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UNDER THE DOME 3.11 “LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD” RECAP – “YOU’RE NO LONGER ONE OF US.”

August 29, 2015/in Under The Dome News/by Suzanne

“Beat the Clock” is the name of the game in “Love is a Battlefield,” the 11th episode of Under the Dome‘s third season. While Christine and the Kinship are working tirelessly to protect their unborn queen and to bring the Dome down before everyone inside suffocates, Hektor from Aktaion and the Resistance are frantically trying to come up with a plan of action to prevent the Kinship from being unleashed on the outside.

Christine, who is weakening rapidly, is trying to move the Dome’s agenda along as quickly as possible. When Sam reports to her that although Joe is on board with helping to bring the Dome down and has made a few breakthroughs, his work is still in the early planning stages, she becomes worried that they’re going to run out of time because “the Dome is dying.” Sam offers to force Joe to work faster, but Christine tells him she doesn’t want to resort to violence with Joe because he’s too valuable. She’ll find a way to motivate Joe herself. She then asks Sam if he knows where Junior is. Sam steps up and says that he can take care of anything she needs done. After requesting that he help get the last remaining amethyst over to Joe so that he can continue his work, Christine praises him: “You’ve come a long way, Sam. I’m pleased.” Sam himself looks pleased at her words and departs to do her bidding.

As Sam exits, Barbie enters. Freed from the Kinship’s hold in last week’s episode, Barbie is still pretending as if he is one of them in hopes of learning enough to be able to stop Christine and save Eva. Christine asks for an update on Eva and tells him that the baby should be here within the day. Barbie tells her that he wants to go after what’s left of the Resistance, but Christine nixes that idea and says that the Resistance is the least of their concerns at this point. She tells him that their primary concerns are the birth of the new Queen and bringing the Dome down: “Inside Eva is the Queen who will lead our Kinship out of the Dome. Nothing is more important than that. Your priority is to be by Eva’s side until that baby is born.”

While Christine is actively moving forward with her agenda, Hektor, along with the help with the Resistance, is developing what he hopes will be a cure for all of those who have become infected. He tells the Resistance that all he needs is a sample of Christine’s DNA and a test subject. Julia finds a sample of Christine’s hair at the barn Eva was taken to and Junior becomes their unwilling test subject when he tries and fails to kill the remaining members of the Resistance.

Christine stops in to check on Joe’s progress and interrupts his enthusiastic off-key rendition of Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield.’ Although initially unimpressed that Joe is spending his time singing and listening to music rather than working on their special little project, Christine does look intrigued when Joe reminds her that he isn’t one of her drones and can’t just work until he drops and that he sometimes needs to “stop thinking in order to think.” Christine walks through the original plan with him – the seven amethysts and the egg would somehow work together to transmit a signal to the Dome. That signal would serve as a key and trigger the Dome to unlock. Joe remarks that the destroyed egg and amethysts are pretty big problems, implying that it’s basically Mission Impossible. Christine isn’t giving up though: “Come on, Joe. I know you better than that. I know you find the problem exciting.” She then takes him on a field trip to the Dome so that he can see for himself firsthand what is going to happen if the Dome doesn’t come down.

On their way to the Dome, Christine tells Joe that she needs his cooperation. When he scoffs and says that all she really wants is his submission, Christine explains to him that she and her kind did not even want to come to Earth in the first place: “Earth is a wonderful place, but it’s not that great.” Their world was destroyed by an enemy and they had no choice other than to flee and find a new home. She goes on to explain that an unnamed ‘they’ are coming and that not only the Kinship is in danger, but all of humanity. She says that whether Joe wants to admit it or not, their fates are tied together and that they need to get the Dome down so that they have a fighting chance against what is coming. Then, as if that wasn’t motivation enough for Joe, Christine drives it home a little further: “That rests entirely in your hands.” I guess it remains to be seen whether Christine’s story is true or just another clever manipulation to get what she wants. Just before she and Joe part ways so that he can get back to work, Christine has another near fainting incident. When Joe expresses his concern, Christine confesses to him that she is dying – her cycle is ending and her work is nearly done. I might be reading too much into it, but I thought Christine seemed a little more upset than usual when she discussed the end of her life.

