Original Cindy strolls into Jam Pony HQ. Normal stops her in order to give her an assignment in Sector Four. OC's all, "I'm not going all the way out there in the rain!" Normal's all, "Is it raining? In Seattle? Stop the presses." It's good to see that some things never change. OC is still sassy, and Normal is still cranky. OC stops in her tracks when she spots some dude putting his stuff in a locker. The dude says he thought the locker was free, but OC informs him that it's not, and also hands off her assignment in Sector Four. OC gazes wistfully at the locker, as the camera reveals that it belongs (belonged?) to Max.
Just then, an Eyes Only broadcast kicks in. OC, Sketchy, and the new dude gather to watch it. Cut to Logan in his apartment, giving the broadcast. Logan says that billions of tax dollars have been diverted to Project Manticore since the early 1990s. Got that, newbies? Sketchy says, "Cool," but it's captioned as "Kewl," which is just annoying. Logan continues with his exposition, explaining that the purpose of Manticore was to train genetically enhanced soldiers through the use of propaganda. According to Logan, in 2009, twelve soldiers escaped from a facility in Wyoming. Some were captured (Tinga), some were tortured (Zack), and some died (Max). Now, Manticore has consolidated their operations, and Eyes Only is looking for the new location. Logan signs off. So, did all of you who didn't watch last season get that? For the rest of you, it's just review. Also, Logan's sorrow over losing Max apparently extends to not being able to complete tasks such as shaving, or cutting and combing his hair. He's working a serious bowl cut.
Logan wheels over to his computer screen and zooms in on a really unflattering picture of Max. He strokes her face on the computer screen, probably thinking, "I don't remember her being so cross-eyed!" The picture on the screen comes to life as we cut to Max, minus about ten pounds and plus a few inches of hair, training at Manticore with other soldiers. Max spars with some guy, and the guy knocks her down and gets on top of her. Ew, not like that. Okay, kind of like that. The guy calls Max "452" and asks if she's not fully recuperated yet. Max responds, "Bite me!" The guy expositions that Max must have received a bad heart, for those of us wondering how in the hell she came back from the dead. Max executes a super-cool spinning dropkick on the guy, just as some lackey yells out that the director wants to see her.
Max and Nana Visitor stand face-to-face. Max is standing at attention, her face revealing nothing. Or, in other words, standard acting mode for Jessica Alba. Nana tells Max to state her designation. Max flashes back to earlier times when Nana asked her exactly that. When Max replied that her name was Max, Nana had her tortured. Thus, in the present day, Max barks, "X5-452!" I think that was the license plate on my first car. Nana isn't fooled, and wants to show something to Max. I think Nana has had a little work done since last season. Her face is looking a little tighter than usual. And her hair is even blonder and all spiky. It's not a good look for her.
Nana shows Max a tank, in which Zack lies, hooked up to a bunch of machines. Apparently, Manticore has been using Zack for parts, and his heart went to Max. Remember, Zack killed himself so that Max could have his heart and live. Nana says that they are moving Zack, and that they have "very interesting plans" for him. Zack's eyes are moving around as if he is very much aware of his surroundings. Nana reminds Max that it's her fault that Zack is in his current state. Max looks sad.
Nana runs through the list of all of Max's friends who have died: Ben, Tinga, and Eyes Only. Nana say that they know Max had a relationship with Eyes Only, and once they figure out who the hell he is, they will find him and kill him. Once Eyes Only is dead, Nana thinks that Max will capitulate. I'm thinking probably not. I think it would only make Max fight harder, to avenge all of the deaths. Those bad guys never understand basic psychology, do they?
Max lies in her room/cell as the guards call for lights out. Once all is clear, Max hops out of her bed and folds it up against the wall. She pulls a tool out of the bedsprings. It's one of those long, thin pieces of metal that the cops use to unlock your car when you lock your keys in it. Not that I've ever done that. More than once. Max uses the tool to saw away at the cinder blocks in the wall beneath her bed. She pauses, thinking for a moment before saying aloud, "Max! My name's Max!" Are we supposed to believe that Manticore wouldn't have video cameras and microphones in the rooms, especially in the room of someone like Max who had previously escaped?
