Previously on Dark Angel: White staged the kidnapping of his son, Ray. Max fought White. Logan and Max made arrangements to protect White's wife, Wendy. Max wondered what was going to happen to Ray. It's a shame about Ray, really.
Alec walks up to the counter in Jam Pony HQ, having just made a delivery. Max is disgusted that Alec only made one delivery in the whole day. Sketchy hurries up and announces that he's now a freelance reporter for the tabloids. Alec asks what that entails. Sketchy says that he'll be hunting down mutants and getting photographs. Max says sarcastically that it's great, and OC adds that there are no mutants. Sketchy doesn't believe it, and offers to buy everyone drinks at Crash. Max and Alec have a little conference about how this could impact their lives. Max notes that Alec doesn't even bother to cover up his bar code. Alec points out that Sketchy is pretty incompetent, so they don't have much to worry about.
Logan gets a call from Wendy White, who heard that he's tracking down some leads on Ray. Logan has nothing solid. Wendy announces that she's found Ray, but she doesn't have him with her, and she needs Logan's help. Logan tells her not to do anything until he can get there. Wendy tells him to hurry. Logan asks where she is. Before she can answer, White bursts into Wendy's motel room and rips the phone from the wall. Wendy clocks White in the face with a camera, but it barely affects him. He backhands her and says that she shouldn't have come there. Wendy wants her son. White says that Ray isn't her son anymore; he's one of them. Wendy wonders who he is. White tells her that it's not her concern, and she shouldn't worry about it. White takes off his tie as he tells Wendy that he loves her, but she should have forgotten about him and Ray both. He moves in to strangle her, and she screams. I know a lot of people hate White because he's such a bad actor, but that's why I love him. He's so over the top. He's like Shatner.
Max shows up at Logan's with some scrounged gasoline for his car. Logan says that he knows Wendy called from a small town called Willoughby. Max asks why Wendy is trying to track down White when she knows how psycho his group is. Logan agrees and says that Wendy has called him in the past with false leads. Max wonders if this is another dead end. Logan tells her about the phone going dead. His computer turns up the address from which the phone call originated -- the Hotel Willoughby. Max and Logan take off.
OC tells Normal that Max is sick. Again. Normal says he doesn't care, as long as OC covers her shift. Alec refuses to help. Sketchy runs up and offers to take one of OC's packages to Sector Three, because he got a report of a mutant there. Sketchy takes off. OC asks Alec what he thinks about this turn of events. Alec thinks that Sketchy will run around the sewers for a while and not find anything.
Cut to Sketchy running around the sewers with a flashlight. Why are the sewers green? I don't know. They apparently have green light bulbs in the sewers. Sketchy sees a shadow and starts taking pictures, but it turns out to be a rat.
Logan and Max arrive at the Willoughby Hotel in the Asstek. Max wonders which room Wendy had, but Logan doesn't know. Max wants to find out, but Logan is worried they will tip someone off that they're looking for Wendy. Max sasses that it will make things tough, and Logan tells her to watch and learn.
Max and Logan walk into the hotel. Logan tells the desk clerk that they are there with the Connor party for a hunting weekend. The desk clerk shows no reservation under that name. Logan suggests that his friend's girlfriend booked it under her name, but pretends like he can't remember her last name. Logan asks to take a look at the reservation screen. The desk clerk says that they have some extra vacancies, so it doesn't matter. Logan says that they will take a room, and keeps babbling about how annoying it is that he can't remember the girlfriend's name. The desk clerk relents and lets Logan take a look. Max looks as well, but there are no reservations for the whole week prior. Logan comments that it was a pretty quiet week. The desk clerk says that the weekends are busier, with people hunting. Max says bitchily, "So nobody? All week?" The desk clerk looks suspicious, and gives Max and Logan their room number.
As they walk to their room, Logan yells at Max for possibly tipping the desk clerk off. Max asks if Logan thinks that the desk clerk is a Familiar, one of White's buddies. Logan dials Wendy White's number with his cell phone. He and Max walks down the hall until they hear a phone ringing on the other end. Max breaks into the room. Logan notices that the door has been painted. Max points out the new phone jack as well. Max grabs a soda from the honor bar and laments how expensive it is. As she opens the soda, she notices a roll of film in the refrigerator door. Logan compliments her work, and there is some more dialogue, but it's really dumb, so I'm skipping it.
