Plot
In 2011, a young Kyle and Derek Reese are practicing baseball in their front yard when Judgement Day begins. Present-day Derek talks a little about how they survived after that.
Ellison visits Charley Dixon and his wife. He's putting together the pieces that maybe Sarah wasn't crazy. He tells Charley that Sarah is alive and suspects that Charley knows where she is. Charley mentions "that other agent, Kester".
Kester learns that Ellison has Vick's hand among Sarah's case files but fails to find him.
In an Internet café, Sarah and Cameron contact the person who (supposedly) purchased the Turk from Andy Good's Russian business partner, while "the boys" wait outside. A hitman visits Carlos' house for information on Sarah, killing everyone there.
When no one shows at either of the meeting places, Sarah and Derek head home to find the hitman there. He does not intend to sell them The Turk, knows they are fugitives and increases his blackmail price to $2 million. He explains that he has a hitman tracking John and Cameron on their field trip and a dead man's switch arrangement for himself, to ensure that he can leave freely. Cameron quickly dispatches the man who's following them. The chola (the girl from Carlos' gang) shows up, covered in blood.
The team returns to the internet cafe. After a short hostage situation, they shoot "Sarkissian" dead and bring his hard drive back to the house. John tries to look at the files.
Derek wishes John happy birthday. Asked how he knew, he says he celebrated John's 30th, so he knows the date. They go celebrate with ice cream and run into a young Kyle and Derek Reese in the park. Derek reveals that this was deliberate and he knows Kyle is John's father.
Ellison determines that Kester is not a real agent and leads an FBI raid on his apartment. Cromartie-as-Kester massacres the whole team, deciding to leave Ellison as the sole survivor. Charlie answered the call for paramedics to attend, so is first on the scene to witness the carnage.
While John is checking some databanks, Sarah reveals that she remembered John's birthday (she sent Cameron to buy a cake). She posits that they should care about their lives as well as the mission. John then identifies Sarkissian from an image on his computer... it's not the man they had been dealing with throughout the episode. That was just another frontman. At the same time, Cameron gets in the car outside and sees the real Sarkissian enter Sarah's home. She turns the key and the car explodes.
Tropes
- Apocalypse How: Discussed.
- Battle Discretion Shot: The FBI firefight with Cromartie at the end of the episode. Played for outright horror rather than the usual comedy.
- Car Bomb: Cameron is caught up in one at the end. She gets better for Season 2. Mostly.
- Cassandra Truth: The beginning of Ellison's belief in Sarah's story. No one at the FBI believes any evidence he offers."Not only who is he, but what is he?"
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Cameron flashes hers at the teacher, right before she murders the man who's tailing them.
- Cool Sword: The assassin uses the one on the wall (of the six military cadets defending Chappleton Castle) to kill Carlos' henchmen.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Derek slaps his hand across the little girl's eyes while he shoots the fake Sarkissian.
- Dead Man's Switch: Not a literal one but if the frontman doesn't leave the Connors unharmed, the FBI are getting a phone call from his people.
- Decoy Leader: The real Sarkissian is the guy on the desk at the internet cafe and the man who the Connors think is Sarkissian is a front man.
- Flash Forward: Or a Flash Back for Derek. The intro to the episode shows the Reese brothers playing baseball as the bombs drop on mankind. Not quite Nero fiddling While Rome Burns but close.
- Has a Type: Sarah was Kyle's "type."
- Lensman Arms Race: Discussed, sort of, in the "Moore's Law" variation. John explains Moore's Law to Derek while they wait in the car.It's how we can go from a chess computer to the apocalypse in just four years.
- Mood Whiplash: From the gentle, sweet scene at the park to Cromartie shooting up the FBI and Sarkissian and his henchman attacking Sarah and John.
- Mugging the Monster: Sarkissian's minion who stalks Cameron at the museum and doesn't survive.
- Mythology Gag: When Sarkissian calls his henchman, Cameron answers the phone, using the henchman's voice.
- Not-So-Forgotten Birthday: John thinks Sarah forgot his birthday. Derek surprises him, then Sarah does too.I sent Cameron to get a cake.
- Only a Flesh Wound: For someone who was on the brink of dying just two episodes earlier, Derek has healed up pretty well.
- Sarcastic Confession:John: What's with the car?Morris: Cameron stuffed a dead guy in the trunk.
- Shout-Out: To Lord of the Flies.Sarah: Black blood drips down the pig's teeth, and the boys run away. Later, when one of the boys is alone, he weeps, but not for the pig. The boy weeps for the end of innocence, and the darkness of men's hearts.
- There Was a Door: Cameron decides not to break down the door - breaking through the wall next to it is faster.
- Wham Episode: Several points throughout the episode; they really pulled out the stops.
- Wham Line: Derek reveals he knows that Kyle was John's father.
- You Can Keep Her!: The fake Sarkissian reveals that the little girl who Derek holds hostage isn't his daughter.