In a government office, Logan argues with a desk jockey about his VA ration card. Apparently, Logan is claiming to be a veteran to get money from the government. Desk Jockey says that Logan is not in the system and reminds Logan (and the viewers) about the pulse that wiped out all communication and satellite devices, and probably wiped out the VA records too. Logan isn't buying it, and Desk Jockey implies that, with a bribe, it can all be straightened out. Some blonde chick stands on a chair and fires a gun into the air. She claims to be part of some organization called the S1W, which sounds like the newest all-girl singing group. Anyway, she orders all of the desk jockeys down to the floor, and tells the veterans that everyone will be getting a VA card today. The veterans cheer. Blondie and Logan exchange a look.
Back at Logan's pad, Blondie scoffs at the idea that Logan thought he could get into the VA file room by posing as a veteran. Apparently, Logan was trying to get his hands on some records about VA finances. Which of course would be kept in Seattle. Blondie says that her organization was happy to help out and make a point. Logan thinks that Manticore is running their funds through the VA's books to hide the source. Blondie notices that Logan is taking this assignment for Eyes Only personally. So now we know that, while Blondie and Logan have clearly worked together before, she doesn't know that he is Eyes Only. Logan says that Eyes Only is taking on Manticore as a personal favor to him. Blondie does know that Logan knew one of the escaped X5s, and that the X5 died. Logan can't believe that Max is dead, and though it may be crazy, he feels like she is still out there. That's so crazy, it might just be true!
Max is still in training at Manticore. During each part of her training, she flashes back to doing the same training before her escape. As Max lies in bed that night, she thinks about some of her more tender moments with Logan. After the guard completes his nightly looky-loo through her cell door, Max starts sawing away at the cinder blocks again. She hears a distant door slam, and she quickly covers up the evidence of her work and hops back into her bed. The lights come on in Max's cell, and the door opens. In walks…Ben!
But it's not Ben -- it's some dude designated 494. Max figures out that 494 is Ben's twin. 494 recalls that Ben went psycho from being out in the world. Max growls that Manticore made Ben crazy. 494 really doesn't care, and he whips off his shirt and tells Max to get to it. Apparently, they've been assigned to be copulating partners, and are supposed to have sex every night until Max gets pregnant. Max is disgusted. 494 points out that Manticore had to resort back to old-fashioned means of reproduction when Max and her friends blew up the DNA database. Max kicks 494 away and announces that that is the only physical contact the two of them will have. 494 doesn't seem too upset at this news. He uses phrases like "freaked out" and "bust my chops," which makes Max suspicious. 494 claims that he took "Common Verbal Usage" during his training for "solo missions," which Max calls "assassinations." The guard arrives and asks if 494 has anything for him. 494 passes some items out in exchange for money -- apparently he's running a little side business. That business completed, 494 settles in for a nap and asks Max to wake him up in an hour.
Lydecker gets a call from some dude named McGinnis, who inexplicably wears an eye patch. Nana Visitor listens to the conversation intently while standing to McGinnis. He proposes that Lydecker give up Eyes Only. Lydecker doesn't think it sounds like a good deal, but McGinnis promises that if Lydecker completes the task, he can return to Manticore. Would you want to return to Manticore? I guess at least he wouldn't have to live on the run. But I don't know.
Nana Visitor goes down the line of some assembled X-5s, getting the copulation reports. Wow, that is a sentence I never dreamed I would type. Anyway, the first couple was successful, but in the second couple, the dude couldn't get it up, so he is led away. Yikes! Talk about performance anxiety. When it comes to 494 and Max, 494 lies and says that they successfully copulated -- twice. Ew. Nana is all pleased, and wonders what Max's boyfriend would say. Nana asks Max if she received any health treatments when she was on the outside. Max replies forcefully, "No, ma'am!" Cut to a lab, where Nana shows Max a younger version of herself, who is "suffering from late-stage progeria." Max flashes back to meeting her younger version in the woods. Nana explains that with the same DNA sequence, Max should be suffering the same fate, unless she got some sort of health treatments on the outside. Max again denies that she did. Nana says that they will have to do spinal taps to compare the DNA directly, and comments that Max might still get progeria. ["In case you didn't get it from the context, progeria is a syndrome characterized by the appearance of premature aging in children. You can read more about it here." -- Sars]
That night, Max manages to get two cinder blocks out of the wall, creating a hole big enough for her to squeeze through. She puts the displaced cinder blocks in her bed to make it look like she's still in there, and then squeezes out. Somehow, she lands in the Manticore basement, which has enough pipes running through it to make Freddy Krueger proud. Max hears a growling noise, and out of the darkness steps…Vincent from Beauty and the Beast! Okay, I don't really know who it is, but that's who it looks like.
