tank truck, an angry biker pulls out his gun when the gas runs out. Max is accidentally shot in the ruckus.
Max is rushed to the Harbor Lights Medical Hospital. Yet in the emergency room, her pager goes off without anyone noticing – it’s Logan, returning her call. As the doctors attempt to treat her, Max forcibly stops them, saying, “No tests!” She falls unconscious, and they perform surgery to remove the bullet. Logan receives a call from a nurse at Harbor Lights. Since he was the last call on the pager, the nurse asks him to identify the female victim. Logan says that the victim’s name is Linda Eastman, and he immediately calls his trusted Dr. Sam Carr to tell him about Max’s predicament. Dr. Carr promises Logan that he won’t let the hospital find out that Max has abnormal physiology. At Harbor Lights, Dr. Carr meets with Max’s attending physician and collects all the samples retrieved from tests. When Max wakes up, Logan arrives, posing as Linda Eastman’s husband. He assures her that Dr. Carr will protect her.
Meanwhile, a lab tech finds what looks like a virus strain in a blood sample for a L. Eastwood. Unfortunately, the tech mixed up the vials and what he is looking at is results for L. Eastman’s blood – which is really Max’s blood. Dr. Carr had been given the wrong samples. The lab tech notifies the CDC about the tainted blood. Ames White gets wind that a patient with a barcode tattoo was found to have an unidentified virus. Believing it to be Max, he assembles his crew into action.
A CDC Hazmat team under the lead of Dr. George comes in to examine Max and to quarantine her hospital room. She tries to fight them off, but she is still weak from her recent surgery. Max faints, and the doctors restrain her. Logan arrives at Harbor Lights in the midst of the CDC confusion, and he sees Agent White posing as an FBI agent to scope out the premises. White accosts Dr. George and demands that he take “Linda Eastman” as a prisoner. Dr. George insists on keeping the patient under quarantine, and threatens to warn the press that transporting her will expose the public to a health threat. White backs off, and Logan listens in as White warns his henchmen that they will have to kill Max before she spills the beans. Dr. George learns that the virus is not contagious, and he informs Max that he will not turn her over to the “FBI Agent” wanting to capture her. Dr. George intends to relocate her to CDC headquarters to find out why her DNA is so perfectly engineered.
Logan taps into White’s cell phone and hears him cryptically say, “From my Father before me. For my Sons.” Then White asks an unknown person if they have a “Familiar” at Harbor Lights. White then calls Nurse Betty at the hospital. Recognizing White as another “Familiar,” she too intones the chant, “From my Mother before me. For my Daughters.” White asks her to kill Max, and Nurse Betty agrees. Nurse Betty takes a syringe and goes to Max’s room. Logan, meanwhile, hacks into Harbor Lights’ computer system and picks up Max’s EKG monitor. He taps in a Morse code message through her EKG to warn Max that she is in danger. Max reads this on the monitor, and she breaks out of her restraints before Nurse Betty can inject her. Max fights the woman off, and the needle goes into Nurse Betty’s thigh. Nurse Betty feels no pain, and continues to battle Max. But Max flips her out the hospital window several floors up. Both Logan and White watch from the parking lot as Nurse Betty’s body hits the ground. She is somehow still alive.
Meanwhile, Dr. George asks Dr. Carr why he never noticed anything unusual with the blood work for his patient, “Linda Eastman.” Dr. George suspects that she is a mutant from Manticore, but Dr. Carr shrugs off his suggestion. Max sneaks out of her hospital room, still weakened with a bleeding wound on her side. She slips into the morgue and hides under a cart to avoid the sector police. She calls Logan on his cell phone, and he has her go up to the abandoned top floor of the hospital in order to make her way out onto the roof. Some sector cops on the top floor trap Max, but Agent White appears and kills them. White claims that he is on Max’s side because the police would have exposed her for what she is. While Max hides, White tells her that he wants to help her escape alive. White drops his gun to gain her trust, and Max drop kicks him. She runs to the roof as White follows. On the roof, Max knocks the gun out of his hand, but White manages to beat her up. As he retrieves his gun and is about to shoot her, a helicopter surprises him. Logan convinced a news chopper to fly him up there. As White turns to see the helicopter, Max kicks him, sending his gun goes across the roof. Logan grabs Max and pulls her into the chopper, as White shoots unsuccessfully at them. The helicopter flies away to safety.
At Max’s crib, Cindy tends to Max’s sprained ankle, two cracked ribs and gunshot wound. As things are still awkward between he and Max, Logan leaves. Max knows that the government now has her lab results and will someday want answers.
In Washington, DC, Dr. George hands off Max’s lab results to a Pin-Striped Man.
Love in Vein 2.14
Regie: David Grossman
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Max and Original Cindy wait on the long line outside the terminally upscale Vertical Club. Four members of a gang called The Bloods breeze past the line and cause mayhem inside the club, robbing and beating up the patrons. Lida, the blond member of the gang, urges one of her cohorts, Push, to chill out. With their stolen money, the gang leaves the bar, knocking down O.C. on the way out. They take off in their Tornado car, exclaiming, “To the marrow!” Cindy spots the barcodes on Lida and Push’s neck. She alerts Max.
The next day, a dazed and sickly Lida goes to a clinic and asks for help. Dr. Shankar notices Lida’s barcode and notifies Logan. He then calls Max at Jam Pony and tells her about the girl. Max doesn’t want to bother him with her Manticore problems, planning to deal with it herself. At the clinic, the three other Blood members swarm Lida. They kidnap her, telling her that Marrow is the only one who can help her. Max arrives and tries to stop the Bloods outside. Rain, the other chick from the gang, attempts to fight Max, but Max gets the best of her. The other Bloods take off in their Tornado, leaving Rain. Max realizes that the barcode on Rain’s neck is only a tattoo. She’s not a Manticore transgenic after all.
In an abandoned church, Marrow, a transgenic with piercing blue eyes and bulging veins, gets briefed by the Bloods about Max. He yells at Lida, who is suffering from withdrawal. He taunts her with a thin glass wand, and she begs to take a sip. Without giving her what she craves, Marrow has her thrown in a storage room. He then kills her.
Max shows Rain her own real barcode, but the only thing Rain will fess up is that Marrow will come for her. Rain, who also suffers from withdrawal, recites some kind of mantra. Max finds a church collection envelope full of cash in Rain’s jacket. She goes to the church name printed on the envelope and spies on Marrow giving a eulogy about Lida to the Bloods. He holds up the glass wand, saying that their choice is forever. None in their covenant could survive without it. He then jabs the wand into his arm to draw his own blood. Each of the Bloods sips from the wand like a straw. Suddenly, the hiding Max is found by one of the gang members.
Chained to a chair, Max questions Marrow. He explains that Manticore made his blood perfect. He got the kids hooked on his blood so that they would revere him, and someday they would be willing to fight for him when the world turns against transgenics. Marrow lets Max go so that she’ll return Rain to him. While Max gives the lowdown to Logan at the clinic, Dr. Shankar unsuccessfully tries to treat Rain. With no other hope in saving her, Logan offers to take Rain back to Marrow. On the way there, he explains to her what Manticore really did to Marrow and Max.
Alec lures Joshua into taking over some of his Jam Pony runs with the promise that he can use his bike and wear a full-face motorcycle helmet. On a delivery, Joshua has a run-in with a cat and gets scratched. Dylan, another messenger, hands him a hash pipe to ease his pain. Joshua, remembering his father’s pipe, takes a hit. Dylan brings the wasted Joshua to a messenger bar. Cursed with the munchies but unable to show his face to the crowd, Joshua pours pretzels into his helmet. The other messengers laugh, and pepper him with questions. As they begin to warm up to Joshua, he takes off his helmet. This time, they scream in horror. Joshua runs out and takes off with his bike. Max finds Joshua at home. He is stoned and is freaking out.
Marrow offers up his blood to Rain, but she refuses, knowing that he has only been brainwashing them. Her shakes die out when she realizes that it is all in her head. She really does not need his blood to survive. Marrow only convinced them of that. Max arrives at the church, and Rain informs all the other Bloods that they’ve been duped. Marrow attacks her, but Max steps in his way. She pushes Marrow, and he is gorged by a wrought iron candle stand. Seeing him dead, the other Bloods think they are now going to die without his blood. Rain explains that she didn’t sip and she is perfectly fine. Marrow had killed Lida to make them all believe his lie. But when the gang turns back towards the candle stand, Marrow’s body is gone.
The next morning, Max wakes Joshua. He is saddened that he can never go out into the real world because people are frightened by him. Logan lets her know that the kids in the gang are all doing fine. They probably won’t expose them because they just want to forget the whole ordeal. Yet they still don’t know what happened to Marrow.
In an alley somewhere, Marrow tempts his next victim with everlasting life from the sip of his blood.
Fuhgeddaboudit 2.15
Regie: Morgan James Beggs
Drehbuch: Julie Hess
Logan sends Max undercover to flirt with Dougie, the accountant for a crime syndicate. Dougie had previously promised Logan that he would help turn in the Boss, but he dropped out at the last minute. At the 49 Club, Dougie’s girlfriend Mia has a waiter spill a drink on Max. When Max goes to the ladies room, Mia confronts her. For some strange reason, Max begins to spill the beans on everything, as if Mia has put her under some kind of spell. Max tells her that she is working on an undercover mission for Eyes Only and that she is from Manticore. Mia is also from Manticore, but she was a Psy-Ops. When Mia asks who Eyes Only really is, Max hesitates and says that she can’t. Mia sends a suddenly sleepy Max home, and tells her that she won’t remember a thing. As soon as Mia leaves the restroom, Max is oblivious to what just happened.
The next morning, Max goes to Logan’s. He was worried because she didn’t respond to his pages the night before. Oddly, she slept for four hours. She blows off his questions, saying that it “didn’t work out” with Dougie. After Logan scolds her for not trying very hard, Max heads to work. At Jam Pony, Mia comes in looking for a job. Alec recognizes her from Psy-Ops at Manticore. Mia gazes deep into his eyes, and Alec forgets that he even knows her. With her gift of tele-coercion, Mia convinces Normal to hire her as a dispatcher. Max comes in and doesn’t even remember Mia from the night before.
At Crash, Logan asks Max to once again infiltrate Dougie at the 49 Club. Still sour from being scolded at, Max is reluctant to help and snaps at him. Logan is confused. Mia, who had been watching the whole scene, quizzes Alec about Logan’s identity when Logan approaches the bar. Without realizing it, Alec admits to Logan that he admires his readiness to save the world. Logan tells Alec that he is envious of his free spirit. Mia coerces the boys to hug, and Alec leaves, unsure of what just happened. Logan then reveals to Mia that Max was infected with a deadly virus that could kill him. He tells her that Manticore knew that he was really Eyes Only.
The next day at Jam Pony, Mia sways Alec into agreeing to get back into the ring for an elimination fight. Normal is excited at this prospect, and confesses (under Mia’s spell) that he has titillating dreams about Alec. Max arrives, and Mia sways her into not going to the 49 Club to see Dougie. She wants her to go to Crash instead. Max agrees. Later that night at Crash, Max tells Cindy that something’s not right with Mia. They are interrupted by an Eyes Only broadcast about the Boss’ crime family. Dougie’s pals at the 49 Club watch the Eyes Only stream as well, but when Logan reveals that the Boss is being ripped off by his Lieutenants, the guys get an angry call from the Boss. Logan, meanwhile, makes his report under the sway of Mia. He doesn’t even know where the information is coming from. At Crash, Mia convinces Alec to go home and rest before his big fight because she’s going to have a lot of money riding on him. Logan arrives, and Max asks how he got Dougie to agree to talk to him. He tells her that he didn’t, but he “has his reasons” for exposing information on the mob boss in his broadcast. When they begin to argue, Mia calms them down and erases what they were fighting about. Max’s memory is jogged and she remembers that she had met Mia before at the 49 Club. It was no coincidence that Mia took a job at Jam Pony.
Mia leaves Crash and goes to Dougie. He is worried that the Boss will think he spilled his guts, but Mia assures him that she will handle Eyes Only. Per her request, Dougie hands her a sack of money. Mia says that she will make him money to get into the Boss’ good graces, and she makes Dougie promise to bring the Boss to the fight. Max, who followed Mia, watches the whole conversation from above. Suddenly, Mia leaps up to Max and kicks her off the scaffolding. Max’s pager goes flying onto the street. Max realizes that Mia is from Manticore, and demands to know what her business is with Dougie. Mia admits that Dougie is in trouble, and she’s going to help him prove his loyalty to the Boss so that she and Dougie can run away together. Max wants Dougie to finger the Boss for Eyes Only. Mia tells her that she won’t even remember this conversation.
The next day at Jam Pony, Max comes in with a shiner on her eye (from the previous night’s altercation with Mia). Although she doesn’t know how she got it, Mia has her believe that she slipped in the shower. Mia hands her money to Alec for the fight. Logan comes to Jam Pony to see Max, who hasn’t responded to his pages. She only now realizes that she lost her pager. He asks about following Mia, and Max starts to remember the fight. She tells Logan that Mia is a Psy-Ops from Manticore who is planning something with Dougie. When Max hears that Alec is fighting again, she questions why he would do something so risky. He has no answer, and Max and Logan know that Mia must be behind the fight.
That night at the fight hall, the Boss’ crew is pleased to see Alec beat up one opponent after the other. Dougie had tipped them off that Alec was a “sure thing,” and they are winning all their bets on his fights. Max corners Mia, who tells her everything. Yet even though Mia wipes out Max’s mind, Logan heard the whole conversation with a listening device. He explains to Max that Mia talked Alec into fighting so that Dougie can make the Boss money off the bouts. Max tries to convince Alec to throw the fight, but he doesn’t listen. So she steps into the ring as his next opponent. Although Alec refuses to fight her, Max starts beating him. Alec finally fights back, but then Max kicks him in the groin and Alec goes down. When the crew loses all their money on Alec, they go to take Dougie for a “little ride.” Logan comes in with Detective Matt Sung and approaches Dougie. He will make him a better offer if Dougie fingers the Boss in the crowd. Dougie points out a man dressed as a woman, and Sung’s cops go after him. Mia slugs the Boss, telling Max that she never really liked him. Sung finally nabs the once elusive Boss.
Later, Mia tells Logan that she wanted Dougie to flip so that he would get out of this mobster lifestyle. She knew that Max and Logan would go after him and prevent him from running off. Mia, however, bet on Max to win and made a load of cash. She is in love with Dougie because he is the only one immune to her tele-coercion. When Normal asks Max how she beat Alec, Mia convinces him that he will forget everything he saw at the fight. Then Mia takes off with Dougie, leaving Max and Logan, alone and happy.
Exposure 2.16
Regie: Stephen Williams
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Sketchy announces to everyone at Jam Pony that he got a job as a freelance journalist for the tabloid paper New World Weekly. He is going to hunt down mutants and expose them in the press. Meanwhile, Agent White’s wife, Wendy, calls Logan to tell him that she has located her son, Ray. Before she can give Logan any more information, Agent White comes in and attacks Wendy, ripping the phone out of the wall. He warns her to stay away, because Ray is now “one of Us.” Logan traces Wendy’s call to a hotel in a town called Willoughby, and he and Max set out to find her. At the hotel, they try to glean information from the suspicious desk clerk to no avail. They check in, but discover a room with a new doorplate and a just-installed phone jack. Inside the room’s refrigerator is a roll of film. They get the photos developed, and there are images of children in a private school. Ray White is among the children. A nosy sheriff hears them talking about the school and questions their interest. Max and Logan lie about seeing the school from afar, but the sheriff is distrustful. He watches them go, and they wonder whether this boarding school may actually be some kind of breeding ground.
After receiving a tip, Sketchy searches through a sewer in Sector Three and finds nothing. As he leaves, he sees that White’s agents are in pursuit of a transgenic. Sketchy follows the men with his camera and takes pictures of the Manticore escapee. Otto reports to Agent White about Sketchy’s possible photos, and White orders that they find him. Sketchy returns to Jam Pony with news of his discovery. While Alec creates a diversion, Original Cindy exposes Sketchy’s film.
Agent White meets with Director Paul Simms, who chastises him about letting the transgenic out in broad daylight. White is angry because his operation to capture transgenics is understaffed and under-funded, but Simms only wants them to remain below the radar of the press.
Logan helps Max break into the school, and she sees that a book by a child’s bed has undecipherable Minoan glyphs on it. She finds a temple in the corridor with robed figures chanting in a foreign tongue. Max hides behind a curtain. Ray White is brought to the altar and presented to the congregation. Two snakes are held up, and a “teacher” named Moorehead slices one of them open. She pours the snake’s blood into a chalice and dips the blade into it. She cuts into Ray’s arm, leaving the remnant of a small scar in the shape of a glyph etched into his skin. A boy in the crowd named Samuel looks in Max’s direction, sensing something. Suddenly, everyone spots Max when the curtain magically whips up in the air. She blurs forward in an attempt to snatch Ray, but the others set upon her and force her to the ground. She gets cut with the knife. When Max doesn’t return, Logan heads towards the school buildings. The sheriff finds him and pulls a gun to his head.
Moorehead notifies Agent White that a transgenic tried to stop the ceremony, and White knows that it is Max. “It should take effect on her soon,” Moorehead says. Max is held in a cage, but strangely, the cut on her hand is still not healed. Moorehead tells her that Ray is proving himself, like they all have done. She shows that she too has the glyph on her arm. Samuel asks Max how she feels because, he says, “it should have started by now.” When Max comments that it is getting warm in the room, Samuel informs her that she is going to die. Appearing sick, Max asks him for water.
Otto and the other operatives come into Jam Pony looking for Sketchy, and Normal points them toward Crash. At the bar, Sketchy doesn’t understand why all of his photos came out black. Alec and O.C. try to assuage his doubts, saying that the tabloids always make up their stories. Otto arrests Sketchy, but he is so drunk that he throws up on the agent’s shoes. He tells them that he is working for a newspaper, but his pictures didn’t come out. Dejected, Sketchy thinks that all he saw was a guy in a Halloween mask. Believing him, Otto lets him go.
At the town jail, the sheriff questions Logan about why he was at the school. The sheriff believes that Logan was after the boy in the photo – Ray White – but he doesn’t understand what is wrong with the school. Logan tries to appeal to his sense of decency and explains what is really going on there.
Agent White visits with his son, but unfortunately, Ray has gotten worse instead of better. Moorehead keeps vigil over the boy. Meanwhile, Max begs for water and Samuel brings her a cup. When he opens up the cage, she blurs past him. Samuel calmly yells “Stop!” Max is halted and thrown up against the wall by some unseen force. Samuel uses his telekinetic power to beat her up, telling her that she can’t win. Max pulls up her shirt to reveal her bare breasts, and young Samuel’s concentration falters long enough for Max to break free of his telekinetic grip and deliver a vicious kick to his sternum. He gets knocked out, and she bolts out the door. She returns to the temple, as the congregation prays for Ray. Max slips past a partition where Ray is being held, and she grabs Moorehead from behind in a sleeper hold. Moore loses consciousness. Agent White goes to the cage room, where Max is gone and Samuel is knocked out. He finds Max outside with Ray slumped over her shoulder. With gun trained, Agent White orders her to put the boy down. She refuses. When Logan arrives with the sheriff, White is distracted and Max blurs away. White shoots at the sheriff, and Logan gets in the patrol car driver’s seat to slam into White. Logan picks up Max and the sheriff and peels out, as White shoots aimlessly at the car.
The next day at Jam Pony, Sketchy starts to doubt that what he saw was not fake. Why else would the government be interested in his photos? He vows to Alec and O.C. that he is still going to expose mutants.
At the school, a Priest informs Agent White that, although Max was exposed, she did not even show symptoms. White believes that Sandeman’s work at Manticore must have progressed more than they had imagined. They must now find out if the other transgenics are immune as well. Yet all White really wants to know is if his son Ray has survived. Then Agent White brings the snakes from the temple to the transgenic held captive by Otto. He is hopeful that their blood will kill the creature.
Logan tells Max that Ray’s blood work proved that he is healthy. The snakes must be some kind of viral carriers. Logan arranged for Wendy’s sister to pick up Ray and take him as far away from White as possible. Ray awakes, and asks them if he “passed.” He says that he needs to be strong for “the Coming.” Although he does not know what that means, Ray was only told that it was important.
Hello, Goodbye 2.17
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Jose Molina & Cindi Grossenbacher
Max and Joshua set off cans of bug repellent spray in Joshua’s house to rid it of fleas. He stays outside while Max goes to meet Logan at Crash. She still has the snake symbol on her palm that she got from Agent White’s breeding cult. Meanwhile, Alec sidles up to Asha at the bar. Asha mentions that she is glad that she didn’t do anything she might have regretted with him. Alec admits that the last person he got close to winded up dead. Asha tries to comfort him, but Alec pushes her away. Max approaches Alec, who says that, although he likes Asha, he is trying to do the right thing with her because transgenics and humans don’t mix. Alec tries to convey that same advice to Max, but she shoos him away. Logan comes to the bar. Max, suddenly feeling self-conscious about the virus, says that she is going home. Without thinking, Logan grabs her arm. He falls unconscious and is taken to the hospital.
Dr. Beverly Shankar tells Max that the disease is killing Logan. Max suggests that he get a transfusion from a Manticore recipient because they were made immune to such viruses. Dr. Shankar agrees that it’s worth a shot. Max summons Alec to the hospital. He walks outside of Crash to go there, but is swarmed by uniformed cops with their guns trained on him. Max waits for Alec to show up at the hospital, but he never comes. When Dr. Shankar asks if there is someone else to give Logan a transfusion, Max goes to get Joshua. A woman, meanwhile, approaches Joshua with a dog. When she doesn’t react to his appearance, he realizes that the woman, named Annie Fisher, is blind. Max shows up in desperation for Joshua’s help and brings him to the hospital. Dr. Shankar doesn’t seem concerned that he has canine DNA in his cocktail – as long as he has the Manticore antibodies. Later, the doctor lets Max know that Joshua’s blood saved Logan, but Max is afraid to see Logan. She feels that she has caused him enough harm. Max finally gets up the nerve to call him. Though Logan tries to convince her otherwise, she insists on staying away from him.
In the jail, a woman identifies Alec as the murderer of someone named Timothy Ryan. Original Cindy convinces Max to go help Alec. Max pretends to be a public defender and gets inside the jail. Alec maintains that he did not murder anyone, even though his DNA matched the crime. Max doesn’t believe him, but when Alec informs her that the murder occurred two years ago while he was still at Manticore, Max has a flashback. She remembers confronting Ben in “Pollo Loco,” and realizes that the authorities think that Alec is Ben, his Manticore twin. Ben had killed Timothy Ryan and ten other people in the same manner. Max and Alec bust out of the prison and go to Max’s crib. Alec asks her about Ben, and Max lovingly describes her brother. She admits that she was forced to kill Ben when they escaped Manticore because he didn’t want to return for reindoctrination. Max breaks down, and Alec consoles her. Later, as Alec is leaving, he and Max share a moment. Logan just happens to show up outside of Max’s crib and sees them in a half-embrace.
Freaky Frank, the transgenic captured by Agent White in “Exposure,” assures White that he will keep secret the fact that he was injected with the snake blood. Agent White reports to a mystery cult woman that perhaps Sandeman made the transgenics immune to varying degrees. White then releases Freaky Frank onto the streets, warning him about the sector police. Frank is immediately cornered by the police, and he fights them off. As they shoot him dead, a hoverdrone captures the event.
Annie comes calling for Joshua, and invites him to dinner. He makes sure she comes to his house instead. Annie explains that she contracted the measles after the pulse, which caused her to become blind. Joshua lets her touch his paintings, and he describes each color on the canvas. The next day, Alec goes to stay with Joshua. He sees Joshua’s new painting of Annie. Alec scores a television set for Joshua’s house, and they catch a news report of Freaky Frank’s superhuman strength. When Annie knocks on Joshua’s door, Alec encourages him to send her away. Joshua does so glumly. Alec pages Max and summons her to talk with Joshua. She tells Joshua that his staying away from Annie is for the best. Suddenly, Max realizes that Joshua has a medallion around his neck that matches the symbol on her palm. He explains that his Father gave it to him. Max goes to Logan’s and tells him about the medallion. Logan is drunk, and he asks if it’s true that she is with Alec. Taking the one and only chance to do something that will keep Logan away, Max says, “I can’t.”
As Max sits on top of the Space Needle, Alec shows up. He asks if she has any realizations about life. “Love sucks,” she says.
Dawg Day Afternoon 2.18
Regie: Kenneth Biller
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
While Joshua pines away for Annie, the blind woman he met in “Hello Goodbye,” Max hands Alec a fake birth certificate that claims he was a twin. This gets him off the hook and proves that his “brother” would have committed the murder. On television, a minister preaches against transgenics, claiming that they are not human because they were not created by God. Logan interrupts his sermon with an Eyes Only broadcast that defends the transgenics. He says that they feel hurt just like humans. Alec hints to Max that perhaps Logan is reaching out to her.
Agent White argues with his superior, Director Paul Simms, about how to handle the transgenic situation now that the press has released footage on Freaky Frank. Although White wants to open it up so that his department will have jurisdiction over the police, Simms is adamant that they not acknowledge anything to the public. White reluctantly agrees.
Asha procures for Logan the full hoverdrone footage of the Freaky Frank capture. The police edited it so that it seems that the transgenic attacked them, when really the cops went after him first. Logan also sees Agent White at the scene of the crime. He pages Max to warn her, but she doesn’t answer. Asha tries to explain to Logan that he hasn’t heard from Max because she was afraid for him. Asha believes this has been hard for both Max and Alec. The sound of Alec’s name cuts a jealous Logan to the quick. Meanwhile, Max and Alec break into a cosmetic surgeon’s office to laser off each other’s barcode. Logan calls Alec’s cell phone, and is disheartened to learn that he is with Max. Alec pushes her to take Logan’s call, but she is cold toward Logan. He informs her about White, who may not be keeping his transgenic hunt under wraps for the government. Instead, White must be taking orders from his breeding cult buddies. Max promises to look into it, but asks that Logan not call her anymore.
That night, Joshua goes to Annie’s house and watches her from outside her window. Annie’s dog barks at Joshua, causing him to tumble off a garbage can. A group of hoodlums nearby hears the noise and comes to check it out. They notice that he’s a transgenic, and they chase him throughout the night. The next morning, Annie and her dog stumble upon the hiding Joshua. She thinks that he was avoiding her because she is blind. Before he can explain, the kids spot him. Joshua fends them off, and leads Annie away. She is confused and afraid of what’s happening. The boys see them again, and Joshua takes Annie down into the sewers through a manhole. The kids alert the police that a transgenic kidnapped Annie.
Agent White meets up with Moorehead at an aquarium, and reports to her that he has been leaking information on the transgenics to the media. She tells him that it is the opinion of The Conclave that he go even further. Since the X-series transgenics are a threat because they are able to pass as humans and will be more difficult to expose, they hope to exploit the fear of the average citizen that there are transgenics living among them. White is alerted by Otto that there was a report of a “wolfman” in Sector Three. He leaks the information to a news anchor.
At Joshua’s empty house, Max catches a news report about a creature kidnapping a blind woman. Joshua is now the biggest story in town. Max dashes out the door towards the mobile command post searching for Joshua. Using her vision, Max spies on the police’s plan. She knocks out a cop and sneaks into the sewer. Sketchy, on the hunt for a tabloid news story, follows her. Alec, who is also in Sector Three, runs into Logan at the police blockade. Max isn’t answering Logan’s page, so Alec tries her. Max is underground hiding from the police when her pager goes off. The cops hear it and she must fight them off. Yet she accidentally knocks out Sketchy as well. She grabs Sketchy’s cell phone and calls Alec. Logan gets on the phone and warns her about what the police are tracking. He offers to help get her out once she finds Joshua. The sector police discuss that a girl in black kicked their butts. White overhears this and knows that it is Max. He goes into the tunnel, undetected.
