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Erica survived the car crash, but the ensuing smackdown with Agent Malik is a nearer thing. Father Jack and Kyle show up to take Malik away, figuring (correctly) that the Fifth Column will be blamed. Waving Ryan's baby in his face, Anna tasks him with finding Malik's kidnappers, unaware that he's already tight with them. He and Erica search Malik's place for clues, one step ahead of Anna's Trackers. Erica's disappointed that Malik doesn't seem to have anything to do with whatever the reason is for Tyler's DNA to be all effed-up, but at least they can try to figure out what she was up to instead. With Malik refusing to talk, Erica lets Ryan and Kyle torture her until she gives up what she knows. It has to do with Joshua's soul-extraction project, which needs tons of human test subjects. The team follows that lead to a van that was used to nab a bunch of them. They retrieve the one victim we're supposed to care about, but the V kidnapper commits suicide, so that's another dead end, and they're too late to save the rest. Oh, well.
Anna asks Chad to interview Father Jack, but Father Jack has a more immediate problem: his service deploring the recent violence almost devolves into violence, incited by an undercover V and captured on a cell phone for the whole internet to see -- exactly the way Anna wanted it. Even after this, Jack is not only cool with Chad, he introduces him to the rest of the gang, which is when Chad finds out what they're really up against, lizard-wise.
Anna congratulates Tyler on being the one who filmed the fight at Jack's church, and Lisa -- traumatized after Anna forced her to take an active part in Joshua's soul-extraction experiment -- turns to Erica. Finally, when Ryan reports to Anna, he says he knows what she wanted him to find out. But as for whether he's really going to tell her, that's going to have to wait until the episode.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!We left Erica with no-longer-secret-Visitor Malik holding a gun on her, while Erica was driving them along a conveniently abandoned highway. Whereupon Erica decided that being in a car crash for sure was preferable to maybe getting shot, and flipped the car over. So now, fade up on one inverted Fedmobile. Erica comes to with the top of her bloody head resting on the ceiling, and immediately starts trying to get free. But where's Malik? Oh, there she is, her hands clamped around Erica's throat. Erica manages to escape both the seatbelt and Malik's clutches, but once they're both out in the open field where the car came to rest, all that means is that Malik has that much more room to beat the crap out of Erica. It's a pretty one-sided battle, until Erica goes down for the umpteenth time and Malik stops fighting so she can stand there for a long time doing nothing but unhinging her jaw and unsheathing her fangs. Scary-looking, yes, but it also gives Erica a nice long opening to slam her into a tree. I think she just found the Vs' biggest tactical weakness.
With that, Malik is down for the count, seconds before another vehicle comes screaming around the curve. Erica hides behind her flipped car, but soon shows herself when the new arrivals prove to be none other than Kyle and Father Jack. They do some quick catching up, which doesn't take long: "Malik's a Visitor," Erica reports. Kyle quickly gets over his surprise and walks over to put Malik down for good. This means poor Erica has to interrupt her tender moment with Father Jack to protest that they need her alive. She tells them to get Malik back to Kyle's place and she'll meet them there, doing a pretty good job of sounding all slurred, as you'd expect someone to sound after she just got beat up by both a car and an evil lizard-woman. There's still the question of how Erica's going to explain this to her bosses, until Kyle shoots out the Fedmobile's tires and lights a rag in the gas tank. Well, that should clear things up.
Aboard the Mothership, Lisa sleeps alone in her king-sized bed, seemingly covered by nothing but white sheets. One of her outflung arms starts turning green and scaly, which wakes her up right quick. And there ain't no snooze button for that. Lisa's in the process of commencing a freak-out when Anna appears in the room to explain, like waking up with Anna in your room is going to calm down anyone.. "It's your breeding-skin," Anna says. "It's begun to grow." As Lisa's arm goes back to looking more like that of a human TV actress, Anna goes on to explain that it means Lisa will become fertile soon. You know, this show is always coming up with ways to make Vs seem biologically off-putting, but when it comes to signs of reproductive maturity, I think humans have got them beat. I mean, it's not like Lisa has to change her sheets now. Anna goes on talking about how Lisa's true nature will emerge, just like hers did. "And my mother helped me through it. Before she died I promised her that I would mold you into a great leader." There are so many lies and dramatic ironies packed into that statement I don't even feel like going into all of them. Anna promises to teach Lisa to "lead in my own image... You'll become just like me." Lisa looks duly terrified, because a) Anna's staring at her like she can unhinge her eyelids as well as her jaw, and b) what's scarier than turning into your mother?