Meanwhile, Eva has realized that Barbie has been playing her and is no longer under the influence of the Kinship. In an effort to save his baby, Barbie drugs Eva and smuggles her away out of the reach of Christine and the Kinship. He has decided that he’s going to stay with Eva until the baby is born and then he will save the baby since he can’t seem to save Eva. Knowing they need to hurry if they’re going to keep that baby from the Kinship, Barbie asks Julia for help. She meets him and together they forcefully deliver the baby from Eva and nearly escape with it until Eva tricks them into letting her breastfeed it first. Big mistake as the lifeforce immediately begins to flow into the baby and both Mom and baby start to emit a blue glow. Eva then tells Barbie that it’s not her child – it’s the new queen – and with that superhuman strength of hers, she throws Barbie through the glass window.

Clearly fatigued by her journey out to the Dome, Christine is lying down in her office when Sam comes to tell her that they have a problem – Barbie and Eva are missing. Frantic, Christine orders the town to fan out and find them immediately. Once they locate Eva, Christine asks for some privacy and then begins the most eerie scene of perhaps the entire season.

As she watches Eva continue to breastfeed the baby, Christine explains to Eva that the new Queen is “taking what she needs”. What we the viewers see happening is a little more ominous than the way Christine makes it sound. As we gaze into the mirror with Christine, we see the baby draining the life force from Eva. As if waking from a daze, Eva sees Christine holding her baby and wants to know why she has her. Christine sets the baby aside and calmly replies: “She’s not your baby. And you’re no longer one of us.” She then proceeds to smother Eva with a pillow, all the while singing a lullaby. And Marg’s singing was so wonderful. Lovely and haunting, her voice and that song were what really made this scene work for me. The episode concludes with the eerie image of Christine standing in the center of the room, rocking the baby, while Eva lies there dead. This scene really shocked me, but I guess in the Kinship, everyone is expendable once they have done their duty, even the mother of the new Queen.

I really can’t believe we’re nearly at the end of the season. It seems like just yesterday we were beginning our journey with Christine Price. As sad as I am to see this storyline come to a conclusion, I’m excited to see how it plays out. Who will succeed first? Will Christine succeed in her plan to bring the Dome down? Will Hektor and the Resistance thwart her efforts and succeed in their efforts to cure the town? Is Christine’s story about her world being destroyed true and something even more dangerous is headed their way? Anything is possible on Under the Dome!

You can view an album of screen caps from the episode HERE.

UNDER THE DOME 3.04 ‘THE KINSHIP’ EPISODE RECAP – MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

July 12, 2015/in Under The Dome News/by Suzanne

Under the Dome’s fourth episode of the season ‘The Kinship’ proves to be just as wild a ride as the first three episodes have been. Like Big Jim and Julia, we are all trying to figure out what is going on with Marg’s character, the mysterious Christine Price — Who is she and why is she trying to take over the town?

The episode opens with Big Jim, who has exiled himself to Byrd Island, watching the recording of Christine touching the egg again. As he watches, he ponders “What the hell is that? What is she?” but then the recording abruptly ends. He then pulls out a pair of binoculars and spies on his son, Junior, who has set up a tent just across the water from him. He witnesses Christine jog up to Junior’s camp and watches what appears to be a pretty flirtatious encounter.

The viewer gets a little more up close and personal with the exchange between Christine and Junior. After some initial small talk, Christine suddenly notices just how wet and sweaty she is and asks Junior for a clean shirt. It’s a rather intimate move for someone who is supposed to just be the town therapist, but Junior immediately goes to get her a shirt and seems to enjoy the show while she strips down to her sexy white tank top and then changes into his shirt. It’s obvious Christine has come on a mission as she then, reminding Junior of the construction skills he learned while in the alternate reality, implores him to come to town and help her with a dorm building project. He readily agrees, and so mission accomplished, Christine departs. As a parting gift, she tosses Junior her wet t-shirt, again a rather intimate gesture for the town therapist. As she leaves, Big Jim remarks from his vantage point: “Normally I’d applaud you kid, but that woman…that thing?” Big Jim has obviously seen enough on that recorder to know that Christine’s encounter with the egg has unleashed something in her that isn’t human.