Meanwhile, underground, Annie asks Joshua why he is on the run from the cops. Learning that he is a transgenic, Annie is upset that Joshua lied to her about what his face looked like. She moves away from him. Joshua apologizes and claims that he was only trying to protect her. Annie understands and feels bad for him. She asks to touch his real face. When they hear footsteps, she listens for the way out. Yet she makes Joshua go alone so he can escape. She promises to come by his house tomorrow.
Joshua finds Max, and she notifies Logan. Logan leads her out of the sewer away from the sector police. Yet as they enter a chamber, Logan sees on the GPS monitor that the police are nearby. They are almost about to be caught, when Joshua turns on the water main and floods the path of the sector police. Max and Joshua run off as the cops chase them. The sector police SWAT team waits at the manhole for Joshua to emerge, but Sketchy pops out instead. Max and Joshua exit from another hole, where Alec is waiting for them. Logan pulls up in his Aztek to take them away. Meanwhile, White sloshes determinedly through the sewers with his gun drawn. He runs into Annie and tells her that it is all over.
Logan drives Joshua, Alec and Max to Joshua’s house. They watch the news reports of the hunt for Joshua and learn that Annie had been killed. The reporter announces that an X-Series who looks human helped the creature escape. The transgenic is still at large. Joshua lets loose a saddened primal scream. Max and Alec comfort him.
White watches the scene in Sector Three, enjoying his victory.
She Ain`t Heavy 2.19
Regie: Allan Kroeker
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty & Michael Angeli
At Jam Pony, Max tells O.C. that she lead Logan to believe she was seeing Alec. In a confusion of character, Normal is under the impression that a messenger has a barcode. Normal pulls out a gun, but Max quickly swipes it from him. Although the barcode on the messenger is fake, the tension makes everyone nervous. Watching this, Sketchy becomes suspicious of Max. Meanwhile, in an upscale apartment San Francisco, a woman who looks exactly like Max comes home to her husband and son. The woman is named Sam. Suddenly, Agent White and his men storm the apartment and taser Sam. When she tells them that her designation is 453, White is annoyed. Although he thought he had captured Max, it is really Max’s clone.
As Logan makes his Eyes Only broadcast, White orders his men to trace the stream. Logan cuts off in time to avoid them. White learns that Sam is not an identical clone to Max because she has junk DNA. Sam tells him that she has never had contact with Max. She had already been out of Manticore when Max released the transgenics. White wants to use Sam as a decoy at the hospital where Max was brought in. Since he suspects the doctor who released Max knows more than he lets on, Sam is to find out information for him. White is still pissed off because Max took away his son. White is also concerned about having to testify to a Senate committee. Although Senator McKinley has subpoenaed their operation on a transgenic witch-hunt, Director Simms orders White to keep stonewalling.
As Dr. Carr examines Logan, Sam pulls up to the clinic on a bike. She’s dressed like Max. Sam passes Logan, and he greets her. She blows him off without recognition. Sam tells Dr. Carr that she has been having back spasms. When he checks her out, Carr notices that her gunshot wounds are gone. When she realizes that the jig is up, she threatens the good doctor to ditch town because he lied about how well he knows Max. Sam punches him and jumps on her bike. Otto and another operative follow Sam out of the clinic. She opens fire on their car with two semi-automatics. Sam warns them to notify White to leave her alone.
Normal and Sketchy tell Alec their suspicions about Max. Alec cautions Max about what he heard. She takes off, and doesn’t see Sam watching this from afar. Max goes to Joshua’s pad, where he is blacking out his windows in fear because people are hunting transgenics. He wants to move to Terminal City since his place only reminds him of Annie. She rebukes him for going because she can’t look after him there. When he doesn’t budge, she begs him to stay. But Joshua leaves anyway. Hiding out in the scary Terminal City, Joshua comes upon a group of transgenics. They are all freakish-looking like him and they accept him as one of their own. Alec, meanwhile, comes upon a map in Joshua’s house. Terminal City is circled in red, and he sets out to find Joshua.
Logan goes home and makes his nightly hack on Eyes Only, unaware that this time White’s crew is tracing him. Logan bids goodbye to his audience for the last time, but realizes that he’s been caught. White’s men storm Logan’s place, but Logan is already gone. He had cleared out his hard drive as well. White’s operatives shoot the entire apartment, as Logan watches from the building next door. Meanwhile, at Jam Pony, Sam rifles through Normal’s files. Although Max has no address listed, Sam finds that Cindy does. Normal catches Sam and she clocks him before he can stop her.
At her crib, Max dejectedly packs up her stuff. She feels like she has no reason to stick around anymore. Yet Max decides not to call Logan to tell him that she’s going. As she pulls away on her bike, Sam follows on another bike. At the border in his Aztek, Logan sees the two Maxs. Sam fires her Glock pistol at Max’s bike, sending it careening off the road. Sam calls White and informs him that she has Max tied up. She tells Max that when she fled Manticore, the clones had to pay the price. They were sent to Psy-Ops because they were considered the greatest flight risks. Sam believes that Max was only out for herself, and didn’t care what happened to anyone else. Suddenly, Logan arrives and unties Max. Sam kicks Logan and knocks him out. Although Sam has ten more years of fighting training, Max knows how to fight dirty and beats her. White shows up and sees whom he thinks is Max. The girl tied up is really Sam, and Max pretends to be her. Logan hits White over the head and they tie him up. Max demands that White release Sam’s husband and son.
Joshua settles into the abandoned warehouse that serves as a home to the other freak transgenics – Dix, Mole and Luke. They tell him that he will have to learn how to handle a weapon to survive in Terminal City. Alec shows up looking for Joshua. They see on their surveillance monitors that Max, Logan and White are out in the streets of Terminal City meeting up with White’s henchmen. After dropping their weapons, White’s thugs deliver Sam’s family in a trade for White. As White walks towards his men, he picks up one of the guns and his operatives hold Max and Logan at gunpoint. From nowhere, Joshua, Alec and dozens of transgenics hiding in Terminal City pop-out with weapons drawn. White and his men back off and leave.
Max arranges for Sam and her family to escape to Canada. Alec then informs her that Max was responsible for taking down Manticore. With no hard feelings, Sam and Max exchange good-byes. Logan asks Max if she is still leaving town, but Max tells him that she has some family business to take care of. She is resolved to fight for her people.
In the federal judicial building, Senator McKinley calls Ames White to the stand. White spills the beans, testifying that the government did fund genetic experiments, and after the test subjects escaped, the government then withheld that information from the public. He also assures the committee that transgenics are dangerous, and that the country needs to declare war on them. The messengers at Jam Pony watch the hearings with interest. Max is among them – she’s back at work. Later, White is worried that Director Simms will revoke his badge. Senator McKinley, a fellow member of the breeding cult Conclave assures White that he will become a national hero for eliminating all transgenics.
Love Among the Runes 2.20
Regie: James Whitmore, Jr.
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker & Jose Molina
In an asylum, the breeding cult are performing a strange ritual as one of the inmates, C.J., makes his escape.
At Dix’s base in Terminal City, Max gives Joshua his medallion that was found before Logan’s apartment was trashed. The Caduceus on it is the same symbol used by the breeding cult. The crew locates a fellow transgenic fleeing the police. Max warns Alec, and he brings Biggs, another X5 working at Jam Pony. The three enter the sector posing as messengers and save the albino X5 from the cops. The albino is human-looking and bred to fight in an Arctic environment. They bring him into their hideout in Terminal City. Logan sets up camp in Joshua’s house, corresponding with Dix’s base via computer cameras. Max says hello, but Logan clams up when he sees that Alec is there too.
Normal joins a citizens’ Transgenic Defense League, posting fliers around town. Alec, meanwhile, brings in other X5s in as messengers. They all have motorcycles and can make quick deliveries. Alec makes sure they all get sector passes.
Alec and Max look for computer equipment for Logan in an abandoned lab. They find a snake inside a cabinet. It reminds Max of Ames and his breeding buddies. When they leave, C.J. claims the snake. He was hiding there. He wonders how Max and Alec know about what was going on at the asylum. Alec offers to bring the found hardware to Logan, but Max doesn’t want him to go. She fesses up that she told Logan that they were together. Alec is upset, not wanting to take the blame for breaking them apart. At Joshua’s, Alec tries to explain to Logan that he and Max are not a couple. Logan doesn’t let him get a word in about the subject, and he still doesn’t know the truth.
White’s henchman Otto figures out that infrared cameras can pick up X-series because their basal body temperature is higher than humans’. White is alarmed when he learns that someone at the asylum escaped.
Alec goes to Crash and admits to Max that he didn’t say anything to Logan. Max realizes that rune-like symbols have appeared on her arm. She shows the symbols to Logan over the computer camera. He believes they might be a genetically encoded message. Meanwhile, Biggs is spotted by the infrared cameras, but he manages to outrun the police.
Luke brings C.J. to Dix’s base as a fellow transgenic. C.J. has painted a barcode on his neck. C.J. tells them that he is an X5, but Max doesn’t believe him. C.J. spots Joshua’s medallion, but covers up any recognition of the symbol. A newscast reports Biggs’ being wanted as a transgenic. When Biggs calls, Alec warns him to get back to Terminal City. But as Biggs is talking on his cell phone, a passerby who also saw the newscast clocks him. Alec hears this commotion and goes out to find Biggs with Max. When they get there, Biggs is already dead.
Senator McKinley makes a public statement about the lynching of the transgenic. After the press conference, he chides White for letting someone escape during the Katara ceremony. Max, meanwhile, plans with Alec to hit White’s hideout and release all the transgenics. Max asks where C.J. went because she is suspicious that he might be connected to White’s cult. All he left behind was a paper bag with a snake inside.
Otto shows up at Jam Pony to question Normal about an ID found on Biggs. Cindy hears this and sneaks into Normal’s office to swipe Max, Alec and the other transgenics’ files. Sketchy confronts O.C. about what she was doing and he sees the names on the folders. Cindy doesn’t say anything.
Max finds C.J. and he tells her that he is in hiding from the Familiars. He explains that his father was a doctor who learned that C.J. would not survive the “initiation” test. The Familiars locked him up, but he doesn’t know what the initiation is really for. Max asks him if he can read the markings on her arm. He says that his parents can read Minoan, and she convinces him to take her to them. As they wait by the waterfront for his parents, White shows up. C.J. greets White with the breeding salutation and calls him “brotha.” He only betrayed Max because White promised that he would be saved. White strings up Max and rips open her shirt. The rune tattoos are all over her chest. White explains that Sandeman was a non-believer who wanted to destroy the Familiars’ planning. He created Max to mess with their destiny. White tasers Max and asks about his son. C.J., who was watching all along, takes the taser and strikes White. He frees Max with the belief that she is the only one who can help him. Max finds the transgenic prisoners and attacks White’s men. As Max gets into the truck, C.J. is shot by White. Max escapes with the transgenics.
Alec and Joshua find the guys who killed Briggs and beat them up. Alec warns them that he will kill them if he sees them around again. At Crash, Cindy admits to Sketchy that Max is indeed a transgenic. Regardless, she knows Max is a good person. Sketchy accepts this, and wonders if he can convince Max to do an exclusive interview with him for the tabloid.
Later, over the computer camera, Max explains to Logan that Sandeman is White’s father. C.J. is White’s brother too. White’s interpretation of her tattoos say that she is the second coming sent to foil his plans. Yet Max doesn’t even know what that means.
In the asylum, White reprimands C.J. He says that C.J. had a chance to redeem himself for their family. White vows to find Max.
Freak Nation 2.21
Regie: James Cameron
Drehbuch: James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee / Ira Steven Behr & René Echevarria (Teleplay)
Just outside the 12-foot high chain link fence that surrounds Terminal City, a huge wooden X is burning in the night as a mob of shouting vigilantes protest the prescience of the transgenics inside. A news anchor describes the residents of Terminal City as being comprised of rats, stray cats, homeless humans and transgenics. Terminal City was poisoned by a toxic spill a decade ago and entering the 20-block void is now a felony. Max roars towards the Terminal City outskirts on her bike and surveys the situation. The vigilantes are not even worth her contempt. She pops a wheelie, and the mob scatters as she speeds through them. She rams the cross and blasts it into burning shards. Her bike vaults into the air and leaps the fence into Terminal City. A news crew catches all the action on camera.
Max parks in the hanger serving as home to the transgenics. She gives Mole a bullet-riddled briefcase full of money that she lifted from some drug dealers to buy supplies. They are in dire need of funds because more and more of their kind are coming from all over America to Terminal City. They’ve got X5s, X6s and X7s in the house. This is the one place where they can live their lives freely. They watch on television as members of the unruly mob are interviewed. No one wants the “freaks” in their neighborhood. Dix says maybe it’s time to get back to Manticore. Max spots Joshua painting something on a sheet. He’s making a flag for their people, symbolizing where they’ve come from and how they hope to go out into the light. The others make fun of him, but Max understands.
Ames White waits at a train depot. He’s talking to Morehead on his cell, arguing that bringing in special forces won’t help, no matter what the Conclave thinks. The Phalanx step onto the platform. They’re the best; a menacing group who are the elite of the warrior bloodline. White is concerned that they’ll compromise his cover at the agency, but their involvement is a direct order from The Conclave. The buff female leader of The Phalanx is Thula. She confirms that Max’s death is their highest priority.
Alec arrives at Jam Pony, and Normal gives him a birthday cake. According to his records, it’s his birthday. Of course, Alec doesn’t have a real birthday.
Meanwhile, Logan examines Max’s back. He’s wearing surgical gloves so she won’t infect him with the virus. He photographs the new runes that have appeared on her skin the night before. Logan is sure that if the runes are in Max’s gene code, they must be some part of a larger plan. Their closeness is awkward, and both are melancholy because they can’t touch.
On the street, a very pregnant X5 named Janelle is having contractions. She’s accompanied by a young X6 named Dalton. As a Hoverdrone scans the area, Mole and Joshua pull up in a van and motion them inside. As they go through an intersection, a truck blows the light and runs into them. The truck’s engine dies out and the truck driver is furious, even though he caused the accident. Mole jumps out, armed with a shotgun, shocking the humans that have gathered. He fires into the air and the frightened humans flee. The transgenics abandon the van and run. Joshua calls Max on her cell. She tells them to get to Jam Pony and Alec will transport them back to safety. The chase is on with the police in full pursuit of the small group of transgenics. They catch Alec on his way out of Jam Pony, but several police cars are right on their tails. Guns are drawn. Mole grabs Alec as a willing hostage and they all back into Jam Pony to barricade the doors. An exit out the back is nixed when they realize the cops are everywhere. Before they can get back inside, the cops start shooting and Alec is hit in the shoulder. Inside, Normal confronts them with a gun, but Alec disarms him easily. Normal discovers that Alec is more extraordinary than he thought. Across the street, Max worriedly surveys the scene from a rooftop. Desperate to help her friends, she hops a ride on a Hoverdrone and surfs it through the window of Jam Pony. As the stand off continues, Janelle is having more and more labor pains. There’s some tension between Max and Mole, because he doesn’t trust the humans. Max addresses everyone – human and transgenic alike – saying they can all get through this. Normal attempts to lead the messengers out, but Original Cindy stops them. They owe it to Max and Alec to stick by them and their kind.
Logan sees whole thing going down on TV and arms himself. Across town, the Phalanx are working out, showing off their incredible strength, when Thula’s phone rings. It’s White, who has found Max. Yet if they’re not careful, everyone in town will be a witness to what they’re doing because the place is covered with news cameras filming the standoff. Detective Ramone Clemmente tries to take charge of the chaos and confronts White, who is forced to back off for the moment. Inside Jam Pony, Max and her friends watch the vigilantes gather on TV, feeling like the whole world is against them. Clemmente calls Max, and she asks for a van with a full tank of gas. Mole says there’s no way out because the humans just want them dead.
The net tightens around the building as the getaway truck is pulled up to Jam Pony’s door. Logan is in the crowd outside, acting as an extra set of eyes for Max and talking to her over his cell. Max tells everyone that the cops will have trouble recognizing who’s a transgenic, so they probably won’t shoot. O.C. puts Max’s arm around her neck and volunteers to be her human shield. Unbeknownst to Clemmente, White orders his snipers to shoot. Logan returns their fire, and a gun battle ensues. When the dust clears, Cece, a transgenic messenger, is dead, and Logan is trapped in Jam Pony.
Everyone is shocked by Cece’s death. Mole is enraged, and he gets in Logan’s face. Logan reveals that White is the one who’s behind everything. Max realizes that White wanted to escalate the situation so he’d have an excuse to kill them. Mole shouts that he’s going to start killing hostages, but Max and Logan stand up to him. If they kill people, it’ll only make the entire world believe that they’re monsters. Max pleads for everyone to stay together, but Mole’s ready to explode. Outside, Clemmente challenges White, knowing that he was the one who started the gun battle. White has a letter from the Governor’s office, putting him in charge. He sends his tactical team in. Thula checks in with White, who says that when they bring Max out in a body bag, everyone will be cheering. They will never know she was their only hope.
Janelle is in serious labor, and although O.C. helps, she is clueless. Normal steps in because he knows how to deliver babies. Concerned for Janelle and her friends, Max wants to surrender, knowing that White will back off if he has her. Logan won’t let her. He has translated the runes, and learned that a terrible disaster is coming down. Max is the only one who can stop it. Mole argues that Max should go out, but only because she’s fast enough to get away from White. As Logan and Mole argue, Max kind of blanks out and then shakes it off. She has a news flash: They’re coming.
White instructs the Phalanx to take out everyone with no regard for any of the hostages. The soldiers begin climbing up the side of the building. Inside, everyone takes cover. The door blows open and weapons are fired. Max, Alec, Mole and Logan try to protect the others, while Janelle stifles screams as she and the others hide. White and his soldiers lower to the floor silently, still not seeing Max and the guys. They are armed to the teeth and dressed to kill. White’s men are almost on top of O.C., Janelle, Normal and Joshua when Max and crew drop down from the ceiling, attacking from above and behind. Some shots are fired, and the trangenics fight fiercely. Max and Thula find themselves face to face. Max kicks a gun out of the way because this is a fight to the death. When it seems Thula is getting the best of Max, Max manages to handcuff her around a large column. The transgenics win the battle. Joshua goes crazy when he sees White, because he was the one who murdered his beloved Annie. Joshua wants to kill White, but Max pleas with him that if he gets his revenge, the humans will only remember that one of their own died. They’ll never stop hunting the transgenics. Finally, Janelle’s baby is born. Her daughter has no bar code and will be free.
Disguised in the soldier’s clothes, Logan, Alec, and some of the others herd Max and several transgenics into a waiting truck and head for Terminal City. Meanwhile, Clemmente finds White and his soldiers tied up. Clemmente goes after the transgenics, leaving White bound and gagged. A dozen squad cars join the chase. The fleeing van drives straight through the gates surrounding Terminal City and into the hanger, pulling to a stop. The cops emerge from the cars and draw their guns. The transgenics throw their weapons out and come out with their hands up. Max keeps walking towards the police. Suddenly the darkness is alive with transgenics, armed and ready. The police retreat, and get outside of the fence. Clemmente says he respects Max for not letting things get out of control, but now she’s got to think carefully about what she’s going to do next. Her people are depending on her.
Although Mole wants to split, Max wants to stay. But where are they going to go? They’ve got to make a stand. Joshua says he is with Max, and the others follow his lead. Even Mole admits it’s the only way. Three days later, the siege is still on. On a Terminal City rooftop, the transgenics raise Joshua’s flag in the darkness. Max and Logan watch, holding gloved hands.
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The End
Eine viel zu schnell eingestellte,wundervolle Serie
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| Max Guevara |
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Episode Guide
Season One
“Dark Angel: The Complete First Season” has a couple of plot lines that make Max both the hunter and the hunted. Max is always on the lookout for her “siblings,” the other kids who escaped from Manticore, while Lydecker (John Savage), the head of the secret program is trying to find both them and Max to return them to government service. Meanwhile, Max’s days as a cat burglar are over when she tries to rob Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly), a rich kid who is the secret cyber-journalist known as “Eyes Only,” who enlists her into his idealistic crusade to clean up corruption in Seattle. Of course, the two are made for each other, but we have to wait for them to catch out to this rather obvious fact. What really makes “Dark Angel” work is the extent to which this futuristic dystopia has been worked out. This is not so much a series where the mythology emerges over time, as it is one where the premises are so strong that they sustain multiple episodes and provide compelling sub-text for the rest. Compare this to similar series that take a while to find themselves, and you can see why these solid premises allowed this one to be able to have so many solid episodes early on.
Creator James Cameron’s imprint is clearly on this production, but mention should be made of the show’s Vancouver crew, which obviously includes a lot of “X-Files” veterans. The production values on “Dark Angel” are pretty striking in creating the seedy world of post-pulse Seattle and its icon Space Needle where Max likes to go and contemplate existence. But the sense of style comes as much from the characters as the setting. Alba is truly stunning as Max, able to play hard, soft, or whatever the scene demands. Weatherly has one of the squarest jaws in television history, and Savage has fun milking everything out of the bad guy (he really does care for his children, but duty never gets in the way of such emotions). The supporting cast has some compelling texture types, from Normal (J.C. MacKenzie), the overbearing dispatcher at Jam Pony (“Bip! Bip! Bip!”), to urban philosopher Herbal Thought (Alimi Bllard), and everybody’s favorite, Original Cindy (Valerie Rae Miller), Max’s roommate and co-worker, who basically has the right attitude for every occasion.
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Season Two
Season 2 of the Fox sci-fi drama Dark Angel is alot different than the first. Without giving the season one finale away, our transgenic heroine Max (Jessica Alba) ends up back at Manticore, but doesn’t stay put for long. She escapes after taking the prison (that’s basically what it was) down and releases all of the imprisoned transgenics. About that, not all of the “gennies” are quite human. Max has a bit of cat DNA herself (the episodes where she goes into heat are hilarious), but she still has a human appearance. The older ones, not so much. See, they were given too much animal DNA in their genetic cocktails so they possess more freakish appearances.
Like Joshua (Kevin Durand), Max’s friend and adoptive brother. He was the first transgenic Manticore ever created and has a human body with a dog face. Still a sweetheart though. Anyway, all the gennies are freed and manage to escape into society. The “regular” folks freak out and new villian Ames White (Martin Cummins) is called upon by the government to cover up the Manticore crimes by exterminating them. Needless to say, Max is on the top of his list. She feels it’s her job to protect her transgenic siblings while laying low as best she can herself.
Her relationship with Logan (Michael Weatherly) becomes complicated too. While back at Manticore, the bad guys figured out Max was in cahoots with Eyes Only (they still don’t know he’s Logan) and infect her with a virus that will kill him on skin to skin contact. The two try their best to keep their romance going, but Logan’s new assistant Asha (Ashley Scott) tends to get in the way as well. Another new character is fellow X-5er Alec (Jensen Ackles). Max meets him back at Manticore and the two form a love/hate sibling-like relationship. Alec (as in smart aleck) is a nice guy overall, but always looking out for himself and constantly on the look out for some get rich scheme. Sweet, but not too smart since he manages to get himself in trouble alot.
Original Cindy (Valarie Rae Miller), Sketchy (Richard Gunn), and Normal (J. C. MacKenzie ) also return, but there’s no mention of Kendra (Jennifer Blanc) or Herbal Thought (Alimi Ballard). Where’d the hell they go? Beats me. Anyway, Joshua (who’s guaranteed to warm your heart) and Alec are welcome additions to the cast. While the second season does border on a gimmicky “transgenic of the week” feel, it also has a powerful message of “people fear and hate what they don’t understand” that’s relatable to everybody. Season 2 is also darker and more somber than the first. Not to say season 1 was always happy, but most of the episodes held on to some form of hope. The second season finale is awesome, although there are a couple of storylines that don’t get completely wrapped up. Enjoy!
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1. Season
Pilot 1.01
Regie: David Nutter
Drehbuch: James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee
In the year 2009, a group of genetically engineered children escape from a military installment in the Wyoming Mountains. Despite best efforts of COLONEL LYDECKER and his men, MAX and a few others make it past the perimeter guards and to freedom.
Ten years later, the U.S. finds itself mired in a depression brought about by The Pulse, an electromagnetic shockwave that wreaked havoc on the world economy by obliterating every computer system in operation. Max now works as a seemingly ordinary bike messenger in Seattle. Unbeknownst to her friends, however, Max has an extraordinary hobby: she’s a cat burglar who steals from Seattle’s richest citizens to finance her ongoing investigation into her past. Unfortunately, so far Private Investigator DAN VOGELSANG hasn’t been able to come up with anything useful that’ll bring Max closer to finding ZACK, JONDY or any of the other Chimera that escaped with her in ’09.
It is during a seemingly routine burglary in a posh high-rise that Max stumbles across LOGAN CALE, aka “EYES ONLY,” an underground cyberjournalist who is the only voice of truth left in the corrupt city of Seattle. Logan is using his fortified apartment to keep a source (LAUREN) and her daughter (SOPHY) out of harm’s way. Lauren is a former employee of evil entrepreneur EDGAR SONRISA, and she has testimony that can put Sonrisa away for life. Obviously, Sonrisa would like nothing more than to silence Eyes Only and kill Lauren.
Max bails on Logan’s apartment at the first opportunity, but Logan tracks her down; he needs to make sure that she doesn’t present a security risk to “Eyes Only.” Although Max has no intention of compromising Logan’s operation, she also has no interest in joining the “Eyes Only” crusade to save the world. Logan tries to change her mind by offering information – he knows about Manticore, the military base where she and the others like her were trained. He knows about the escape, about her genetic make-up. He can help her, but he needs her help first: she could be invaluable in keeping Lauren and Sophy safe until Lauren can testify against Sonrisa. But Max has no interest – she’s too busy looking out for herself to risk her neck for people she doesn’t even know.
Max goes about her business, trying to ignore her conscience… until matters hit too close to home to ignore anymore. Sonrisa’s men kidnap Sophy and shoot Logan, whose sacrifice allows Lauren to escape. To make matters worse, Sonrisa’s nefarious business dealings cost Max’s neighbor his life. After sneaking into Logan’s hospital room to make sure he’s okay, Max springs into action.
She infiltrates Sonrisa’s mansion during a party and convinces him that she can deliver Lauren to him. Instead, she turns the tables on Sonrisa and his thug BRUNO, who gun each other down. But the hard part is still to come. In order to rescue Sophy from Sonrisa’s remaining goons, she has to sneak past the goons as well as Lydecker’s men, who have gotten wind of her whereabouts by tapping Vogelsang’s phones. Outsmarting the gun-toting villains, Max pits Lydecker’s men against Sonrisa’s, sneaks Sophy out the front door and returns her safe and sound to Lauren.
A few months later, Logan has recovered sufficiently to return to his “Eyes Only” duties. He’s paralyzed from the waist down, but he’ll live. He thanks Max for her involvement in the Sonrisa case, and reiterates his desire that she join the “Eyes Only” team. Again, Max declines, and again Logan baits her with information – this time, on Zack, the one Manticore escapee Max is most curious about. Logan and Max make a tentative agreement. Quid pro quo. She’ll help him save the world if he’ll help her put together the puzzle of her past, one piece at a time…
Heat 1.02
Regie: Michael Katleman
Drehbuch: Patrick Harbinson
For the past few days Max has been suffering from a peculiar side effect of her hopped up DNA. Seems the scientists at Manticore added a dash of feline genetic material to her personal cocktail, and while it makes her musculature that much more efficient, it also puts her in heat two or three times a year. Max has been preoccupied the last 48 hours, desperately trying not to give in to her raging hormones.
