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Wait, is Terra Nova already going for the clichéd ratings booster of adding an adorable little moppet to the cast? Meet Leia Marcos. She's a matted-haired runaway orphan -- who really doesn't look all that much more undernourished or unhairbrushed than my daughter does when my wife is out of town -- from the Sixers camp who the Terra Novagonians pick up outside their camp. She's mistrustful until someone puts a plate of food in her face, but she still knows who Taylor is, and refers to him as “the bad man.” Naturally, the Shannons take her into their home, in the latest installment of Whatever Did Terra Nova Do Before the Shannons Arrived?
In supposed retaliation for what they claim is a kidnapping, the Sixers capture Lt. Washington and another Terra Nova soldier, and they attempt to bargain a trade. But Taylor says Leia isn't a prisoner and she can leave if she likes -- and she chooses to stay in Terra Nova. Well, just for a few hours, or until she's able to retrieve an odd-looking container from a hidey-hole in Mira's old house. She's caught before she can escape the camp, and convinces Jim she only did it because Mira is threatening to hurt her brother.
Jim goes out to "investigate," which really means he wanders around until he's captured by the Sixers. Mira's not giving up any information on who her informant is, but she does tell Jim that plenty of powerful people back in 2149 want Taylor gone, and if she can do that, she'll get to see her four-year-old daughter again. This revelation is not information that Jim shares with Taylor when he gets back to camp.
In other news, Mark and Maddy continue to have the boringest courtship in television history (and apparently the prudish courtship rules have been imposed by Taylor), and Maddy is already "apprenticing" with her mom in the infirmary but illness apparently makes her barf.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's just kidding. He brushes his daughter's hair too. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously: The Shannons took a portal from 2149, with the privileged few who want to fight dinosaurs and each other. Apparently it's better just because there's more light. As usual, we open with a scene without our main characters. This time, it's a surveillance crew spotting a Sixer child running around in the forest. They call Lt. Washington and a small army in to pursue the young child. When they get the Raggedy Ann to the infirmary, though, she kicks Washington and runs and hides. The Shannons show up to save the day. Elisabeth -- apparently the only person with a maternal instinct in Terra Nova -- makes everyone leave, including Taylor. She sweet-talks the little girl, promising she won't give her a shot and she just wants to take a look at her.
The little girl, who's lost her bag, comes out of hiding, and Elisabeth checks her out with a shiny blue light. Finally, the girl warms up and confides her name is Leah Marcos. Her mom died of cancer, and slashers got her dad. But Mira told her that happens sometimes. When they bring Leah food, she wolfs it down and says that's why she ran away: She wants to find her grandma back in 2149 and eat some food. But she couldn't find the portal. When Leah meets Taylor, she greets him with, "You're the bad man." Taylor remembers her, too, and her brother, Sam. Elisabeth would like her to eat some more and get some fluids, but she's generally healthy. Leah tries to flee to the portal, but Jim stops her and tells her the portal doesn't go both ways. She thinks they're liars, and doesn't know what to do now. She can't go back to Mira, who will hurt her for running away. But she can't stay with the bad man, either. So she'll stay with the Shannons, of course! Since they're the only family to ever do anything of importance in Terra Nova. Taylor, who wants to get information about the Sixers from her, thinks this is a grand plan.
The Shannons bring Leah home, and introduce her to all their kids. They all greet her warmly (even though Josh isn't happy to be giving up his room for the couch), but she glares at them like a demon child out of a scary movie. She goes to bed, which simply entails covering herself from head to toe with a blanket while fully clothed.
day, I presume, Washington and some soldiers find Leah's bag in the woods. They find what looks to be a doll made of hair (gross!), when they're attacked by Sixers. Or perhaps zombies. With all the screaming yelling and jumping and grunting, they might as well be muttering, "Brains!" Washington makes it out almost unscathed until Mira, whose face is typically decked out, wants to know what they've done with "her." Instead of waiting for an answer, though, she bashes Washington in the face with the butt of her gun.