We next catch up with Christine in her new office where she is documenting the progress of the formerly cocooned Chester’s Mill residents. She seems quite pleased overall: “It’s amazing how quickly they’ve begun to gather. Last night they heard my call. Today more have set up camp. One by one they’re completing their journeys.” Christine is most pleased with Junior’s progress: “James is furthest along. He has let go of the fear that held him back. Today I’ll assess his progress and see if he’s ready to take the next step.” She is also very pleased with how Sam and Norrie are coming along. Joe, on the other hand, has her very concerned as he did not respond to her ‘call’ the night before. She is worried that his resistance could be contagious if it’s not “snuffed out” and vows to pay him a visit to get him back on track. Another question mark on her progress report is Barbie, who is still hanging around with Julia, even though he seemed so bonded with Eva the night before. She concludes her recording with the rather ominous statement that “the moment he’s ready to move on, there won’t be any reason for her to exist.” The ‘her’ in question, is of course, Julia, who was not cocooned and who is therefore considered to be a weed in the ‘garden’ that Christine is trying to cultivate.

Christine focuses her attention on Junior next as he readily responds to her request for assistance in the dorm building project. Their encounter is even more intimate than the encounter at Junior’s camp. Christine caresses Junior again in this episode and in a breathy, seductive voice, convinces Junior to take a sledgehammer to his father’s old office. She tells Junior that not only would this gesture show the townspeople that Big Jim is no longer a threat to them, but that it could also be very cathartic for him in his quest to let go and move on. Junior grabs the sledgehammer and quickly goes to work, with Christine contently observing in the background. I’d say Junior is scoring high marks on his assessment thus far.

While Christine is making great strides with Junior, Eva is a different story. She comes to Christine to tell her that the recorder is missing. The exchange between them becomes quite tense as Eva lashes out at Christine: “Why are you assuming it was my fault? Maybe someone’s suspicious of you. I don’t understand why you’re still pretending to be a therapist.” When Christine tries to explain once again that she is following the path that was set out for her in the alternate reality, Eva continues her rant: “Do you hear yourself? You sound crazy.” Christine pulls the ‘pot calling the kettle black card’ and says that she doesn’t look any crazier than Eva does pointing to Eva thinking she’s pregnant and running around holding hands with Barbie in front of the whole town. She then directs the conversation back to the fact that they need to find that recorder and surmises that either Big Jim or Julia must have it, with Julia being the most likely candidate as she is staying two doors down from them at the hotel. Eva’s response “With Dale?” shows that if Christine was trying to find a way to effectively distract Eva, she has hit her mark. Any thought Eva had about questioning Christine’s actions or motivations goes right out of her head as soon as she thinks about Julia and Barbie together.
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AAM RECAP OF UNDER THE DOME 3.03 ‘REDUX’

July 5, 2015/in Under The Dome News/by Suzanne

Picking up right where we left off last week, Under the Dome’s third episode of the season ‘Redux’ opens with the people of Chester’s Mill, newly hatched from cocoons, climbing up out of the underground tunnels only to immediately realize that they are still trapped under the dome. Whatever they think they’ve experienced the past year has been nothing but an illusion or some kind of simulated reality a la ‘The Matrix.’ Having been teased with what life could be like if freed from their transparent prison, the residents are now struggling even more than they had been with day-to-day life under the dome. Junior, for example, misses and desperately wants back that dome-free life where he is free from the tyranny of Big Jim, while Norrie misses the life where she finally felt like she was a part of something. And As Dale Barbara tells Julia, “The dome was gone. We were free. The outside world was somehow more beautiful, more vibrant.”