Max takes care of some bad guys for Logan, in exchange for his promise to further develop the information he has on Zack. However, once that’s taken care of, she heads to Crash and takes home a young man named ERIC, with the intention of finally giving in to her baser impulses. Max is more than a little relieved when Eric passes out in a drunken stupor before anything can happen, thus saving her from herself.
The next day, Logan pages Max and gives her the information she’s been waiting for – he’s located HANNAH, the woman who picked Max up on the road the night she escaped from Manticore. Hannah lives just outside the city on Sedro Island. Logan warns Max that this could be a trap, and that Lydecker could be waiting for her, but she ignores him. If Hannah’s in trouble, then Max is the one who put her there, and it’s up to Max to get her back out.
Max is getting the bike ready for a road trip when Eric shows up unexpectedly. She’s all set to give him the brush off, when he tells her that his uncle is a big guy in the sector police. Since this trip to Hannah’s will involve passing through checkpoints, Max decides to take Eric along with her.
Unfortunately, at the checkpoint Eric confesses that his uncle is not nearly as important as he had implied (he’s a janitor), and Max has to crash her way through. She leaves the hapless Eric on the dock to watch her stuff while she swims to Sedro Island.
Max finds Hannah’s house, and Hannah welcomes her in. She calls work to tell them that she’ll be late, and she and Max talk briefly. Meanwhile, Logan pages Max and is surprised when Eric returns the call. Eric tells Logan that Max is on Sedro Island.
Max tells Hannah that she knows the phone call she made before was really to let Lydecker know that Max was there, and that he must be on his way. Hannah cries and asks for Max’s forgiveness. Lydecker had threatened to kill her if she didn’t cooperate. Max assures Hannah that he’ll kill her even though she did cooperate, which is why they have to get out of the house right away.
Max and Hannah run for their lives while Logan hacks into Lydecker’s radio transmissions. The island is now surrounded and crawling with soldiers.
Max and Hannah come to a dam. There seems to be no way across, except by bridge, but the soldiers are converging on it from both directions. Max and Hannah hide, sure that they will be spotted at any second. Suddenly, a call comes through the soldier’s radios that another team has already captured the prisoners. The soldiers on the bridge disperse. Max spots an old power cable. She grabs Hannah and they ride the cable across the dam to temporary safety.
Meanwhile, Lydecker is waiting for his prisoners to be delivered, but when his men arrive they tell him that someone’s been jamming their transmissions. We find that it was Logan, giving Lydecker’s men false information to steer them away from Max and Hannah. The women get to the shore and find a boat, but Max can’t get it started. All seems lost, until a speedboat coasts up to them, with Eric at the helm. The three take off, just seconds ahead of the bad guys.
Later, Eric says goodbye to Max (“We are two very different people”), and Max reluctantly says goodbye to Hannah. But before they part, Hannah gives Max some information about her birth mother…
Flushed 1.03
Regie: Terrence O'Hara
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
Max is having a particularly bad time with her seizures. Needing extra Tryptophan to calm them, and not having any money to pay her supplier, Max “borrows” the cash that Kendra had collected from the other squatters in the building to pay off Walter Eastep, the cop. Max steals a gangster’s ride and tries to sell it to replace the cash, but the fence can’t pay her till the next morning. Max leaves empty-handed.
When Max gets home, Kendra and Original Cindy are waiting for her. She’s been acting odd lately – sick, forgetful, short-tempered – so they searched her things and found the pills. Assuming that the Tryptophan is a drug of some kind, they’ve tossed them down the drain and now want Max to get some help. Max freaks. Goes to her regular supplier for more, but she’s out. Desperate, Max tries to steal more pills from the local hospital, but in her weakened condition she can’t fight off the security guards when they discover her riffling the pharmacy. Max is arrested.
Eastep arrives the next morning for his payoff, and when Kendra still doesn’t have the cash, he has everyone thrown out in the street. Meanwhile, Max is getting booked. She meets BREAK, a militant clothing storeowner. Break has been through the system before, and he takes pity on the sickly Max, whose seizures are getting worse without the Tryptophan.
Logan arrives at Jam Pony, looking for Max. Original Cindy gives him a piece of her mind, and accuses him of getting her girl hooked up on drugs. Logan figures out what’s happened, and tells Original Cindy that without the Tryptophan Max will die. Original Cindy is devastated that she’s unwittingly put her friend in mortal danger.
With Break’s help, Max attempts an escape, but she’s captured before she can get over the fence. The WARDEN arrives. Instructs the guards to bring her up to his house.
Logan’s contact on the police force, DETECTIVE MATT SUNG gets Logan some more Tryptophan, and “arrests” Original Cindy so she can get into the prison and bring it to Max. Once there, Original Cindy meets Break, who tells her that Max has been taken up to the Warden’s house. He uses his connections with a guard to get Original Cindy assigned to work detail at the house.
Meanwhile, Vogelsang gets a call from a friend of his at the prison, telling him that a girl with a barcode on her neck has been brought in. He tips off Lydecker, who promptly mobilizes the troops and heads out.
Max wakes up at the Warden’s house and meets MARIA, the maid. She’s sweet, very young, and seems happy that Max will be staying with them. Max, in her delirium, dreams that Maria is really LUCY, her former foster sister who was abused by their foster dad when Max was a child. Max still feels guilty that when she escaped the foster home she didn’t take Lucy with her. It’s clear that the Warden has been sexually abusing Maria, but Max is too weak to stop him. The Warden has plans for Max too, just as soon as she’s feeling a little better.
Original Cindy infiltrates the house, and Maria tells her where Max is being kept. Lydecker has arrived at the prison and is searching the population, but the Warden is smart enough to know he’ll be searching the house next. He goes to get Max to turn her over, but Original Cindy has given her the Tryptophan and Max now handily overpowers him. Original Cindy grabs hold of the Warden’s gun, and they force him to take them to his car. Max, not willing to make the same mistake she did when she was young, insists that they bring Maria with them. The Warden drives off the grounds while Original Cindy holds his own gun on him, and Max and Maria hide in the trunk.
The Warden pulls a fast one and knocks Original Cindy unconscious. He’s about to shoot Max and Maria through the trunk lid when Max bursts it open. Just then, a jeep full of prison guards arrives. Max takes them out and jumps behind the wheel of the Jeep. The Warden has trained his gun on Max, but she slams the Jeep into his car, which knocks into him and sends him off a ravine.
Lydecker attempts to retrieve Max’s prison records, but Logan has hacked into the system and deleted them. Logan also finds a home for Maria, and sends a personal “Eyes Only” video to Walter warning him to quit shaking down the squatters…
C.R.E.A.M. 1.04
Regie: Chris Long
Drehbuch: David Zabel
A young woman, ALINA, comes to “Eyes Only,” asking him to help her find her missing father, NATHAN HERRERO. Herrero was a journalist, and he made a lot of enemies in his day. Two years ago he “disappeared” – kidnapped from his home by persons unknown and has never been seen alive since. Alina wants “Eyes Only” to find out what happened to him.
Logan discusses taking the case with Max. It becomes clear that, back in the days of the free press, Herrero was something of a mentor to Logan. Max, who finds herself naturally empathizing with a girl who’s looking for her missing family, encourages him to help Alina. She also agrees to do the necessary legwork.
Max’s first assignment is to get Herrero’s police file from the municipal building. She tangles with a security guard, but eventually retrieves the file and escapes on her motorcycle.
Meanwhile, Sketchy has gotten himself into a jam. He’s been working as a mule for a local mob boss/casino owner named RAFE, delivering packages of money. One package has disappeared, and Sketchy’s on the hook for the missing $15G.
Logan checks out Herrero’s file and uncovers a lead – Herrero’s housekeeper, REBECCA, purchased an apartment soon after he was snatched. Logan suspects that she may have been paid off by someone, and sends Max to bug the place. However, when Max arrives at the apartment, she sees that Rebecca doesn’t live there alone – her “roommate” is the very-much-alive Nathan Herrero.
Logan contacts Herrero and they meet. Herrero tells Logan that he fell in love with Rebecca and was tired of fighting the losing battles, so he faked his own disappearance. Logan tries to convince him that the struggle needs him more than ever – Allan Lans, a major bad guy, is about to be elected police commissioner – but Herrero feels he never made a real difference in the world. Now, he just wants to enjoy what life he has left for him.
Logan tells Herrero about Alina, and how much she wants to see him. Herrero is surprised – he admits he wasn’t much of a father, but is willing to try to make it up to her. Logan is bitterly disappointed in his mentor, but Max sees things a little more clearly: Herrero is alive, and she’s happy to go give Alina the good news.
With business taken care of, Max and Original Cindy set about getting Sketchy’s money for him. They dress up, and head out for Rafe’s casino. Max calculates the speed of the wheel and the ball to win at roulette, but it’s at poker that she really excels – when she shuffles the deck she can see the corner of each card fall into place, and instantly etches them into her photographic memory. Max and Original Cindy win $15G, which they hand off to Sketchy in the alley. He promptly goes inside to pay off Rafe with his own cash.
That night, Herrero’s apartment blows up, and Logan and Max realize that they were played – Alina hired them to find her father so she could sell him out to Allan Lans, who then had him killed for real. Max goes looking for Alina and finds her making her escape by train with a suitcase full of money. Max confronts her. They struggle, and the suitcase breaks open, scattering money out an open train car door and into the wind.
At the same time, Logan receives a package. Inside is a tape from Herrero, made the day before. A thank you for helping to reunite him with his daughter, and some information he’d been developing that Allan Lans was responsible for the death of a Seattle District Attorney. Logan airs the tape as an “Eyes Only” streaming freedom video. Although it may not affect Lans’ election to police commissioner, he’s able to honor his mentor one last time…
411 on the DL 1.05
Regie: Joe Ann Fogle
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
While out riding her motorcycle one night, Max is pulled over by corrupt police officers who confiscate her bike on the bogus pretext of a broken taillight. When Max tries to get her Ninja out of impound, the cops demand three thousand dollars for it – well more than she can afford. Original Cindy suggests that she look in the newspaper for a new bike, but when Max looks in the classifieds, she is surprised to find her barcode number listed there alongside a time and place. Apparently, someone wants a secret meeting with Max.
Logan cautions Max: the meeting could be a trap. Lydecker knows Max’s barcode; he could be trying to draw her out. Max sees the logic of Logan’s argument, but counters with an equally plausible alternative. Zack also knows her barcode number – what if it’s him?
Max arrives at the location, but finds neither Lydecker nor Zack. It’s Vogelsang. He has information on the twelve Manticore escapees, but he wants fifteen thousand dollars for it. He doesn’t care how she gets the money, but he wants it ASAP. Vogelsang is offering a one-time-only opportunity; with or without the cash, he’s getting out of Seattle and as far away as possible from Lydecker.
Meanwhile, at Jam Pony, Normal fires Herbal Thought for smoking pot in the bathroom. The gang protests, but Herbal remains cool. As far as he’s concerned, it’s all part of the Most High’s plan. Normal wastes no time in hiring a replacement for Herbal, a young go-getter by the name of Sam, who is instantly shunned by the rest of the Jam Pony community.
In a desperate attempt to get Vogelsang’s money, Max visits Logan and finds him with his ex-wife, Valerie. Valerie is back in town to make amends with Logan, part of a twelve-step program she’s been working as part of her alcoholic recovery. Max has to cover her jealousy when she sees the rapport between the two. Logan refuses to give Max the money she needs, thinking she’s being played by Vogelsang and insisting that she’s heading down a dangerous path.
Running out of time, Max comes up with a solution that will not only net her the cash she needs, it will also get her back her motorcycle. She breaks into the police impound yard, cracks the safe, steals a large sum of money and recovers her bike. She’s ready to meet with Vogelsang. Unbeknownst to Max and Vogelsang, however, Lydecker has learned of their impending meeting. The bug he planted on Vogelsang a few weeks ago has finally paid off. When Max and Vogelsgang meet, he’ll be there.
In the meantime, Jam Pony has become a madhouse. In protest of Herbal’s termination, the messengers have staged a work slow-down. The only one who’s trying to do his best is Sam, who’s still getting the cold shoulder from the Jam Pony gang. Normal sends him out on a run with Max, and Sam tries to befriend Max over a cup of coffee. But Max is elusive. She’s waiting for Vogelsang to ring the payphone and tell her where to meet; she doesn’t listen to a word Sam says and bolts out of the coffee shop as soon as she receives word from Vogelsang.
With some time to kill, Max kicks back with her friends at The Wall. The comical sight of Sketchy’s uneven tan sparks something in Max’s mind – Logan’s ex, Valerie, had a tan line where a wedding band would normally be. Suspicious, Max follows Valerie and finds that she is indeed married to a young stud named Mitch.
Max then rides to meet Vogelsang, only to find a crime scene at Vogelsang’s rooming house. Someone put a bullet through Vogelsang’s head. The presence of Lydecker’s men gives Max a good idea who pulled the trigger.
Back at Logan’s, Max explains about Vogelsang and the information he took to his grave. Logan points her in the right direction – a tattoo parlor in Chinatown. As she’s walking out, Max stops. She has some bad news for Logan. It’s about Valerie…
Max pieces together a set of clues and hurries to a boarding house where she thinks another barcode kid is lodging. She finds Zack, a.k.a. Sam. It seems that big brother had been keeping his eye on Max and took the Jam Pony job to have a closer look at her life. Max and Zack flee as Lydecker’s men bear down on the boarding house. Afterwards, they have a moment to catch up.
As it turns out, Zack is not the loving brother Max expected. He’s still in full Manticore mode. Ever the soldier, it was Zack that killed Vogelsang to keep the information about the twelve a secret… a secret he refuses to tell even Max. “The less we know about each other, the better,” he says. As her commanding officer, Zack orders Max to leave Seattle; her position has been compromised. Max refuses – she’s not a soldier, and he’s not her C.O. Disappointed, Zack leaves… he can’t be responsible for her if she won’t follow the rules.
Meanwhile, Logan gives Valerie an envelope full of money. That’s what she came for, isn’t it? Valerie feigns ignorance, but Logan says he understands; it’s a tough world out there since The Pulse. Valerie takes the money and leaves Logan’s life for good.
After a small gathering to celebrate Herbal’s re-hiring at Jam Pony, Max stops by Logan’s and they share their recent disappointments. Valerie and Zack both turned out to be different than they hoped. Max and Logan are left feeling very much alone… but at least they have each other.
Prodigy 1.06
Regie: David Jackson
Drehbuch: Charles H. Eglee & René Echevarria, Patrick Harbinson (Teleplay)
Kendra has a new gig. She’s translating Japanese into English for Dr. Yukio Tanaka, a geneticist who is in Seattle to host a genetics conference at the Steinlitz Hotel. When Max learns that Tanaka turned a sickly baby into a healthy child by re-sequencing his DNA, she wonders if he might be able to help her with her seizures. She asks Logan for phony press credentials so that she can attend the conference. Despite his misgivings about “Dr. Feelgood,” he acquiesces.
At the conference, Max introduces herself to Tanaka as Rachel Glasser, a reporter from BioTech Frontiers magazine. She impresses him with her knowledge of genetics before moving to Kendra and making sure her roommate doesn’t blow her cover.
Tanaka begins his presentation, telling the attendees about Jude, a crack baby whose DNA was manipulated using groundbreaking gene-sequencing techniques; not only did Tanaka save Jude from his flawed genes, he turned the boy into a young genius. As Max watches footage of Jude’s first years, she recalls her childhood training at Manticore. While she’s ruminating, a man takes the empty seat next to her in the crowded auditorium. Lydecker.
Luckily, Lydecker doesn’t recognize Max. As it turns out, he’s also here to learn about Tanaka’s work. Remembering Lydecker’s own lessons on the importance of knowing one’s enemy, Max tempers her revulsion and engages Lydecker in conversation as Rachel Glasser.
Suddenly, a commotion interrupts Tanaka’s presentation and armed gunmen storm the conference room. Their leader, Jon Darius, proclaims that they are members of the May 22nd Movement, an anti-technology terrorist faction that takes its inspiration from the Unabomber, the ultimate technophobe. They are here to rescue Jude from those who would exploit him. Before the terrorists can make a quiet escape with the boy, Lydecker pulls the fire alarm. Authorities respond instantly, forcing Darius to take the conference-goers hostage.
Darius contacts the police and demands safe passage for himself, his colleagues, and the boy. He announces that he will kill a hostage an hour until his demands are met. Logan and Bling arrive at the Steinlitz just in time to witness the killing of the first hostage, Dr. Tanaka, who is flung from the roof of the hotel.
When Logan learns that Max is one of the hostages, he volunteers to act as an intermediary. Logan knows Darius – he interviewed the terrorist a few years ago – and thinks he may be able to gain his trust. As a gesture of goodwill, Darius agrees to release the female hostages, but only if Logan will take their place. The terrorists usher Max, Kendra and the other women to the exits as Logan enters. But Max isn’t about to leave Logan and Jude in the hands of armed terrorists; hanging back, she takes out a terrorist and goes back to the auditorium.
Outside, the National Guard has taken control of the situation and is opting for aggressive measures. They land troops on the hotel roof and shoot terrorists at the entrances. Darius is furious; thinking he’s been tricked, he orders Logan tossed from the roof as well. Darius’ men throw Logan over the edge, but Max swoops in at the last possible moment, saving Logan from the same fate as Tanaka. The two smash through a hotel window and onto a bed, where they chastise each other for putting themselves in such danger. After an embarrassed silence, they agree to put the argument aside until later. Saving Jude and the others is the top priority.
Surprisingly, Max and Logan find an unexpected ally in Lydecker, who tries to save the day but is quickly overpowered by Darius’ men. Ironically, Max winds up saving her nemesis’ life. She takes out the remaining terrorists in the auditorium, then goes to find Jude, who has been whisked away by Darius. Max easily finds and knocks out Darius, then turns to the distraught Jude. Tanaka is the only family he has ever known: what will happen to him now? Max assures him that everything will be okay before taking him in her arms and to safety.
In the aftermath of the National Guard siege, Lydecker finds a group of soldiers mercilessly beating Darius. He reproaches them for violating Darius’ right to due process – do they want Darius showing up for trial bruised and beaten? Of course not, the soldiers mutter. Neither does Lydecker; so he takes a soldier’s pistol and shoots Darius dead. Problem solved.
That night, Max wonders if she did the right thing by saving Lydecker’s life. Logan commends Max. She made the right choice, at least morally speaking. Max agrees, but can’t help wonder what will happen the next time they cross paths.
Gold Comfort 1.07
Regie: Jefery Levy
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Two grocers discover a young woman frozen solid in their meat locker. Assuming her to be dead, they receive the shock of their lives when the young woman, Brin, awakens and flees. Brin, like Max, is one of the 12 Manticore escapees. She contacts Zack and tells him she needs his help. But when Zack arrives to rendezvous with Brin, men in black SUVs attack and grab Brin; Zack is helpless.
Meanwhile, a businessman by the unlikely name of Mr. Sivapathasundaram has shown an interest in purchasing Jam Pony. Normal, in an attempt to spruce up the place, designs official “Ride With Pride” jerkins for the gang and imposes an iron-fisted regime. Miserable at the thought of working for the new and improved Jam Pony, Original Cindy vows to take matters into her own hands.
When Max returns home after a day’s work, she finds a wounded Zack waiting for her, about to pass out. “Lydecker has Brin” is all he can say before losing consciousness. Zack wakes to find himself at Logan’s. He explains about Brin: she’d been acting erratically, she called him, but Lydecker’s men took her before he could get to her. Max tells her brother that they have to find her, but Zack insists that she’s gone; they should move on. Max refuses to follow Zack’s directive – she’ll try to save Brin with or without his help. The first step is to find Lydecker. With Logan’s help, they unearth Lydecker’s DOD records, which tell the tale of his shining career in the military… until his wife was murdered. Upon losing his wife, Lydecker descended into a life of alcohol, eventually pulling himself out of it and presumably heading up Manticore. Hoping that Lydecker’s still “in the program,” Max and Zack attend a local AA meeting, find Lydecker and kidnap him.
Meanwhile, the Jam Pony gang springs into action. Having neutralized Normal with laxatives, they take over the place and, as Sketchy leads Mr. Sivapathasundaram on a tour, fake a toxic chemical spill. Sketchy hurries Sivapathasundaram into the back room. They must escape this place, urges Sivapathasundaram. Sketchy directs him to the chained-up trap door that leads to the steam tunnels. That way lies salvation. They bust through the steam tunnels just as Normal arrives at Jam Pony looking for Sivapathasundaram. Original Cindy informs him that the prospective buyer flaked. It’s back to normal for Jam Pony.
Max and Zack interrogate Lydecker, but their nemesis insists he doesn’t have Brin. He informs them that a number of interested parties could’ve kidnapped Brin in order to sell her as a sophisticated weapons system. After all, her DNA is worth millions. With Logan’s help, Max and Zack discover that she has indeed been put on the market by Major Jake Sanders, a former colleague of Lydecker’s who has been using the nearby Fort Xavier to broker illegal arms deals. They resolve to spring their sister from captivity, but Lydecker insists on tagging along. He can get them in the front door. Max and Zack warily agree, but as soon as they are within the gates of Fort Xavier, Lydecker betrays them and puts them in lockup with Brin.
Max and Zack aren’t surprised by Lydecker’s betrayal, but they are taken aback by the condition in which they find Brin. She’s suffering from a form of progeria that is causing rapid aging and could cost Brin her life within forty-eight hours. Max and Zack spring into action, and sneak the ailing X5 out of the brig. Meanwhile, Lydecker and Sanders turn against each other, and their soldiers duke it out while the X5s barrel out the front gate in Lydecker’s Hummer.
But Brin’s condition is deteriorating; Lydecker contacts Max on the radio and convinces her that the only way to save Brin is to hand her over to him so that he can return her to Manticore. Brin pleads with Max… she doesn’t want to die. Max and Zack tearfully return Brin to Lydecker.
Blah Blah Woof Woof 1.08
Regie: Paul Shapiro
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Having recaptured Brin, Lydecker returns to Seattle to pick up where he left off. Instead of scouring the city for Max, however, he will make the city bring Max to him. He plasters wanted posters with Max’s likeness all over the city, offering a reward for $50,000 for the murderer of Dan Vogelsang.
Meanwhile, Dr. Carr informs Logan that he needs surgery to remove a bullet fragment that was left in his spine when he was shot a few months back. The bullet has shifted, and now poses a significant risk to Logan’s health. The operation is risky, but leaving the fragment where it is could be worse.
That evening, Logan comes home to find Zack waiting for him. He fills Logan in on the wanted posters that pepper the city. He’s convinced that Max’s only chance to avoid Lydecker is to leave Seattle with him immediately. Though uneasy with the idea of Max leaving, Logan knows Zack is right.
Zack and Logan bail Max out of a close call with some of Lydecker’s men, and Logan arranges for Max and Zack to leave the country and hole up in his family’s cabin. With Max in the dark about his upcoming medical procedure, Logan and Max share a tender kiss goodbye before he returns to the city.
That night, Max and Zack have a moment of quiet in which Max discovers that her big brother isn’t always the tough commander he makes himself out to be. As Max tries to sleep, however, she’s troubled by the nagging feeling that Logan needs her. When she calls Seattle, her fears are confirmed by Bling, who tells her that Logan is going under the knife. Max resolves to come back to Logan, but Zack chastises her – she’s risking her life going back to a city that has declared her a public enemy. The two come to blows over Max’s decision, and Zack has to wash his hands of her. If she’s going to put her life on the line for foolish sentimentality, she’ll do so without him.
Max returns to find a post-op Logan in dire straits. He’s in desperate need of a blood transfusion, but the Seattle blood banks are practically drained. Lucky for Logan, the X5 class was engineered to be universal donors. She gives Logan the blood he so badly needs, and the two of them share a vision of a beautiful ballroom… of Logan out of his chair… of dancing.
That’s when the authorities burst in and take Max into custody. Luckily for her, though, another suspect has stepped forward and confessed to the murder of Vogelsang. That suspect, much to Max’s surprise, is Zack. As much as he disagreed with his sister’s decision to return to Seattle, he couldn’t stand idly by and let her take the rap for a crime he committed. Max is set free, but Zack is taken back to Manticore. When the chopper carrying him crashes, however, Max is able to hold on to the hope that Zack escaped from his captors.
Out 1.09
Regie: Sarah Pia Anderson
Drehbuch: David Zabel
As Kendra helps Max to make a home-cooked meal for Logan, Logan appears and pulls Max away from the intimate domestic moment – he has important Eyes Only work for them to do. He suspects that a gangster by the name Gerhardt Bronck is stealing the city’s blood supply and selling it overseas. Although Max is upset about her ruined dinner, Logan convinces her of the importance of the mission. Max breaks into Bronck’s hangar, only to find it heavily guarded – despite Logan’s assertions to the contrary. Max has to tuck tail and run amidst a rain of gunfire.
Back at Logan’s, Max berates Logan for his constant single-mindedness. It’s like the only thing that matters in his life is Eyes Only. And if that’s the case, says Max, he can count her out. She’s done working for Eyes Only.
Undeterred, Logan continues to investigate Bronck’s dealings with the help of Detective Sung. But Bronck is one step ahead of Logan. The privileged information Sung has just acquired for Eyes Only was planted by the gangster; when Eyes Only goes public with Sung’s material, Bronck realizes that the detective is in league with Eyes Only, and determines to use the noble cop to bring down the cyber-crusader. When Sung gets together with Logan, Bronck’s thugs move in and abduct them both.
Meanwhile, Max goes on a delivery in a violent, gang-ridden area of town and sees Bronck’s men kidnapping young girls off the street. Wondering how this fits into Bronck’s plan, she calls Logan, only to learn from Bling that the man behind Eyes Only was kidnapped by Bronck and his men.
Demanding to know Eyes Only’s true identity, Bronck tortures Sung before Logan’s eyes. Unwilling to let the gangster kill his friend and informant, Logan reveals his secret to Bronck: he’s Eyes Only. Bronck doubts Logan’s veracity, but Logan’s insistence starts to change the gangster’s mind… until a mysterious caller claiming to be the real Eyes Only calls Bronck, demanding the release of his informants.
The mystery caller is none other than Max, posing as Eyes Only via a voice synthesizer. Bronck traces the call and orders his men to intercept the caller. However, Max has already anticipated his move and has diverted the signal to the other end of town, smack into the center of violent gang turf – where Bronck’s men and the gangbangers collide in a hail of bullets and violence. With Bronck’s goons out of the equation, Max must now figure out where Logan and Sung are being held before Bronck realizes he’s been had.
Listening to a tape of her conversation with Bronck, Max’s heightened hearing detects a foghorn in the background as well as the sound of planes flying overhead. She deduces that Logan and Sung must be near a particular airfield and springs into action. She rescues Logan and Sung, and intercepts Bronck as he tries to make his getaway on his private jet. She takes down Bronck and rescues the group of children he had stowed in the cargo hold. It turns out that Bronck wasn’t smuggling blood after all, but running an international prostitution ring, stealing children from the streets of Seattle and shipping them overseas to serve as sex slaves.
With the mission accomplished, Max and Logan mend fences. She was wrong to just walk out on Eyes Only, but he was wrong to put their lives on hold. After all, they live in a broken world, and the world will still be broken tomorrow.
Red 1.10
Regie: Michael Katleman
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee, Jose Molina & David Zabel (Teleplay)
Logan recruits Max to bodyguard an important witness in the upcoming trial of Mayor Leopold Steckler. Worried that witness protection won’t be able to keep this key player safe, Logan insists that Max bail him out of police custody and take him to a secure location. What Max and Logan don’t know until Max snatches the witness away from the cops is that the man they have to protect is none other than Bruno Anselmo, the man responsible for putting Logan in his wheelchair.
Max takes Bruno to Logan’s safehouse, disgusted at having to keep this lowlife safe, even if it is for a good cause. Bruno wastes no time in validating Max’s low opinion of him, summoning a couple of call girls to the safehouse while Max picks up a couple of pizzas for their dinner.