At breakfast, Zoe's coloring on the transparent Etch A Sketch paper of the future past. Josh bitches about Maddy taking too long in the shower, and suggests trading her to the Sixers for Leah. Maddy's dressed Leah up today, but still hasn't run a comb through her hair. She tells her mom it's "baby steps." Most of the family has stuff to do, so an unhappy Josh is stuck babysitting Zoe and Leah. It's Maddy's first day apprenticing with her mom at the infirmary. But the first patient's bloody arm disgusts her, so my guess is her future probably won't be in medicine
Taylor fills Jim in on Washington's mission this morning to track down Leah's bag, and asks Jim when they can debrief Leah. Jim thinks it's too soon, but Taylor's eager. Just then, security breach sirens blare as a bunch of Sixers drive up in armored trucks. They throw Washington and the other prisoner out, and then Mira makes her slow, dramatic entrance. Taylor assumes the Sixers' inside man tipped them that the girl's here. Taylor heads out to talk to Mira, who thinks the girl's being held as a prisoner. She tells him she'll give his people back when he gives her the girl. Taylor says the girl will decide whether to go or stay, and he'll bring her out to decide as soon the Sixers release the Terra Novanians. Mira lets them go, and Jim brings Leah out, whispering to her that it will be okay if she just tells the truth.
Mira asks Leah -- whose hair looks miraculously combed (maybe Josh is a better babysitter than I thought) -- to tell them she wants to come home. Leah says she ran away and wants to stay here. Mira says they can keep her then. "She's nothing to me." As Mira and the Sixers walk away with their tails between their legs, Taylor says that this is the second time they've come to the gates to fight. If they do it again, he's ready to go to war. Well, four weeks in and it's already happened twice? I sense a war coming on, folks.
Taylor tells Jim he wants to find out who their spy is, which means he needs a list of everyone who's been outside the gates in the past twenty-four hours. Taylor turns to Leah then, and tells her she was brave and not even afraid. She seems to warm up to him a little as he points out that people are happy here in Terra Nova, and no one gets scraps. She says she doesn't like scraps, and she doesn't like how often they move either. Taylor asks her if she can read a map, and it just so happens she's a junior cartographer. She agrees to show him where the Sixer camp is at some point soon, then he leaves her with Jim. As they stroll through town, everyone makes nice, welcoming her back to Terra Nova. The Shannons toast to her over dinner that night, too, but Leah still won't let Elisabeth comb her hair.
Jim's back with Taylor again at some point in the future (the timeline in this show is fairly impossible), telling him who was outside the gates. A couple of them are people who Taylor knows are good, solid citizens. But a science guy named Stanley is more suspicious, since he came with the Sixth Pilgrimage but stayed at Terra Nova. Taylor grills him until Malcolm shows up to defend him, with serves its purpose, because when the disruption's over, Taylor and Jim leave.
Elisabeth and Maddy drop Leah off at school, then embrace and "ooh" and "awww" about how cute it is that she's in school now! After just one day, their little baby's all grown up and going to school. They seem to have forgotten Zoe, though, unfortunately. Poor thing. A new little girl comes along and she's suddenly the invisible girl. Ominous music tells us there's something up as Elisabeth and Maddy walk away from the school and Leah comes back out looking once again the demon child.
Mark tries to ask Jim's permission about something with Maddy when they're interrupted about a break-in at "the McMillan place, Pod D-26." Mr. McMillan tells them he came home to find the break-in, and shows them a hole in the floor. Jim says they need to find out who lived here before and what was buried under the floor, but Washington knows the answer to the first question: This was Mira's old place. Jim finds Leah trying to make a break for the woods. She runs from him, but Washington and her folks corner her and they take her back to Taylor.
Taylor, Jim and Washington discuss Leah when she's right outside and can hear every word. Washington says she's the perfect spy: too young to be suspicious but old enough to be capable. They can't figure out what this container she dug up is, either. It has no seams or visible openings, so it's a puzzle. They call Leah in, and Jim sweet-talks her about being honest. Taylor asks her if she knows what the shiny shell-looking container is. She says she doesn't know; Mira just told her to get it, so she did. Jim asks why she's been lying, and Leah says Mira's got her brother and said she'd hurt him if she didn't steal that box. Taylor sends her to Pod Zero, but she pleads with them: She has to take this to Mira to get Sam back. As Elisabeth's grossing Maddy out with a pustular lesion at the infirmary, Jim suggests to Taylor that they check out the Sixers' camp to see if this boy is really being held captive. Taylor says he can't risk it on the word of a girl who's already lied to and deceived everyone in the colony.