While the people of Chester’s Mill are struggling to understand what has happened to them and are preparing for a town meeting where they can discuss it and hopefully come up with a plan to get some answers, the town’s newcomers, Christine Price and Eva Sinclair, are back at their hotel trying to determine what has happened to them as well. As she tries to piece together the mystery of how they ended up in cocoons for three weeks, Eva reveals that she and Christine are really anthropologists who were on a mission to find the egg. The last thing Eva remembers is that they had succeeded in locating the egg and then had landed in some kind of alternate reality where she was an aid worker and Christine was a therapist. Eva says that none of it makes sense to her and she wonders why she and Christine had different identities in the alternate reality.

Christine, who has let Eva take the lead in this conversation and who hasn’t said much at all about what she remembers from the past three weeks, jumps in at this point and says that while she has no idea why they were different in the alternate reality, she thinks it’s a good thing. She says that she and Eva would have a lot more to answer for if the townspeople knew why they had really been in Chester’s Mill when the dome came down. Christine also says that she thinks they should go to the town meeting — that everyone will be there to talk about what happened and so it would look very suspicious if they aren’t there. Thinking about Dale Barbara, Eva changes the subject and starts talking about how she was pregnant in the alternate reality and wonders if she may perhaps still be pregnant now. Christine tells her it’s unlikely and tries to comfort her because she knows how much Eva wants to have children someday. Even though our newcomers are strangers to everyone else in Chester’s Mill, this conversation shows that Eva and Christine were pretty close before they became trapped under the dome. The scene closes with Christine eyeing a piece of purple rock that is on her window sill.

Before heading to the town meeting, Christine makes a small detour and heads back to the underground tunnels to rendezvous with none other than Melanie. As predicted, they are working together. Christine chastises Melanie for failing in her duties: “You had a job. Lead the people to be cocooned so the egg could infuse them with the life force.” Melanie apologizes but then questions why they were chosen to do this. Christine, who seems to have all of the answers, replies: “You and I made first contact with the egg. When we touched it, we gained a complete understanding of the dome’s agenda — survive and propagate.” Melanie, not content with this answer, continues to question: “But I touched the egg first, 25 years ago. It should have been me in the Queen cocoon, not you.” Becoming exasperated at this point, Christine reminds her: “But you died during the download. Three weeks ago, I came along. From inside my cocoon, I could see that this town was on the brink of destroying itself.” Melanie then shows us that although she may have touched the egg, she is still clueless about some things, this time the gooey substance in the cocoon: “What is that stuff?” Again, Christine has the answer: “Oxytocin. It’s a mood regulator. It, plus the alternate reality, was essential to shape these humans into a functioning collective so that we could gain a foothold.” The fact that Christine refers to them as ‘these humans’ should be a red flag for viewers. I think it’s safe to say at this point that Christine — at least post ‘making contact with the egg’ Christine — is not human. Christine then goes on to point out that thanks to Melanie’s failure to protect the egg from Big Jim, their mission is not complete: “Except the transfer of the life force was interrupted…Because you didn’t protect it. Everyone in this cocoon has a role to play. We need to finish what we started. Quickly.” The scene concludes with Christine telling Melanie that she’s going to the town meeting to “assess the townspeople and determine how much work is left to do” and that Melanie’s job is to handle Julia, who they are convinced is a threat: “If she shows up, kill her.” There’s no question at this point who’s Queen.

It also becomes obvious at this point that while Christine and Eva may have been working together in their quest to find the egg, Christine is keeping Eva in the dark about her current agenda (i.e. the Dome’s agenda). After her secret meeting with Melanie, Christine meets back up with Eva and they go to the town meeting. As soon as they arrive, they are met by Big Jim and Julia who are just full of questions for the strangers who have ended up under the dome with them. Eva sees Barbie and quickly excuses herself, leaving Christine to come up with a cover story. Quick on her feet, Christine tells them that she and Eva were vacationing in Chester’s Mill and were out in the woods hiking where they fell into a sinkhole and then emerged from cocoons three weeks later along with everyone else. Big Jim and Julia look skeptical, so just like she did with Eva back at the hotel, Christine quickly changes the subject to talk about how she’s a therapist and how, in the alternate reality, she helped the townspeople deal with the trauma of having been trapped under the dome. She wonders if she could offer a similar service in their present situation. A nice deflection, but Big Jim is still suspicious: “Looks like everyone is shaken up, except Christine Price.”