Max is forced to relocate Bruno to an out-of-the-way hotel, but Bruno again circumvents his bodyguard, giving Max the slip and sneaking off to a nearby biker bar. Max finds him about to pick a fight with a local. She quickly dispatches a handful of brawlers and hauls Bruno out of the bar… as a mysterious onlooker by the name of Johannessen watches them go… then picks up the phone and tells the person on the other line to gather the team.
Back at the hotel, Max chews Bruno out for risking his own life, then handcuffs him to the bed and allows him to make a phone call to his little girl, Anabelle. When Max steps out of the room to give Bruno some privacy, she witnesses three thugs arrive at the hotel and rough-up the concierge. Assuming they’re here for Bruno, Max drags the suddenly tender daddy off the phone and they speed off on her motorcycle just as the lethal trio burst into their empty room, weapons drawn.
The next morning, Max informs Logan about their encounter; Logan promises to look into it. Then Max and Bruno are off to the park for a quick rendezvous with Anabelle and her mother, Mary Jo. They have another run-in with a would-be assassin, and Max once again saves Bruno’s hide before escorting him to the courthouse.
In the meantime, Logan has contacted a paraplegic informant by the name of Sebastian, who uses the hotel’s security footage to determine that the trio of assailants are part of an elite South African group known as the Red Series. The Reds are fitted with a brain implant that renders them impervious to pain and makes them inhumanly strong. They would be the perfect soldiers, except that the chip in their brains causes them to burn out and die after only a few months. Sebastian and Logan realize that the Reds weren’t after Bruno – they were after Max. If they can get their hands on Manticore’s transgenic technology, they might be able to keep the implants from burning out. Logan races to the courthouse to warn Max of the impending threat.
At the courthouse, Bruno’s testimony is interrupted by a bomb threat. Max shuffles Bruno out of the courtroom, but he insists that they exit through the garage. Max follows her charge, only to find the Reds and Johannessen waiting for them in the basement. Bruno smiles, his betrayal of Max complete, then proceeds to collect a briefcase full of cash from Johannessen. Bruno bids a smarmy adieu to Max, then exits as the Reds move in on their quarry. Max faces off with the Reds and quickly realizes that this is a fight she might not win.
Logan sees Bruno exit the garage by himself and peels his car into the underground parking in search of Max. Logan screeches into the garage to find Max in dire straits, battered and bloody from her encounter with the South Africans. He pulls his gun and opens fire on the Reds, allowing Max enough time to jump into his car and escape. Logan burns rubber, leaving the Reds in his dust, foiled for the time being, but very much alive and ready to fight another day.
Art Attack 1.11
Regie: James Contner
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
Max agrees to attend a Cale family wedding as Logan’s date. Logan warns her that this probably won’t be a fun affair, but he is grateful that she’s willing to accompany him and keep him sane in the midst of his family’s insanity.
Meanwhile, a man by the name of Runyon contracts Jam Pony to deliver a package for him. He tries to drive home the importance of this delivery to Sketchy, but Sketchy nonetheless uses the packing tube to play-fence with Sky. Unbeknownst to the Jam Poniers, the contents of the tube get switched with those of another packing tube. When the delivery is made to Duvalier, an impatient art smuggler, he discovers that the contents are not the stolen Norman Rockwell painting he expected. He takes out his anger on Arnie Haas, Runyon’s partner, but Haas assures him that there must have been some slip up at Jam Pony. Looking to set things right, Duvalier’s men snatch Normal from Jam Pony and demand their painting.
Normal contacts Original Cindy and begs for help. Original Cindy determines that Duvalier’s painting was mistakenly delivered by Max to an architectural firm. She calls Max and tells her that Normal’s life depends on her retrieval of the Rockwell. Max slips out of the wedding – away from Logan’s abusive Uncle Jonas and his ex-fiancée Daphne – and breaks into the firm where she delivered the painting. She delivers the Rockwell to Duvalier, who pops open the tube and unrolls the painting… only to discover that it’s a forgery. Figuring that Runyon has double-crossed him, Duvalier flings Haas out a nearby window and demands that Max find Runyon and get him the right painting. Otherwise, he’ll throw Normal out another window.
Max finds Runyon and smacks the truth out of him: he sold the original painting to another buyer and tried to pull a fast one on Duvalier. Max and Original Cindy return to the wedding and explain the situation to Logan, who tracks down Runyon’s buyer. Max bolts off to a submarine yard to retrieve the Rockwell from a docked Korean submarine… leaving Original Cindy at the wedding to keep an eye on Logan and Daphne.
Max steals the painting from the submarine captain and manages to escape without wrinkling her fancy dress. She delivers the painting to Duvalier, drives Normal home, then returns to the wedding. Logan can’t believe that she would deliver a priceless work of art to a lowlife smuggler, and determines to get the Rockwell back from Duvalier. He sets up a sting at the airport – the authorities arrest Duvalier for the murder of Arnie Haas as Max casually strolls off with the painting; Logan has essentially managed to frame Duvalier for a murder he did commit and steal from him the painting that he stole.
Rising 1.12
Regie: Duane Clark
Drehbuch: Jose Molina & David Zabel, Moira Kirland Dekker & Doris Egan (Teleplay)
After the death of one of their members, the Red Series are more intent than ever on capturing Max and the transgenic technology in her DNA. Johannessen reminds them that the girl is their only salvation. He’s been working on tracking Max down via her broken pager, but it’s taken longer than expected. Soon, he promises, they will find her.
Blissfully unaware of the looming threat, Max arrives for work at Jam Pony to discover that Original Cindy has found another job. They share an emotional farewell and agree to meet at Crash for a celebration later that night. What Original Cindy doesn’t realize, however, is that the Reds have already paid a visit to her apartment and are trying to use her to get to Max.
Meanwhile, Logan begins to recover sensation in his legs and surmises that the blood transfusion he received from Max is the cause. In an attempt to speed along the healing, Max transfuses Logan again. The transfusion seems to have little effect, however, and Logan’s frustration at being confined to the chair is starting to show.
That night at Crash, the whole gang parties and celebrates Original Cindy’s new gig. The party ends abruptly for Max, however, when the Reds arrive at Crash, forcing her to flee. The Reds give Max a run for her money, their single-mindedness and resilience making them formidable opponents. She escapes two of the Reds and fights the remaining one to the death; as the defeated Red breathes his last, his final words are a plea to Max: “make us live.”
Max and Logan visit Sebastian, who explains that Johannessen has misled the Reds. He’s told them that Max’s DNA can save them from the implant in their brains, but in actuality the South Africans only want Max’s genes to create a new generation of Reds who are impervious to the effects of the chip. Max has no interest in being mommy to a breed of killing machines, so she and Logan set about determining how to defeat the Reds.
That’s when Original Cindy calls Max from her new job at Meridian Insurance. Max hears a frightened tone in Cindy’s voice and instantly determines that she’s in trouble – the Reds have kidnapped Original Cindy to get to her. Max sneaks out of Logan’s apartment and into Sebastian’s, stealing the brain implant they recovered from the fallen Red. Sebastian begs her not to use it, but she knows it’s the only way she can save Original Cindy and vanquish the Reds. She jams the implant into her neck and is seized by the tell-tale convulsions that indicate the implant’s attachment to her brain.
Max crashes into Meridian Insurance and takes on the Reds. The battle is long, violent and heated, but Max eventually prevails. Johannessen emerges from the shadows, standing over a weakened Max, wanting the implant in her head and callously commenting how little he cared about the Reds… at which point Red Five rises up and, with his last ounce of strength, slams an axe into Johannessen’s chest. The Red dies and Max collapses, the implant wreaking havoc on her system. Logan arrives at Meridian in the nick of time and, following Sebastian’s instructions, deactivates the implant and saves Max’s life.
Back at Logan’s, Max finally comes clean with Original Cindy about her past. Original Cindy is surprised by Max’s revelations, and the two have a tearful conversation which ends with the two friends closer together than ever before. Later, Logan has his own surprise for Max. As he rises out of his wheelchair, Max’s look of astonishment fills his eyes. Logan thanks Max for giving him back the life he lost when he was shot, and explains that there’s something he’s wanted to do ever since he met Max. As they ride off on her motorcycle – Logan driving and shifting gears with his newly functional legs – Max ruminates over the potential changes in their relationship.
The Kidz Are Aiight 1.13
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
Original Cindy’s encounter with the Reds gets her evicted from her apartment, so Max invites her to move into her crib. Meanwhile, thanks to Logan’s newly recovered mobility, Max and Logan’s relationship appears to be moving in a new direction. Despite both Max and Logan’s protestations, Bling and Original Cindy know that they could be heading towards the intimacy they’ve denied each other for the past several months.
In the midst of the idyllic romance between Max and Logan, however, lies intense pain… for Zack. He’s been at Manticore for months now, enduring Lydecker’s relentless torture. Eventually, Zack’s body succumbs to the torture and he dies. But his death is hardly permanent; it turns out that the doctor who had been administering the torturous treatments has had a change of heart and has helped Zack escape by faking his death. In his efforts to help Zack out of Manticore, however, the doctor is shot and killed. Having nowhere to turn, Zack puts in a desperate call to Max, interrupting a quiet moment between Max and Logan.
Max leaves Logan behind and comes to Zack’s rescue. He’s so damaged by the months at Manticore that he has trouble remembering anything… including Max’s identity. Max helps him remember the other X5s, prompting him to reveal details about Zane, Krit, Syl and Tinga. They soon realize, however, that Lydecker is listening to their conversation. The Manticore doctor was not helping Zack to escape, but setting him up, bugging him in hopes that he would reveal to another X5 the information he just spilled to Max; Manticore now knows everything they need to track down another handful of X5s.
Max and Zack race to Logan’s with the news, and Logan puts out an Eyes Only message to the imperiled X5s. Zane, Krit and Syl receive the message and go underground before Lydecker can get to them, but Tinga is not so lucky. Zack and Max rush to Portland to help their sister escape, and the three genetically engineered super-soldiers handily defeat Lydecker’s men.
Zack and Tinga hot-wire a car and burn rubber out of Portland, leaving Max to go back to Seattle and Logan. But when Max returns, she finds Logan strangely cold. Max is confused by Logan’s distance, not realizing that his legs have started giving out on him again.
Female Trouble 1.14
Regie: John Kretchmer
Drehbuch: Patrick Harbinson
Fearing that he’s losing his recently recovered mobility, Logan is keeping Max at arm’s length. In hopes of keeping his legs, he’s receiving mysterious treatments from a doctor by the name of Vertes, but doesn’t want Max to know about it. Curious as to what’s going on with the suddenly distant Logan, Max follows him to Vertes’ office and, after Logan leaves, demands to know the truth from the doctor, who refuses to talk to Max.
Suddenly, gunfire erupts from overhead. Apparently, someone wants Vertes dead. Max rescues the doctor and engages the would-be assassin. Although the shooter escapes, Max recognizes her as Jace, one of the X5s who stayed behind at Manticore during the ’09 escape. When Max asks why an X5 assassin would be gunning for her, Vertes feigns ignorance. But Max discovers the answer for herself, searching in her memory and remembering Vertes. She was a doctor at Manticore – in fact, she was one of the key architects of the transgenic program.
When Max breaks the news to Logan, he’s unfazed… and unapologetic for his secretiveness. He explains that his legs are starting to fail him, and that another transfusion from Max wouldn’t help. Only Vertes can get him back on his feet. He wants to walk again – needs to walk again – even if that means going behind Max’s back and seeking help from those who tortured Max in her youth. Upset at Logan’s duplicity, but realizing how important this is to him, Max takes Logan back to see Vertes.
When they get to Vertes’ office, she’s on her way out the door until Max stops her. Confronted with the truth, Vertes cops to her shameful past. Guilt-ridden by her participation in Manticore experiments, she left years ago and went into hiding. Recently, however, some of Vertes’ colleagues have mysteriously died; she knows she’s next. Max convinces Vertes that she’ll keep her safe. She’s not skipping town until she finishes treating Logan.
When Jace returns to kill Vertes, Max is ready. As they battle, Max tries to reason with Jace, but her sibling is too well conditioned and doesn’t let up. But just when it looks like the two X5s are at a stalemate, Jace collapses in pain. Vertes examines Jace and learns that she’s pregnant. Max and her sister have a tete-a-tete, but Jace isn’t buying what she considers to be Max’s propaganda. As far as Jace is concerned, Max is a traitor. Max finally manages to talk some sense into Jace; if she goes back to Manticore, she knows exactly what they’ll do to her baby. Jace and her baby both deserve to live free.
Meanwhile, Vertes secretly contacts Lydecker and offers him a deal. She will turn over Max and Jace if Lydecker will spare her life. Lydecker agrees and, with Vertes’ help, he re-acquires Jace. Of course, no sooner does Lydecker have Jace than he turns on Vertes and shoots her. But when Lydecker tries to use Jace to capture Max, the pregnant X5 turns right around and betrays Lydecker. Max and Jace speed off on Max’s motorcycle, Max blowing their nemesis a kiss goodbye as they go.
Logan is despondent at the loss of Vertes… indeed, to the point of contemplating suicide. He quickly realizes, however, that he has too much to live for to take his own life. He helps Jace find passage out of the country, leaving Max hopeful that Logan will recover from the blow to his psyche.
Haven 1.15
Regie: Michael Rhodes
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Max and Logan had planned a “country” get-away, leaving the city for fresh air, campfires, and s’mores. Logan has his job in mind, however, so he takes them to a small town, Camp Haven, where he can track down a possible informant. Camp Haven was a resort town before the pulse, but now it is a small, insular community very wary of outsiders. Nevertheless, Logan has rented a quaint house from the town doctor and her young nephew, Sage.
Max was not aware of Logan’s ulterior motives and blows up when she finds out. She makes him pursue his job on his own, while she relaxes. These leads into two separate storylines for awhile. Logan is trying to find a former Seattle police officer who may have been involved with, or know information about, the massacre of 18 unarmed civilian protesters shortly after the pulse. That police officer is now the sheriff of the town. When Logan meets him, he denies that he’s the person Logan is talking about.
Meanwhile, Max is trying to relax, but her seizures have suddenly picked up and are more severe than usual. She and Sage end up bonding during one of her attacks, and then later they hang out together. Sage is a little odd, and over the course of the episode, Max pieces together his history, which even he doesn’t know. Just after the pulse, some of the town jerks decided that the foreign family that lived in town must somehow be to blame for the pulse. These men attacked and beat the husband and wife and set fire to the house. Sage was the couple’s child, who was hiding in the closet. He was barely more than a toddler at the time, but he managed to get out of the burning house. The town doctor found him in the woods and took him in. The rest of the town believes the fire was accidental and the whole family was killed; only the doctor and the attackers know the truth (they deduced Sage’s identity).
The sheriff visits Logan at the rental house and reveals that he is in fact the police officer Logan is looking for. However, he denies that the people in question were massacred. He provides a lot more detail and color to the events that happened just after the pulse. Society was in shambles, and people were scared. First, they began attacking and killing people that were “different”, then they began looting in general. The police had the impossible job of trying to maintain order and protect people, despite being attacked themselves, and so sometimes they might have gone too far. Intellectually, I can imagine that anarchy must have developed after the pulse, but his description makes it much more real, especially since he includes small, anecdotal details on an individual level. He denies that the police committed a crime by killing the people. Logan is unmoved by all this and stands firm by the fact that when the people were killed, they were unarmed, and so the police massacred them. Logan wants to know who gave the order and who did the actual killing. The sheriff says he doesn’t know.
Max’s and Logan’s separate investigations occasionally cross, and the tension between them increases. Max is on edge because her seizures have been so bad and so frequent. Logan is on edge because he’s back in his wheelchair again. Everything that one of them says to the other, the other interprets as being some kind of insult.
Things come to a head when the murderers of Sage’s parents decide that Max and Logan know too much and come to confront Logan at the house. From previous encounters with them, Logan knows to arm himself with his pistol; good thing he has it, because Max’s seizures have incapacitated her. Sage looks after her. The men demand that Sage be turned over to them (we’re not sure what for), but Logan refuses. Coincidentally the sheriff arrives and asks the men to leave. They wrestle with the sheriff and shoot him. Then they leave, with the explicit intention of returning. (Frankly, I didn’t catch the reason why they were leaving, but it seemed stupid – why wait until someone notices the sheriff is missing?)
Just before the sheriff dies, he tells Logan he doesn’t know who ordered the civilians to be killed, but that they “all” did the shooting. This is a really unsatisfying ending to Logan’s quest, and it happens in just a few seconds. Logan knows the men will return, so he sets up so traps for them, a la MacGyver. Max is still out of commission, so it’s up to him to fend them off, with a little help from Sage.
The men return after dark (just what were they doing?). True to character, Logan warns them he will use force for defense, but then he wastes no time using it. He set up the sheriff’s abandoned SUV to explode (with a trail of gas, something a recent episode of Mythbusters showed wouldn’t actually work), and then uses his shotgun to good effect. However, there are several men, and they eventually get up to the house and begin breaking in.
During the fighting, Sage has flashbacks back to the original attack on his parents, which adds even more urgency to the scene and nearly incapacitates him. Logan finally manages to kill the last of the men, but not before he starts a fire in the house. Sage unfreezes and gets the fire extinguisher just in time.
Shorthies in Love 1.16
Regie: Paul Shapiro
Drehbuch: Adisa Iwa
Original Cindy’s ex-girlfriend, DIAMOND surprises her with a visit at Crash. Diamond was just paroled, and looked Cindy up because she missed her. Original Cindy feigns disinterest, but Diamond swears she’s turned over a new leaf. Original Cindy can’t hide that she still has feelings for Diamond.
Max is beeped and heads over to Logan’s. He needs her help in bringing down Pierpont Lemkin, the go-to guy in the Marbury Cartel. Word on the Informant Net is that Lemkin’s crew is behind the heist of nuclear warheads from March Air Force Base. Logan needs Max to break into Lemkin’s estate and crack the safe where discs containing incriminating information are kept. Logan has downloaded blueprints of Lemkin’s mansion, but it’s not an easy job because Lemkin is known to have a high-tech security system.
Max returns to her crib to find Diamond staying with them. Apparently, Original Cindy and Diamond are patching things up. Max agrees to let Diamond stay with.
The next day, Max, Original Cindy and Diamond are leaving a club when Max spots danger. Four guys come at them from an SUV – Max has no trouble taking them out, but she’s confused – these weren’t Lydecker’s men. She gives Logan one of their guns to find out who these guys are. Meanwhile, Diamond starts asking questions about Max’s transgenic abilities. And then. digging around the crib, Diamond uncovers the blueprints to Lemkin’s mansion with the safe circled. Diamond suddenly realizes that she and Max have something in common. They’re both thieves.
Max, worried about the men in the SUV, tells Original Cindy that Diamond needs to find somewhere else to stay. Original Cindy takes this personally, and says she’ll be going with Diamond. Logan later calls to reveal that the men in the SUV are bounty hunters from a group out of Tacoma known as THE NOMADS. He doesn’t know whom they’re working for, but these guys don’t come cheap. Logan wants Max to lay low. She agrees, but wants to finish the Lemkin job first.
That night, Max easily breaks through the security system at Lemkin’s. She’s in and out of the safe in no time with the discs and money in hand. She’s nearly out when Diamond appears. and trips the security system. Diamond absconds with Max’s bag and Max is hauled down to the police station for questioning. During this interrogation, the bounty hunters show up and take out Max with a tranquilizer dart.
Max comes to at SYNTHEDYNE, a high-tech medical facility. SIDNEY CROAL, the CEO of Synthedyne, demands to know where Diamond is. Max doesn’t know. Croal gives instructions for Max to be killed, but Max breaks free. Max heads to Jam Pony to find Original Cindy and Diamond. When she arrives, she learns that Original Cindy left with Diamond not too long ago. It turns out Diamond broke out of prison because she was terminally ill and wanted to spend her last days with Original Cindy.
Max heads over to Logan’s to see what’s he’s found out about Synthedyne. It turns out Diamond was incarcerated at the Synthedyne facility, a private company that has been using convicts as biotech guinea pigs. SEBASTIAN reports that on Diamond’s cell-block they were testing AN918… which means that very soon Diamond will be highly contagious and terminal.
Synthedyne’s people track Diamond to a Sector Checkpoint and apprehend her. Max arrives on the scene just in time to see Original Cindy and Diamond flown away in a helicopter.
Max heads to Synthedyne where she gains entry and is able to free Original Cindy before she’s infected with anything. But it’s too late for Diamond. Max tells her that the doctors at Synthedyne lied to her when they told her she was sick. She’s been injected with a biological agent that is killing her. Diamond has a last wish – and that’s to take Sydney Croal down with her. Max has no trouble helping her fulfill this wish with a deadly kiss. Finally, Diamond found a man worthy of her kiss.
Max and Original Cindy break free after a tearful goodbye. Later, Max visits Logan. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find Lemkin’s discs in Diamond’s stuff. Logan’s not done with Lemkin. but he’s got enough on Synthedyne’s nefarious activities to put them out of business forever.
Pollo Loco 1.17
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Doris Egan
Logan alerts Max to news of a body with a barcode found outside the city with its neck snapped. It could be an X5 killed on a mission, but when Logan pulls the picture of the barcode, Max recognizes the number. It’s Ben, one of the 12 who escaped with Max and the others.
While Max waits in the coroner’s office, childhood memories of Ben come flooding back. Ben held a firm belief that soldiers who fail are sent to the “bad place” where monsters known as “Nomlies” drank their blood.
In the meeting with DR. SHANKAR, Max learns that the body was found displayed on a rock outcropping with his teeth surgically removed. When Dr. Shankar opens the drawer, Max looks down at a young Asian man – not Ben. Heavy boots heard in the hallway put Max on guard. Seconds later, Lydecker and his men burst in and take possession of the body. Dr. Shankar looks around for Max, but she’s gone.
Max heads back to the crime scene where she finds a medallion of the Virgin Mary. Max knows Ben is somehow responsible for this killing. but why?
At an abandoned factory, Ben gives a medallion of the Madonna to another victim. He then releases this man and tracks him down in what turns into a bloody pursuit.
Logan calls Max with news of this latest killing, and others like it around the country. Each time Lydecker swooped in and shut down the investigation. Max reveals that Ben is responsible for the killings, insisting that she’ll handle it her way.
Max holds a vigil at the Lady of Sacred Heart Church where she finds an offering of human teeth on the altar. Her thoughts again FLASH BACK to Ben and his belief that the offering of teeth to the Virgin Mother made her heart stronger so she could fight off the Nomlies. Ben shows up and a chase between these two ensues. Max loses him.
Ben later returns to the church and abducts a young priest, FATHER DESTRY.
Instinctively, Max tracks Ben down to the Space Needle where she threatens to turn him over to Lydecker if the killing doesn’t stop. He reminds her of the time when they were kids and they killed the prisoner who had a heart-shaped tattoo with a knife thrust through it. Max accuses him of using his own barcode on his victims because he’s symbolically killing himself. Ben finally breaks down.
Lydecker takes a meeting with Eyes Only who urges him to bring the police in on the case. Lydecker, knowing Logan would never do anything to put Max at risk, calls his bluff. He warns Logan that Max isn’t the girl next door. She’s a genetically engineered killer and always will be.
Ben leads Max back to the abandoned factory and opens the door where he’s holding Father Destry. Catching Max off guard, he kicks her into the room and yanks Destry out. It’s time for another deadly game of cat and mouse. Max escapes, and heads into the woods, praying she’s not too late. She finds Ben standing over his prey. She kicks him off Father Destry. As the priest flees, brother and sister circle each other, preparing to do battle.
Dr. Shankar calls Logan – fingernail scrapings from the first body connect the murders to an abandoned factory outside of town. Lydecker and his men are on their way. Logan follows suit.
Max overpowers Ben by breaking his leg. She holds him as Lydecker’s men close in. Ben begs Max to kill him to keep him from going back to Manticore and being given to the Nomlies. Through tears, Max snaps her brother’s neck – finally the killing will stop. Lydecker’s men find Ben – but Max is nowhere to be found.
Later, Lydecker sends Logan a picture of the bloody aftermath of the kids killing the prisoner back at Manticore. Logan studies the picture, chilled by the grisly photo of the children killing this man. When Max arrives, he tosses it way. but his cool tone lets us know that Lydecker’s bloody picture produced its desired effect.
I and I A Camera 1.18
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: David Simkins
The gang gets their drink on at Crash where they meet SNUFFY WILLS, a close friend of Herbal’s who was just paroled from prison. As Max helps a smashed Sketchy out of the club, three thugs try to mug them. Max shifts her abilities into high gear, easily taking out the three punks. Unbeknownst to her, the STREET SWEEPER, a strange guy wearing an aviator hat equipped with a camera, snaps photos of her in action.
The next day, Max volunteers to deliver a package to gang territory where she reunites with the Street Sweeper. He starts to offer her an opportunity, but gunfire down the hallway cuts his explanation short. The Street Sweeper is gone.
Max gets word that Herbal’s friend, Snuffy Wills was murdered. Discussing it with Logan, he reports 6 more unsolved homicides of recent parolees. He’s been trying to hack into the corrections department to get a file of upcoming parolees, but keeps getting booted from their server. Max heads down to the federal building to get the list the old fashioned way.
Max has no trouble breaking into the Federal Building and taking the list, but getting out proves more difficult. A guard is onto her and Max is ready to pounce when she sees the Street Sweeper racing across the grounds at a stellar speed. The guards take off after him, but he leaps over a wall in a single ten-foot bound. Returning to her Ninja, she finds a photograph of herself diving through the air from the night before. Written on the back is the message, “You really do need to talk to me or bad things will happen.”
Back at Logan’s, he scans the files of upcoming parolees. Max can’t believe the hoverdrones didn’t get any footage on the 6 murdered parolees. If the sector cops are sitting on surveillance footage, maybe Logan’s Uncle Jonas can help. When Logan presents his rogue-police-death-squad theory, Uncle Jonas is skeptical. Logan reminds him that scandal can’t be good for business. Uncle Jonas agrees to check it out.
Max breaks into the Street Sweeper’s apartment and finds six photo clippings from the newspaper: Five murdered parolees, their names written under them, their faces magic-markered with a red “X,” including Snuffy Wills. The sixth one, Pedro Benedek, is unmarked. Max reacts – the whack job who’s been stalking her is behind the killings.
Max calls Logan with this news, asking for an address on Benedek. At Benedek’s, she finds the Street Sweeper. He denies killing anyone. Seconds later, a hoverdrone flies over and lasers a red grid on Benedek’s face. The Street Sweeper throws the man out of harm’s way as the drone opens fire.
Max and the Street Sweeper return to Logan’s with news of the killer hoverdrone equipped with twin 45 caliber automatics and silencers. The Street Sweeper suspected Benedek would be the next victim, and since his address was printed in the paper because he was a sex offender, he decided to warn him. The Street Sweeper finally reveals the source of his superhuman powers. Thanks to fate and the Department of Defense, he’s wearing an apparatus on his legs called an exoskeleton that picks up nerve impulses and relays them to the servo motors. The suit enhances strength, speed and the ability to jump.
Max returns with the Street Sweeper to develop the film of the killer hoverdrone. While they’re waiting the Street Sweeper shows Max a picture of his younger sister who was killed when he was thirteen. He admits that he’s always blamed himself for her murder, which is why he ran away at fifteen and devoted his life to helping others.
Jonas calls Logan and sets up a meeting for an hour. He’s got info on the killer drones, but he doesn’t want anyone to see them together. After Uncle Jonas hangs up, Gilbert Neal, Jonas’ longtime business partner, watches as a killer drone guns down Uncle Jonas.
When the photos of the killer drone don’t come out, the Street Sweeper and Max head down to where he’s seen the drones refuel. Max and the Street Sweeper break into the hoverdrone control room where they discover that Logan is the drone’s next target.