At home, Josh is glad to have his room back, Maddy's pouting about her fear of pus and blood, and Jim and Elisabeth question themselves for not being better judges of character. Josh finds a scribbled "I'm sorry. I had to." note with a crying frowny face on it, though, which turns everything around. Obviously, she wouldn't lie IN WRITING. So the Shannons now firmly believe her brother's in trouble.
Maddy's shopping at the Flintstone farmers market when Mark approaches her nervously to "declare his intentions" to court her. She's all, "You mean, like date?" She asks why he didn't just say that, but he says the commander requires him to do it this certain way. Because, I guess, people used to do it this way. Or they will in the future. Or whatever. Confusing time-traveling show. She agrees to let him court her, saying, "because I was just having the worst day ever." You know, because if she'd had a good day, she might have said no. They walk off arm in arm. In the daylight.
But it's pitch black in the woods, where Jim's speeding away on a motorcycle. He stops it and heads out on foot for about two seconds before being captured by one of those traps that gets your legs and leaves you hanging upside-down from a tree. Which is the perfect time for a dinosaur to approach. Lucky for Jim, it's a little guy and can't jump quite high enough to eat him. Also lucky: Someone shoots the dinosaur. Less lucky is it's a group of Sixers. And they knock him out. When he wakes up, Mira wants to know if Taylor sent him. He says he just came for Leah's brother, so Mira didn't hurt her. Mira says he was never in danger; she just needed to motivate Leah to do what Mira knew she could. He asks what's in the box anyway, but Mira's not talking.
Mira and Jim continue to make small talk -- about the fact that they're living in the canopy, about Taylor valuing Jim, about who her spy might be (or whether she's just psychic), about Jim saving Taylor's life, about Mira being glad he did because Taylor would have been a martyr if he'd died then, making her job harder. Which gets us to the real meat of the matter: Mira says Taylor's pissed off some powerful people in 2149 who want him gone. Jim says Taylor is the reason Terra Nova's survived and people get to start over, but Mira says starting over is never what Terra Nova's been about. Jim asks what it is about then, but she just replies, "You'll see." She tells him not to end up on the wrong side of history because, sooner or later, she'll take Taylor down. Because she wants to see her daughter, Sienna, again. She's back in 2149, and was four when Mira left. If she does her job, she gets to see her again. Jim asks who "they" are, but Mira just frees him back to Taylor. Why on earth would she ever give Taylor's right-hand man that much information about her mission? It makes absolutely no sense, because you have to expect he'd take that information right back to his boss.
When Jim gets back to Terra Nova, he has a little boy with him. He takes him straight to Leah, who gleefully hugs her brother Sam. Taylor says he should discipline Jim, but he's going to let it go since he brought the boy back and Terra Nova's grown by two. Taylor does wonder why Mira let Jim and the boy go, though, and Jim tells him she might be trying to prove the Sixers aren't all bad, which Jim says he might buy if they hadn't busted up his ribs. Taylor gives Jim an opening to spill everything Mira said, but all Jim tells him is that Mira's no fan of his. Taylor says he'd sure like to know what's in the box Mira sent Leah to steal, then tells Jim to go home and let his wife know he's okay.
At the infirmary, Elisabeth bandages and stitches Jim up, and they kiss a little bit. Then they discuss the nice new family they've found for Leah and Sam. He wonders where Maddy is, so Elisabeth tells him about her lack of success in medicine. Why was that even a storyline?
Taylor gives the mystery box to Malcolm, who hasn't the foggiest idea how to open it. Taylor asks him to keep it safe, please, and Malcolm puts it in some automatic locking shelf. Slightly ominous music tells us it's probably not safe there, however.
As Jim and Elisabeth head home, they have a final hug and farewell with Leah, who I'm guessing we'll never see again.
week: Someone at Terra Nova is killed by a dinosaur, but Jim declares it murder. And someone's going to be banished over it. I'm guessing it won't be much less confusing when it's expanded to an hour.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, thinks the writers should focus on the A plot instead of eleventy B plots per episode. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.