The dog boy approaches Max slowly. She backs away and tells him to take it easy. He replies, "You take it easy, little fella." Max is surprised that he can talk, and asks if there is "too much canine DNA in [his] cocktail." Dog Boy sniffs and reports that there is cat in Max's "cocktail." Max asks to see his teeth, and after much growling and barking, he shows them to her. Max thinks they are cool, and shakes his hand, introducing herself. Dog Boy asks about her father, but Max says that she doesn't have one. Dog Boy says that his father is Sandman, and his name is Joshua. Max doesn't seem to know about this Sandman, and she continues to look for a way out of the basement. Joshua grabs her as a guard approaches. Max realizes that the guards don't know Joshua is down there. Joshua says that Sandman made him, and then left him, and that he was the first of many like him. Max rues the fact that there are no windows, and Joshua runs over and pushes open a panel.
Max and Joshua walk down a long hallway. Along the hallway are locked doors, and behind the doors are others like Joshua. Sort of. Joshua explains that some are like him, and some are "not so good." We see one dude who is completely bald and has freaky eyes. Max remarks that someone ought to feed them, and Joshua says, "They do, sometimes. I do, sometimes."
Joshua pulls aside some storage containers to reveal a window -- with bars across it. Max asks if he minds if she comes back later to exit. Joshua warns her that there are X7s guarding the forest outside. Max asks how many, and Joshua replies, "One." Max uses her super feline night vision to see one X7 on patrol, and comments that she thinks she can take him. Joshua clarifies, "Lots of one." A bunch of other X7s appear, all clones of the first one. They stand together, as we hear some high-pitched squeaking noises. Max asks what they are doing, and Joshua replies that they are talking. Max doesn't hear anything, but then realizes that it's out of her hearing range. Joshua agrees, "Bat in their cocktail." The X7s stop talking, nod, and disperse. Max hops down and helps Joshua cover the window back up, promising to be back the day.
Logan is on the phone with someone, saying that he wants to do something right now. Apparently, the person on the other end agrees, because Logan ends the conversation and finishes putting on his exoskeleton, but he doesn't tie his boots. That seems like it would be dangerous. As Logan opens the door to exit his apartment, Blondie walks in and asks if she can stash a box of guns at his place while she goes to Sector Three. Logan agrees, and tells her to let herself out. So, clearly, he trusts her.
Logan's stupid Aztek pulls into a warehouse somewhere; Lydecker stands and waits. Logan exits and asks Lydecker about some information he's supposed to have. McGinnis comes out of the dark and pulls a gun on Logan. Lydecker pauses, then grabs the gun from McGinnis, telling Logan to duck. In the scuffle, McGinnis's lackey gets shot, and Logan takes a bullet in the arm. Lydecker apologizes, but reminds Logan that he told him to duck. Fair enough. Lydecker keeps the gun trained on McGinnis and demands to know what Nana Visitor is doing to the X5s. McGinnis claims ignorance. Lydecker starts screaming, "She murdered one of my kids!" and we flash back to Tinga in the tank. McGinnis admits that the tank was an extraction chamber, and Nana Visitor was looking for something in Tinga's DNA, but McGinnis doesn't know any specifics. McGinnis asks to go to a hospital, but Lydecker points out that McGinnis saw Eyes Only, and can't be allowed to return to Manticore with that information. McGinnis claims that he didn't see anything, and reminds Lydecker that they are friends. Lydecker turns to ask Logan what he thinks, and McGinnis goes for a gun on the ground. Before McGinnis can reach it, Lydecker shoots him. Logan walks up to see that McGinnis is dead. Lydecker asks Logan if he wants to know about Manticore.
Max files away at the bars in the basement window, then stops and comments to Joshua that she'll be finished in another night or two. They pack things up and walk off. Joshua asks to go with Max when she leaves. Max hesitates, and then tells Joshua that there is no one else like him outside, that people don't like things that are different, and that people scare easily. Joshua is disappointed. Max convinces him that he'd just be "trading one basement for another."