The hoverdrone has Logan in its sites when Max arrives. Pulling out all stops, Max battles this killer machine. It’s a brutal fight, but in the end the machine is no match for Max.
Later, Max and Logan discuss the death of his uncle. Uncle Jonas’ partners will get away unless Eyes Only exposes them. They both know this will mean the end of Logan’s money. but it’s a price he’s got to pay.
As Max helps the Street Sweeper get on a bus to see his mother for the first time in years, the Eyes Only hack appears on a nearby television.
Gilbert Neal arrives at Madame X’s office with a killer deal. He’s willing to sell her the face recognition hoverdrone technology at the bargain price of ten million dollars. She agrees, but as Neal exits her office, she snaps a photo of him. Could be she’s going to test her recent purchase on its creator.
Hit a Sista Back 1.19
Regie: James Whitmore, Jr.
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Max spots Tinga’s picture on a milk carton with the plea, “Have you seen my mommy?” Tinga, holding a small boy, is listed as Penny Smith, missing from Portland. From a payphone, Max dials the number on the carton and reaches Tinga’s husband, Charlie. She warns him to stop searching for his wife. Her real name is Tinga and she’s not missing. She’s in hiding from some very bad people. Her advice to Charlie – take his little boy and run.
Despite Max’s warning, Charlie walks Case to school as usual and drops him off. Case, who’s starting to exhibit accelerated learning abilities, is assigned to a special instructor to help cultivate his gifts – DONALD LYDECKER.
Max stops by Logan’s apartment to get an address on Charlie. Logan warns Max that Lydecker will be all over this. Max can’t be swayed. Tinga would help her family if the situation were turned around.
That night, Max keeps watch over Charlie and Case’s apartment from a distance. Suddenly, a black-clad figure takes Max by surprise. Max reacts, ready for a fight. Her attacker turns out to be Tinga.
In a basement utility room, Max fills Tinga in on the situation. Lydecker has men posted out front and possibly inside the building. It’s going to be tough to get Charlie and Case out and both know it’s a one shot deal. Tinga suggests waiting until the morning. Charlie walks Case to school every day.
Madame X pays Lydecker a visit, inquiring about recent developments in the search for X5-656 – Tinga. Lydecker confirms that he’s got men covering Charlie’s apartment 24/7, and he’s playing point with her child. Lydecker reveals that Case is showing signs of having inherited X5 abilities. This is a first, making Madame X even more eager to get Tinga and Case back at Manticore for further study.
In the morning, Tinga and Max watch as Charlie and Case arrive at the school. Lydecker’s men are posted there too. Max has to practically hold Tinga back when they see Charlie hand Case over to Lydecker. They’ll have to grab them later back at the apartment.
Meanwhile, Lydecker is alerted to a call that Charlie made to his sister in Phoenix. He told her he’s coming for a visit. His call can only mean one thing – Charlie’s been tipped off. Lydecker has to move in and move in fast.
Max and Tinga shift their plan to grab Case and Charlie into gear. but never expected Lydecker and his crew to crash the party. Much to their sadness, a brainwashed Brin heads up this charge. Using a smoke grenade to throw up a shield, Max and Tinga make it into Charlie’s apartment. But on their way out, they’re cornered by Lydecker’s people. Zack arrives on the scene and helps get them to safety. Max has a run-in with Brin, but in the end Brin lets her go. Max saved Brin’s life once. now they’re even.
Back at Logan’s apartment, Case develops a high fever and a barcode appears on his neck. Oddly, there are fourteen numbers compared to the normal Manticore dozen. It occurs to Logan that this could be a phone number – probably to Lydecker’s private office. Logan’s theory turns out to be right.
Using nanotechnology, bioengineered cells have been injected into Case. Lydecker has it within his power to kill the child within six hours. His deal – the child’s life in exchange for Tinga. This is no deal as far as Max is concerned, but Lydecker reminds her – this is not her call to make. Tinga can’t stand by and watch her baby die. She’ll return to Manticore if it means saving her son.
Madame X doesn’t understand Lydecker’s thinking. Why would he give up the boy? Lydecker warns her that if they don’t make a deal with these kids, they won’t get anything. Something in Tinga’s genetic makeup allows her to pass certain traits to her offspring. In the long run, Case won’t be that important to them.
Max, Zack, Charlie and Tinga show up to make the trade. After a tearful good-bye, Brin leads Tinga to a Hummer. Inside, Brin calls for back up. Suddenly, a sedan screeches onto the scene and grabs Case. The sedan speeds off, but Zack swoops in with a bad-ass machine gun and saves the child.
Lydecker later finds Brin’s Hummer crashed. the soldier in the backseat is dead and Tinga is gone. Lydecker is furious with Madame X for changing his plan – now they have nothing. at least that’s what Madame X wants him to believe.
Madame X later commends Brin for a job well done. Brin asks when Tinga will be moved back to Manticore. Madame X offers only a vague response, stressing that operational secrecy remains in effect.
Madame X later enters an abandoned silo. Inside, there’s a massive tank set up. Through the glass we see Tinga, immersed in a thick, clear liquid. A breathing tube is inserted in her mouth, and other tubes, dark in color, protrude from her body. It’s unclear what the hell is going on here, but it’s safe to say that whatever it is – it’s making Madame X one happy bitch.
Meow 1.20
Regie: D.J. Caruso
Drehbuch: David Zabel
Logan needs a microchip for the exoskeleton, but it’ll take at least 12 weeks if Sebastian orders it from his contact in Singapore. Unfortunately, Logan wants the exoskeleton up and walking around (with him) in time for his 1 year anniversary of meeting Max, which is two days away. Sebastian suggests that he ask Max to steal an identical microchip from a local nuclear plant. So what if the exoskeleton is a surprise? Logan doesn’t have to tell Max the truth about the microchip.
Logan takes this advice and makes up a story about why he needs the chip. Max agrees. Logan then reminds her of their anniversary and invites her to dinner. She could use a little celebrating – Tinga being returned to Manticore has done little for her mood. She just heard from Zack that Tinga wasn’t taken back to Manticore. He’s still trying to find out where they’re holding her.
Back at her crib, Max hears something outside her window. She looks down to see Lydecker’s guys speeding onto the scene. Dropping down to the alley, she takes them on in a stunning display of catlike prowess. Snagging a gun from one soldier, she orders him to take his clothes off and get onto a bed, which has magically appeared in the alley. The soldier nervously complies, and as Max starts to kiss him, he transforms into Logan. Max, back in her own bed, bolts upright. Oh, no – she’s in heat again. Max confides in Original Cindy about her condition, asking Cindy to punch her if she starts to venture toward her darker side.
Back at Manticore, Lydecker confronts Madame X about not notifying him of an Executive Committee meeting. Madame X didn’t include him because she was doing her best to keep the Committee from asking for a full procedural review on Lydecker for losing Tinga.
Instinct tells Lydecker there’s more to this than meets the eye. He queries Brin about what happened. Why did she try to capture Tinga’s little boy when he made a deal to secure Tinga in exchange for the child? Brin maintains that the scope of the mission was changed during the briefing. She assumed Lydecker was in the loop since it was Sandoval who gave the briefing.
Later, Lydecker takes a meeting with Zakes Kani, the South African behind the neural implant technology of the Reds. Kani makes an offer – he’ll bring in Max in exchange for genetic data. Kani reveals that Max has one of their implants in her head. Lydecker agrees to the exchange, but will only turn over data from early Manticore prototypes.
Max, still plagued by her fiery condition, heads out with Logan to get the microchip from the nuclear plant. She makes it into the plant and gets the chip, but getting out proves more difficult. Dodging bullets, she takes a dive into a cooling pool surrounding the reactor. At least that helps cool her down…
Lydecker, determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on, plants a bug inside Sandoval’s pen. He listens in as Sandoval and Madame X discuss his turning over classified info to the South Africans. Madame X insists that it’s time for them to “contain” Lydecker for the good of Manticore. She hands Sandoval an I.D. photograph of Lydecker for the killer drone – Sandoval knows what to do. So does Lydecker.
Just in time for the anniversary celebration, Logan gets the exoskeleton up and walking. Unfortunately, Max’s feline DNA has her too hot to handle the invitation, and she cancels. In an attempt to cool off, she speeds off on her bike. Lucky for her, she leaves Sector Five just as Zakes Kani runs a scan for her in that area. Unlucky for her, she runs into a guy she met a few days ago and without Original Cindy around to put the smack down, Max gives into her urge – and he gets real “lucky.”
Meanwhile, Sandoval notifies Madame X: He’s arranged the hoverdrone hit on Lydecker. When he’s done with this dirty-work, X wants him out at Kani’s tracking van. She’s anxious to bring Max in. As Madame X drives away from the silo, we see Zack watching her.
Lydecker meets with Sandoval and the killer hoverdrone flies in on cue, but instead of wasting Lydecker – it takes out Sandoval. Lydecker exchanged his I.D. picture with Sandoval’s.
Max confides in Original Cindy about her one-night-stand. Instead of offering a shoulder to cry on, Original Cindy tells Max it’s high-time she copped to being in love with Logan. Later, Max surprises Logan with a visit. and the truth about her estrus cycles. When she breaks down and tells him about her “fling
...and Jesus Brought a Casserole 1.21
Regie: Joe Ann Fogle
Drehbuch: René Echevarria & Charles H. Eglee
The season finale picks up with Max clinging to the lifeless body of Tinga as Lydecker and his men move in, guns trained. Max takes a flying leap at Lydecker. Five soldiers fire their tasers, all striking Max midair. As she convulses, a Specials Ops Officer orders Lydecker and his men to vacate this secure area.
Madame X is alerted and demands that Max be taken into custody and that Colonel Lydecker be placed under arrest. Too late. Lydecker and two of his men are gone, along with Max.
In a briefing with Brin, Madame X blames Lydecker for Tinga’s death. Brin’s orders: Bring Lydecker in dead or alive and return Max to Manticore.
Back at Logan’s apartment, Zack nurses a wound to his leg while both men try to make sense of what happened. They agree on one thing – they need to rescue Max from Lydecker. Zack already called two other X5′s, Syl and Krit. They’re on their way.
Lydecker buys out all the rooms at a cheap hotel and chains Max to a bed. He calls Madame X, who makes it clear that he is out of options. They’re tracking Max via her implant and it’s only a matter of time. Lydecker returns to Max’s bedside and takes his first drink in years. Under the influence, he shares his Manticore vision with Max – the X5s were created to save lives. With Madame X at the helm, that dream is dead. He won’t let them take her back there – he puts a gun to her head, promising to be right behind her. Cuffed or not, Max kicks Lydecker away. He warns that soldiers are tracking them and pretty soon they’ll bust down the door, blow his head off and drag her back to Manticore for reprogramming. Max isn’t into waiting around to find out if he’s telling the truth. She and Lydecker make a run for it seconds before Brin’s convoy pulls up.
Zack and Logan meet Syl and Krit at a warehouse where they make plans. Logan gets word that a military convoy just swooped in on some motel in Sector 8. It’s time to move out. Just then, a Hummer bursts in. It’s Max. and Lydecker. With Lydecker’s help, Max explains that they’re going to take down Manticore. There are more than a few skeptics in the room, but Lydecker reminds them that he knows the facility and its defensive capabilities like the back of his hand. The mission: Destroy the DNA Lab – without the ability to develop new soldiers, Manticore will die.
At the same time, the tracking van gets a hit on Max. She’s close – so close that she knocks on the door and commandeers the vehicle.
Max then accompanies Lydecker to meet with a friend about gaining entry into Manticore. Outside a strip club, Lydecker knocks his old friend McGinnis out. With a spoon, he scoops something off him, and places it in a plastic baggy.
Lydecker, Logan and the X5s set up the tracking van outside Manticore. Logan loops fake footage into the surveillance system. He’ll be able to view the real feed, but the guards won’t see anything but the fake loop. As the X5s head out, Lydecker hands Zack the baggie – McGinnis’ eyeball is their ticket into the DNA lab.
Max and Zack arrive at the DNA lab. Working fast, they set the charges and get out. But Madame X is onto them when word comes down that McGinnis just entered the DNA Lab. Not so – he’s sitting right in front of her – sans one eyeball.
Playing catch-up, Madame X realizes that the DNA Lab is rigged with explosives and sends Brin to deactivate the charges before it’s too late. Max surprises Brin in the hallway and cuffs her to a bar. When Max and Zack are clear, Lydecker detonates. Decades of Manticore research goes up in flames.
Max and Zack head into the woods where they’re caught in a hail of gunfire. It’s a platoon of X7s. Max freezes when she’s confronted by a younger version of herself. Without thinking twice, Young Max fires at Max point blank. Max blurs sideways and the two “‘sisters” battle. Max overpowers the younger version of herself and with Zack, races back to the tracking van where Krit and Syl are waiting – they did it! They took down Manticore!
The group celebrates at Crash. Max and Logan don’t stay too long though. Back at Logan’s, they make love for the first time. But the candlelight is quickly blown out of this romantic scene when Logan takes his hand off Max only to see that it’s covered in blood. Wait – this isn’t really happening.
Back at the command vehicle, Logan knows something is wrong. With the aid of the exoskeleton, he races to her and cradles her in his arms as she dies. Lydecker orders Logan back to the truck. Max is gone. Logan won’t leave. He wants to take her into Manticore. No deal. Lydecker knocks him out and carries him back to the truck.
Moments later, a Manticore trauma unit rushes Max inside with no pulse. They jolt her limp body with a surge of electricity. Nothing. Another jolt. Nothing. Max is gone.
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2. Season
DesignateThis 2.01
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Eyes Only streams its news about Manticore and its genetically building perfect soldiers. Eyes broadcasts that some of the soldiers are loose on the streets. As Logan longs for the dead Max, the very-much alive Max is really being put through boot camp training at Manticore. Her X-5 designation is 452, but Max is only playing along as a willing soldier.
Madame X shows Max the now-test subject body of Zack. He shot himself so that his heart could be transplanted into the body of Max, saving her. Madame X tells Max that she destroys everyone that she loves, and that Eyes Only will be next – because she plans to kill him. Later that night, Max slowly chisels through her cell wall, desperate to break free and regain her identity.
With the help of the freedom group S1W, Logan scams his way into the Veterans Administration files to find out where the Manticore facility is. Although he watched her die, Logan can feel that Max is somehow still alive. After lights out, Max is visited by who she thinks is Ben. It isn’t really him, but another X-5 that resembles Ben. He is sent to impregnate Max, but she fends him off. She names him Alec. McGinnis contacts Lydecker and asks him to give up Eyes Only in return for his reinstatement.
Max manages to dig through her cell and she climbs into Manticore’s basement. There she befriends a transhuman named Joshua, who has traits of a dog and a human. There are others like him being kept secret in underground cells, all fathered by someone named “Sandman.” Joshua exhibits powers to rival Max, and he has sonic hearing. He shows her a window and she makes plans to escape. He too wants to be out in the real world. When Max returns to her cell, she is busted by Alec. But he doesn’t turn her in.
Lydecker meets with Logan, but it’s a setup for him to be captured by McGinnis. Lydecker lets Logan go, and demands from McGinnis to know what’s happening to his “kids.” McGinnis gives up that Madame X is trying to learn more about the X-5′s DNA. Then Lydecker kills him. Madame X is worried that the Committee will be pissed off if Eyes Only broadcasts Manticore’s location. She threatens to burn Manticore, with all of the X-series soldiers inside, unless Max helps her find Eyes Only. They get the information out of her. Alec and Joshua help Max escape, and she heads straight for Logan’s apartment to save him. He is overjoyed at the sight of her, and kisses her. Suddenly, he crumbles to the ground in pain. Alec is there, and informs them that he injected Max with a genetically targeted retrovirus that goes active with any intimate contact. She has infected Logan with one deadly kiss. But to get the cure, Max has to bring Logan to Manticore and turn herself in.
After kicking Alec’s butt, Max helps transmit Logan’s last streaming message. She returns to Manticore, finding it engulfed in flames. She manages to unlock the cell doors so that all the X-series and transhumans can escape. Max takes Madame X hostage for the antigen to save Logan. But when a guard shoots at Max, Madame X steps in the bullet’s path. She warns Max that she can never be rid of her virus. Before she dies, Madame X tells Max that she is the one they have been looking for. “Find Sandman,” X whispers with her last breath.
Logan heals miraculously after being given the antidote, but Max keeps her distance from him to not infect him again. Yet now there are more like her out in the world. She hopes they can keep a low profile like she has done.
Bag `Em 2.02
Regie: Vern Gillum
Drehbuch: Marjorie David
Original Cindy is woken by Max. She’s glad to find her friend alive, but figures out that Logan is really Eyes Only. Max asks Cindy to keep her mouth shut. Meanwhile, a group of X-series soldiers follow a signal above to regroup on a bridge and meet up with Manticore command. Agent White is waiting there, and his armed guards kill them.
A transhuman in military wear is pursued by X-7 clones through the woods near Manticore. The creature has the bar code on its neck, but it has a second eyelid and its skin retains water. It was probably a desert soldier created to shield against sand. The clones capture the creature and bring it to Agent White. The transhuman attacks White, but it is restrained. White orders the hunting down of all Manticore escapees. Alec, meanwhile, hides out in a motel and spots a group of X-series soldiers fleeing. He narrowly escapes the police and runs into the nearby woods, finding a trail of snack food bags that lead him to hiding X-6s and X-8s in a barn. There is a lone X-7 among them who stands silent. Alec explains to them that Manticore was not attacked, and that the signal they are following is bogus. Manticore really wants them dead. Not believing him, the X-series soldiers set off to the signal’s beckoning. The X-7 remains.
Max returns to Jam Pony, showing her heart transplant scar to Normal as proof of her “medical emergency” leave. Logan pages, informing her that the resistance group S1W is being framed for the fires at Manticore. Although Max doesn’t understand the group’s significance, Logan is upset and wants to protect the integrity of the S1W. Logan shows Max the Manticore signal beamed in the sky, and she explains its purpose, knowing she has to protect her siblings. When the X-6s and X-8 arrive at the bridge, Max rams her motorcycle into the guards to allow the X-series to escape. One gets clipped in the leg, so she picks him up and brings him back to the barn, where Alec is hiding. Max cauterizes the boy’s wound to save him. She then organizes the X-6 and X-8 group, assigning them all names. She orders one to fix an old truck in the barn. Later that night, the X-7 sends a telepathic transmission to his brothers, providing White with a photo and map to get to Max.
Agent White is given Madame X’s briefcase found in the fire. In it is a DNA work-up of Max. He orders his men to capture her. Lydecker arrives at the bridge, and breaks into White’s tent to steal back Max’s DNA chart. White finds the briefcase empty and Lydecker gone. Lydecker calls Logan to warn him that Max needs to get out of the woods near Manticore. Quickly.
Suddenly, armed guards and other X-7s ambush the barn with gas. Max realizes that the one X-7 in her care is a traitor. The X-6s and the X-8 escape in the old truck, but the guards capture Max and bring her back to White’s base camp. She meets the transhuman in the cage next to hers. White informs Max that she has no junk DNA, which means that all of her DNA is encoded for specific purposes. However, he does not know what those purposes are. He does intend to find out.
In the truck, the X-6s and X-8 resolve to go back and find Max. Alec secretly follows them to White’s base camp. They take down the guards one by one. Alec frees Max and the transhuman from their cages. She and Alec change the signal to warn the X-series to scatter, then destroy the transponder. As they are about to be attacked by White, the transhuman saves their lives and Max and Alec escape. White shoots the creature dead.
The next day, Logan gives Max fake IDs and passports for the X-series troop to cross the border to Canada. Max tells them to stay together because they are family. Before they leave, they all pay respect to their siblings who perished.
Proof of Purchase 2.03
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Tommy Thompson
Normal watches a blood-sport boxing match between defender “The Mangler” and “Monty Cora” (who is really Alec using an assumed name). Although he is a dwarf compared to the Mangler, Alec uses his supersonic speed to kick the reigning champ’s butt. After winning his prize money, Alec gets zapped with a stun gun by Agent White. He is knocked out. Logan, meanwhile, makes dinner for Max. She absentmindedly tastes the sauce he has made and puts her spoon back into the pot. She then realizes that doing so will afflict Logan if he gets her saliva’s DNA in him. Max becomes distraught over their current no-touching situation.
Lydecker phones Logan, saying that Max’s genetic DNA makeup has surprised even him. Lydecker gives him a lead on a Manticore lab tech named Engel who spliced Max’s DNA with the virus strain. Logan gives Engel half of $10,000 to kill the virus, and the guy gets to work hoping for the other half when complete. Meanwhile, Joshua comes upon a familiar house, but the current inhabitants are alarmed by his intrusion. They manage to get a photograph of him before he splits. At Crash, Max sees Joshua’s photo on the cover of the New World Weekly tabloid. She sets out to find him before the rest of the world does.
White finds Alec, saying that he’s been sent to wipe out all evidence that Manticore ever existed. To save his own life, Alec offers to help White locate all the transgenics let loose. White injects a microexplosive into Alec’s neck that will kill him in 24 hours if he doesn’t bring in three transgenics’ barcodes as proof. Alec shows up at Logan’s apartment, and he tags along with Max to find Joshua in the sewers of Terminal City. It turns out that a man named Sandeman lives in the house Joshua broke into. Max remembers that Joshua said his father was named “Sandman,” and that Madame X told her to find that same name. Max goes to Sandeman’s house, but the guy is clean. Alec, meanwhile, comes upon a black-furred, lion-like She-Beast transgenic in the sewers. He stabs the creature and skins off her barcode.
After finding in White’s tent an R.D.F. company ID card bearing Madame X’s photo, Lydecker goes to that now-defunct company’s former warehouse. He photographs the gruesome skeletal remains on the ground there, and recognizes a lion wall painting as the Manticore chimera logo. Lydecker sends his photographs to Professor Long, who determines that it eerily sounds like a Kiloma Indian fable about a woman forced to impregnation by white fur trappers in the 1800′s. Her first two babies were killed because they were stillborn and deformed. When the third baby was born, it was stolen, and the mother was murdered. The skeletons Lydecker found just might be the same people. Lydecker immediately drives to hand over the photographs to Long, but he is followed and driven off the bridge into the river. Lydecker’s body is not found.
On the street, Alec finds an X-6. He knocks the kid out, and slices off the barcode. When he comes up short with only two barcodes in his possession and two hours left, Alec asks White for more time. But White produces the still-alive body of the X-6, proving that Alec didn’t really kill him. White gives Alec another chance at finding a third transgenic.
When a sighting of Joshua blares over Logan’s police scanner, Max takes off to rescue her friend. Yet Joshua manages to escape her grasp. Logan figures out that Joshua had been looking up all the Sandemans in an out-of-date phone directory, and he sends Max to the remaining two addresses. Alec goes with her, and they find Joshua. Suddenly, Alec shoots Max with a stun gun, and Joshua lashes out at him. Alec manages to get Joshua down, but finds no barcode on his neck. “I was first – special,” Joshua tells him. Knowing he needs to produce a third barcode, Alec sets his sights on killing Max, but he can’t do it. Max takes Alec to Engel, who offers to remove the microexplosive for $10,000. Alec only has half the money, and Max offers the other half of her money that was to be used for curing her virus. Engel skips town, causing Max to vent her anger at Alec for ruining her last chance with Logan. Alec is truly sorry, but Max sends him away anyway.
Max takes Joshua to the last address on the Sandeman list. Although it is deserted, Joshua remembers the house, and Max recognizes a lion statue as being the chimera on the walking stick of a man who comforted her as a child at Manticore. Was it the creator? Joshua is convinced that, if they ever find him, his father will be the one to help cure her virus.
Radar Love 2.04
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Joshua wakes in Sandeman’s house. It is now his place. He traces a scent along the streets, ending up at Max’s door. Original Cindy is thrown off, but settles herself when Max introduces him as a friend. Meanwhile, in Chinatown, a grossly disfigured man in an overcoat and fedora moves through the street market. A young Chinese man stumbles. Blood trickles from his eyes and nose. Cyril Elroy approaches him to help, shouting to the assembled crowd for an ambulance. The Overcoat Man scurries from the commotion to hide in an alley and tape up his bleeding hand. There is a barcode on his neck.
At Logan’s apartment, he updates Max about the dead-end leads on Sandeman. Asha lets herself in and, without seeing Max, begins to recount her day and discuss Manticore. She calls the escapees “Max and her furry little friends.” Max shows herself, and Asha is embarrassed. Max takes off on her bike, fuming over Asha, when a car backs into her path and she goes flying over her handlebars. The driver bolts out the door and approaches her. It’s Rafer (last seen in “Meow”). As he begins to check underneath her clothes, Max flips him over to warn him about trying to cop a feel. He claims he is really a paramedic. Max arrives at work with what’s left of her bike and Normal gives her a hard time. Rafer shows up – in a paramedic uniform. She softens when he returns the pager she lost in the spill. He also brings her a bag lunch. Rafer apologizes for that night they spent together, and Max starts to rearrange her thinking about this guy. As she explains to Rafer the difficulties of her relationship with Logan, Logan is doing the same to Asha over lunch in his apartment. Both couples get increasingly close over conversation, and Rafer and Asha both sense the respective awkwardness.
Detective Matt Sung is examining the Manticore walking stick, when he sees a sketch of the Overcoat Man from an eyewitness’ account. The police are worried that the dead guy had been exposed to something from the Overcoat Man. At a rundown tenement in Chinatown, the Overcoat Man rents a room from Henry, a young boy. Nearby at the bus station, Original Cindy and Sketchy make deliveries when several Chinese people collapse with blood spilling from their noses and eyes. Cindy and Sketchy book out on their bikes.
Detective Sung tells Logan that the victims were all Chinese, and they had been subjected to an unknown pathogen. He thinks the carrier is one of the deformed Manticore escapees hiding out in Chinatown. Logan poses that theory to Max, but she shoots him down. Although she’s pissed at him, she agrees to help Asha, who’s been arrested for not having ID. Max breaks into the sector police interrogation room to save her. Arriving at Crash, Max encourages Asha to go in. She’s not sure how things are going to play out for her and Logan, so Max takes off. Yet while Logan waits at Crash, he meets Rafer and they talk about Max. When Rafer realizes that Logan is the one Max spoke longingly of, Rafer offers to split. But Logan is also unsure about his situation with Max, and he leaves the bar instead.
Henry climbs up the fire escape to spy on the Overcoat Man. His father calls for the police. When Henry begins to fall, the Overcoat Man saves him. Seeing the boy in the grips of the deformed creature, Detective Sung shoots the Overcoat Man dead. At the morgue, an autopsy reveals that his body did not contain the pathogen, which is genetically engineered. Max is upset when she sees the Overcoat Man’s barcode, and worries for Joshua. After examining the evidence, Logan surmises that someone is running some kind of field test and using the Chinese people as guinea pigs. Later, Logan meets Asha at Crash, while Max meets Rafer there as well. Although they don’t see each other at first, Max and Logan make eye contact and briefly feel jealous. They realize they’re both in the same boat and smile sadly, going back to their respective companion’s conversations.
Cyril, the Good Samaritan from Chinatown, is really the perpetrator of the evil pathogen targeted on the Chinese race. It was only a test for a real project, patronized by Agent White. White hands him an X-5 as a test subject so that Cyril can spread the disease to kill all the transgenics. Cyril lets the X-5 loose in Sector 4 and disperses the pathogen in the air, hoping to retrieve that X-5′s body later. Logan gives Detective Sung a lead on an address of someone who recently bought launchers for the pathogen, and they find Cyril’s workshop empty. Logan discovers that an X-5 is the target, and Max sets out to save him. She follows the kid off a building, and they fall into a holding pool. He struggles, but she shows him her barcode and motions him to stay underwater. With their time up, they come to the surface for air and see Cyril. He points his gun at her, but he is killed by Sung before he can shoot her.
