Episode Report Card LuluBates: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Soul Searching
By LuluBates | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 01.11.2011
Instead of going to FBI HQ, Erica has joined up with Kyle and Father Jack to try and figure out why the timer in New York has reset while the bombings have stopped in the rest of the world. I'm not sure why she feels so confident in that assertion, but okay. Although the answer is pretty obvious: The problem is only in New York because only Erica can solve it. She and Kyle get into a squabble about whether the Fifth Column has gone too far in their mission. Erica and Father Jack think human lives must be saved at all costs, while Kyle and Ryan think the ends always justify the means and besides, that just means fewer people to battle at the seafood buffet. Kyle adds that even if Erica doesn't agree with their tactics, they should try to get in touch with the Fifth Column so they can access their global network. It's the only way they can win the fight against the Visitors. Erica concedes that point and pulls out the one clue they have to the suicide bomber in NYC: A photo of the guy taken by a security camera moments before he 'splodes. Father Jack recognizes him at once and then immediately realizes that all his talk about inspiration and faith and being at peace were actually just inciting the guy to turn himself into a human firework. He gets all choked up thinking about how this is going to play out at the pearly gates. Erica pats him on the back gently and tells him it will be okay and can he hurry up and get over his emotions because they need an address for that guy, stat. His house undoubtedly has clues.
Up on the Mothership, Anna is scanning Joshua's brain for any memories of his Fifth Column cohorts. Lisa joins her to monitor the situation, which raises Anna's suspicion. Lisa claims that she just wants to make sure that the Fifth Column is found before they attack again and harm the Visitors' mission. Anna nods and the brain scan begins. A pictures forms, it's a face. Specifically, it's Erica's face, but it's not Erica conspiring with Joshua, it's Erica shooting him in the head. Useless! Anna demands better results, and the V tech assures her that while a lot of Joshua's memories are damaged, they will be able reconstruct some of them. Anna wants the names of the traitors who helped destroy her babies. Lisa gulps nervously in the corner.
Ryan is staring at Jesus on the cross as he waits for Father Jack to find the bomber's address in the church files. Father Jack wanders in and, noting the Jesus staring, decides that now would be a great time to bring Ryan to the Lord. He feels he owes the God team one because of that whole inciting someone to blow themselves up thing. He settles next to Ryan and reminds him that Christ died for his sins, but Ryan's not in a talking mood. He wants to fight. He is a man of action, not thought. Jack knows that Val's funeral was this morning and if Ryan needs to talk, he is here for him. But Ryan really doesn't want to talk. He wants to pop Anna's head like it's a pimple. Meanwhile, Kyle and Erica have gone to the address that Father Jack found and are rifling through the bomber's apartment. Kyle's not very subtle in his search and is throwing stacks of books on the floor and practically tossing "We Were Here" signs around just to tick off the FBI. He finally uncovers a clue. It's a detonator that is unequivocally from an Israeli bombmaker. Find the Mossad guy, find the Fifth Column. After seeing Munich every time I hear Mossad I picture Eric Bana. I'm not complaining. Erica then finds a map with two targets indicated; one was the Visitors' Visitor Center that is now in pieces, the other is an office building in midtown. Erica wants to call it in to evacuate the building, but Kyle thinks they should stake out the spot, wait for the bomber, and catch him in the act. Erica won't take the risk.
Father Jack is leading a prayer service at the memorial site where the bombing just took place. Ryan is there, too, because he has to stick close to his buddy or Erica will get mad. Anna watches from on high and notices Ryan noticing a woman crying hysterically. In that interaction Anna has a realization. She marches into her mother's dank little hole and demands to know if human emotion also gives them power. Diana just smirks, so Anna backhands her across the room. When Diana still won't talk, Anna shoves an immolation pill into her mouth. She spits it out but Anna has a whole handful and won't stop shoving them down her mom's throat until she gets some answers. Diana agrees to talk, but she wants something first.
Erica and Malik evacuated the office building and are now waiting for a suspicious person to do something suspicious so they can stop them. Erica suddenly realizes that Chad Decker's network is in the targeted building and then she decides that because Chad is Anna's earthly vessel and mouthpiece that he must be the actual target. She spies him autographing some old dude's underoos and then sees a lady ogling Chad. Since Chad is not ogle-worthy, Erica knows this woman must be the bomber. She runs in her sensible shoes that look like a pump but feel like a sneaker, hip checks Chad to the ground (for fun!), and then knocks the woman down too. Erica skillfully manages to knock the detonator out of the woman's grasp and stands on her hand. Her coat falls open revealing that the woman is packing a lot of explosives for your average trip to the office. Agent Malik and Chad stare at Erica in wonder, mostly because why did she knock Chad to the ground, exactly? Granted it looked fun.
Anna returns to her mother's hole ...that sounds dirtier than I meant it to sound, but let's just go with it. She presents Diana with what she requested: A necklace that somehow plays music in surround sound. Music starts cranking, or whatever the term is when it's classical music. Yo, that violin is ragin'! If the van's a-rockin' with flutes don't come a-knockin'. It would be more awesome if it was Lil Wayne, but I guess if you are talking about the existence of the human soul, classical is a better choice. Although James Brown, being the Godfather of Soul, would be the most appropriate. So Diana plays some beautiful music and talks about her first time hearing music and how its existence revealed to her humanity's unique endowment: The Soul.
Speaking of souls, just as Dear Abby always recommends, Ryan is talking to a trusted member of the clergy. This time he is voicing his doubts about the existence of his soul to Father Jack. Jack, however, has no doubt. He has so little doubt that he is practically Gwen Stefani. If Ryan didn't have a soul then he wouldn't feel bad about Val's death or about his kidnapped baby or anything. Then we flashback back and forth between Diana and Father Jack trying to explain what a soul is to the very scientific minds of Anna and Ryan. Diana opts for the cultural proof: Music, emotion, poetry, beauty. Father Jack just argues that feelings and the soul are more or less the same thing. No one mentions Motown. Now that Anna knows what and generally where a soul is, she is going to pry it out of people like it's an ingrown toenail and she is an angry Vietnamese pedicurist who knows she is not getting a tip.
No.2 gets an update on the bombings from the V version of a CSI agent. In short they couldn't get a fingerprint, but they did find some fibers that were only sold to nine U.S. companies, only one of which is on the East Coast. The owner is Israeli, ex-Mossad, and in a lot of trouble. No. 2 tells the CSI to call Agent Malik and have him bring the guy to the ship pronto.
Down on Earth, Agent Malik gets a text with the pertinent information and begs off from interviewing the attempted bomber. Erica and the bossman head into the interrogation room to try and break the librarian from Queens turned suicide bomber. The woman claims she had to take action against the Vs. She knows what they are up to and their lives are in jeopardy. The bossman is unimpressed and demands Answers! Now! The woman won't talk, but when the boss is doing his best Bella Swan impersonation and is moodily staring out the window, Erica pulls up her hair and reveal