Julia begins the town meeting by talking about all who have lost their homes and encourages anyone who still has a home to open their doors. Christine jumps in at this point, basically taking over the meeting: “The last time I stood in front of you, I urged you to find strength in community…” Her goal here is apparent: she is reminding them yet again of the alternate reality where they were free and also reminding them how helpful she was there so that they continue to trust her even if Julia and Big Jim do not. She urges the townspeople to work together to find food and several immediately volunteer to do so. Christine then offers up her services as a counselor — that they can come to her at any time. Julia stands there shaking her head in disbelief at how quickly this strange woman seems to have the townspeople completely under her influence. Even Barbie says that “Christine is right.” Finding food should take precedence over finding Melanie. As the meeting disburses, Christine makes a special effort to reach out to Sam Verdreaux and encourage him to lead a support group – that his experiences with AA while in prison would be very helpful. He seems unconvinced that anyone would want his help, but she tells him to at least think about it and then sends him off an a task to find Junior and bring him back. In what then appears to be another calculated move, Christine leaves the office unattended so that when Sam returns with Junior, people who are there waiting for Christine begin to open up to him instead when he mentions how much she helped him in the alternate reality, thus inserting him into the role of reluctant leader of this impromptu support group.

There is one more exchange between Christine and Eva that is very telling. Eva again questions Christine about the need to lie about their identities. When Christine reminds her that they are trapped and need to do whatever they can to survive, which means keeping the people’s trust, Eva’s response is “When did you become so calculating?” Eva, the only person in Chester’s Mill who knows anything about Christine, is starting to see that something is ‘off’ with her. Christine reassures her that she hasn’t changed with an anecdote about escaping from a wolf while searching for artifacts in North Dakota: “We’ve been through so much together. We’ll get through this.” Shen then diverts Eva’s attention by giving her a task: to go find “the one thing that can expose us.” Eva sets off on her mission, but unfortunately for Christine and Eva, Big Jim, who was lurking around the corner, follows her. Eva locates the damning piece of evidence and hides it in their hotel room; however, Big Jim promptly traces her steps and retrieves the item for himself.

The evidence turns out to be a recording of Eva and Christine finding the egg. In the video, which we watch while Big Jim is watching – “Therapist, my ass” – Christine picks up the egg, which appears to activate it. There is what appears to be an explosion and all we can see at that point is Christine’s hand clutching the egg and flashes of purple running up her arm while she screams and screams. It stands to reason that the purple we’re seeing running through Christine’s arm is the ‘download’ that Christine says Melanie did not survive when she originally discovered and touched the egg 25 years ago. It also stands to reason if the successful download into Christine is what brought the dome down over Chester’s Mill, then if Melanie had survived the download 25 years earlier, the dome probably would have come down over the town then.

While Big Jim has been busy spying on Eva, his son Junior, who is really struggling with life back under the dome and has thought of taking his own life, seeks out Christine. With just a little coaxing, Christine gets Junior to confess how much he misses life in the alternate reality — that he had killed his father and was ready to burn down his house and move on. Seizing the opportunity, Christine tells Junior that he’s on the verge of a breakthrough: “If you really want to be who you were, finish what you started. Drop the match. We are what we do.” Junior departs, presumably to do just that, and Christine picks up a hunting knife, repeating to herself “We are what we do.”