Max brings the X-5 to Joshua’s place to hide out, and Logan tells her that he convinced Sung to give him all the evidence from Cyril’s workshop. He also says that nothing turned up on Sandeman’s cane. They apologize to each other for the night at Crash. At the same time, their beeper and cell phones ring. It is Asha for Logan, and Rafer for Max. They ignore the rings, but are unsure what to do next.
Boo 2.05
Regie: Les Landau
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker & Charles H. Eglee
Max enters Logan’s apartment to find him and Asha working on an investigation. He doesn’t need her help on this one, and Max is feeling a little replaced. She invites him to a Halloween party at Crash, but he thinks he’ll probably be busy with Asha all night. Max is bummed, but heads for work. Rafer is there, and he mentions that he’ll be at Crash for the party. Some little trick-or-treaters come knocking on Joshua’s door, and they scream when he opens it. He screams as well, but Max assures the kids that he is only wearing a costume. Joshua asks if he can go out because it’s Halloween and no one will notice him, but Max wants him to lay low.
Rafer shows up unexpectedly at Max’s pad while she’s in the bathtub. He asks to take a detour before the party – to his mom’s house. Serena, who has heard all about her son’s date, is a psychic, and she reads Max’s fortune. Serena sees in her crystal ball that Max’s name is only a number. She also predicts danger and death ahead of her. Suddenly, Max sees Joshua outside Serena’s window and she goes outside. Joshua has found Sally, a Manticore refugee, on the ground. Sally’s body lies face down, but his head is face up. He explains that he was built with no bones and only cartilage, so that he wouldn’t fracture on the battlefield. Max tries to wring him around, but Joshua twists Sally’s head and it snaps off. Sally’s head, however, is still talking, as his body runs off into the night. With starfish in his cocktail, Sally’s body parts are self-sustaining and regenerative. He explains that his body has a mind of its own. Rafer appears, and Max throws the head to Joshua. Sally wants to call other transgenics for help, and Rafer drives them in his ambulance to look for “some friends” on a “scavenger hunt.” They meet up with Dieter, a reptilian ‘nomile wearing a football helmet, and Katarina, a feline-enhanced prototype. Rafer thinks the strange characters are merely normal people wearing costumes. Sally gives up that he was supposed to meet a girl at Crash, so the gang heads there, thinking the body has already gone ahead. When they arrive, Max spies Logan and Asha making out in a booth across the bar. But it’s not really them – just two people who look similar. The couple does, however, point her to a back room where the headless body was seen. Sally’s body darts out the door, grabbing a high-powered rifle on its way out. Rafer and the transgenic crew pile into the ambulance to chase the body, which flees on a motorcycle. But Rafer’s wheels run out of gas, and the body gets away.
Sally fesses up that his body has a rifle because he’s on a mission for Manticore and Pierpont Lempkin. Max figures out that Lempkin must have been Logan’s button man for Manticore, and Sally is his hitman. Logan gets word that the target may either be one of a priest, a minister or a rabbi who are outspoken leaders in the community. Max gets Sally to admit that it is a Father McAllister, just as Rafer gets a good look at the decapitated head talking. Max coldcocks Rafer to keep him quiet, and she gathers up the mutant gang to search for McAllister at an award dinner run-through. They split up, and Max finds herself face-to-face with the barrel of the body’s rifle. It fires at her, but she fights the body off. Sally’s head distracts McAllister so that the body can shoot the priest. As it takes aim, Max comes after the body and kicks it in the crotch. The other transgenics take Father McAllister to safety, and Max makes up a story that it was all a Halloween prank. Suddenly, Logan and Asha arrive to take all the credit and ask the priest to marry them. Then Normal, Sketchy and Rafer burst in with a phalanx of riot police. They slap handcuffs on Joshua, Sally, Katrina and Dieter, and ask Max if she’s one of the “creatures” too. She sadly says that she is not one of them.
Max sits on the Space Needle, lamenting about only wanting a normal night out, when Original Cindy appears. They both have a quick flashback of Joshua asking to go out, Max telling him no, and O.C. pleading his case. O.C. tells her that the worst part of the horrible evening was that Max denied who she really is. Strangely, Max sees that she is naked atop the Space Needle. Something’s not right. She wakes up to find that the whole night was a dream, and she is still in her bathtub as she had been earlier in the day on Halloween. O.C. reminds her to get her costume ready for the party at Crash, but Max says that she isn’t going. Instead, she goes to Joshua’s to check up on him. He is laying low, like she told him, but Max offers to take him out for the night. On the street, they come across a headless body. Max winces, but realizes it’s just a harmless trick-or-treater. She takes Joshua’s hand and they head off. It’s a good night.
Two 2.06
Regie: Allan Kroeker
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
Max breaks into an art museum to steal Sammy Sosa’s home run baseball, but Alec is right behind her, pulling the same job. After a quarrel, they fumble the ball and leave empty-handed. Max gets to a checkpoint, and the guard at the gate, Pearson, lets her through. Pearson’s attention is diverted by a figure digging in a trashcan. He approaches the unseen creature, and it growls back in warning. The creature attacks Pearson, and he screams in horror.
Max brings Joshua food. She wakes him, but he lunges at her. He shows her his wound from his “trying to steal food from a dog.” She warns him not to go outside, and she heads for work. Much to her chagrin, Alec shows up at Jam Pony, looking for work. Normal recognizes him as “Monty Cora” from the boxing fights, and sets Alec up with a job, a bike and a sector pass. Later that night at Crash, Alec pays Sketchy to make a delivery for him in Sector Four. Sketchy tells the torrid tale about Pearson getting jumped by a dog-faced mutant, and Max fears the worst. She goes to Joshua’s place, but he’s not there. Meanwhile, a young sector cop patrolling the streets is attacked. The creature who rips out the guy’s tongue looks exactly like Joshua.
The next morning, Logan tells Max about the cops being jumped by a half-man, half-animal. Max admits that she couldn’t find Joshua, and Logan starts to make a connection. In Sector Four, Sketchy tries to deliver Alec’s package and gets his butt kicked by Bird and Eddy, two steelheads who are into implants and biotech. When Sketchy returns to Jam Pony battered and bruised, Alec fesses up that he is dealing Androstamine, a synthetic hormone for bodybuilders. Sketchy says that the steelheads warned him not to sell on their turf.
Logan sneaks into the hospital and questions the ailing Pearson. The man picks out Joshua’s face and a barcode as the creature who attacked him. Still with no sign of Joshua, Max notices drops of blood on a manhole cover outside his house. She goes down into the sewer, and Logan calls her on a cell phone to tell her that Pearson ID’d Joshua. Max tells Logan that Joshua doesn’t have a barcode. She sees Joshua in the distance, but he growls at her. She realizes it’s not really him, when the real Joshua pops up behind her, yelling, “Run, Isaac! Run!” Suddenly the police appear, spraying bullets. They stun gun Joshua and take him away. Isaac escapes.
Alec confronts the steelheads that took his package, and beats them up. He and Logan then go into the underground tunnels to look for Isaac, where they see tongues hanging on a clothes wire. Isaac leaps out from the darkness and jumps on Logan. Alec manages to get the creature off, but Isaac crawls out a trapdoor, locking the two guys inside his lair. Max meanwhile, rescues Joshua from the jailhouse. He explains that Isaac is angry at the Manticore guards because when he was younger, they cut off his tongue. Now he lashes out at any kind of man in uniform. Max pledges to find Isaac at any cost, but Joshua blames her for releasing all of them from Manticore. Again she warns Joshua to stay put, but he knocks her down and rushes out to find his brother. When Max enters the tunnels looking for Joshua, Isaac attacks her. Joshua sees him about to kill Max. He stabs his own brother to save her.
Later at Crash, Logan gives Max money from Alec to cover the doctor. Maybe he’s not so bad after all. Alec makes a move on Lux, a girl with razor-wire hair and tiny diamonds embedded in the skin around her eyes. She tells him that she is friends with Bird and Eddy, the steelheads he jumped in Sector Four. She looks at Alec’s barcode and whispers in his ear, “We know what you are.” Alec is slightly alarmed as she walks away. In Joshua’s backyard, he puts together a make-shift monument at a grave for Isaac. Max comes to him, even though he tries to push her away. Joshua succumbs to the reality of what’s happened – he failed to save Isaac when Father told him to protect his brother. Max comforts Joshua as he mourns for Isaac.
Some Assembly Required 2.07
Regie: Nick Marck
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
British Eddy and his Steelhead gang ransack an electronics store as the clerk tries to close his shop. But among the three Steelheads is a fourth member. The next day, Logan shows Max the surveillance tape from the store. She sees that the fourth guy is her brother, Zack, who was presumed dead. The left side of Zack’s face has been replaced with a sheen of metal plating. His left eye is a black orb with a glowing red dot in the center. The last Max knew, Zack donated his heart so that she could live. Logan suspects that his missing organs were replaced with artificial ones. He makes the connection between Zack and the human organ peddling-Steelheads, but neither of them knows how to find this gang. Original Cindy and Sketchy point Max towards Alec, who knows where these Steelheads hang.
Alec takes Max to the marketplace where he first fought off Eddy and his crew. She convinces Alec to pretend he’s dealing steroids again to flesh the Steelheads out. Even though the gang warned him not to deal in their area, he obliges Max’s blackmail. Eddy gets wind of Alec’s Andie-peddling, and sends his crew out to reclaim their turf. Alec and Max fight off the Steelheads, but when Zack appears, he doesn’t recognize Max. She shows him her barcode and he has flashbacks of Manticore. Zack leaves safely with Max and gets examined by Dr. Carr. Zack’s organs were replaced with biosynthetic materials, and an exoskeleton was grafted onto his arm, but parts of his brain were replaced with a cybernetic implant that is rebuilding itself. Dr. Carr recommends that more memories might be triggered if Max took him to a place that they had been together. When Zack sees Logan, he has flashbacks of their argument (in “Cold Comfort”). Later, Max takes Zack to her crib and he has some more memories of Manticore. As he sleeps, Zack dreams of more Manticore flashbacks. He goes into Max’s room, crying. He remembers that he failed to save Brin, Tinga and Max, and he vows to never let Max down again. Bird and Tuck report to Eddy that they were defeated not only by Alec, but also by another female “Manticorian.” Eddy orders them to stake out Alec at Crash to find out where Max took his “soldier,” Zack.
The next morning, Zack wakes to find his face has regenerated skin where the metal was. His eye is also restored. Eddy had been filtering Zack’s blood to prevent the nanocytes from repairing his tissue. After one night off the blood machine, Zack’s face is almost back to normal. Now he wants to have a normal life to go with his face. Yet when he has a flashback of the Eyes Only banner, Zack becomes defensive to Logan and blames him for the botched Manticore assault. He apologizes to Max, and she tells him about all the other escapees. Zack sees more flashbacks, but they are of him and Max kissing. Later, they meet up with the gang at Crash. Alec intimates to Max that he thinks that Zack has a crush on her. She scoffs at the notion. When Max goes to the bar, the Steelheads kidnap her and take her to an abandoned funeral parlor. Yet the bumbling crew forgets to pick up Zack, who arrives to set her free. He leans in to kiss her, and Max shoves him back. Zack pledges his love, and then has flashbacks of Logan and Max together. He claims that Logan had actually betrayed them, and was the reason that Zack was turned into a machine. Zack runs off to get his revenge on Logan. Max warns Logan, who straps on his exoskeleton and barely escapes down the elevator. In the parking garage, Zack shoots at Logan, hitting a section of the exoskeleton and rendering it useless. Max roars in on her motorcycle, knocking the gun out of Zack’s hand. She and Zack fight, and he manages to get the rifle back. As he is about to shoot Logan, Max puts a live electrical wire into the puddle that Zack is standing in. He is electrocuted, and Logan is saved.
Dr. Carr reports that Zack will survive, but the shock overloaded the circuitry in his brain. He won’t remember anything that’s happened since it was turned on. There is still a chance that he may carry out his mission against Logan. Max makes the most difficult decision of her life, and lets Zack go. Logan arranges for a new identity and a rancher to take him in with a fake story about his past. Max only hopes that Zack will have the normal life he always wanted.
Gill Girl 2.08
Regie: Bryan Spicer
Drehbuch: Marjorie David
A fishing boat in the harbor pulls up what they think is a dead body. It is a girl, very much alive, breathing through gills on her chest. Agent White is alerted to the find.
Logan is saddled with his niece, Brittany, a precocious six-year old who won’t behave. Max reads the little girl a story about a mermaid. When Logan’s cousin comes for the girl, Brittany kisses Max and Logan goodbye. Logan suddenly becomes ill, and Max believes that he may have been infected with her own DNA from Brittany’s lips. She calls Asha, and they rush him to the hospital. As Dr. Carr tends to Logan, Max and Asha helplessly wait outside. Max is praying for his recovery in the hospital chapel when Asha informs her that Logan is merely suffering from chicken pox and will be fine. Max has a feeling that a miracle was somehow granted.
In order to avoid a last minute Jam Pony run, Alec invites Normal to join him and Sketchy to Mako’s Tavern, a strip club in Sector Nine. At Mako’s, the girl with the gills is swimming in a fish tank over the bar, and Alec notices the barcode on her neck. He takes Max to see her, but girls aren’t allowed in Mako’s unless they are working. She goes to the back entrance and, after pulling off her sweater to reveal a tank top, is invited in by the doorman to be a stripper. At the tank, Max hears the Gill Girl’s dolphin-like calls. Max responds with a series of Manticore hand signals: Hang on. We’re going to get you out. Be ready. To her relief, Gill Girl seems to understand. Max approaches Alec and he pulls her into his lap, pretending she’s one of the dancers for cover. He has spotted a suspicious guy making a move on the fish tank. Believing it to be one of White’s goons, Max jumps in his way, claiming he has crossed the line with her. Alec tosses him into the alley, ripping part of the guy’s clothes. Underneath, the guy is wearing a wet suit with tubes filled with water. The guy has gills, and can’t breathe without the water. Max realizes he isn’t aligned with White after all. Suddenly, gunshots emanate from Mako’s. Max runs inside amid the melee. The Gill Girl is gone from the tank.
White holds the Gill Girl in a dry crate at a power plant. She is barely alive. White’s lackey, Otto, suggests that the Girl was probably designed by Manticore for amphibious sabotage. Meanwhile, Max and Alec bring the Gill Guy to Logan’s and place him in a running shower. Max feels bad that she jammed up the Gill Guy’s escape mission, which put the Gill Girl into White’s hands. Through police scanners, Logan has tracked the van carrying the Gill Girl to Sector Twelve. He believes that White may have set up his operation there. After Asha mends his wet suit to help him breathe, the Gill Guy goes to leave. Max is convinced he knows where White is hiding the Gill Girl. Instead, the Gill Guy directs Max and Alec to a remote shoreline where he tends to some eggs in a tidal pool. Max realizes that those are the Gill Girl’s eggs, and she assures the Gill Guy that they will rescue his mate. Logan phones – he has found White’s place.
He sends Max, Alec and the Gill Guy to an old steam-generating plant where White has taken up shop. The Gill Guy swims into an underwater drainpipe while Max and Alec penetrate the building from its roof. They meet inside, and the Gill Guy returns his mate’s dolphin calls. From his command post, White sees on the security monitor that Max and Alec are inside. They, meanwhile, fend off the guards to get to Gill Girl’s crate. White’s men fire from a catwalk above the plant, and Alec is hit in the arm. He covers Max as she rams a forklift into a boiler. Steam is released upwards, forcing White’s men back. The Gill couple escapes into the water of a cooling pool, and Max and Alec burst out the side door.
Asha and Logan meet them at the shoreline. The Gill Girl and Guy tend to their babies and wave a nod of gratitude to Max. They swim off into the water, together.
Medium is the Message 2.09
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Agent White’s team finds a bald transgenic in Terminal City. White orders his henchman Otto to transport the creature to Forensics and to keep it alive. Otto reaches for the phone, and the Bald Transgenic’s hands slip out of their shackles. The creature attacks Otto, and White is forced to kill it. “Never turn your back on them,” White says calmly.
Max tries unsuccessfully to decipher a Manticore doctor’s scribblings about Logan’s virus. Logan, too, is on the hunt, and has resorted to calling Lydecker. He hopes to hook up with another former Manticore doctor for a cure. Logan finds out that Lydecker’s car crashed into the river, but that his body was never found. Logan shows Max some photos of an archeological dig that were found near Lydecker’s crash site, but she doesn’t recognize them.
Joshua stumbles upon his father’s art kit, and accidentally swirls some paint on a canvas. He enjoys painting and has found himself a new hobby. When Alec admires the gilded frame around Joshua’s finished piece, Joshua thinks Alec is admiring his work and he gives Alec the canvas. Alec takes it to the Iconographic Art Gallery to sell the frame. Rita, the gallery’s owner, is instead interested in the painting, and she gives Alec seven thousand dollars for it. When she inquires about meeting the artist, Alec tells her that Joshua is shy. Eager for more cash, Alec helps Joshua make more paintings. In the frenzy of the moment, Alec inadvertently grabs Max’s wrinkled virus papers, and Joshua adds them to his work of art. Alec sells Joshua’s second piece to Rita. When Max comes looking for her virus papers, Joshua realizes what happened. Without telling Max the truth, he warns Alec that they must find the documents. Alec tries to buy back Joshua’s second painting, but Rita won’t budge. She asks for two more original works to trade for the piece with the virus papers. Despite Alec’s pleading, Joshua’s not interested in painting any more.
Logan meets with Wendy Olsen, a woman whose son, Ray, has been mysteriously kidnapped. He agrees to take on her cause because she will make a sizable donation to the Eyes Only cause. Logan realizes from the boy’s birth certificate that Wendy’s husband is Agent Ames White. Later, Logan tells Max that he doesn’t think that Wendy knows what her husband actually does for a living. He pulls up the security camera footage from the White’s home, and there are two masked figures vertically leaping up to the roof of the house. With such capabilities, they assume these men are transgenics. Logan is convinced that they took the boy as retribution for White’s transgenic hunt. Believing Wendy and her son to be innocent of White’s treachery, Logan feels that he must warn her about becoming the next target. Max begrudgingly agrees to help Logan, but when they go to Wendy, she doesn’t believe the allegations they make against her husband. Suddenly, Agent White enters his living room and holds Max at gunpoint. As Wendy begins to doubt White, Max grabs his gun and holds him down. Yet Max eases up, and offers to help track down the boy.
Rita doesn’t like the two new Joshua paintings, and Joshua is desolate over failing to get Max’s papers. He decides to steal the painting, but Alec shoots that idea down. As Joshua tries to confess the truth to Max, she gets a call from Logan, who has traced the ID badge on one of the kidnappers to R.C.F. Environmental Clean-up and Disposal (the site where Lydecker made his find in “Proof of Purchase”). Max goes to the R.C.F. site, and comes face to face with the two kidnappers from the White surveillance footage. She identifies herself as a fellow Manticore escapee, but they attack her with superhuman strength. She realizes that they do not have barcodes and are not transgenics. She sees White’s son, Ray, being lead into a holding room. As Max escapes, she sees the bones from Lydecker’s photographs, and she recognizes the Manticore lion symbol painted on the warehouse wall. Later, Logan references the symbol to burial sites dating back thousands of years. They don’t understand the symbol’s connection to Manticore or to Lydecker.
White gets a phone call at home from the kidnappers, demanding that he bring money in exchange for his son. Max follows the Whites to an abandoned warehouse and waits outside. White admits to his wife that he set up the whole thing, and Ray was not really kidnapped. Wendy had been chosen as his breeding host, but White mistakenly fell in love with her and couldn’t get rid of her. When Wendy sought help in recovering Ray, White is forced to kill her. Wendy is stunned by this confession. Logan calls Max as she hides outside the warehouse, explaining that there is some kind of genetic reproduction that has been going on for generations. After the first two newborns are disposed of, the mother is killed. It turns out that the Whites had two miscarriages. As White is about to shoot his wife, Max crashes through the window and fights him. Agent White is resistant to any of her punches, and he mysteriously vanishes into thin air.
Max takes Wendy to hide out at Logan’s. Logan learns that Agent White is using an assumed name. He is part of a breeding program that has been around for centuries, yet Logan does not know what that has to do with Ray. Meanwhile, White says goodbye to his son, telling him, “It’s time for you to be with other people like us.” The boy was included in the pretend kidnapping plot.
Joshua breaks into the Iconographic Gallery to steal back his painting, and Rita catches him. He tries to hide his face, but Rita is open to his strange appearance. She believes his work reflects someone who is seeing the world for the first time but who also realizes that he can’t be part of this world. Rita kisses his cheek and gives him back his painting. Joshua returns home to find Max sleeping on his couch. He takes out a fresh canvas and begins to paint her portrait.
Brainac 2.10
Regie: Stephen Williams
Drehbuch: Chip Johannessen
A teenager named Brainiac watches nine television sets, seemingly waiting for Eyes Only to interrupt the broadcasts with news of the S1W. He heads to a video arcade where he masters a game that he’s never even played before. Brainiac seems to know before it happens that the S1W’s headquarters in the back room will be raided. The Brainiac even anticipates the S1W’s leader getting shot. Yet when the police corral Asha and her compatriots into a paddy wagon, Brainiac tries to get arrested along with them. The police don’t seem to notice him, and he is left behind.
At Jam Pony the next day, Normal hears a news report about the arrest. It turns out that an anonymous tip led the cops to the S1W’s headquarters. After Max sympathizes with the S1W’s plight, Normal starts to wonder if she’s at all connected to them. He asks Alec about it, but Alec is suspicious of Max for other reasons. Max goes to the video arcade and slips into the cordoned-off S1W office. She is surprised to find Alec there too. He is looking for Asha’s address book because he thinks that his number is in there. Max finds the Whitman poetry book, Leaves of Grass, with a poem on note paper inside. She assumes that is Asha’s. Alec prods Max about her motives to protect Asha and their connection to Logan. Although she claims it’s not about her own interest, Alec discovers that a high-scoring name on one of the video games is Max’s name with a heart. On top of the machine is an XXXL sweatshirt with candy wrappers inside the pocket. They question a kid at the arcade, who tells them that their suspect is a forgettable guy who seems to know things before they happen. This guy even knew to duck a bullet during the arrest. Alec and Max head toward the address written on the label inside the sweatshirt.
Brainiac prepares himself and an overnight bag for Max’s arrival, but he’s annoyed that she has brought along Alec. Max and Alec bring him to a secret location and tie him up, allowing them to confer with Logan about how to help free Asha when the police transfer the S1W prisoners. Logan stays with Brain, while Max and Alec go after Asha. As they leave, Brain cryptically warns Max to “break an egg.”
Max and Alec raid the police bus holding Asha and the other S1W prisoners. Unable to find the keys to release the gate, they are forced to drive the bus while chased by cop cars. Max suddenly remembers Brainiac’s prophecy about breaking an egg, and she plows the bus into a billboard with the slogan “Break an Egg.” The bus safely crosses the tracks of an oncoming train, which prevents the police cars from catching them. Max returns the S1W crew to Logan’s hideout, but she questions how Brain knew what would happen in her escape plot. He admits to being a transgenic X with a barcode. Although his obese exterior makes him physically not a combat soldier, Brainiac was designed to be a battle theorist, able to predict outcomes based on probability. This is how he can “see into the future.” When Alec chides him for turning in the S1W, Brain tells them that the leak actually came from inside the group itself.
Max takes Brainiac through the mug shots of all the S1Ws, but he is not sure who the informant is. He admits that he had a crush on Max when they were in Manticore. She doesn’t recognize him because he was designed to be forgettable. He only got involved with the S1W bust because he knew Max would be involved. Logan tries to allay the fears of Asha and the S1Ws about trusting Brainiac, but Brainiac proves himself by giving the group explicit instructions on how to escape the raid that is about to occur. Brainiac takes the fall by getting himself captured by the SWAT team.
Asha calls Logan to tell him that they have reached the pick up point that will take them over the border, but she is sad about leaving him. Max takes off when she locates Brainiac being held at the Twelfth Precinct. She pretends to be a guard to release him, but Brainiac’s ankle is bandaged and she must carry him out. They make it to an office, and hide from other officers. He tells her that he sees her in a sawmill rescuing the S1W from their traitor. Although he sees her ultimately getting shot, he doesn’t tell her what the final outcome is. On the police desk they are hiding under, Brainiac finds a Leaves of Grass book – the same one as found in Asha’s backpack. He tells Max that it’s an old CIA trick to pass coded messages in matching books. Max does not believe that Asha would be the turncoat because that would hurt Logan. Meanwhile, at the lumber mill, the S1W leader asks Asha for his Leaves of Grass book that she found in her backpack.
As they speed to the lumber mill on Max’s bike, the Brain figures out that the S1W’s leader is the traitor. At the mill, Max fights off the police, and the S1W group fleas for safety. The leader sends them into a trap, locking them inside a room. Max runs to save them, in the exact situations that Brain had predicted. Yet Brain follows her, hoping to change the ending. As she kicks in the door, the leader shoots at her, but at the last second, Brainiac pushes her out of the way and takes the bullet. As he lay dying on the ground, he directs Asha and the S1Ws to a clear passage. When the police run up, he pulls Max down into his cocoon of invisibility. The SWAT team doesn’t even see the pair, and runs off to find the S1Ws. When Max gets up, Brainiac is dead.
Later, Asha shows up at Logan’s apartment. All the police files from the arrest have vanished because one of Brain’s candy bars was shoved into the precinct system disk. She is safe to remain in Seattle. Asha invites Logan to celebrate with the group, but he doesn’t go. At Brainiac’s apartment, Max sadly stares at the many television screens. Alec shows up, saying that he wanted to check on how she is doing. Really, he is intending to sell off Brain’s TV sets. The television is interrupted by an Eyes Only hack. It shows Brainiac’s face, and tells of the passing of a “great and fearless warrior.”
The Berrisfort Agenda 2.11
Regie: Thomas J. Wright
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
While tagging along with Max on a delivery to Sector Ten, Alec has a flashback from a Manticore mission that involved the house they are at. When no one responds to the door of the mansion, he urges Max to drop the package and leave. A security camera watches them go.
Joshua arranges a dinner party for Max and the gang. When Max teases Alec, he gets upset – an emotion out of the ordinary for Alec. He wanders down in Joshua’s basement and begins to play the piano. He holds a locket on a necklace. Alec has another flashback from Manticore, where he has been trained to play piano for a mission. He takes over the identity of a music teacher for Rachel, the daughter of Robert Berrisford. Yet Alec fell in love with her. Suddenly, Joshua startles Alec, and Alec turns to hit him. Joshua calms Alec down and hands him the locket that fell on the floor. Alec leaves the dinner party. When he returns home, Alec’s cell phone rings. Although there is no one on the other line, a piano plays the song that Alec had once taught Rachel. He goes back to the mansion, watching the windows from the cover of some bushes. Alec has another flashback of he and Rachel sneaking away to share a kiss. It is his first kiss. Alec snaps back to reality when he sees a woman’s shadow walk by the window of the house. He is stunned, believing it to be Rachel. Alec goes back to his place and has another flashback. He had stolen computer files from Robert Berrisford’s computer. When Rachel interrupts Alec to tell him that she loves him, Alec is torn between his job and complicated feelings for her.
The next day, Normal yells at Max for not getting a signature on the delivery to the mansion at Sector Ten. She goes back to the house, and notices that the locket that Alec was holding is depicted on a portrait in the foyer. Max visits with Joshua, who is working on his latest painting. She warns Joshua not to let Alec take advantage of him. Joshua understands that Alec doesn’t even know himself. Joshua points to a dark section of his painting. He explains that it symbolizes Alec’s confusion over Manticore.
