Max finds the abandoned warehouse where she is to deliver her message. Of course it's an abandoned warehouse. Where else would it be? There are a bunch of kids outside playing stickball. She enters, and CCG is there. Turns out the package that Max is delivering is for her, not him. She opens it, and there's a piece of paper that says "destiny." Max asks what it means. CCG says that he sees her future, and he's offering her an opportunity based on her actions of the night. He knows that she can't be normal. Max gets pissed off, but just then, two guys walk into the warehouse. One shoots an automatic weapon at the other, who runs away. When Max turns back to CCG -- he's gone!
Outside, the kids are still playing stickball. The ball rolls under an abandoned car. One kid crawls under to get it, and Snuffy is lying under there -- dead. Crawling Kid reports that there's a dead guy, and his friend replies that he's the foul line. Ha! Except not really.
Herbal mourns the loss of Snuffy. Herbal has this really annoying faux-Jamaican accent. I expect him to bust out with "Redemption Song" at any moment. Max and OC look all sad. Normal walks over and offers his condolences. They all look at him like, "The fuck?" Herbal thanks him, and Normal walks away. Max offers to help Herbal if he needs it, but Herbal says he just needs to think.
Max is at EO's place, lamenting that Snuffy is gone. EO has pulled up some sort of computer record on Snuffy, and reads from the screen that Snuffy was "released from custody three days ago after serving six years for carrying a forged sector pass." The cause of death was "multiple gunshot wounds to the chest." Yep. That'll do it. EO points out that he found six more unsolved homicides of recently released convicts. Max figures that the cops don't care, and EO suggests that the cops might be in on it. EO wants to get a list of upcoming parolees -- he would hack into Corrections, but he keeps losing his connection due to the "damn blackouts." Max offers to get the files "the old-fashioned way." She asks about dinner after, but EO turns her down. Max asks if he's okay, and he claims to have a lot on his mind. After Max leaves, EO checks out the photos he got last week, which show that Max is a cold-blooded killer. He hears Lydecker's voice saying that EO has no idea what Max is capable of.
Max gets on her bike and takes off. CCG is following her. Max steals the appropriate files. As she takes off, a security guard spots her. He starts to walk over, and she throws something to try to distract him. He doesn't fall for it. Just when it looks like Max is about to get busted, CCG runs out and creates a diversion, knocking the guard down. Then he jumps up a couple of stories to escape. Hmm. Back at her bike, Max finds a note that says, "You really do need to talk to me, or bad things will happen." She turns the note over to see a photograph of her beating up the punks, flying through the air.
EO scrolls through some files on his computer, and tells Max that nine prisoners are going to be paroled in Seattle week. Max suggests that Eyes Only tip them off, but EO wants to know who's behind the killings first. Yeah, I mean, what are a few more dead bodies? EO can't believe no one saw the killings, and Max points out that there are hover drones everywhere that might have something on tape. EO decides to talk to his Uncle Jonas, whose company makes the hover drones. Max points out that Uncle Jonas is "right wing," and EO says that he is, but he also won't want any scandal surrounding his products that might hurt sales. Max offers to go along, since Uncle Jonas kind of liked her. EO refuses, and asks if Max has seen any trouble. Max replies that there's "a weird guy who keeps following [her] around." EO wonders if he should worry, but Max deadpans that she'll just kill him if he gives her trouble. EO looks shocked, but Max doesn't notice, and leaves.
Max rides her bike back to her squat. OC offers her soup or tea, but Max is distracted. She walks into the living room and squats on a chair, because that's comfortable. My cats don't sit like that. OC ask Max what's going on, and Max confesses that some creep is following her around taking pictures. She shows OC the picture she found on her bike earlier. CCG must use disappearing ink, because the back no longer has any note on it. OC is wearing a shirt that says "I [heart] ME!" Hee! Max doesn't know what CCG is up to. OC asks what EO thinks. Max says that she's getting a "weird vibe" from EO, like he's "clued into the fact that [she's] seriously not like other females." OC replies, "Ho's up, G's down, if you ask me." Because she's a lesbian. I don't know if you knew that. Max takes off.
EO is at Uncle Jonas's phat pad. Uncle Jonas doesn't believe him about the "rogue police death squad theory," and asks for evidence. EO asks his uncle for some hover drone surveillance footage. Uncle Jonas thinks EO is being self-serving, but EO points out how it will help Uncle Jonas too, by protecting his company. Uncle Jonas offers to call "Lucas Gant" in the morning, "a friend with influence and connections." Uncle Jonas hands EO a check, his "share of the fourth-quarter earnings from the Gale trust." EO takes it. Uncle Jonas remarks, "On a clear day, I bet you can really see the class struggle from that penthouse of yours." Ha! Burn! And, good point.