While the rest of Chester’s Mill is off hunting and gathering food, Julia and Barbie have gone back to the tunnels to look for Melanie. Remembering her orders from ‘Queen’ Christine, Melanie attempts to complete her given task – to kill Julia if she returned to the tunnels. While she’s attempting to strangle Julia, Melanie mutters about how much better it would have been if she had just cocooned Julia with the rest. Mid ramble, however, she is stabbed in the back. The camera pans up to reveal Christine standing there with her bloodied hunting knife asking Julia if she’s okay. Killing Melanie serves several purposes for Christine: 1) Getting rid of Melanie gets rid of the only other person who is privy to the details of the dome’s agenda. Since Melanie was starting to babble about wishing she had cocooned Julia, it opened up the possibility that she may reveal more details of the plan, which made her a threat; 2) Melanie, because she kept failing to perform her duties, was becoming more of a hindrance than a help anyway. Now that the life force is taking root, Christine can probably easily find a new helper to take Melanie’s place; 3) Melanie’s jealousy of Christine being the one in the Queen cocoon also potentially made her a threat to the ‘throne’ so eliminating her removes that danger, and 4) most importantly, by killing Melanie, Christine has saved Julia’s life, thereby making Julia indebted to her and probably more apt to trust her going forward. Was getting rid of Melanie in this matter part of Christine’s plan all along or did she just see the opportunity and take it? I’m not sure at this point, but as calculating as Christine seems about everything else, it would not surprise me if she set Melanie up by sending her after Julia in the first place. Speaking of calculating, how about those tears after she kills Melanie: “I was out looking for food and I saw this girl…and she was strangling Julia. Oh my God, what have I done?” She then leans against a tree and cries, until she looks over her shoulder and sees that Julia and Barbie are preoccupied with each other. As soon as she sees that, she gets up and calmly walks away, knife still in hand.

The next time we see Christine, she is sitting in her office stroking the bloody knife with the piece of purple rock and seems quite content. She picks up her recorder and documents her progress so far: “James was the closest, a seed ready to sprout…once he shed his fear. With the right amount of nurturing, Sam could be next. They came when I signaled them, without knowing why. The life force has taken root. Some are compelled to serve their duties, some will require cultivation. Others must be pruned away. Weeds are stronger than they seem, a threat to what must blossom. But with careful tending, this kinship will grow into what we need it to be.”

The episode concludes with all of the formerly cocooned residents of Chester’s Mill gathered together and staring at the full moon. Quite pleased with her progress thus far, Christine emerges on the roof of the town hall to look down on them and then turns around to give an eerie smile to the camera and the moon.

I’m calling this episode the “Who are you and what have you done with the real Christine?” episode because based on the incidents that take place in during ‘Redux’, I don’t think we’ve actually met the real Christine Price. The post-cocoon version of Christine that we’re seeing appears to be merely a vessel that is carrying out the Dome’s agenda. The only glimpse of the real Christine that we’ve had thus far is the woman we (and Big Jim) see in the recording before she touches the egg, along with the hints that we’ve been given from Eva as to what Christine may have been like before she touched that egg. This probably doesn’t bode well for Christine’s longevity in Chester’s Mill as I can only see this playing out with her going head-to-head against Big Jim and Julia at some point and I would be surprised to see either of them go down. It is ‘Under the Dome’ though so I guess anything is possible.

I think what I’m enjoying most about all of this is watching Marg play such a different role from what I’ve been used to seeing in recent years. I had forgotten how much fun it is to watch her play a bad girl.

You can view screen captures from Under the Dome ‘Redux’ HERE.

INTELLIGENCE 1×12 “THE EVENT HORIZON” RECAP & SCREEN CAPS

March 25, 2014/in Intelligence News/by Suzanne

With a season that has been filled with heart pounding twists and turns, it should come as no surprise that part 1 of the Intelligence season finale, “The Event Horizon” delivers even more thrills than ever before. This action-packed episode features not only a crime scene cyber-render that points to Gabriel as the prime suspect of a multiple homicide, but also another fierce head-to-head match-up between Lillian and her old ‘friends’ Adam Weatherly and Jeffrey Tetazoo. And as if those highlights weren’t enough to guarantee a thrilling and suspenseful episode, we also have the return of both Mei Chen and Leland Strand to add a few more twists and turns. What has become the central theme of this first season of “Intelligence” – trust – also comes to a head as the CyberCom team works to clear Gabriel’s name and discover who is actually behind the murders. With each passing scene, it becomes more and more difficult to determine who can be trusted and who cannot.