Max finds Alec drowning his sorrows at Crash. She is surprised when he opens up emotionally to reveal that things at Manticore got worse after she left. She offers to help him, but he tells her to stay out of his business. Alec is leaving Crash, when two men accost him. Max helps him fight them off. “Stay the hell away from me,” Alec says to her unappreciatively. He later gets another phone call with the piano music.
Max has Logan pull up information on the signature’s name from the mansion delivery. Manticore had once made an attempt on Robert Berrisford’s life because he was in the gene-splicing and stem cell research business. He lived. Logan believes that Berrisford is now seeking revenge on Alec, who Manticore sent to do the job. Yet Alec would probably complete his mission to kill Berrisford first. Max goes out to prevent Alec from doing so.
Alec goes back to the mansion, and has more flashbacks. Berrisford ended Alec’s teaching services because he sent Rachel away. Alec has another flashback of his Manticore orders, where he was told to eliminate both Berrisford and his daughter. Alec planted his bomb on Berrisford’s car, but had second thoughts. He tried to warn Rachel. He admitted that he was sent to kill them, and Rachel ran off crying. Alec saw the car blow up and feared the worst, before Manticore lackeys took him away. Snapping back to reality, Alec goes to the mansion. He breaks in and fends off the security guards there. He sees a dark-haired woman, but it is not Rachel. Berrisford has lured Alec back to the house to enact revenge. He reveals that his daughter saved his life by warning him about the bomb. Unfortunately, she was knocked unconscious by the explosion, but Rachel never woke from her coma. Berrisford holds Alec at gunpoint, and emotionally tortured, Alec asks Berrisford to kill him. Suddenly, Max enters the mansion and knocks out Berrisford. Alec cries over the coma-stricken Rachel. Max realizes that he truly loved this girl.
A few days later, Max visits Logan. She has been covering for Alec, who has called in sick to work. Logan shows her a news report of Rachel’s death, and tells Max to be there for Alec. Max knows that Alec wants to be left alone. At Rachel’s grave, Alec finds Berrisford. The man tells Alec never to return to the cemetery. He admits that, although he wanted to kill Alec, he couldn’t do so because it was not the right thing to do. Alec walks away, hoping if he just keeps moving, he can leave it all behind.
Max sees Alec at Jam Pony, and offers to be available for him to talk. Alec considers this, but declines. She asks if he is alright. “I’m always alright,” he says with a smile.
Borrowed Time 2.12
Regie: David Straiton
Drehbuch: Jose Molina
At Crash, Logan accepts Alec’s challenge to a game of pool, and ends up beating him. Max hands Logan a congratulatory beer, but forgets about the deadly virus. Logan appears to be fine, but Max is upset that this virus is still coming between them.
Meanwhile, Gossamer, a Manticore creature with a long tail, spews mucus on Gordie, the owner of a junkyard, and drags the man away. Gordie is still alive, but trapped in a thick webbing attached to a car in the junkyard. Nearby, the Green family prepares for dinner. Suddenly, something smashes their kitchen window, and mucus is sprayed on Irving, the father. Gossamer’s clawed and scaly hands reach in and yank Irving Green out the window.
The next day, Max tries in vain to figure out the equations on the virus papers that Joshua painted over. She thinks that a squiggle is really an approximation sign, which will provide a useful formula. Joshua shows her that the squiggle is only paint, but she believes that she may have still come up with the answer. She brings her findings to Delbert, a scientist who disproves her numbers. Yet Delbert has hopes that her theory may work. He asks for twenty grand to find a cure. In order to get the money, Max lures Alec to help her steal some film footage from “Star Wars Episode Seven.” Alec realizes that he was used to help Max get together with Logan.
Max pays Delbert his money and gets injected with an antibody. Yet Delbert isn’t fully successful. Although the virus is stopped for the time being, it will return in twelve hours. She rushes over to Logan’s place and explains the situation to him. He agrees that they not let this chance pass them by. They reluctantly embrace and Logan has no side effects. But Max doesn’t want to spoil their brief time with a “quickie.” They decide to have a romantic dinner first.
At Crash, Alec fills Asha in on the news that Max is cured of the virus. Asha is jealous of what she can’t have, and after getting drunk, admits her feelings about Logan to Alec. Alec makes fun of Max and Logan’s unrequited love, and Asha chides him for not being romantic. Alec explains that he merely goes after what he wants, and what he wants is Asha. He asks her to come home with him, and she agrees.
Joshua picks up a scent outside his house and follows it into the sewer. He recognizes Gossamer’s smell and is lead to the street. Hal, a guy on the sidewalk with a bakery box, sidetracks Joshua, but Gossamer appears and spits on Hal. Gossamer swats Joshua with its tail, and he falls. When Joshua gets up, both Hal and Gossamer are gone. Joshua goes to Logan’s apartment, interrupting just as Max and Logan are about to finally pledge their love to each other. Joshua pleads with Max to stop the creature. She agrees to help, but hopes to finish the job quickly in order to get back to Logan. Her time to get close to him is slowly ticking away.
Returning to Alec’s apartment, Asha drunkenly falls asleep and ruins Alec’s big night. He gently tucks her in on his couch. Max arrives and, surprised to find Asha there, gets Alec to help her with Gossamer. He explains that there is more than one Gossamer, and they were used by Manticore to track down things by scent. The Gossamer sprays goo from its mouth to disable its victims. Max gets a call from Logan, who has found out that Irving Green was grabbed in a manner that points to Gossamer. Both Green and Hal had both recently been to the same dentist. Logan and Max surmise that perhaps the Gossamer is hunting for something at the dentist’s office.
Logan leaves Joshua at his apartment with full use of his refrigerator. Logan then breaks into the dentist’s office and finds some dental records. He tries to call Alec’s cell, but gets voice mail instead. Suddenly, Logan is startled by a crashing window. Max and Alec, meanwhile, tread into the sewers and find traces of the goo. They climb up at the spot, finding themselves in the junkyard. They split up to look for Gossamer, and Alec gets sprayed with the mucus. Max, still holding Alec’s cell phone, sees that there’s a message, and she quickly dials Logan. She hears a ringing cell phone in the junkyard, and finds Logan trapped inside a junked car. He is wrapped in fibrous strands from Gossamer and he is passed out. Gossamer appears and sprays Max. She too gets trapped in the webbing inside the car with Logan and Alec. They hear Gordie and Hal call out from another car. They too are wrapped in Gossamer’s web. Logan explains that the dentist was using Kevelar, a material used in weapon casing and armor plating, for teeth fillings. Logan had touched some in the office. Max is hopeful that Joshua will come for them, but Logan reminds her that they told Joshua to stay put. Sitting in the car, helpless, Max complains that she couldn’t even have her one night with Logan.
Joshua notices that the gang is missing, and he follows Logan’s scent to the dentist’s office. Then he picks up Max and Alec’s scent to the sewer. He arrives at the junkyard and pulls out Max. As he works on Alec, Max tries to free Logan. She gets hold of the Kevelar bars he’s been holding. Suddenly, Gossamer appears and sprays Joshua to trap him in the car. Without time to free Logan, Max jumps out of the car to face off against Gossamer. She ducks most of his spray and fights him off. Then Max entices Gossamer with the Kevelar bars and traps him inside another car. Max lifts the car off the ground with a crane and leaves it dangling in the air. She frees all the men, depressed by how much time has passed. Alec shuffles everyone away to give her and Logan their time alone. Gordie figures out that Gossamer was drawn to the junkyard because of all the Kevelar used in old car parts. Alec lets him keep the creature, provided he keeps Gossamer locked up at night.
Max finds Logan sitting in an old Cadillac convertible in the junkyard. With only a few minutes left, he laments that they wasted a year dancing around their feelings. Her beeper goes off to remind her that their time is up. Logan leans over and kisses her anyway. He gets out of the car, and it seems like a goodbye when he tells her that he loves her. Logan walks away without hearing Max whisper that she loves him too. Max cries alone in the car.
Harbor Light 2.13
Regie: Kenneth Biller
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
Max leaves Logan a voice message, and Original Cindy consoles her about still not being able to touch him. The virus has returned full blast. Max plans on going for a ride, but first she needs to score some gas. While waiting on line at a gas tank truck, an angry biker pulls out his gun when the gas runs out. Max is accidentally shot in the ruckus.
Max is rushed to the Harbor Lights Medical Hospital. Yet in the emergency room, her pager goes off without anyone noticing – it’s Logan, returning her call. As the doctors attempt to treat her, Max forcibly stops them, saying, “No tests!” She falls unconscious, and they perform surgery to remove the bullet. Logan receives a call from a nurse at Harbor Lights. Since he was the last call on the pager, the nurse asks him to identify the female victim. Logan says that the victim’s name is Linda Eastman, and he immediately calls his trusted Dr. Sam Carr to tell him about Max’s predicament. Dr. Carr promises Logan that he won’t let the hospital find out that Max has abnormal physiology. At Harbor Lights, Dr. Carr meets with Max’s attending physician and collects all the samples retrieved from tests. When Max wakes up, Logan arrives, posing as Linda Eastman’s husband. He assures her that Dr. Carr will protect her.
Meanwhile, a lab tech finds what looks like a virus strain in a blood sample for a L. Eastwood. Unfortunately, the tech mixed up the vials and what he is looking at is results for L. Eastman’s blood – which is really Max’s blood. Dr. Carr had been given the wrong samples. The lab tech notifies the CDC about the tainted blood. Ames White gets wind that a patient with a barcode tattoo was found to have an unidentified virus. Believing it to be Max, he assembles his crew into action.
A CDC Hazmat team under the lead of Dr. George comes in to examine Max and to quarantine her hospital room. She tries to fight them off, but she is still weak from her recent surgery. Max faints, and the doctors restrain her. Logan arrives at Harbor Lights in the midst of the CDC confusion, and he sees Agent White posing as an FBI agent to scope out the premises. White accosts Dr. George and demands that he take “Linda Eastman” as a prisoner. Dr. George insists on keeping the patient under quarantine, and threatens to warn the press that transporting her will expose the public to a health threat. White backs off, and Logan listens in as White warns his henchmen that they will have to kill Max before she spills the beans. Dr. George learns that the virus is not contagious, and he informs Max that he will not turn her over to the “FBI Agent” wanting to capture her. Dr. George intends to relocate her to CDC headquarters to find out why her DNA is so perfectly engineered.
Logan taps into White’s cell phone and hears him cryptically say, “From my Father before me. For my Sons.” Then White asks an unknown person if they have a “Familiar” at Harbor Lights. White then calls Nurse Betty at the hospital. Recognizing White as another “Familiar,” she too intones the chant, “From my Mother before me. For my Daughters.” White asks her to kill Max, and Nurse Betty agrees. Nurse Betty takes a syringe and goes to Max’s room. Logan, meanwhile, hacks into Harbor Lights’ computer system and picks up Max’s EKG monitor. He taps in a Morse code message through her EKG to warn Max that she is in danger. Max reads this on the monitor, and she breaks out of her restraints before Nurse Betty can inject her. Max fights the woman off, and the needle goes into Nurse Betty’s thigh. Nurse Betty feels no pain, and continues to battle Max. But Max flips her out the hospital window several floors up. Both Logan and White watch from the parking lot as Nurse Betty’s body hits the ground. She is somehow still alive.
Meanwhile, Dr. George asks Dr. Carr why he never noticed anything unusual with the blood work for his patient, “Linda Eastman.” Dr. George suspects that she is a mutant from Manticore, but Dr. Carr shrugs off his suggestion. Max sneaks out of her hospital room, still weakened with a bleeding wound on her side. She slips into the morgue and hides under a cart to avoid the sector police. She calls Logan on his cell phone, and he has her go up to the abandoned top floor of the hospital in order to make her way out onto the roof. Some sector cops on the top floor trap Max, but Agent White appears and kills them. White claims that he is on Max’s side because the police would have exposed her for what she is. While Max hides, White tells her that he wants to help her escape alive. White drops his gun to gain her trust, and Max drop kicks him. She runs to the roof as White follows. On the roof, Max knocks the gun out of his hand, but White manages to beat her up. As he retrieves his gun and is about to shoot her, a helicopter surprises him. Logan convinced a news chopper to fly him up there. As White turns to see the helicopter, Max kicks him, sending his gun goes across the roof. Logan grabs Max and pulls her into the chopper, as White shoots unsuccessfully at them. The helicopter flies away to safety.
At Max’s crib, Cindy tends to Max’s sprained ankle, two cracked ribs and gunshot wound. As things are still awkward between he and Max, Logan leaves. Max knows that the government now has her lab results and will someday want answers.
In Washington, DC, Dr. George hands off Max’s lab results to a Pin-Striped Man.
Love in Vein 2.14
Regie: David Grossman
Drehbuch: Michael Angeli
Max and Original Cindy wait on the long line outside the terminally upscale Vertical Club. Four members of a gang called The Bloods breeze past the line and cause mayhem inside the club, robbing and beating up the patrons. Lida, the blond member of the gang, urges one of her cohorts, Push, to chill out. With their stolen money, the gang leaves the bar, knocking down O.C. on the way out. They take off in their Tornado car, exclaiming, “To the marrow!” Cindy spots the barcodes on Lida and Push’s neck. She alerts Max.
The next day, a dazed and sickly Lida goes to a clinic and asks for help. Dr. Shankar notices Lida’s barcode and notifies Logan. He then calls Max at Jam Pony and tells her about the girl. Max doesn’t want to bother him with her Manticore problems, planning to deal with it herself. At the clinic, the three other Blood members swarm Lida. They kidnap her, telling her that Marrow is the only one who can help her. Max arrives and tries to stop the Bloods outside. Rain, the other chick from the gang, attempts to fight Max, but Max gets the best of her. The other Bloods take off in their Tornado, leaving Rain. Max realizes that the barcode on Rain’s neck is only a tattoo. She’s not a Manticore transgenic after all.
In an abandoned church, Marrow, a transgenic with piercing blue eyes and bulging veins, gets briefed by the Bloods about Max. He yells at Lida, who is suffering from withdrawal. He taunts her with a thin glass wand, and she begs to take a sip. Without giving her what she craves, Marrow has her thrown in a storage room. He then kills her.
Max shows Rain her own real barcode, but the only thing Rain will fess up is that Marrow will come for her. Rain, who also suffers from withdrawal, recites some kind of mantra. Max finds a church collection envelope full of cash in Rain’s jacket. She goes to the church name printed on the envelope and spies on Marrow giving a eulogy about Lida to the Bloods. He holds up the glass wand, saying that their choice is forever. None in their covenant could survive without it. He then jabs the wand into his arm to draw his own blood. Each of the Bloods sips from the wand like a straw. Suddenly, the hiding Max is found by one of the gang members.
Chained to a chair, Max questions Marrow. He explains that Manticore made his blood perfect. He got the kids hooked on his blood so that they would revere him, and someday they would be willing to fight for him when the world turns against transgenics. Marrow lets Max go so that she’ll return Rain to him. While Max gives the lowdown to Logan at the clinic, Dr. Shankar unsuccessfully tries to treat Rain. With no other hope in saving her, Logan offers to take Rain back to Marrow. On the way there, he explains to her what Manticore really did to Marrow and Max.
Alec lures Joshua into taking over some of his Jam Pony runs with the promise that he can use his bike and wear a full-face motorcycle helmet. On a delivery, Joshua has a run-in with a cat and gets scratched. Dylan, another messenger, hands him a hash pipe to ease his pain. Joshua, remembering his father’s pipe, takes a hit. Dylan brings the wasted Joshua to a messenger bar. Cursed with the munchies but unable to show his face to the crowd, Joshua pours pretzels into his helmet. The other messengers laugh, and pepper him with questions. As they begin to warm up to Joshua, he takes off his helmet. This time, they scream in horror. Joshua runs out and takes off with his bike. Max finds Joshua at home. He is stoned and is freaking out.
Marrow offers up his blood to Rain, but she refuses, knowing that he has only been brainwashing them. Her shakes die out when she realizes that it is all in her head. She really does not need his blood to survive. Marrow only convinced them of that. Max arrives at the church, and Rain informs all the other Bloods that they’ve been duped. Marrow attacks her, but Max steps in his way. She pushes Marrow, and he is gorged by a wrought iron candle stand. Seeing him dead, the other Bloods think they are now going to die without his blood. Rain explains that she didn’t sip and she is perfectly fine. Marrow had killed Lida to make them all believe his lie. But when the gang turns back towards the candle stand, Marrow’s body is gone.
The next morning, Max wakes Joshua. He is saddened that he can never go out into the real world because people are frightened by him. Logan lets her know that the kids in the gang are all doing fine. They probably won’t expose them because they just want to forget the whole ordeal. Yet they still don’t know what happened to Marrow.
In an alley somewhere, Marrow tempts his next victim with everlasting life from the sip of his blood.
Fuhgeddaboudit 2.15
Regie: Morgan James Beggs
Drehbuch: Julie Hess
Logan sends Max undercover to flirt with Dougie, the accountant for a crime syndicate. Dougie had previously promised Logan that he would help turn in the Boss, but he dropped out at the last minute. At the 49 Club, Dougie’s girlfriend Mia has a waiter spill a drink on Max. When Max goes to the ladies room, Mia confronts her. For some strange reason, Max begins to spill the beans on everything, as if Mia has put her under some kind of spell. Max tells her that she is working on an undercover mission for Eyes Only and that she is from Manticore. Mia is also from Manticore, but she was a Psy-Ops. When Mia asks who Eyes Only really is, Max hesitates and says that she can’t. Mia sends a suddenly sleepy Max home, and tells her that she won’t remember a thing. As soon as Mia leaves the restroom, Max is oblivious to what just happened.
The next morning, Max goes to Logan’s. He was worried because she didn’t respond to his pages the night before. Oddly, she slept for four hours. She blows off his questions, saying that it “didn’t work out” with Dougie. After Logan scolds her for not trying very hard, Max heads to work. At Jam Pony, Mia comes in looking for a job. Alec recognizes her from Psy-Ops at Manticore. Mia gazes deep into his eyes, and Alec forgets that he even knows her. With her gift of tele-coercion, Mia convinces Normal to hire her as a dispatcher. Max comes in and doesn’t even remember Mia from the night before.
At Crash, Logan asks Max to once again infiltrate Dougie at the 49 Club. Still sour from being scolded at, Max is reluctant to help and snaps at him. Logan is confused. Mia, who had been watching the whole scene, quizzes Alec about Logan’s identity when Logan approaches the bar. Without realizing it, Alec admits to Logan that he admires his readiness to save the world. Logan tells Alec that he is envious of his free spirit. Mia coerces the boys to hug, and Alec leaves, unsure of what just happened. Logan then reveals to Mia that Max was infected with a deadly virus that could kill him. He tells her that Manticore knew that he was really Eyes Only.
The next day at Jam Pony, Mia sways Alec into agreeing to get back into the ring for an elimination fight. Normal is excited at this prospect, and confesses (under Mia’s spell) that he has titillating dreams about Alec. Max arrives, and Mia sways her into not going to the 49 Club to see Dougie. She wants her to go to Crash instead. Max agrees. Later that night at Crash, Max tells Cindy that something’s not right with Mia. They are interrupted by an Eyes Only broadcast about the Boss’ crime family. Dougie’s pals at the 49 Club watch the Eyes Only stream as well, but when Logan reveals that the Boss is being ripped off by his Lieutenants, the guys get an angry call from the Boss. Logan, meanwhile, makes his report under the sway of Mia. He doesn’t even know where the information is coming from. At Crash, Mia convinces Alec to go home and rest before his big fight because she’s going to have a lot of money riding on him. Logan arrives, and Max asks how he got Dougie to agree to talk to him. He tells her that he didn’t, but he “has his reasons” for exposing information on the mob boss in his broadcast. When they begin to argue, Mia calms them down and erases what they were fighting about. Max’s memory is jogged and she remembers that she had met Mia before at the 49 Club. It was no coincidence that Mia took a job at Jam Pony.
Mia leaves Crash and goes to Dougie. He is worried that the Boss will think he spilled his guts, but Mia assures him that she will handle Eyes Only. Per her request, Dougie hands her a sack of money. Mia says that she will make him money to get into the Boss’ good graces, and she makes Dougie promise to bring the Boss to the fight. Max, who followed Mia, watches the whole conversation from above. Suddenly, Mia leaps up to Max and kicks her off the scaffolding. Max’s pager goes flying onto the street. Max realizes that Mia is from Manticore, and demands to know what her business is with Dougie. Mia admits that Dougie is in trouble, and she’s going to help him prove his loyalty to the Boss so that she and Dougie can run away together. Max wants Dougie to finger the Boss for Eyes Only. Mia tells her that she won’t even remember this conversation.
The next day at Jam Pony, Max comes in with a shiner on her eye (from the previous night’s altercation with Mia). Although she doesn’t know how she got it, Mia has her believe that she slipped in the shower. Mia hands her money to Alec for the fight. Logan comes to Jam Pony to see Max, who hasn’t responded to his pages. She only now realizes that she lost her pager. He asks about following Mia, and Max starts to remember the fight. She tells Logan that Mia is a Psy-Ops from Manticore who is planning something with Dougie. When Max hears that Alec is fighting again, she questions why he would do something so risky. He has no answer, and Max and Logan know that Mia must be behind the fight.
That night at the fight hall, the Boss’ crew is pleased to see Alec beat up one opponent after the other. Dougie had tipped them off that Alec was a “sure thing,” and they are winning all their bets on his fights. Max corners Mia, who tells her everything. Yet even though Mia wipes out Max’s mind, Logan heard the whole conversation with a listening device. He explains to Max that Mia talked Alec into fighting so that Dougie can make the Boss money off the bouts. Max tries to convince Alec to throw the fight, but he doesn’t listen. So she steps into the ring as his next opponent. Although Alec refuses to fight her, Max starts beating him. Alec finally fights back, but then Max kicks him in the groin and Alec goes down. When the crew loses all their money on Alec, they go to take Dougie for a “little ride.” Logan comes in with Detective Matt Sung and approaches Dougie. He will make him a better offer if Dougie fingers the Boss in the crowd. Dougie points out a man dressed as a woman, and Sung’s cops go after him. Mia slugs the Boss, telling Max that she never really liked him. Sung finally nabs the once elusive Boss.
Later, Mia tells Logan that she wanted Dougie to flip so that he would get out of this mobster lifestyle. She knew that Max and Logan would go after him and prevent him from running off. Mia, however, bet on Max to win and made a load of cash. She is in love with Dougie because he is the only one immune to her tele-coercion. When Normal asks Max how she beat Alec, Mia convinces him that he will forget everything he saw at the fight. Then Mia takes off with Dougie, leaving Max and Logan, alone and happy.
Exposure 2.16
Regie: Stephen Williams
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker
Sketchy announces to everyone at Jam Pony that he got a job as a freelance journalist for the tabloid paper New World Weekly. He is going to hunt down mutants and expose them in the press. Meanwhile, Agent White’s wife, Wendy, calls Logan to tell him that she has located her son, Ray. Before she can give Logan any more information, Agent White comes in and attacks Wendy, ripping the phone out of the wall. He warns her to stay away, because Ray is now “one of Us.” Logan traces Wendy’s call to a hotel in a town called Willoughby, and he and Max set out to find her. At the hotel, they try to glean information from the suspicious desk clerk to no avail. They check in, but discover a room with a new doorplate and a just-installed phone jack. Inside the room’s refrigerator is a roll of film. They get the photos developed, and there are images of children in a private school. Ray White is among the children. A nosy sheriff hears them talking about the school and questions their interest. Max and Logan lie about seeing the school from afar, but the sheriff is distrustful. He watches them go, and they wonder whether this boarding school may actually be some kind of breeding ground.
After receiving a tip, Sketchy searches through a sewer in Sector Three and finds nothing. As he leaves, he sees that White’s agents are in pursuit of a transgenic. Sketchy follows the men with his camera and takes pictures of the Manticore escapee. Otto reports to Agent White about Sketchy’s possible photos, and White orders that they find him. Sketchy returns to Jam Pony with news of his discovery. While Alec creates a diversion, Original Cindy exposes Sketchy’s film.
Agent White meets with Director Paul Simms, who chastises him about letting the transgenic out in broad daylight. White is angry because his operation to capture transgenics is understaffed and under-funded, but Simms only wants them to remain below the radar of the press.
Logan helps Max break into the school, and she sees that a book by a child’s bed has undecipherable Minoan glyphs on it. She finds a temple in the corridor with robed figures chanting in a foreign tongue. Max hides behind a curtain. Ray White is brought to the altar and presented to the congregation. Two snakes are held up, and a “teacher” named Moorehead slices one of them open. She pours the snake’s blood into a chalice and dips the blade into it. She cuts into Ray’s arm, leaving the remnant of a small scar in the shape of a glyph etched into his skin. A boy in the crowd named Samuel looks in Max’s direction, sensing something. Suddenly, everyone spots Max when the curtain magically whips up in the air. She blurs forward in an attempt to snatch Ray, but the others set upon her and force her to the ground. She gets cut with the knife. When Max doesn’t return, Logan heads towards the school buildings. The sheriff finds him and pulls a gun to his head.
Moorehead notifies Agent White that a transgenic tried to stop the ceremony, and White knows that it is Max. “It should take effect on her soon,” Moorehead says. Max is held in a cage, but strangely, the cut on her hand is still not healed. Moorehead tells her that Ray is proving himself, like they all have done. She shows that she too has the glyph on her arm. Samuel asks Max how she feels because, he says, “it should have started by now.” When Max comments that it is getting warm in the room, Samuel informs her that she is going to die. Appearing sick, Max asks him for water.
Otto and the other operatives come into Jam Pony looking for Sketchy, and Normal points them toward Crash. At the bar, Sketchy doesn’t understand why all of his photos came out black. Alec and O.C. try to assuage his doubts, saying that the tabloids always make up their stories. Otto arrests Sketchy, but he is so drunk that he throws up on the agent’s shoes. He tells them that he is working for a newspaper, but his pictures didn’t come out. Dejected, Sketchy thinks that all he saw was a guy in a Halloween mask. Believing him, Otto lets him go.
At the town jail, the sheriff questions Logan about why he was at the school. The sheriff believes that Logan was after the boy in the photo – Ray White – but he doesn’t understand what is wrong with the school. Logan tries to appeal to his sense of decency and explains what is really going on there.
Agent White visits with his son, but unfortunately, Ray has gotten worse instead of better. Moorehead keeps vigil over the boy. Meanwhile, Max begs for water and Samuel brings her a cup. When he opens up the cage, she blurs past him. Samuel calmly yells “Stop!” Max is halted and thrown up against the wall by some unseen force. Samuel uses his telekinetic power to beat her up, telling her that she can’t win. Max pulls up her shirt to reveal her bare breasts, and young Samuel’s concentration falters long enough for Max to break free of his telekinetic grip and deliver a vicious kick to his sternum. He gets knocked out, and she bolts out the door. She returns to the temple, as the congregation prays for Ray. Max slips past a partition where Ray is being held, and she grabs Moorehead from behind in a sleeper hold. Moore loses consciousness. Agent White goes to the cage room, where Max is gone and Samuel is knocked out. He finds Max outside with Ray slumped over her shoulder. With gun trained, Agent White orders her to put the boy down. She refuses. When Logan arrives with the sheriff, White is distracted and Max blurs away. White shoots at the sheriff, and Logan gets in the patrol car driver’s seat to slam into White. Logan picks up Max and the sheriff and peels out, as White shoots aimlessly at the car.
The next day at Jam Pony, Sketchy starts to doubt that what he saw was not fake. Why else would the government be interested in his photos? He vows to Alec and O.C. that he is still going to expose mutants.
At the school, a Priest informs Agent White that, although Max was exposed, she did not even show symptoms. White believes that Sandeman’s work at Manticore must have progressed more than they had imagined. They must now find out if the other transgenics are immune as well. Yet all White really wants to know is if his son Ray has survived. Then Agent White brings the snakes from the temple to the transgenic held captive by Otto. He is hopeful that their blood will kill the creature.