Anna then goes to visit Diana in the Mothership's bilge to brag about Lisa's oncoming fertility. But Diana can tell Anna's worried about Lisa's betrayal -- which should be coming any time now, just like Anna's first betrayal of Diana came with her breeding-skin. Anna says she did what she had to. "So will Lisa if you're not careful," Diana says, and Anna hotly says that she'll teach her to rule, like Diana never did for Anna. "In the meantime, daughter, watch your back. As I had to learn the hard way. The more you think you're helping your child, the more you push them away." Do all V ships have an area like this where the air is thick with moss and humidity and thematic proclamations?
When morning comes, Erica's still out in the field, near her still-burning Fedmobile, but now her coworkers have shown up in force. While the paramedics tend to her many wounds (showing no curiosity about why her car not only flipped her, but punched her and kicked her as well), Erica spins a tale to her boss about guys in masks shooting out their tires and taking Malik. Erica acts all concerned about finding Malik so they can keep following up that lead in Ossining they were on their way to check out, but her boss says they already did that and came up empty. Of course. He not only believes Erica's story that Malik was nabbed by Fifth Columnists (which is, you know, kind of true), but gives her the day off and promises to find Malik himself. Erica had better hope he doesn't.
On the Mothership, No. 2 tells Anna that the FBI is already searching for the missing Malik, on the suspicion that the Fifth Column took her. "The true nature of the work that she was doing for us must not be exposed," Anna exposits, and tells No. 2 to take some Trackers and clean up after Malik. As for the kidnappers, "I have it under control," Anna says. She so doesn't.
Cue Anna's holo-call to Ryan, where she gets to show off his non-crying baby. Ryan's not buying Anna's story about how she "helped" the little critter, and figures she wants something from him now. Sure enough, Anna tells him to find Malik and the people who took her -- and do it by tonight. "My Bliss will wear off by then." Pretty cheap Bliss, then, if you ask me.
Erica is having Sid show her a digital mock-up of Tyler's DNA on his laptop. "Half the ladder's been stripped," he says, deleting the links between the helixes in a way that should make Tyler's DNA fly apart like a cheap zipper. Erica wonders how Tyler can survive this way, like those of us who first met Tyler a season ago couldn't already tell that he isn't all there. Sid can't answer that, but he's got a theory: "The Vs wanted that space to be empty... Why empty anything out? To put something else in." That is clearly not what Erica wanted to hear, but it does raise the additional question of what the Vs plan to put into Tyler's skull.
Malik isn't unconscious any more, but she is chained to the ceiling at Kyle's place. Nor is she happy about it, I can't help noticing. Erica stomps in to tell Kyle and Father Jack about how the Vs messed with Tyler's DNA when Erica was pregnant with him. Don't know why Sid didn't mention it, since he's already there, but I guess he figured it wasn't his story to tell. Kyle wonders how it's possible that Tyler doesn't have any "symptoms" or "side effects," which makes me wonder if Kyle has ever met Tyler. "Of course it's not possible," Sid says. "Neither are giant spaceships." Okay, so... over to NCIS: Los Angeles, then? As for what the plan is for Tyler, Sid says he could try to figure that out by looking at tissue samples from Ryan, but would need samples from a female V as well. How convenient that they have one. He heads over to Malik with a mouth swab, but Ryan shows up just in time to warn him away from her hidden fangs. "And a tail, too," he adds, clipping some kind of restraint belt around Malik's hips to keep it where it belongs. Erica says the lead on the suicide bomber didn't pan out, and Malik adds that Ryan's a traitor, just as Rekha Sharma's name appears on the screen under a close-up of her face, a sure sign that her character is doomed. Just as Rekha Sharma is doomed to be typecast as secret evil aliens on reboots of decades-old sci-fi properties. Can't wait to see her as an undercover Draconian on Buck Rogers in the 26th Century, though. Kyle starts talking big about getting answers out of Malik whether she wants to give any or not, but Ryan warns them of Visitors' high pain thresholds; if they want to torture her, they have to skin her. Discombobulated looks all around. As Kyle is already picking up a knife to follow Ryan's advice, the latter warns that this will also kill Malik within a half hour, not leaving them time to get many answers. Of course, the only one Erica wants is about her son. Father Jack points out that Malik may not even know. "Two V partners can't be coincidence," Erica insists. "They got close to me to get close to Tyler." Ryan reminds her that Malik's been in the FBI long enough that she might have nothing to do with Tyler. "So let's find out what she's been doing all this time," Erica says. And if it's not All About Erica, she's going to have a bone to pick. Well, a lot of bones, actually. You know, because of the skinning.