Max goes back to the abandoned warehouse, looking for CCG. She climbs up to the roof and enters an old pigeon coop. She crawls through a trap door and finds CCG's room. There's a mannequin-looking thing that says "DOD A-054.1." There's a sign that says, "Writers on Strike!" Heh. Inside joke, I guess. She finds a picture of herself hanging up, and takes it. Then she sees newspaper clippings of the obituaries of the various dead ex-cons, with red Xs through their faces. At the end of the row is a clipping of a guy with no red X.
Max calls EO and has him look up the address of the guy in the clipping. Max thinks he's in line to get killed, and that CCG has been doing the killing. EO thought that CCG was nothing to worry about. Max says that he was trying to recruit her as a soldier. Of course, EO's computer hangs, but instead of looking like a computer that froze, it looks like a computer with a magnet on the side of the monitor. Max denigrates EO's "sector police theory." EO gives her the address, and Max takes off so fast that she doesn't even have time to hang up the phone. Did you hear that? She didn't even hang up the phone!
Max arrives at the address, only to find CCG just about to bust down the door. Max takes off and throws CCG aside, saying that he's "done killing people." CCG protests that he's not killing people -- "that thing is." Max follows his gaze to see the guy from the clipping asleep in a recliner (like CCG busting down the door wouldn't have woke him up), and something that looks like that old electronic game Simon, except gray and metallic, dropping into sight through the window. The Simon shoots a red laser sight onto the clipping guy's face. CCG busts into the room and covers up the clipping guy just as The Simon opens fire into the room. No one is hurt. Max says, "What the hell was that?" I guess they don't still have Simon in 2019.
Max and CCG fill EO in on The Simon. EO asks how CCG knew that the clipping guy was going to be the victim. CCG says that he reads the newspaper, and he noticed how all the ex-cons kept getting shot. EO is amazed that someone besides him can do research. CCG says that Clipping Guy was a sex offender, so when he got out, they published his name and address in the paper. CCG asks Max if her name is short for Maximum, "as in Maximum Force? Maximum Girl? Woman? Maximum Woman?" Heh. Max is all snarky. CCG goes to wash his hands, because Clipping Guy peed his pants. EO reiterates for those of you still confused that CCG is not a vigilante -- just a nut. Max reminds us that he has some sort of super jumping power. CCG walks back in and trips, because he's "got a screw loose" in his leg. Well, his head too. But his leg right now. CCG babbles about EO being the brains and Max being the brawn, and wonders how Max got her powers. EO asks CCG about his powers. CCG turns his back and pulls down his pants, then turns back to face EO and CCG, spreading his trenchcoat wide. See, we're supposed to think they're looking at his penis. But really, they're looking at "an exoskeleton" that looks like a leg brace. CCG says that it "enhances speed and strength, the ability to jump, the ability to lift and carry." Max notes that "Department of Defense" is stenciled on the exoskeleton. CCG insists that it was destiny that he was working in a warehouse where the exoskeleton fell out of the box, so it wasn't stealing.
EO, Max, and CCG sit at a table. EO wonders why police are using The Simon instead of "a good old-fashioned death squad." Max says that the cops might not be responsible. CCG suggests that the drones are coming from "some other dimension." Max and EO share a look like, "Whoo boy, is this guy nuts or what?" EO says that he'll talk to Uncle Jonas to find out if they are modified hover drones, and who the likely customers would be, and asks Max to get proof that they exist. CCG says that he has photos of them. Of course he does. EO orders Max to go with CCG and get the pictures.
Max hangs out while CCG develops the pictures at his place. CCG asks Max about her powers. CCG shares a sob story about his sister who was killed by thugs who broke into their house. CCG couldn't protect her, so he fights for justice now to make up for what he couldn't do back then. Max says she lost a sister too.
EO goes to see Uncle Jonas, who says he hasn't come up with much information. EO fills Uncle Jonas in on the fact that the ex-cons were killed by a hover drone. Uncle Jonas laughs and says that EO "watched too many X-Files" when he was younger. Nothing like promoting the other shows on FOX in a desperate attempt to avoid cancellation. Uncle Jonas denies that killer hover drones exist, and that if EO prints anything about it, it will affect his own financial situation. EO says that he'll get photos, and Uncle Jonas promises to get to the bottom of it then.