Some guys with guns run up on Sketchy in the sewer and tell him to freeze. They rush past Sketchy and start climbing a ladder. One of them radios to White and Otto that the subject is heading for daylight. White orders them to form a perimeter above ground. Sketchy follows the goons. A transgenic runs out into the street, with the goons not far behind. Sketchy follows with his camera. The transgenic tries to escape through an alley, but is blocked by White's car. The goons surround the transgenic. Sketchy catches up and starts snapping pictures. The goons use stun guns on the transgenic until he is out cold. White orders the goons to get the people out of there. White orders them to transport the transgenic to HQ. Sketchy runs off.
Logan and Max get the roll of film developed. The town sheriff walks in and greets them, asking if they are staying in the hotel. He heard there were visitors in town. Max says that they are just passing through. Sheriff Creepy stares at them for a while and then tells them to have a nice stay before ambling off. Max and Logan check out the first pictures from their roll of film -- a building. Logan notices some kids walking by outside, wearing school uniforms. Logan wonders if the building in the photos is a prep school. In one of the photos, Ray is looking out of the building's window. Sheriff Creepy sneaks up and asks Max and Logan if they have a kid up at Brookridge. Logan says yes while Max says no. Logan explains that they were driving by and thought it looked like the type of place that they might someday want to send their potential children, if they can afford it. Sheriff Creepy wonders how they got past the gate. Logan says that he took a wrong turn, and Max says that she gave him bad directions. They take off with their pictures, but Sheriff Creepy stops them because they forgot one. Max snatches it, and they take off. Sheriff Creepy stares creepily.
Max and Logan walk outside. Logan tells Max to keep walking and act natural. The school kids are still walking by. One little boy turns and stares at Max, who stares back. Max tells Logan that she's getting the feeling this isn't your average boarding school. Logan wonders if the school is the breeding cult's version of Manticore. Max says that if it is, they don't know who all is involved in the town. Logan suggests that they find Wendy and Ray and split town. Max agrees. Meanwhile, Sheriff Creepy is behind them, watching them walk away. That dude is…creepy.
White and Otto check out the transgenic from earlier, who is now tied to a pipe in an office somewhere. White tells Otto to give the transgenic a last meal and then ship him out the day so that Forensics can do an autopsy. White walks out, and Otto chases him down and gives him the skinny on Sketchy. White's phone rings, and it's clearly his boss. White tries to get out of a meeting due to "a family situation," but the boss isn't having it. White tells Otto that the director wants to talk about the "snafu" today, and White doesn't want to have to tell the director that there is some kid out there with photographs of the whole thing. Otto says that they have a lead -- one of the agents noticed a company logo on Sketchy's backpack. White orders Otto to find Sketchy, get rid of the film, and if Sketchy knows too much, get rid of him too. Otto agrees. White looks at his watch and comments that he was supposed to go see his son today, but now he won't be able to get out of town before rush hour.
Sketchy runs into Jam Pony HQ. OC says that he looks and smells like he just ran from Sector Three. Sketchy excitedly says that he saw a mutant and got photos. Alec takes Sketchy's camera off and hands it to OC while inviting Sketchy to sit down and tell them about it. Sketchy babbles on while OC discreetly exposes the film in his camera. She gives the camera back to Sketchy while shooting Alec a look to let him know that the mission was accomplished. Sketchy takes off. OC is sad for Sketchy, but it had to be done. Alec thanks her, and OC says that she did it for Max.
The director and White meet on a pier somewhere. The director yells at White for chasing a Manticore escapee in broad daylight. White protests that the transgenic "posed a clear and present danger to the public." The director says that if they couldn't make the capture discreetly, they should have let it go. White asks if they were supposed to wait until the transgenic ate someone's child. Yeah, that was just about to happen. The director tells White that he is out of line, and White says that the whole system's out of order. I mean, that the whole operation is out of line. The director lets us know that White's job is funded by the government, off the books. White says that his job is to capture transgenics, not cover someone's ass. The director gives us some backstory in the guise of threatening White: "If it got out that billions of tax dollars were diverted to a secret government program to build transgenic soldiers, well, that would be bad enough. But if it got out that millions more were being diverted to catch the damn things because they got away, it would be a disaster." The director adds that if this gets out, it could bring down the Committee itself. The director says that he doesn't care what White does with the transgenics, as long as they don't appear on the news. The director gets in his car and drives off.