Tyler, meanwhile, is up in the Mothership blabbing to Lisa and Anna about how much danger his mom is in from the Fifth Column, and from Jack Landry in particular. Anna creepily interposes herself between Lisa and Tyler to ask him to elaborate. Tyler obligingly talks about Father Jack's anti-V sermons and how the suicide bomber attended his church. Is this getting too ripped-from-the-headlines for anyone besides me? "You need to help your mother if she won't help herself," Anna tells Tyler. That's a scary line to end the scene on, because what could be more dangerous than help from Tyler?
Kyle had the foresight to plant a mini-webcam in a tree at the scene of the crash, and now, on a monitor back at the lair, it's showing a couple of Trackers and No. 2 lurking around the crashed car. Which apparently the Feds left upside down without towing away. The Bureau may leave no stone unturned in the hunt for Malik, but the same clearly can't be said of automobiles. One of the Trackers kills the camera, but too late to prevent our heroes from seeing No. 2 -- which tells them that Malik's assignment, whatever it is, is on Anna's radar. Ryan suggests checking Malik's apartment, even though the Feds have already been there. "They wouldn't know where or how to look," he says. With that, Ryan picks up a cigar guillotine that Kyle leaves lying around, walks over to Malik, and matter-of-factly cuts off of one of her fingers, to the horror of the humans present, not to mention Malik's rather noisy chagrin. Stuffing the digit in a sample bag, he and Erica leave the room so their friends can hang out and watch Malik's blood drip onto her head. "Want to watch Saw?" none of them asks.
Malik's high-rise apartment is pretty fancy for a girl on a government salary, right down to a monitor showing a multi-camera security feed of the approach to her place. And if the FBI really has been here, they couldn't have done much more than stick their head in the door, let alone posting a sentry. They get right to tossing the place, and in about five seconds Erica notices a worn number on the oven's keypad. Ryan presses Malik's severed finger to it, and a false back opens inside the oven. "I wondered what that was for," Erica says, making me wonder how she ever got a job at a place with the word "Investigation" right in it. Inside is a stash of cash and fake law enforcement IDs from a variety of countries, as well as a bit of "V-tech." Ryan sets it down on the counter and a holo-display pops up with names and faces. They figure they can work with that, but for now, Malik's security feed is showing No. 2 and the Trackers approaching the apartment. With Erica's help, Ryan quickly MacGyvers up a little device to distract the Trackers and cover his own scent. I keep expecting to hear a voice-over from Michael Westen explaining how if you just mix some bleach and ammonia in a plastic bowl, add a big hunk of tinfoil, and pop it in the microwave on "high," you've got yourself a bomb. Although Ryan's either an amateur or Malik's microwave doesn't have a "Popcorn" button. They exit via the balcony (no explanation on how they'll safely get down to street level) seconds before No 2 and the Trackers enter, just in time to see the kitchen conflagration. Maybe if Malik knew about popcorn she would have sided with the humans as well, you know?
Mothership. Chad has been summoned for an audience with Anna, who mentions his "close call" with the suicide bomber. Chad credits Erica with stopping it, like this show is doing itself any favors by reminding us what a small world it is, and asks what he can do for Anna. Anna explains about the "few small pockets of hostility" that remain among the mostly docile human populace. Chad reminds her about the "Red Sky Affair," and lectures her about playing God. Which brings Anna to her point. She brings up a holo-dossier on Father Jack, and asks Chad what he knows. "Not much," he lies, and elaborates that the suicide bomber went to Father Jack's church. "He's local, not much of a profile otherwise," Chad says, oddly flailing his hands around. Anna wants Chad to fix that by interviewing him, claiming that she thinks every voice should be heard. "Isn't that the basis of good journalism?" she asks rhetorically. Well, yes, but so is not accepting assignments from reptilian overlords.