Max squeezes back into her cell, only to find 494 sitting on her bed. He asks, "Forget we had a date?" Max asks when "the storm troopers" are going to bust in, but 494 says that he didn't sound the alarm. He asks Max why she wants to get out of Manticore so badly, since they provide her with room and board. Max says that Manticore is just using them. 494 doesn't think that anyone is using them, and then prepares to leave Max's cell, still referring to Max as 452. Max says that her name is Max, and then comments that 494 should have a name too. God, yes. I'm starting to feel like I’m talking about the stuff you use to clean your kitchen counters. Max decides that he should be called "Alec, as in smart aleck." Alec agrees to that, and leaves the cell.
Some lackey calls Nana Visitor from the warehouse where McGinnis was killed. He informs Nana that Lydecker double-crossed them. Nana says that if Lydecker tells Eyes Only about Manticore's location, "The Committee will bury [Manticore]." Just then, some technician finds a blood trail, which we know belongs to Logan. The lackey tells Nana that it couldn't be from one of their people, because neither of them walked out of the warehouse. Nana orders him to take a "full DNA assay" and report back to HQ immediately.
Nana Visitor tries to get Max to reveal Eyes Only's identity. Nana says that if word of Manticore gets out to the press, The Committee will shut them down, because it will jeopardize The Committee's "other operations." Nana will lock the doors and burn Manticore down with everyone inside before letting that happens. Since Manticore is just a VA hospital on paper, no one will be the wiser. Max thinks Nana is bluffing. Nana holds up a Zip disk and says that all of the data accumulated by Manticore can be moved, so they don't need the test subjects. If that's true, why do they keep them around now? Nana tells Max that if they find Eyes Only on their own, he'll be killed. If Max helps them, there's a deal to be made. The lackey comes in with the results of the DNA assay from the blood at the warehouse. Nana tells Max that time's up. Cut to Max being restrained and injected with something. Nana tells Max that she'll help whether she wants to or not, and then trains a laser or something into her eyeball. I don't think Max is getting the LASIK surgery here.
Max wakes up panting. Alec enters her cell and says that he heard they were sending an X5 after some reporter friend of hers. Max denies telling them anything. Alec asks if she's sure. Max says she needs to get out of there, but Alec doesn't think she'll get past the X7s. Max asks for his help, if only so he can get rid of her. Alec muses that with Max gone, he'll probably get a new breeding partner. He's like the smarter, transgenic version of Steve Sanders.
Max and Alec saw away at the metal bars in the window in the basement while Joshua watches. Alec makes a bunch of disparaging remarks about Joshua, and Max tells him to shut it. Alec suggests that Joshua come over and help them, so Joshua walks over and just pulls the entire grate out of the wall. Well, why didn't he just do that before? Max asks if everyone knows what to do.
Joshua runs across a field with Alec close behind. Alec comes across a bunch of X7s and leads them in chasing Joshua. That distraction allows Max to slip out undetected. Alec tackles Joshua, and when the X7s approach to pile on, Alec "accidentally" takes them out with kicks and such, allowing Joshua to get away. The X7s hold their guns on Alec, who apologizes. Meanwhile, Max runs right around one X7, and then hops over the fence at the perimeter. One X7 shoots at her, but Joshua appears and tosses the X7 aside, allowing Max to escape.
Logan starts recording a message to reveal the location of Manticore, but he loses his satellite connection. He turns around to find Max standing in his apartment. He walks up to her, and they kiss. Max tries to convince Logan that he needs to leave, because Manticore is after him. Logan collapses, and Max wonders what's going on. Alec appears in the doorway and informs Max that she killed Logan. Apparently, Max is the carrier for "a genetically-targeted retrovirus," and any intimate contact between her and Logan activates it. Alec pulls a gun on Max when she attacks him, and reminds her that Nana Visitor just wants Logan brought to Manticore alive, where there is a cure. Max doesn't trust Nana Visitor, but Alec points out that she doesn't have much choice.