The episode opens with three men being murdered in a hotel room – the Deputy Director of the FBI for domestic ops, the former head of Intelligence for the U.S. Central Command in the Middle East, and a security guard. When CyberCom starts investigating the murders, they learn that someone was working behind-the-scenes to clear the assassin’s path, wipe the hotel’s key card system clean, and otherwise remove any trace of who committed the crime. As Nelson quips, this was someone ‘with mad skills’. Gabriel then enters the hotel’s computer system in order cyber-render the crime scene. In an unexpected turn of events, it is actually Gabriel who appears in the cyber-render as the potential assassin.

As Lillian questions Gabriel about his whereabouts so as to make sure he does have his alibi in order before Director of National Intelligence Adam Weatherly arrives, his visit being protocol for this type of investigation, Gabriel reveals an unsettling fact – he woke up that morning with a raging headache and has no memory of the previous night’s events other than that he had a couple of beers with Riley. Lillian and her team, of course, trust Gabriel implicitly and know he couldn’t possibly have committed such a crime so they begin to look for clues as to what has really happened and who is responsible. Weatherly and his cohort CIA Director Jeff Tetazoo, however, apparently do not share a similar trust of Gabriel and, again, per the protocol required for such an investigation, they storm into CyberCom headquarters and place Gabriel into “protective custody” or what Weatherly refers to as “keeping our asset safe.”

Lillian gives Tetazoo “The Look”.

Lillian then has a very tense meeting with Weatherly and Tetazoo. Protocol or no protocol, she clearly doesn’t trust either of them, especially Tetazoo, whom she accuses of spying on her agency again. Lillian and Tetazoo trade a few barbs about common courtesy and information sharing before they finally get down to the business at hand. Weatherly and Tetazoo then inform Lillian that the meeting in the hotel room was an ‘off book’ meeting, definitely not protocol for men in their positions. Tetazoo, however, seems more interested in focusing on Gabriel. He tells Lillian he has two theories to explain Gabriel’s involvement with the murders: 1) One of the men killed was in command of the mission in Mumbai that ultimately led to the death of Gabriel’s wife so it could be Gabriel seeking revenge; or 2) Someone has hacked into Gabriel’s chip and is controlling him remotely. Tetazoo is leaning towards the second theory and presents Lillian with the details of a classified report written by none other than Dr. Shenandoah Cassidy more than a decade ago. Cassidy outlines what he feels could be a vulnerability in the Clockwork program – that it is possible that someone could hack into the chip and cause a “dissociated cerebral action” and basically operate the asset (i.e. Gabriel) remotely. Again, more questions of trust arise: Who would have had access to this classified information and want to use it against CyberCom in such a manner?

Tetazoo questions Lillian about her refusal to believe Gabriel cannot be controlled.

Once Lillian is briefed, Weatherly and Tetazoo then separate and interrogate both Gabriel and Riley. Weatherly questions Riley as to how far she would actually go to protect Gabriel, implying that she could be considered Gabriel’s accomplice in the murders. Tetazoo and Gabriel have a similarly contentious meeting and when Gabriel takes a cyber-peek at Tetazoo’s files and remarks “Judging from your files, you’re more likely to have committed these murders that I am”, Tetazoo is none too pleased. Gabriel then tries to plead his case, saying that he should be out there searching for whoever has framed him, but Tetazoo informs Gabriel that he isn’t going anywhere because he is “a dangerous weapon that can’t be controlled” and then rather viciously states that as far as he’s concerned, he’ll have the chip ripped out of Gabriel’s head before Gabriel is allowed to leave CyberCom. Feeling that he is being threatened, Gabriel punches Tetazoo and, with Riley’s help, escapes from custody.

Lillian is removed from command.

Tensions further escalate after Gabriel escapes when Tetazoo confronts Lillian about her refusal to believe that Gabriel cannot be controlled. Lillian thinks Tetazoo is just mad because his ego got bruised and chides him: “You took a punch, Jeff. Get over it!”. Weatherly steps in, however, and tells her that this incident has caused the President to doubt her ability to control and contain her asset. Weatherly then orders Lillian removed from the command of CyberCommand until further notice, names Tetazoo as Acting Head of CyberCommand, and orders everyone to give Tetazoo their complete loyalty. To the dismay of Lillian and her team, Tetazoo chooses not to presume that they are innocent until proven guilty and launches a full scale manhunt for Gabriel and Riley, ordering that they be brought in dead or alive.
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INTELLIGENCE 1×11 RECAP & REVIEW: “DID WE JUST LOSE THIS ONE?”