So Chad goes right to Father Jack and tells him not to do it, saying it's some kind of trap. but Jack insists on going ahead with it. Who knew Father Jack was such a famewhore?
Erica and Ryan have returned to the lair to go through Malik's V-tech at their leisure. And they've figured out that what all the people on the list have in common is that they're off the grid -- meaning they could disappear and nobody would notice. Sid asks if this means alien abduction, and even does a bit of mime for their entertainment. Erica says they need to figure out Anna's plan.
Anna, Joshua, and Lisa are in a lab in the Mothership, standing over what looks like a gurney with a giant chrome hairclip wrapped around it. Just like you'd expect a soul-sucking machine to look if you're watching a cheesy sci-fi remake and not The Princess Bride. Lisa wonders what the big deal is with the human soul, and Anna explains about how awesome it is. "If we don't eliminate it, our plans will fail." Joshua adds that humans consider the soul eternal and that it leaves the body after death. "This machine is engineered to locate and extract it." You know what else does that? Bullets. Poison. Blunt force trauma. But the Vs never want to make anything easy for themselves, do they? Joshua says he's ready to start trying it out, but he'll need plenty of test subjects, since they won't survive it. Like, how many? "Hundreds of thousands." Yes, I can see how this is going to stay under the radar.
And here's one of those future test subjects now. A scraggly-looking girl walks down a steamy alley carrying a guitar case. A big blue van pulls in to her, and the driver gets out like he's on some other errand, favoring her with a friendly "hi" as she walks past. And then he grabs her from behind, injecting her in the neck and then stuffing her in the back of the van -- with a whole bunch of other limp bodies. After he picks up the dropped guitar case (which clearly does not contain a copy of The Gift of Fear), he pauses for a long stare into the camera with his alien eyes, just to let us know he's not human. Which is good, because I was worried this was turning into Criminal Minds.
It's nighttime in New York, and Ryan's still flipping through Malik's e-file while everyone sits around bored. Except Malik, obviously, who's still standing, what with the ceiling-chain and all. Since no one else is doing anything anyway, Erica uses this opportunity to unburden to Kyle about how she wanted Malik to have something to do with Tyler and maybe give them some answers. "Maybe her body will, with Science-Boy on the case," Kyle mutters. "That would be Science-Man," Sid corrects. Finally, Ryan has found something: one person in Malik's file, a girl named Sophie Allen, is flagged with today's date. Of course it's Guitar-Case Girl. Erica figures that preventing Sophie's abduction is the key to stopping Anna's whole plan, which is a leap of Olympian proportions. She starts grilling Malik again, but Malik just hisses at her. Ryan has found Sophie's mother's work address, and Erica decides the two of them will go pay Guitar-Case-Mom a visit. But not before she delivers these bloodcurdling words to Malik: "To be continued." Oooh, brrr!
At the church, Chad tells Father Jack that his interview will be on the news tonight and offers to let him watch. But Jack's got church about to happen, so he invites Chad to hang around for that. Chad agrees, because it's not like a top news reporter with a secret hobby as an anti-V spy has anything else going on right now.
When Father Jack begins his sermon to a packed house, he starts right in on the recent violence, and admits that although he's bitched about the Visitors as much as anyone else, "we must never forget what defines us." Man, he's going about this all wrong. When someone blames you for inciting a political massacre, the thing to do is claim you had nothing to do with it, that such a thing is impossible anyway, and besides someone else incited it. Oh, and blame the media. Suddenly this just got a lot less ripped-from-the-headlines. In the middle of Father Jack's speech, a dude stands up from a pew and says his wife was killed in the suicide bombing. "It wasn't the Vs that killed her," he accuses Father Jack. "It was their enemies. People like you." Jack feels enough like shit to step down from the pulpit and apologize, but the dude isn't satisfied. Worse, he's brought along others who lost people in the bombing, and cues them to stand up. Another parishioner stands up to take Father Jack's side, and matters quickly come to blows, with the guy who started this getting knocked to the floor. While Father Jack rushes over to break it up, Chad glances down in time to see the man's eyes flash, V-like. He gets up for more but Jack tells the intruder, "You want to blame someone, you blame me. You want to fight, you fight me." Some unseen person is getting video of all of this on a cell phone, but the show's over; the interloper heads out. I assume he won't be partaking of coffee and donuts in the basement afterwards.