Logan tells Max that Ray’s blood work proved that he is healthy. The snakes must be some kind of viral carriers. Logan arranged for Wendy’s sister to pick up Ray and take him as far away from White as possible. Ray awakes, and asks them if he “passed.” He says that he needs to be strong for “the Coming.” Although he does not know what that means, Ray was only told that it was important.
Hello, Goodbye 2.17
Regie: Jeff Woolnough
Drehbuch: Jose Molina & Cindi Grossenbacher
Max and Joshua set off cans of bug repellent spray in Joshua’s house to rid it of fleas. He stays outside while Max goes to meet Logan at Crash. She still has the snake symbol on her palm that she got from Agent White’s breeding cult. Meanwhile, Alec sidles up to Asha at the bar. Asha mentions that she is glad that she didn’t do anything she might have regretted with him. Alec admits that the last person he got close to winded up dead. Asha tries to comfort him, but Alec pushes her away. Max approaches Alec, who says that, although he likes Asha, he is trying to do the right thing with her because transgenics and humans don’t mix. Alec tries to convey that same advice to Max, but she shoos him away. Logan comes to the bar. Max, suddenly feeling self-conscious about the virus, says that she is going home. Without thinking, Logan grabs her arm. He falls unconscious and is taken to the hospital.
Dr. Beverly Shankar tells Max that the disease is killing Logan. Max suggests that he get a transfusion from a Manticore recipient because they were made immune to such viruses. Dr. Shankar agrees that it’s worth a shot. Max summons Alec to the hospital. He walks outside of Crash to go there, but is swarmed by uniformed cops with their guns trained on him. Max waits for Alec to show up at the hospital, but he never comes. When Dr. Shankar asks if there is someone else to give Logan a transfusion, Max goes to get Joshua. A woman, meanwhile, approaches Joshua with a dog. When she doesn’t react to his appearance, he realizes that the woman, named Annie Fisher, is blind. Max shows up in desperation for Joshua’s help and brings him to the hospital. Dr. Shankar doesn’t seem concerned that he has canine DNA in his cocktail – as long as he has the Manticore antibodies. Later, the doctor lets Max know that Joshua’s blood saved Logan, but Max is afraid to see Logan. She feels that she has caused him enough harm. Max finally gets up the nerve to call him. Though Logan tries to convince her otherwise, she insists on staying away from him.
In the jail, a woman identifies Alec as the murderer of someone named Timothy Ryan. Original Cindy convinces Max to go help Alec. Max pretends to be a public defender and gets inside the jail. Alec maintains that he did not murder anyone, even though his DNA matched the crime. Max doesn’t believe him, but when Alec informs her that the murder occurred two years ago while he was still at Manticore, Max has a flashback. She remembers confronting Ben in “Pollo Loco,” and realizes that the authorities think that Alec is Ben, his Manticore twin. Ben had killed Timothy Ryan and ten other people in the same manner. Max and Alec bust out of the prison and go to Max’s crib. Alec asks her about Ben, and Max lovingly describes her brother. She admits that she was forced to kill Ben when they escaped Manticore because he didn’t want to return for reindoctrination. Max breaks down, and Alec consoles her. Later, as Alec is leaving, he and Max share a moment. Logan just happens to show up outside of Max’s crib and sees them in a half-embrace.
Freaky Frank, the transgenic captured by Agent White in “Exposure,” assures White that he will keep secret the fact that he was injected with the snake blood. Agent White reports to a mystery cult woman that perhaps Sandeman made the transgenics immune to varying degrees. White then releases Freaky Frank onto the streets, warning him about the sector police. Frank is immediately cornered by the police, and he fights them off. As they shoot him dead, a hoverdrone captures the event.
Annie comes calling for Joshua, and invites him to dinner. He makes sure she comes to his house instead. Annie explains that she contracted the measles after the pulse, which caused her to become blind. Joshua lets her touch his paintings, and he describes each color on the canvas. The next day, Alec goes to stay with Joshua. He sees Joshua’s new painting of Annie. Alec scores a television set for Joshua’s house, and they catch a news report of Freaky Frank’s superhuman strength. When Annie knocks on Joshua’s door, Alec encourages him to send her away. Joshua does so glumly. Alec pages Max and summons her to talk with Joshua. She tells Joshua that his staying away from Annie is for the best. Suddenly, Max realizes that Joshua has a medallion around his neck that matches the symbol on her palm. He explains that his Father gave it to him. Max goes to Logan’s and tells him about the medallion. Logan is drunk, and he asks if it’s true that she is with Alec. Taking the one and only chance to do something that will keep Logan away, Max says, “I can’t.”
As Max sits on top of the Space Needle, Alec shows up. He asks if she has any realizations about life. “Love sucks,” she says.
Dawg Day Afternoon 2.18
Regie: Kenneth Biller
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty
While Joshua pines away for Annie, the blind woman he met in “Hello Goodbye,” Max hands Alec a fake birth certificate that claims he was a twin. This gets him off the hook and proves that his “brother” would have committed the murder. On television, a minister preaches against transgenics, claiming that they are not human because they were not created by God. Logan interrupts his sermon with an Eyes Only broadcast that defends the transgenics. He says that they feel hurt just like humans. Alec hints to Max that perhaps Logan is reaching out to her.
Agent White argues with his superior, Director Paul Simms, about how to handle the transgenic situation now that the press has released footage on Freaky Frank. Although White wants to open it up so that his department will have jurisdiction over the police, Simms is adamant that they not acknowledge anything to the public. White reluctantly agrees.
Asha procures for Logan the full hoverdrone footage of the Freaky Frank capture. The police edited it so that it seems that the transgenic attacked them, when really the cops went after him first. Logan also sees Agent White at the scene of the crime. He pages Max to warn her, but she doesn’t answer. Asha tries to explain to Logan that he hasn’t heard from Max because she was afraid for him. Asha believes this has been hard for both Max and Alec. The sound of Alec’s name cuts a jealous Logan to the quick. Meanwhile, Max and Alec break into a cosmetic surgeon’s office to laser off each other’s barcode. Logan calls Alec’s cell phone, and is disheartened to learn that he is with Max. Alec pushes her to take Logan’s call, but she is cold toward Logan. He informs her about White, who may not be keeping his transgenic hunt under wraps for the government. Instead, White must be taking orders from his breeding cult buddies. Max promises to look into it, but asks that Logan not call her anymore.
That night, Joshua goes to Annie’s house and watches her from outside her window. Annie’s dog barks at Joshua, causing him to tumble off a garbage can. A group of hoodlums nearby hears the noise and comes to check it out. They notice that he’s a transgenic, and they chase him throughout the night. The next morning, Annie and her dog stumble upon the hiding Joshua. She thinks that he was avoiding her because she is blind. Before he can explain, the kids spot him. Joshua fends them off, and leads Annie away. She is confused and afraid of what’s happening. The boys see them again, and Joshua takes Annie down into the sewers through a manhole. The kids alert the police that a transgenic kidnapped Annie.
Agent White meets up with Moorehead at an aquarium, and reports to her that he has been leaking information on the transgenics to the media. She tells him that it is the opinion of The Conclave that he go even further. Since the X-series transgenics are a threat because they are able to pass as humans and will be more difficult to expose, they hope to exploit the fear of the average citizen that there are transgenics living among them. White is alerted by Otto that there was a report of a “wolfman” in Sector Three. He leaks the information to a news anchor.
At Joshua’s empty house, Max catches a news report about a creature kidnapping a blind woman. Joshua is now the biggest story in town. Max dashes out the door towards the mobile command post searching for Joshua. Using her vision, Max spies on the police’s plan. She knocks out a cop and sneaks into the sewer. Sketchy, on the hunt for a tabloid news story, follows her. Alec, who is also in Sector Three, runs into Logan at the police blockade. Max isn’t answering Logan’s page, so Alec tries her. Max is underground hiding from the police when her pager goes off. The cops hear it and she must fight them off. Yet she accidentally knocks out Sketchy as well. She grabs Sketchy’s cell phone and calls Alec. Logan gets on the phone and warns her about what the police are tracking. He offers to help get her out once she finds Joshua. The sector police discuss that a girl in black kicked their butts. White overhears this and knows that it is Max. He goes into the tunnel, undetected.
Meanwhile, underground, Annie asks Joshua why he is on the run from the cops. Learning that he is a transgenic, Annie is upset that Joshua lied to her about what his face looked like. She moves away from him. Joshua apologizes and claims that he was only trying to protect her. Annie understands and feels bad for him. She asks to touch his real face. When they hear footsteps, she listens for the way out. Yet she makes Joshua go alone so he can escape. She promises to come by his house tomorrow.
Joshua finds Max, and she notifies Logan. Logan leads her out of the sewer away from the sector police. Yet as they enter a chamber, Logan sees on the GPS monitor that the police are nearby. They are almost about to be caught, when Joshua turns on the water main and floods the path of the sector police. Max and Joshua run off as the cops chase them. The sector police SWAT team waits at the manhole for Joshua to emerge, but Sketchy pops out instead. Max and Joshua exit from another hole, where Alec is waiting for them. Logan pulls up in his Aztek to take them away. Meanwhile, White sloshes determinedly through the sewers with his gun drawn. He runs into Annie and tells her that it is all over.
Logan drives Joshua, Alec and Max to Joshua’s house. They watch the news reports of the hunt for Joshua and learn that Annie had been killed. The reporter announces that an X-Series who looks human helped the creature escape. The transgenic is still at large. Joshua lets loose a saddened primal scream. Max and Alec comfort him.
White watches the scene in Sector Three, enjoying his victory.
She Ain`t Heavy 2.19
Regie: Allan Kroeker
Drehbuch: Robert Doherty & Michael Angeli
At Jam Pony, Max tells O.C. that she lead Logan to believe she was seeing Alec. In a confusion of character, Normal is under the impression that a messenger has a barcode. Normal pulls out a gun, but Max quickly swipes it from him. Although the barcode on the messenger is fake, the tension makes everyone nervous. Watching this, Sketchy becomes suspicious of Max. Meanwhile, in an upscale apartment San Francisco, a woman who looks exactly like Max comes home to her husband and son. The woman is named Sam. Suddenly, Agent White and his men storm the apartment and taser Sam. When she tells them that her designation is 453, White is annoyed. Although he thought he had captured Max, it is really Max’s clone.
As Logan makes his Eyes Only broadcast, White orders his men to trace the stream. Logan cuts off in time to avoid them. White learns that Sam is not an identical clone to Max because she has junk DNA. Sam tells him that she has never had contact with Max. She had already been out of Manticore when Max released the transgenics. White wants to use Sam as a decoy at the hospital where Max was brought in. Since he suspects the doctor who released Max knows more than he lets on, Sam is to find out information for him. White is still pissed off because Max took away his son. White is also concerned about having to testify to a Senate committee. Although Senator McKinley has subpoenaed their operation on a transgenic witch-hunt, Director Simms orders White to keep stonewalling.
As Dr. Carr examines Logan, Sam pulls up to the clinic on a bike. She’s dressed like Max. Sam passes Logan, and he greets her. She blows him off without recognition. Sam tells Dr. Carr that she has been having back spasms. When he checks her out, Carr notices that her gunshot wounds are gone. When she realizes that the jig is up, she threatens the good doctor to ditch town because he lied about how well he knows Max. Sam punches him and jumps on her bike. Otto and another operative follow Sam out of the clinic. She opens fire on their car with two semi-automatics. Sam warns them to notify White to leave her alone.
Normal and Sketchy tell Alec their suspicions about Max. Alec cautions Max about what he heard. She takes off, and doesn’t see Sam watching this from afar. Max goes to Joshua’s pad, where he is blacking out his windows in fear because people are hunting transgenics. He wants to move to Terminal City since his place only reminds him of Annie. She rebukes him for going because she can’t look after him there. When he doesn’t budge, she begs him to stay. But Joshua leaves anyway. Hiding out in the scary Terminal City, Joshua comes upon a group of transgenics. They are all freakish-looking like him and they accept him as one of their own. Alec, meanwhile, comes upon a map in Joshua’s house. Terminal City is circled in red, and he sets out to find Joshua.
Logan goes home and makes his nightly hack on Eyes Only, unaware that this time White’s crew is tracing him. Logan bids goodbye to his audience for the last time, but realizes that he’s been caught. White’s men storm Logan’s place, but Logan is already gone. He had cleared out his hard drive as well. White’s operatives shoot the entire apartment, as Logan watches from the building next door. Meanwhile, at Jam Pony, Sam rifles through Normal’s files. Although Max has no address listed, Sam finds that Cindy does. Normal catches Sam and she clocks him before he can stop her.
At her crib, Max dejectedly packs up her stuff. She feels like she has no reason to stick around anymore. Yet Max decides not to call Logan to tell him that she’s going. As she pulls away on her bike, Sam follows on another bike. At the border in his Aztek, Logan sees the two Maxs. Sam fires her Glock pistol at Max’s bike, sending it careening off the road. Sam calls White and informs him that she has Max tied up. She tells Max that when she fled Manticore, the clones had to pay the price. They were sent to Psy-Ops because they were considered the greatest flight risks. Sam believes that Max was only out for herself, and didn’t care what happened to anyone else. Suddenly, Logan arrives and unties Max. Sam kicks Logan and knocks him out. Although Sam has ten more years of fighting training, Max knows how to fight dirty and beats her. White shows up and sees whom he thinks is Max. The girl tied up is really Sam, and Max pretends to be her. Logan hits White over the head and they tie him up. Max demands that White release Sam’s husband and son.
Joshua settles into the abandoned warehouse that serves as a home to the other freak transgenics – Dix, Mole and Luke. They tell him that he will have to learn how to handle a weapon to survive in Terminal City. Alec shows up looking for Joshua. They see on their surveillance monitors that Max, Logan and White are out in the streets of Terminal City meeting up with White’s henchmen. After dropping their weapons, White’s thugs deliver Sam’s family in a trade for White. As White walks towards his men, he picks up one of the guns and his operatives hold Max and Logan at gunpoint. From nowhere, Joshua, Alec and dozens of transgenics hiding in Terminal City pop-out with weapons drawn. White and his men back off and leave.
Max arranges for Sam and her family to escape to Canada. Alec then informs her that Max was responsible for taking down Manticore. With no hard feelings, Sam and Max exchange good-byes. Logan asks Max if she is still leaving town, but Max tells him that she has some family business to take care of. She is resolved to fight for her people.
In the federal judicial building, Senator McKinley calls Ames White to the stand. White spills the beans, testifying that the government did fund genetic experiments, and after the test subjects escaped, the government then withheld that information from the public. He also assures the committee that transgenics are dangerous, and that the country needs to declare war on them. The messengers at Jam Pony watch the hearings with interest. Max is among them – she’s back at work. Later, White is worried that Director Simms will revoke his badge. Senator McKinley, a fellow member of the breeding cult Conclave assures White that he will become a national hero for eliminating all transgenics.
Love Among the Runes 2.20
Regie: James Whitmore, Jr.
Drehbuch: Moira Kirland Dekker & Jose Molina
In an asylum, the breeding cult are performing a strange ritual as one of the inmates, C.J., makes his escape.
At Dix’s base in Terminal City, Max gives Joshua his medallion that was found before Logan’s apartment was trashed. The Caduceus on it is the same symbol used by the breeding cult. The crew locates a fellow transgenic fleeing the police. Max warns Alec, and he brings Biggs, another X5 working at Jam Pony. The three enter the sector posing as messengers and save the albino X5 from the cops. The albino is human-looking and bred to fight in an Arctic environment. They bring him into their hideout in Terminal City. Logan sets up camp in Joshua’s house, corresponding with Dix’s base via computer cameras. Max says hello, but Logan clams up when he sees that Alec is there too.
Normal joins a citizens’ Transgenic Defense League, posting fliers around town. Alec, meanwhile, brings in other X5s in as messengers. They all have motorcycles and can make quick deliveries. Alec makes sure they all get sector passes.
Alec and Max look for computer equipment for Logan in an abandoned lab. They find a snake inside a cabinet. It reminds Max of Ames and his breeding buddies. When they leave, C.J. claims the snake. He was hiding there. He wonders how Max and Alec know about what was going on at the asylum. Alec offers to bring the found hardware to Logan, but Max doesn’t want him to go. She fesses up that she told Logan that they were together. Alec is upset, not wanting to take the blame for breaking them apart. At Joshua’s, Alec tries to explain to Logan that he and Max are not a couple. Logan doesn’t let him get a word in about the subject, and he still doesn’t know the truth.
White’s henchman Otto figures out that infrared cameras can pick up X-series because their basal body temperature is higher than humans’. White is alarmed when he learns that someone at the asylum escaped.
Alec goes to Crash and admits to Max that he didn’t say anything to Logan. Max realizes that rune-like symbols have appeared on her arm. She shows the symbols to Logan over the computer camera. He believes they might be a genetically encoded message. Meanwhile, Biggs is spotted by the infrared cameras, but he manages to outrun the police.
Luke brings C.J. to Dix’s base as a fellow transgenic. C.J. has painted a barcode on his neck. C.J. tells them that he is an X5, but Max doesn’t believe him. C.J. spots Joshua’s medallion, but covers up any recognition of the symbol. A newscast reports Biggs’ being wanted as a transgenic. When Biggs calls, Alec warns him to get back to Terminal City. But as Biggs is talking on his cell phone, a passerby who also saw the newscast clocks him. Alec hears this commotion and goes out to find Biggs with Max. When they get there, Biggs is already dead.
Senator McKinley makes a public statement about the lynching of the transgenic. After the press conference, he chides White for letting someone escape during the Katara ceremony. Max, meanwhile, plans with Alec to hit White’s hideout and release all the transgenics. Max asks where C.J. went because she is suspicious that he might be connected to White’s cult. All he left behind was a paper bag with a snake inside.
Otto shows up at Jam Pony to question Normal about an ID found on Biggs. Cindy hears this and sneaks into Normal’s office to swipe Max, Alec and the other transgenics’ files. Sketchy confronts O.C. about what she was doing and he sees the names on the folders. Cindy doesn’t say anything.
Max finds C.J. and he tells her that he is in hiding from the Familiars. He explains that his father was a doctor who learned that C.J. would not survive the “initiation” test. The Familiars locked him up, but he doesn’t know what the initiation is really for. Max asks him if he can read the markings on her arm. He says that his parents can read Minoan, and she convinces him to take her to them. As they wait by the waterfront for his parents, White shows up. C.J. greets White with the breeding salutation and calls him “brotha.” He only betrayed Max because White promised that he would be saved. White strings up Max and rips open her shirt. The rune tattoos are all over her chest. White explains that Sandeman was a non-believer who wanted to destroy the Familiars’ planning. He created Max to mess with their destiny. White tasers Max and asks about his son. C.J., who was watching all along, takes the taser and strikes White. He frees Max with the belief that she is the only one who can help him. Max finds the transgenic prisoners and attacks White’s men. As Max gets into the truck, C.J. is shot by White. Max escapes with the transgenics.
Alec and Joshua find the guys who killed Briggs and beat them up. Alec warns them that he will kill them if he sees them around again. At Crash, Cindy admits to Sketchy that Max is indeed a transgenic. Regardless, she knows Max is a good person. Sketchy accepts this, and wonders if he can convince Max to do an exclusive interview with him for the tabloid.
Later, over the computer camera, Max explains to Logan that Sandeman is White’s father. C.J. is White’s brother too. White’s interpretation of her tattoos say that she is the second coming sent to foil his plans. Yet Max doesn’t even know what that means.
In the asylum, White reprimands C.J. He says that C.J. had a chance to redeem himself for their family. White vows to find Max.
Freak Nation 2.21
Regie: James Cameron
Drehbuch: James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee / Ira Steven Behr & René Echevarria (Teleplay)
Just outside the 12-foot high chain link fence that surrounds Terminal City, a huge wooden X is burning in the night as a mob of shouting vigilantes protest the prescience of the transgenics inside. A news anchor describes the residents of Terminal City as being comprised of rats, stray cats, homeless humans and transgenics. Terminal City was poisoned by a toxic spill a decade ago and entering the 20-block void is now a felony. Max roars towards the Terminal City outskirts on her bike and surveys the situation. The vigilantes are not even worth her contempt. She pops a wheelie, and the mob scatters as she speeds through them. She rams the cross and blasts it into burning shards. Her bike vaults into the air and leaps the fence into Terminal City. A news crew catches all the action on camera.
Max parks in the hanger serving as home to the transgenics. She gives Mole a bullet-riddled briefcase full of money that she lifted from some drug dealers to buy supplies. They are in dire need of funds because more and more of their kind are coming from all over America to Terminal City. They’ve got X5s, X6s and X7s in the house. This is the one place where they can live their lives freely. They watch on television as members of the unruly mob are interviewed. No one wants the “freaks” in their neighborhood. Dix says maybe it’s time to get back to Manticore. Max spots Joshua painting something on a sheet. He’s making a flag for their people, symbolizing where they’ve come from and how they hope to go out into the light. The others make fun of him, but Max understands.
Ames White waits at a train depot. He’s talking to Morehead on his cell, arguing that bringing in special forces won’t help, no matter what the Conclave thinks. The Phalanx step onto the platform. They’re the best; a menacing group who are the elite of the warrior bloodline. White is concerned that they’ll compromise his cover at the agency, but their involvement is a direct order from The Conclave. The buff female leader of The Phalanx is Thula. She confirms that Max’s death is their highest priority.
Alec arrives at Jam Pony, and Normal gives him a birthday cake. According to his records, it’s his birthday. Of course, Alec doesn’t have a real birthday.
Meanwhile, Logan examines Max’s back. He’s wearing surgical gloves so she won’t infect him with the virus. He photographs the new runes that have appeared on her skin the night before. Logan is sure that if the runes are in Max’s gene code, they must be some part of a larger plan. Their closeness is awkward, and both are melancholy because they can’t touch.
On the street, a very pregnant X5 named Janelle is having contractions. She’s accompanied by a young X6 named Dalton. As a Hoverdrone scans the area, Mole and Joshua pull up in a van and motion them inside. As they go through an intersection, a truck blows the light and runs into them. The truck’s engine dies out and the truck driver is furious, even though he caused the accident. Mole jumps out, armed with a shotgun, shocking the humans that have gathered. He fires into the air and the frightened humans flee. The transgenics abandon the van and run. Joshua calls Max on her cell. She tells them to get to Jam Pony and Alec will transport them back to safety. The chase is on with the police in full pursuit of the small group of transgenics. They catch Alec on his way out of Jam Pony, but several police cars are right on their tails. Guns are drawn. Mole grabs Alec as a willing hostage and they all back into Jam Pony to barricade the doors. An exit out the back is nixed when they realize the cops are everywhere. Before they can get back inside, the cops start shooting and Alec is hit in the shoulder. Inside, Normal confronts them with a gun, but Alec disarms him easily. Normal discovers that Alec is more extraordinary than he thought. Across the street, Max worriedly surveys the scene from a rooftop. Desperate to help her friends, she hops a ride on a Hoverdrone and surfs it through the window of Jam Pony. As the stand off continues, Janelle is having more and more labor pains. There’s some tension between Max and Mole, because he doesn’t trust the humans. Max addresses everyone – human and transgenic alike – saying they can all get through this. Normal attempts to lead the messengers out, but Original Cindy stops them. They owe it to Max and Alec to stick by them and their kind.
Logan sees whole thing going down on TV and arms himself. Across town, the Phalanx are working out, showing off their incredible strength, when Thula’s phone rings. It’s White, who has found Max. Yet if they’re not careful, everyone in town will be a witness to what they’re doing because the place is covered with news cameras filming the standoff. Detective Ramone Clemmente tries to take charge of the chaos and confronts White, who is forced to back off for the moment. Inside Jam Pony, Max and her friends watch the vigilantes gather on TV, feeling like the whole world is against them. Clemmente calls Max, and she asks for a van with a full tank of gas. Mole says there’s no way out because the humans just want them dead.
The net tightens around the building as the getaway truck is pulled up to Jam Pony’s door. Logan is in the crowd outside, acting as an extra set of eyes for Max and talking to her over his cell. Max tells everyone that the cops will have trouble recognizing who’s a transgenic, so they probably won’t shoot. O.C. puts Max’s arm around her neck and volunteers to be her human shield. Unbeknownst to Clemmente, White orders his snipers to shoot. Logan returns their fire, and a gun battle ensues. When the dust clears, Cece, a transgenic messenger, is dead, and Logan is trapped in Jam Pony.
Everyone is shocked by Cece’s death. Mole is enraged, and he gets in Logan’s face. Logan reveals that White is the one who’s behind everything. Max realizes that White wanted to escalate the situation so he’d have an excuse to kill them. Mole shouts that he’s going to start killing hostages, but Max and Logan stand up to him. If they kill people, it’ll only make the entire world believe that they’re monsters. Max pleads for everyone to stay together, but Mole’s ready to explode. Outside, Clemmente challenges White, knowing that he was the one who started the gun battle. White has a letter from the Governor’s office, putting him in charge. He sends his tactical team in. Thula checks in with White, who says that when they bring Max out in a body bag, everyone will be cheering. They will never know she was their only hope.
Janelle is in serious labor, and although O.C. helps, she is clueless. Normal steps in because he knows how to deliver babies. Concerned for Janelle and her friends, Max wants to surrender, knowing that White will back off if he has her. Logan won’t let her. He has translated the runes, and learned that a terrible disaster is coming down. Max is the only one who can stop it. Mole argues that Max should go out, but only because she’s fast enough to get away from White. As Logan and Mole argue, Max kind of blanks out and then shakes it off. She has a news flash: They’re coming.
White instructs the Phalanx to take out everyone with no regard for any of the hostages. The soldiers begin climbing up the side of the building. Inside, everyone takes cover. The door blows open and weapons are fired. Max, Alec, Mole and Logan try to protect the others, while Janelle stifles screams as she and the others hide. White and his soldiers lower to the floor silently, still not seeing Max and the guys. They are armed to the teeth and dressed to kill. White’s men are almost on top of O.C., Janelle, Normal and Joshua when Max and crew drop down from the ceiling, attacking from above and behind. Some shots are fired, and the trangenics fight fiercely. Max and Thula find themselves face to face. Max kicks a gun out of the way because this is a fight to the death. When it seems Thula is getting the best of Max, Max manages to handcuff her around a large column. The transgenics win the battle. Joshua goes crazy when he sees White, because he was the one who murdered his beloved Annie. Joshua wants to kill White, but Max pleas with him that if he gets his revenge, the humans will only remember that one of their own died. They’ll never stop hunting the transgenics. Finally, Janelle’s baby is born. Her daughter has no bar code and will be free.
Disguised in the soldier’s clothes, Logan, Alec, and some of the others herd Max and several transgenics into a waiting truck and head for Terminal City. Meanwhile, Clemmente finds White and his soldiers tied up. Clemmente goes after the transgenics, leaving White bound and gagged. A dozen squad cars join the chase. The fleeing van drives straight through the gates surrounding Terminal City and into the hanger, pulling to a stop. The cops emerge from the cars and draw their guns. The transgenics throw their weapons out and come out with their hands up. Max keeps walking towards the police. Suddenly the darkness is alive with transgenics, armed and ready. The police retreat, and get outside of the fence. Clemmente says he respects Max for not letting things get out of control, but now she’s got to think carefully about what she’s going to do next. Her people are depending on her.
Although Mole wants to split, Max wants to stay. But where are they going to go? They’ve got to make a stand. Joshua says he is with Max, and the others follow his lead. Even Mole admits it’s the only way. Three days later, the siege is still on. On a Terminal City rooftop, the transgenics raise Joshua’s flag in the darkness. Max and Logan watch, holding gloved hands.
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The End
Eine viel zu schnell eingestellte,wundervolle Serie