March 19, 2014/in Intelligence News/by Suzanne

‘The Grey Hat’, this week’s installment of Intelligence, written by Heidi Cole McAdams and directed by Tim Hunter, focuses on two very real threats that we face in modern society, hackers and nuclear disasters, and what happens when the two threats merged into one potentially deadly attack.

The episode opens with Lillian telling her team about blackouts that have suddenly started plunging the U.S. West Coast into darkness. When Riley questions what this has to do with CyberCom, Nelson explains that the Cyber Defense Division has determined that the blackouts are being caused by a sophisticated and destructive cyber worm that a hacker has unleashed inside of the power grid.

All signs seemingly point to Cortez, a legend in the hacker community who specializes in ‘hostage ware’ or ‘grey hat’ scams, where he installs a destructive worm into a corporation’s systems and then blackmails the corporation into paying him to stop the worm. Riley questions how attacking a power grid would fit Cortez’s usual M.O. and Nelson chalks it up to ego, the desire to prove he’s the best high-level hacker out there. Nelson quickly realizes, however, that Cortez has made an error — the security system for the power grid only allows access to local IP addresses; therefore the worm had to have originated in Los Angeles. Lillian has heard enough and, taking charge, dispatches Gabriel, Riley, and Nelson to L.A. to find this Cortez and stop the worm: “Everyone, this is the cyber attack we’ve all been afraid of. Millions of lives are affected and we may not have seen the worst yet.”

When Gabriel, Riley, and Nelson track down “Cortez”, aka Troy Ricksen, and show him what they believe to be his handiwork, we are presented with our first major plot twist. Troy informs them that it’s not his worm — someone has cloned it and the design is such that he can’t stop it. In fact, it won’t stop until it has found and attacked its target. Ready to “bust some heads” because someone has stolen his worm, Troy tells Gabriel, Nelson, and Riley that the power grid is not the worm’s actual target. Using a vivid analogy, he explains that the worm to a kitten playing with a ball of string while it’s roaming the power grid. Once it finds its true target, the worm will transform from a kitten to a tiger and attack. With assistance from Troy and Nelson, who make quite a team, I must say, Gabriel determines that a nuclear power plant in California is the worm’s target. Whoever cloned Troy’s worm has sold it to terrorists.

Back at CyberCommand, Lillian meets with the heads of the other DOJ agencies to decide the best course of action. While they are discussing their options, they receive a video broadcast from Torbin Salvi, the leader of the anti-nuclear terrorist organization, NSR. He is willing to abort their attack if his brother, Dominic Salvi, was arrested by the FBI for bombing a nuclear research facility in Moscow and killing 52 people, is released from U.S. custody rather than being extradited to Russia where he is expected to be executed for his crimes. If Dominic is not released, the NSR will unleash a nuclear disaster on the U.S. West Coast that will rival Chernobyl.

Once Gabriel and Riley realize how dire the situation is, they seek Troy’s help in doing whatever it takes to stop the worm. Troy, however, realizing who has stolen his worm, gives Gabriel and the team the slip and goes to confront the thief. Rather than “bust some heads”, he tells the thief that the two of them are going to do the right thing — they’re going to work together to stop that worm before anyone else gets killed. Troy sees just how high the stakes are when the terrorists show up and start shooting. Thankfully Gabriel has tracked the vehicle Troy stole and he and Riley are able to stop the attackers before they can harm Troy, although his friend isn’t so lucky. When Riley and Gabriel tell him that he has the ability to stop the worm with a biometric ‘kill switch’ of his that was also cloned, Troy tells them that he can stop the worm but he needs the “mother ship,” the computer that was used to originally launch the worm, to do so.

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