White's phone rings. It's his son, Ray. White says that he can't see Ray until "it" is finished. White assures Ray that things will be fine, just like Ray practiced. He promises Ray that they will see each other soon. White says goodbye and hangs up.
Logan and Max pull up outside the private school. Logan tells Max that if she's not out in an hour, he's coming in after her, and Max agrees. After watching Max walk off, Logan pulls up to the front door and asks the security guard for directions to provide a distraction while Max scales the school wall. The special effects in this part are really bad -- Max looks like a Claymation puppet climbing the wall. Logan sees that Max has made it inside, and pulls away.
Once inside, Max enters Ray's bedroom. His bed is empty. She picks up a book from his bedside table that is filled with strange symbols. She hears a noise in the hall, and creeps out to investigate. She sees a bunch of men in long brown monk-type robes walking down the hall, carrying candles. She follows them. The monks enter an underground lair, where a priestess is standing on an altar chanting and leading some sort of ceremony. The priestess is dressed in a red velvet robe and wearing white face make-up. Also, she is bald. I don't know if any of that is important, but I'm trying to give you a visual. All of the participants have black symbols painted on their faces. Ray White is led onto the altar. The priestess takes a giant sword out of a chest and chants some more. Then she lifts a couple of giant snakes out of the chest and holds them in the air. One of the snakes is laid on a table. The priestess takes a curved knife and cuts the snake's head off, then pours its blood into a chalice of some sort while Ray watches. She dips the knife in the snake's blood, and then turns to Ray. He pulls up his sleeve, baring his arm, and says some words in the mystical language. The priestess presses the butt end of the knife on Ray's arm. It leaves a mark that looks like a caduceus. Ray holds his arm up in the air, and he and the priestess chant a few words of celebration, I guess. One of the monks, a kid who looks only a little older than Ray, turns and uses telekinetic powers (I assume) to pull back a curtain and reveal Max skulking around in the hall. Max darts into the room and tries to grab Ray. The priestess hits her on the hand with the butt of the knife. Monks capture Max. That whole scene looked like a cable access show. I guess they blew the budget on the "Max climbing the wall" special effect. Sadly.
Logan watches the front door of the school, waiting for Max to appear. He checks his watch, swears, cocks his gun, and gets out of the car. As he's checking out the school's front door, he hears a gun cock behind him. It's Sheriff Creepy, who takes Logan's gun.
White drives towards Ray's school, and promises someone on the phone that he will be there soon. We see that he is talking to a priestess -- not the one who performed the ceremony, but one who was in attendance. She must be a bigwig at the school, and she's in the rest of the episode, so I'm going to call her Priestess Shorthair. Shorthair tells White that it's too soon to tell how Ray is doing. Ray lies in front of her, unconscious. Shorthair adds that they had an incident with a transgenic. White realizes that it must have been Max. Shorthair says that Max is being held, and she was cut during the incident, so "it should start taking effect on her soon." White says that he'll be there in an hour.
Max wakes up in a storage room, similar to the one that they used to keep Oz in on full-moon nights. Shorthair and Carrie Boy (i.e. the telekinetic boy that discovered Max in the first place) walk up and ask her if her hand hurts where she was stamped with the symbol. Max makes a smart remark, as usual. Shorthair asks if Max is there because of Wendy White, and then implies that Wendy is dead. Max asks what they're doing with Ray, and Shorthair replies, "What is necessary." Max asks her to be more specific, like, I don't know why Max is the one being so demanding when she's behind bars and all, and if I were Shorthair, I would tell Max to fuck off. Anyway, Shorthair says that Ray is "proving himself." Max would like to see Shorthair prove herself. Shorthair says that she has, and shows off the symbol scar on her arm. Max asks what you get after passing the "sacred snake-blood test." Shorthair tells Max that she'll be sorry, soon enough.