A lab guy brings the results of the DNA test run on Max to Nana Visitor. Nana wonders if there is anything to explain the lack of progeria, and the lab guy tells her to look for herself. Nana looks at some colorful pictures of the double helix as the lab guy comments that he's never seen anything like it before. Nana asks if anyone else knows about it, and Lab Guy says that no one does. Nana pulls a gun out from under her desk and shoots Lab Guy dead, saying, "Let's keep it that way." Man, she is a cold bitch. Nana calls someone and says in French, "I think we've found what we're looking for. No, no one at Manticore knows. I'll bring her to you."
Max gets Logan into his wheelchair, and Alec pronounces them ready to go. The beeping from Logan's computer, which indicates that the satellite connection is once again working, momentarily distracts him. Max takes advantage, and they fight. During their tussle, Max kicks Alec's gun over to Logan, who trains it unsteadily on Alec. Smarmily, Alec asks if he can go home once Logan is dead. Max replies that his home won't be there, and makes her way over to the computer to send out a transmission. Luckily, Logan had recorded this message earlier instead of doing it live, as he usually does. A message goes out detailing Manticore's location. Over at Manticore HQ, Nana Visitor gets a phone call with orders to "cauterize the site."
Logan sits in his chair with a gun pointed shakily at a tied-up Alec. Logan, now covered in hives and other yucky things, starts to fade and eventually drops the gun on the floor. Alec walks over and picks it up, pointing it at Logan's head. Before he can pull the trigger, Blondie walks in and trains her own gun on Alec, getting him to drop his weapon. Alec turns and smiles, and then super speeds over and takes her gun from her. He comments that it's a "nice piece," and then says he was just going to put Logan out of his misery. Alec leaves with the gun, and Blondie rushes to Logan's side.
Max arrives back at Manticore just as fires start breaking out all over. She gets inside and runs down a hallway. At each door are trapped subjects, trying to get out. Max reaches a control room of some sort and flips one switch, which opens every cell door in the place. Of course. Nana Visitor learns that there is a security breach, and sees on a video monitor that Max is the cause. As subjects escape, Nana orders her computer guy to override the system, but he can't. Nana orders that no one should get past the perimeter alive, and wants Max brought to her alive.
Joshua runs down the basement hallway, letting out all the freaks like (and unlike) him. Alec arrives back at Manticore to see it going up in flames. Some goons in berets try to capture Max, but I guess they got the wrong room, because as soon as they enter, she runs out into the hallway from a different door and gets away.
As Manticore burns, Joshua scrambles up a hill. A goon tells Nana that she has to leave, now. Nana refuses to leave without Max. Just then, Max arrives on the scene, takes out the goon, and says that she's not leaving without Nana either. Max marches Nana out the door.
Max shoves Nana into some sort of chemistry room and demands the antigen for Logan. Nana plays dumb for a minute, but then hands a vial to Max. A goon bursts in and starts to shoot at Max, but Nana throws herself in front of the bullets. Max tells the goon she won't tell if he doesn't, and the goon takes off. Max asks a dying Nana how to get rid of the virus, and Nana says there is no way. Max continues barraging the dying woman with questions, asking why Nana protected her from the bullets. Nana says that Max is the one they've been looking for, and urges Max to find Sandman. Except this time the captioning spells it "Sandeman." Max flashes back to Joshua saying that his father is Sandman. Nana dies, and Max hauls ass out of there with the antigen.
Max watches Manticore burn from the safe distance of the hill, and then takes off into the woods. Later, in Logan's apartment, Blondie injects him with the antigen while Max watches. Time-lapse photography shows Logan slowly recovering. Blondie comments that Logan will be okay, and leaves. Logan tells Max that she can come closer, and Max says sadly that she might reinfect him, and that was the last of the antigen. Logan promises that they will find a way. Max says she has to go. Logan reminds Max that the first time she escaped, there were only twelve like her out in the world; now there are many more. Logan says that people are scared of things that are different. See, because Logan thinks of Max like Max thinks of Joshua. Or something.
Max sits on the Space Needle and muses on how things look the same from up there, but everything has changed. When she was at Manticore, she only wanted her "strange little life back," never thinking that it could get stranger. Pan down to one of Joshua's freaky brothers pulling a hood over his head and walking through the streets of Seattle.
This season on Dark Angel: There are new enemies, new allies, and Max will take it to the edge. The edge of what? I don't know. That's just what the announcer said.