CCG realizes that the hover drone pictures didn't come out. Max looks at some blurry pictures. CCG says that his camera broke when Max threw him against the wall, and Max apologizes. They have a chat about how CCG ran away from home at fifteen, and doesn't keep in touch with his mother. CCG says that he couldn't stay because of destiny and all. CCG reveals that he knows where The Simon refuels, and there's some non-comic non-relief about that.
Uncle Jonas calls EO and asks him to meet in an hour. After hanging up, Uncle Jonas talks to the aforementioned Gil Lucas. Gil says that they're sending EO on a "wild goose chase" to keep him off the scent. Then Gil reveals that they are testing these hover drones that will be able to "track down anyone, anywhere, from a photograph." Gil looks out the window and muses on how it'll be a cash cow. Uncle Jonas invites Gil and his wife over for dinner just as The Simon shows up outside the window and shoots Uncle Jonas dead. He knew too much. That Gil is evil. He takes a photo of EO from the mantel. Oh no!
CCG and Max arrive at what may be the refueling place for The Simon. There's some more non-comic non-relief before CCG busts the door down and they run in to find some sort of S&M scene. Oops! Wrong place. They arrive at a new place and bust down the door to find a room full of computers. Max commands the computer operator to bring The Simon back. He can't, because The Simon is on a "search and destroy" and "anyone who tries to stop it will be a target too." Max sees on the computer that the target is…EO! Max and CCG take off to save him.
EO is driving near the waterfront, thinking that he's going to meet his uncle. Max and CCG show up on her bike. The Simon floats up. Max dives into EO's car and knocks him out of harm's way, then takes off. CCG follows on the bike. Max drives the car into a warehouse, and then drags EO out, ordering him to take cover. The Simon shows up, and Max evades. CCG is with EO. Max and The Simon travel side by side for a while. Max rolls out of the car, and The Simon crashes through the front windshield. And then it pops out the back! The Simon is resilient. Finally, Max hides under some grids in the floor, and then uses a metal pole to short-circuit The Simon, and then smashes it into the floor. That whole sequence was so incredibly bad. I thought this show had a big budget?
Max rejoins CCG and EO. CCG is having a malfunction with his exoskeleton, because it got hit with a bullet. More non-comic non-relief as he does a wacky walk out of there.
EO tells Max about his Uncle Jonas -- that he lied, and that he's dead now. Max points out that Uncle Jonas paid the price. EO thinks that he should use Eyes Only to reveal what happened. Max points out that would mean the end of Cale Industries, and then EO wouldn't have any more financial backing. They argue over whether that's a good idea. EO wants to stick to his morals even if it means being broke. Max notes, "Only a bored rich liberal white guy would piss away his fortune to prove that he's not a bored rich liberal white guy." Also, she says that no one, including Max, would think less of him if he let this one slide. EO ponders this.
Max packs CCG off in a bus to go see his mom. Max tries to convince him that this is destiny. I think he's taking the same bus that Diamond took to Mexico. CCG sees a broadcast from Eyes Only starting up. He's reporting on Cale Industries. Max notes that he's "a dope." CCG reveals that his name is Phil, and why he couldn't have said that earlier and spared me from making up a nickname, I don't know. Max and CCG say their goodbyes. CCG yells at a punk for littering, and Max enforces it. Finally the bus pulls away.
Max and EO are having dinner. They discuss how EO is now officially poor, and that his last check is now worthless. EO proposes a toast to his Uncle Jonas, "a cold-blooded killer." Max advises him of what she learned at Manticore: "Never underestimate what people are capable of doing to each other." EO points out that Max has tried to stay away from "the heart of darkness" as much as possible. Max ponders that, and then gets up to leave for Snuffy's memorial. She pauses on her way out and says that the darkness is always "right on [her] tail." EO assures her that she's got moves, and then, when Max leaves, he looks at the pictures of bloody Max again.
Lucas Gant is meeting with Madame X, the woman who gives Lydecker orders. He offers her the plans for The Simon at "fire-sale prices" because he's heading to Mexico "one step ahead of the Feds." They shake hands. Gant reveals that they have a second prototype, fully operational, waiting outside. As Gant walks out, Madame X captures his picture. But what's she…ooooh.
EO shreds his last check, and then shreds the pictures of young Max with the blood on her face. Bling wheels in a big packing case. Hmm, what could that be? EO opens it to find an exoskeleton and a note. It says, "Sorry it's all busted up, but if you can fix it, who knows? Might help you get from here to there. Best, Phil." Oh, the possibilities. EO smiles.
week: There's a little kid who is super advanced, and Lydecker has found him. Max has found him too, and she's trying to protect him from Manticore. And it looks dangerous! No The Simon, though. That's too bad. I like The Simon.