Otto and his goons walk into Jam Pony HQ after hours, and Normal tells them that the place is closed. Otto flashes his badge to Normal, who is the only one there. Normal quickly apologizes for his insolence, salutes, and says, "Reagan Ronald, proud American, at your service, sir." Otto explains that they are looking for a Jam Pony employee with long hair and ratty clothes. Normal says that description fits most of his employees. Otto adds that this guy had a camera. Normal says, "Calvin Simon Theodore, a.k.a. Sketchy." Man, I thought Sketchy was a bad nickname, but if dude is named after the Chipmunks, I can't really blame him for trying to find any substitute. Normal asks what Sketchy did, and is told that it's classified. Otto wants to know where to find Sketchy. Normal says that they are at Crash, and Otto and the goons take off.
At Crash, Sketchy is frustrated that none of his pictures turned out. Alec and OC make excuses for him. Sketchy thinks that he's "a loser who can't do anything right." Alec and OC try to cheer him up. Alec tells Sketchy that the tabloids make this stuff up. Sketchy says he thinks that Alec is right, but he really wants to believe it, because it would make his life more interesting, and thus him more interesting for reporting on it. OC says that Sketchy is interesting, but Sketchy is all depressed and drunk. He excuses himself. OC wants reassurance from Alec that they had to dash Sketchy's dreams. As Sketchy walks out, he is stopped by Otto. Sketchy pukes on Otto's shoes. Heh.
Sheriff Creepy questions Logan back at the station. Logan protests that he has a permit for his gun. Sheriff Creepy wants to know why Logan was at the school, and says that it must be about "the boy in the picture." He wonders if Logan is trying to kidnap the boy. Logan says that the sheriff has it all wrong. Sheriff Creepy says that it's his job to take care of the school and everyone in it, and asks again why Logan was there.
Max talks to Carrie Boy, who asks how she feels. Max feels fine. Carrie Boy says that it should have started by now, because it's already started with Ray. Max asks what he's talking about. Carrie Boy says that if Ray is one of them, he will live. Max thinks they should get a doctor. Carrie Boy says, "If he's not meant to survive, no one can help him." Max looks at the symbol on her hand and mentions that it's getting hot in there, and asks Carrie Boy to turn down the heat. Carrie Boy says cheerfully that he's there to watch Max die.
Otto and the goons bring a blindfolded Sketchy into a warehouse, force him into a chair, and start questioning him. Otto says that he wants the film from the camera. Sketchy says that the pictures didn't come out. Otto isn't buying it. Sketchy says that he's upset too, because he's a reporter and the incident would have made a great story. Otto wonders exactly what Sketchy saw. Sketchy admits that it could have been someone in a Halloween mask. Otto finds out that Sketchy works for a tabloid, and just wanted to make up a story, and figures that Sketchy is harmless. Otto tells one of the goons to let Sketchy go.
Logan tells Sheriff Creepy that there is something dangerous going on at the school, and asks if the sheriff has noticed anything unusual going on. The sheriff resists at first, but then agrees that he has.
Max lies on the floor of her cell, panting, and telling Carrie Boy how thirsty she is. She begs him to get her some water. He says that it won't do her any good. Max says that she's going to die anyway, so why not honor her request.
White arrives at the school and goes to see his unconscious son, who is still being watched over by Shorthair. White bends down and whispers some words in the mystical language. A guy who looks like a Chubby Stephen Weber puts his hand on White's back. White turns around and tells Chubby Weber that he didn't know he would be here, and he's honored. Shorthair says that Ray is weak, and she would be surprised if he survives. Chubby Weber apologizes to White and reminds him of their destiny. White says that Ray is his only son. Chubby Weber reminds White that this is how it's always been. White stares, open-mouthed as usual. Shorthair tells White to go see the captive Max, and she'll call him if there is any change in Ray's condition.
