Zoo-Ten Years Gone

By: Patience Kapfer

After last week’s episode, you might be asking yourself where is Radon Global taking those children and how on earth is Clementine (Gracie Dzienny) pregnant? However, those questions will have to wait just a little while longer while Dariela (Alyssa Diaz) and Abe (Nonso Anozie) do everything in their power to get their son Isaac back. Dariela focuses on calling 911 to report that her son has been kidnapped by Radon Global along with trucks full of other children. Unfortunately, the operator directs Dariela to a website to read the presidential executive order allowing Radon to take the children. Meanwhile, Abe takes a much more proactive approach, following after the convoy and smashing through military barriers to get to the trucks full of children. He is also met with resistance as the military forcefully restricts his access to the convoy. The military instructs Abe to back off and informs him that they have orders to use deadly force if necessary.

Back in Portland Jackson (James Wolk) and Logan (Josh Salatin) work tirelessly to find any leads to track down Abigail Westbrook (Athena Karkanis). While Logan and Tessa (Hilary Jardine) discuss the efforts to locate Abigail, we witness a strange moment with Jackson. As he stares into the fireplace there is a voice speaking unintelligible words inside his head. Perhaps it is a memory? Or maybe something else related to his potential ability to control the lions?

As Dariela waits for Abe’s return and shovels the driveway, a man speeds up and bolts out of the car asking if they took Isaac. Understandably, Dariela is confused how this man-Jonah (Robert Lawrenson) – knows what Radon has done and that they have Isaac. He explains that Abe’s research she sent him in the previous episode seemed so important he thought that he should share it with the scientists at Radon because maybe it could help solve the sterilization problem. When Abe arrives we learn that not only is Jonah part of the reason Isaac was taken, but him and Dariela have a shocking history. Abe is unable to control his anger at both losing his son and finding this man at his house and forcefully shoves Jonah against the side of the house. In his fit of rage it comes out that Dariela has not always been the epitome of a faithful wife; on the contrary, she had an affair with Jonah. It takes considerable shouting from Dariela, but eventually Abe releases Jonah, albeit begrudgingly. To add insult to injury, Abe learns that Dariela is responsible for Isaac’s kidnapping by giving his research to Jonah, who in turn gave it to Radon Global.

Jonah attempts to redeem himself by telling the couple that he will be able to contact his cousin who works for Radon to find Isaac and rescue him. Dariela is plagued with guilt, but she continues to try to find a way to fix what she caused. She reminds Abe that he said the hybrid could somehow be the solution to the sterilization problem, prompting him to contact Jackson to obtain another sample from the same type of hybrid. He explains to Jackson that that particular hybrid seemed to be more evolved and is able to communicate over extremely long distances and it is important to find another one. Without hesitation Jackson obliges; Logan, on the other hand, is much less thrilled to change missions and Tessa walks in on Jackson showing much more anger than she is used to. Needless to say, Jackson wins and they all go on search for another hybrid. As they search for a specific heat signature, their device says that it should be directly in front of them. But instead of a wooly rhino jumping up from the dirt, a very large and very angry hybrid bird emerges. Logan assumes he can just shoot the bird and solve the problem, but this only angers it more leading to what looks like the group’s imminent demise. The bird picks up their SUV and drags it towards the edge of a cliff while the three struggle to break a window and escape before plummeting to their death.

When they get back to their base Logan manages to find an aerial view of Abigail, while Jackson explains that something must have changed or something must be happening to explain two new species of hybrid in just a few days. They plan to take a trip to find Abigail and follow the path of the new bird hybrid and Logan tells Jackson it would be best if he told Tessa the truth before she embarks on such a dangerous mission with them.  At first Tessa thinks Jackson is telling a cruel joke, but once she realizes he speaks the truth she is appalled. Jackson tells Tessa that he needs her with him and that he can’t do it without her, but instead of receiving his desired reaction he is met with a literal slap to the face. Now he’s on this journey alone.

Dariela attempts to help bandage Abe’s arm, but it is apparent that Abe has never completely forgiven her for having the affair. Now that Isaac is gone, Abe says that he doesn’t know how he is supposed to look at her. They are interrupted when Dariela receives a call that Isaac has been rescued and they need to meet to pick him up. But it’s not Isaac that exits the vehicle; it’s another child wearing Isaacs’s identification bracelet. Dariela and Abe return the boy that isn’t Isaac to his parents and tell them to head east where the military protocol isn’t in effect. Unfortunately, as the parents drive away from the house they are apprehended by the military. The military burst into Dariela and Abe’s house followed by Radon’s own Leanne Ducovney (Sophina Brown). While keeping the militaries guns trained on the couple, she explains that she will get Isaac back if they bring her Clementine. Talk about all the hard choices.

We get closer to learning how Clementine is pregnant when we meet up with her again on the plane somewhere over Greenland. When we see her she is preparing to tell her father that she is pregnant. Her plans are dashed when she walks in on her father angrily discussing the state of the world with Jamie (Kristen Connolly). As we have learned to expect from Mitch (Billy Burke), he is once again channeling his inner Debbie Downer. Mitch is especially displeased that Jamie allowed Clementine to be raised by her grandfather who is the last person on earth that he wanted to raise her – this brings out some of that real defeatist Mitch attitude. But this is short-lived as Mitch starts to short circuit and is unable to stop repeating the phrase “back in the tank.” Mitch pulls himself together better than the average person to instruct Jamie and Clementine that they need to cut open his skull to access the speech center of his brain to figure out what is happening. Jamie doesn’t even hesitate as she pulls out a drill and preps Mitch’s head.

As Jamie explores Mitch’s brain and finds some type of artificial implant, he suddenly has an intense flashback to where he was operated on. He tells them that whatever is implanted in his head is a live current and they cannot simply remove it without causing some type of brain damage. Mitch talks Jamie through a procedure to make the device safe to remove. However, as things always go wrong on this show, the current exposes the device instead of making it safe for removal. The device is a biodrive, a piece of Shepherd technology which can only be bad news. Jamie brings her prisoner Mansdale (Jason Cermak) to the computer to explain the technology to them. Mansdale determines that the device is called Biodrive 1142 and was designed to network thoughts into a collective consciousness, but it was a failure because all of the test subjects with the biodrive died after three months. Mansdale is also able to tell Mitch that Blue Diaspora is the name of the program that created the hybrids.

Throughout the entire episode there is tension between Clementine and her father, he is clearly angry that he missed ten years of her life and is holding onto resentment that life didn’t carry on the way he had hoped it would. Clementine expresses how she always loved him and was proud to call him her father and he can’t be angry that life moved on when she thought he was dead. Along with the news that this device could kill Mitch in three months, Jamie discovers that for all those who had the biodrive removed they lost all of their memories. So Mitch is faced with either losing all of his memories of his daughter after they are finally reunited or dying in three months. Neither option is especially appealing. Mitch chooses to leave the biodrive in and risk dying rather than losing all of his memories of his daughter. We never do get to learn how Clementine is pregnant as she chooses to tell her dad that she loves him and is so glad to have him back.

All of a sudden Mitch blacks out. When he comes to he tells Jamie and Clementine that he knows where he was when they put the biodrive in his head and they take off in that direction. Ironically, or by fate, Jackson and Logan find themselves searching a house in Mexico for Abigail but instead find Mitch. It would be a great friend reunion if not for the sudden phone call from Abigail followed by a chilling warning. When the group looks out the window they are surrounded by the bird hybrids. But what’s worse than being surrounded by birds in the air? Birds burrowing underneath the house.