Erica and Ryan walk into a convenience store to talk to the clerk, whose nametag surprisingly does not read "Guitar-Case Mom." Erica identifies herself as an FBI agent, but clarifies, "I'm here unofficially as a mother," which isn't weird at all. Ryan says something about a teen counseling center where Guitar-Case Girl hasn't shown up, and her mom says she ran away six months ago, leaving no leads. However, Guitar-Case Mom does have some thematically relevant observations to share, which wouldn't be entirely out of place coming from Diana's mouth, only in a different setting and an entirely different tone of voice. Erica empathizes, and gives the woman her card in case she thinks of anything. The mom begs them for help, in the process reminding Ryan that he has a daughter of his own. Not that he's done anything for her today. Anna's waiting, Ryan. Tick-tock.
They return all but empty-handed to the lair, with nothing left to work with but Malik herself. Kyle reaches for his knife again, over Sid's protests that he needs her alive for her tissue samples to figure out what they have planned for Tyler. So, just to restate the choice, they can either torture Malik for information on the abductees, or they can keep her alive for biological research on behalf of Tyler. Of course I'm not there to point out that either option seems like a longshot to me, so Ryan tells Erica, "It's your son. It's gotta be your call." That sounds like something Erica might regret hearing from him at some point. For now, Erica looks torn. But not as torn as Malik is about to be.
Chad pays a visit to Anna on the mother ship. She congratulates him on the interview with Father Jack, and explains, "I wanted the world to pay attention to him so they would pay attention to this." With that, she plays a clip of Chad's interview with Father Jack deploring violence, which cuts right to his part in the brawl at the church and him saying, "You want to fight? You fight me!" Damn, the Vs can not only take links out of DNA and souls out of humans, they can take video out of context! Is there no end to their extraction-related perfidy? Chad protests that wasn't how it happened, but Anna says the internet will say different. "A duplicitous priest, committing violence in a house of worship. This sort of story seems to spread rapidly." She congratulates Chad on his part in it, when we all know she's really just congratulating herself. All he does is swallow hard and accept the compliment with a nod, which would be a dead giveaway if he'd ever stood up to her before.
Out in the fire escape, Ryan tells Erica that nobody would judge her if she picked Tyler. "How can I put my kid's life before so many others?" she asks. "Sometimes you just... gotta protect your own," Ryan says. Sounds like a preemptive apology to me.
Back inside, Erica demands of Malik, 'One last time. Where's Sophie?" When Malik remains defiant, Erica orders Kyle, "Skin her." He heads over with his knife and sinks it into Malik's back. She screams as blood drops on the floor behind her, and nobody else seems to be having a great time, either. Except maybe Kyle, a little.
After the ads, Sid is working on a fresh tissue sample. So fresh, in fact, it's practically steaming. Erica figures Malik plans to die before she can talk, but Kyle's got a couple of needles for her. One's epinephrine, to keep Malik alert and awake for as long as ten hours, or a sedative to knock her right out. "Personally, I vote to keep you alive," Kyle says, sinking the epi into her arm without even giving her a chance to decide. Malik taunts Ryan a little, which only prompts him to rip a few chunks off of her back his own self. She's still not talking, so Ryan yanks her lizard-tail free and cuts it clean off. Finally Malik gives up a name and a place: "New Jersey. Lonergan Park. A shuttle." She's spitting blood now, and when Erica asks her when, she gasps, "You saw the date. Tonight." Erica asks about Tyler, but Malik's got nothing on that. She gives Erica a look of naked pleading, or as naked as a look can be when it's coming out of fake eyes in a fake face. Finally Erica takes pity on her and has Kyle shoot her full of the sedative. And that's a wrap for Malik. One tear spills out of her eye before her head pitches forward. And then they all stand around in slow motion, like this isn't grisly at all.
