Originally aired June 8, 1998
Written by David Peckinpah
Directed by Reza Badiyi
Three months after being separated from Rembrandt and Wade, Quinn and Maggie finally arrive on Earth Prime, only to find it conquered by the Kromaggs. Quinn also learns a shocking discovery about his past.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Bittersweet Ending: Earth Prime is conquered and the team's rebel friends are dead, but Quinn has renewed hope that they can find a way to defeat the Kromaggs.
- Bluff the Impostor: Quinn is suspicious that his mother would just so happen be taken to the same cell that he's in. He asks her questions relating to Arturo and childhood dog, Bopper, as tests. She gets them right, but viewers do see the Kromagg listening closely to this conversation.
- Breeding Slave: Wade has been sent to a Kromagg breeding camp on another Earth.
- Changeling Fantasy: Quinn's mother reveals to him that his real parents are sliders from a different world, which sets the season's plot in motion.
- Continuity Drift: Quinn mentions that the Chandler Hotel is the sliders' usual staying place, which has never been the case before. In Season 1, it was the Motel 12; Season 2, the Dominion Hotel; and Season 3, the Royal Chancellor Hotel. This change was reportedly motivated by legal issues concerning the Royal Chancellor Hotel. That was a real hotel and the show had permission to use their name, but the writers occasionally used shorthand ("the Chancellor"), unaware that that was the name of another hotel who didn't want them to use their name. It was easier to just start using a fictional but similar name.
- Evolving Credits: Sabrina Lloyd (Wade Welles) is gone, and so is Rembrandt's mustache. Jerry O'Connell also takes over saying "Sliders" over the title logo.
- Fauxshadow:
- Maggie has no trouble breathing on Earth Prime, unlike what was seen in Season 3's "The Exodus, Part 1." This was originally intended as legitimate Foreshadowing, but
Executive Meddling turned it into this. - Similarly, Quinn's sudden encounter with his mother and learning about his past. Quinn is initially dubious of all this, while the Kromagg leader pays careful attention to his reactions. It was originally going to be revealed as a long con, but abrupt changes partway through the season made this genuine backstory for Quinn.
- Maggie has no trouble breathing on Earth Prime, unlike what was seen in Season 3's "The Exodus, Part 1." This was originally intended as legitimate Foreshadowing, but
- Foreshadowing:
- Rembrandt can't shake the feeling that the Kromaggs did something to his mind. He's right.
- The Kromagg doesn't object to Quinn's escape, and we'll find out why very soon.
- Kick the Dog: A Kromagg soldier taunts a captive Quinn about Wade being shipped off to a breeder camp, telling him "Once you've had a 'Magg, you never go back."
- La Résistance: Quinn and Maggie join up with the local human resistance to rescue Rembrandt.
- My Greatest Failure: Rembrandt takes what happened to Wade pretty hard.
- Noodle Incident: According to Maggie, she and Quinn have been to ten different worlds in the last three months.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The show's premise changes in this episode. It used to be about the Sliders going from world to world, trying to find their way home. Now they can control their slides, and their new goal becomes to find a weapon against the Kromaggs and to liberate Earth Prime.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: Wade was sent to a Kromagg breeding camp.
- The Quisling: Subverted. Quinn is interrogated by what appears to be a human defector. It's really a Kromagg in disguise that thought Quinn would give up information more easily to a fellow human.
- Replacement Flat Character: Marta is basically Season 3 Maggie.
- Same Character, But Different: The writers made a deliberate effort to soften Maggie. The three month Time Skip is in part used to justify it.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Rembrandt feels this way about his experiences in Kromagg prison, which included torture and repeated mind control games.
- Special Effects Evolution: The vortex is a lot more opaque, with more pronounced blue colors.
- Spiteful Spit: Quinn's response to the Kromagg soldier's dig about Wade (see Kick the Dog above).
- Time Skip: The episode is set three months after the events of the Season 3 finale.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Maggie is kinder and softer than she was in Season 3.
- Wham Episode: The Kromaggs have conquered Earth Prime, and Quinn is revealed to have a brother and have come from a different Earth.