Carrie Boy gets Max a cup of water. He has to unlock the cell door to hand her the water. Max rushes out. Carrie Boy commands, "Stop!" and Max stops. He uses his telekinesis to pin Max against a wall and then lift her up in the air so that she can't go anywhere. Uh-oh. Carrie Boy is angry. Max asks if his head will explode if he holds her up there long enough. He drops her to the floor. She tries to get away, and he slams her against the wall. Carrie Boy tells Max that she can't win. Max replies, "Really? Not even if I do this?" She pulls up her shirt and flashes him. Oh, for God's sack. The kid is, like, eleven. He has the mental fortitude to hold Max up in the air, but he can't concentrate when he sees boobies? Anyway, Max escapes. Max sees a monk walking down the hall carrying a tray, and follows.
White leaves the room where a bunch of monks are chanting over Ray. As he leaves, he passes Max walking in. He doesn't recognize her because she's now wearing the monk's robe. Max gets into the room and enters a tent where Shorthair is watching over Ray. Max grabs Shorthair, choking her. None of the other monks heard that happening? I guess they were too busy chanting.
White enters the room where Max was being held and finds Carrie Boy lying on the floor. He runs back to where Ray was, and sees the empty table. Cut to Max carrying Ray fireman-style outside the school. White comes up behind her and points his gun at her, ordering her to put Ray down. Max asks if he would shoot her through his own son. Just then, Logan and Sheriff Creepy pull up in the sheriff's truck. Max takes advantage of the distraction to run off. Sheriff Creepy orders White to drop the gun. White shoots at (and misses) Sheriff Creepy. Then White turns back to find Max missing. Logan hops behind the wheel of the truck and knocks White onto the lawn. Max jumps into the truck with Ray. White lies on the ground for a minute, then gets up and shakes it off. Logan orders Sheriff Creepy (who is not so creepy anymore) into the truck. They take off. White shoots his gun ineffectually, like, if he's so super-powered, couldn't he hit a tire or something?
Sketchy walks into Jam Pony HQ. Normal makes a comment about the goons, and Sketchy can't believe that Normal gave him up. Alec and OC ask Sketchy if he's okay. Sketchy tells them about being questioned by the goons. Sketchy spins his new theory -- that the government wouldn't have questioned him if he didn't really see something. Sketchy holds up his camera and says, "The mutants exist. And I'm going to prove it." Alec and OC are worried.
Chubby Weber and Shorthair have removed their make-up and are talking to White. They can't understand how Max was exposed and managed to live. White says that Sandeman's work at Manticore must have progressed further than they thought. Chubby Weber says that they need to find out if the other transgenics are immune as well. White promises that he will deal with Max and the other transgenics, but he needs to find out what happened to Ray. Shorthair doubts that Ray survived. White needs to know. Chubby Weber gives White permission to do what he has to do, but find out what is going on, because this could jeopardize their whole operation. They exit the school. Shorthair comments that it's too bad they have to leave the school after all this time. Chubby Weber says that they'll have to find somewhere else, and calls to Carrie Boy (whose real name is Samuel -- would it have killed them to tell us his name before now?). Samuel uses his mind to close the school door.
White walks into the cell where the transgenic they captured earlier while Sketchy watched is being held. He busts out a knife and tells the transgenic that this won't hurt. White opens a briefcase to reveal a snake and tells the transgenic that if they're lucky, it will kill him. Doesn't he need that special knife with the symbol? Or is it just the snake's blood that kills weak members of the program? I guess it's just the blood.
Logan and Max watch over a sleeping Ray in Logan's apartment. Logan says that Ray's blood work came back and he'll be fine. Logan says that Ray was exposed to a virus or pathogen, and Max figures that the snakes are carriers of the bug. Logan says that Ray's immune system kicked in with the right antibodies. Max says that Shorthair said it was a test. Logan points out that Max was exposed and didn't die, and Max says sarcastically that she's now an honorary member. They discuss how Samuel must have been part of a special breeding line to have telekinetic powers. Max feels bad for Ray. Logan says that Wendy's sister is on her way down to take Ray "as far away from White" as is possible. Ray wakes up and rubs his eyes. He asks if he passed the test, and if he's strong. Max looks sad and tells him that he's fine. Logan asks Ray why he needs to be strong. Ray says, "For The Coming." Logan asks what that means, and Ray says, "Nobody ever told me, yet. Except it's bad if you're not one of us." Max and Logan look worried for like ten minutes before they finally cut the scene.