By: Mariah Thomas
We flashback in 1985 at the Talamasca Amsterdam headquarters. A vampire has been captured by the Talamasca for his crimes of killing his cheating wife and her lover. Rather than give him the usual scolding, he is brought into a room where a single body lay. They want him to turn her into a vampire and intend to use him for their personal gain.
Jasper (William Fichtner) arrives at the bloody mess of the witches’ boathouse. He has Highsmith (Tomi May) tear the boat apart looking for any trace of the book, Doris (Celine Buckens) or Guy (Nicholas Denton). This confirms Olive (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) passed the information along and is a double agent. Jasper is discouraged to find nothing. One of the witches is barely alive as she chokes on her own blood. Jasper requests she tells him where Doris is and she uses the last of her energy to spit in his face before dying.
In the safehouse Doris waits for Guy to fall asleep before making her escape. Eventually Guy notices her absence and rushes to the downstairs convenience store to find her. As he attempts to plead with her to stay, they see the news about the boathouse. Doris is stunned with emotion and immediately heads over.
Detective Ridge (Bryony Hannah) arrives on scene and is at a loss of words. She has many of the puzzle pieces for this case, but no idea how they all connect. As she is taking the scene in, she spots Doris and Guy watching from afar and approaches them. She brings them for questioning. At the station, Detective Ridge presents the pair with all of her photo evidence. She points out the obvious connections and pokes holes in their story. She pulls up a photo of Helen (Elizabeth McGovern) and asks Guy if he knows who she is. He plays dumb until she pulls out a photo of the two of them together. Guy uses his law knowledge and talks down the suspicion placed on him.
Helen picks up the passports for Guy and Doris at a hidden drop spot before going to meet with the Talamasca doctor assigned to her sister in their youth. She questions the older man about what happened to her sister after they were seperated. He claimed he was kicked out of the program soon after and has no idea. He tells her she is entitled to the truth of the program. The program was meant to source out talented children with gifts that could benefit the Talamasca and her sister was the most talented of them all. She had an extraordinary memory and this made her exactly what the Talamsca had been searching for. This scene bounces back and forth between both sets of questions. Helen questioning the Talamasca doctor, and Detective Ridge questioning Doris and Guy. This is important when crucial information is revealed. Helen’s DNA was found at the crime scene of Keves (Amelia Clarkson) and Archie (Joshua Ben-Tovim). Helen’s twin sister changed her name to Doris. She instantly realizes Doris has been much closer than she’s realized. He continues to tell her about the 752 project and that it was a success. Just as he goes to reveal the final bit of information, he is shot in the head by his maid for telling her too much. She is also an agent posed to monitor him at all times. Helen is frazzled and spared as the maid flees the room.
Back at the police station, Olive poses as an agent once more and takes over the case. In doing so, she is able to obtain the right to move Doris and Guy from the police station. Guy is unaware that she is helping Jasper and has been this entire time. She tries to persuade him they can no longer trust Helen. Walking to the car, he reads Olive’s mind and she sees the book in Doris’s bag. Once closing the door, after Doris gets in, Highsmith is revealed to be the driver and takes off while Olive attacks Guy. He doesn’t get very far before being killed by Doris. Guy rushes to open the car door and is greeted with Doris in full vampire attack mode. The second she sees it is Guy, she reels her fangs in. Knowing Olive is still a threat, the two quickly make a plan to leave.
Doris hides in the trunk to hide from the daylight as Guy drives. They soon arrive at an abandoned parking garage. Since Doris is still locked in the trunk, Guy flips through the book. It is nothing more than a scrapbook of Doris and Keves. He lets Doris out and is utterly confused. Doris claims it is too much of a story to tell and Guy convinces her to let him read her mind. She can show him her story and she does. After being separated from Helen, Doris spent most of her time inside libraries. She has the gift of remembering everything, so was constantly fed information. Once she memorized every book in the Talamasca archive, they destroyed the books. They claimed it was no longer needed as Doris was the new library. The 752 being searched for was never a physical book, it was Doris. Once she was old enough, they arranged for her to be turned into a vampire to keep her forever. They intentionally made her a weak vampire by restricting her supernatural gifts to prevent her from ever attacking. She is nothing more than a tool for their gain. She eventually escaped and found Keves. Keves was a young witch who had lost her mother at a young age. She took care of Keves and was a mother figure to her. Keves was the connection Doris always craved after losing her sister. This is also why Keves directly got involved knowing Doris was in danger when Archie came looking for her. That night, Doris killed Archie. Her blood DNA was at the crime scene and that is why it shows as a match to Helen.
The essence of the head of the Talamasca has always been hinted at, but now revealed. Along with it, the true sinister energy looming in the Talamasca with it. Helen has been the focal point for the organization in a leader role but she is far down in comparison. Guy and Doris have been tracked down and are now being followed without their knowledge. Meanwhile Olive gives Jasper a call and catches him up on all that has happened. He is stunned and takes his frustration out on Greg (Jonathan Aris). Greg finally snaps and has had it with Jasper’s control over him. He informs him that his reign is over as the higher ups are done with Jasper. In a swift motion, Jasper kills Greg. Moments later the elevator opens to highly trained Talamasca agents capturing Jasper. A smoke bomb is thrown his way to subdue him before he is muzzled and carried out in a rolled up carpet. Another agent takes a blowtorch downstairs and kills all but one of Jasper’s monsters. Checkers (Will Brown) manages to escape and attack the agent. As the others pull away with Jasper, Olive approaches the motherhouse just in time to see them drive away. Once inside she is met with a graphic scene. Though Jasper’s monsters are meant to only answer to his command, Checkers does not attack her.
Guy and Doris see wanted posters of themselves as they arrive at the train station. They manage to duck out of view of the police and get on the train. Helen arrives shortly after and notices she is being followed by Talamasca agents. Knowing being taken in by them would be worse, she sacrifices herself so her sister can get away. She “accidentally” bumps into a woman and places the passports in her coat pocket for Guy to later obtain. She flashes a gun to a security officer knowing he would alert police to take her in. She shares a final emotional glance with her sister as the train takes off. She mentally encourages Guy to ‘go’ knowing he can read her mind.
Detective Ridge takes Helen into her custody at the train station. Once alone she informs her she knows Helen was far away from the murder scenes her DNA showed up at. Security footage proves this. She also has information on Olive’s various identities. Helen does not break and keeps up the front to protect her sister. However, in her magic ways of charm, she compliments Ridge’s findings despite her supervisor suspending her.
Jasper’s final scene reflects the opening. He is brought into the same room and given the same task working for the Talamasca. They want him to turn various humans into vampires. However, in the opening clip it was a singular person. The intention was for Doris to live forever with the vast knowledge. Now, there are at least twenty different bodies. More immortal vessels of knowledge. They get Jasper to corporate by having the muzzle he wore as the alternative punishment.
On the ferry, Guy and Doris have a calm to them knowing they have successfully escaped. Or so they think. They are unaware of being followed still. Doris grows emotional when Guy asks where she plans to go to start her new life. She tells Guy she thinks she may know where his mother is. Guy’s sole purpose for getting so deeply involved in this world was to find his mother after learning she is alive and hiding from the Talamasca. The episode ends with this realization swirling in the air.