Kyle, Erica, and Ryan head out to Lonergan Park (more or less an abandoned forest this time of night) and almost immediately come upon the van, so it's lucky for them Malik was telling the truth. You may already be aware of my feelings regarding torture from my 24 recaps, but if they're going to do it anyway, maybe they should have waited on verification before shutting Malik down. Fortunately she was telling the truth, but unfortunately they're too late; the van is empty. Fortunately they hear a girl's scream, and run to a path through the woods just in time to spot someone dragging Guitar-Case Girl through the trees. Talk about catching a break; they have a chance to rescue the one missing person we've learned anything about, even though she probably would have been one of the first to be carried off, being at the top of the pile and all. Our heroes give chase, and eventually the V abandons his prey to get away. She's got enough presence of mind to crawl out of the path of the pursuers, though. They soon follow him into a wide clearing, and Erica stops and draws. "I got it," she says calmly before firing and winging him in the shoulder at fifty yards. He goes down, but soon he's back up and pulling out an immolation pill. Erica and Kyle, their guns leveled, tell him not to do it, but he bites it and immolates himself anyway. Neither Erica nor Kyle fire at the spot where he was just standing, so I guess they were just bluffing. Maybe time Erica could wait until she's close enough to grab her target instead of showing off her marksmanship. Oh well, nothing to do now but go back to help the girl ditched in the woods. She's crying and freaked out, and Ryan says she's been drugged so she won't remember anything. Erica promises to take her home. "There could be more out there," Kyle reminds them, and he and Erica leave Ryan with Guitar-Case Girl while they go to investigate. Sure enough, they follow a loud noise to another clearing, where another victim is being dragged onto a V shuttle. Erica's about to run after them, but Kyle stops her and they helplessly watch the shuttle take off. "Nothing we can do now," he says. Fortunately, that's what they do best.
Up in the Mothership lab, Joshua's ready to run a test on their first subject, with Lisa and Anna in attendance. Anna gives the order to begin, and Joshua hits a holo-button that causes the claws of the giant hairclip to close in over the skinny, naked human subject. Joshua explains, "Water, muscle, bone, tissue. Each will be removed from the corpus, taking the subject to the brink of death. What remains, the last substance in his dying breath, should be the soul." Okay, but then you've just got a dead guy. Where's the percentage in that, exactly? The claws go to work, sinking into the man's body and sucking as hard as this subplot. Seeing Lisa's horrified face, Anna tells Joshua to stop and asks her daughter, "Something wrong?" Lisa demurs, which doesn't stop Anna from lecturing her about the low value of one life compared to that of their species. "You must learn that in order to become queen." She doesn't mention that this dude is only the first of hundreds of thousands, not that it would make a difference. She says to continue -- but with Lisa taking over. Lisa steps to the control panel, fighting to ignore the pleas of the man on the slab. "Look into his eyes," Anna orders. "Look into his soul. Now take it." Lisa hits the button, struggling to put on a brave face for her mom while the poor sap on the slab breathes his last. I guess I should be glad we don't have to look at a CGI soul coming out of his mouth.
Erica and Ryan walk Guitar-Case Girl back to the convenience store where her mother works -- and lives, apparently. They witness the tearful reunion, and Erica actually smiles. Ryan, not so much. Outside, he grumps, "We only saved one." But again, it was the one whose mother they met, and what are the chances of that? They should have bought a lottery ticket from her while they were in there. Erica's in a good mood, though: "This is what we're fighting for, to keep our children safe. We have to savor these ones." Ryan's not, and Erica promises, "We're going to get your daughter back...If we lose hope, we lose this fight."
Chad, who apparently never sleeps, is back at the church showing Father Jack a video on a YouTube lookalike site called "FaceTime." The video bears the catchy title of "PRIEST PACKS A PUNCH," and of course it's the hacked-up footage of Father Jack offering to fight. Chad closes the laptop and explains, "Anna had me build you up so she could tear you down." All in one night, too. I knew the news cycle moved fast, but this is warp speed. Chad natters on, telling Jack about the V plant who started the fight. Jack is surprisingly cool with all this, saying he'll weather the storm. Then they start complimenting each other on their bravery, and Erica's going to get jealous if she hears them flirting like this. As though that very thing has just occurred to him, Father Jack tells Chad, "It's time you met the others."
Father Jack brings Chad to the lair, where he and Erica exchange pleasantries and she thanks him for the Malik tip. He says it was the least he could do after she saved him from the suicide bomber. Kyle is skeptical: "He's burned us before." Chad admits it, but wants to make amends. "Use me. My position with Anna. I know her better than anyone. I can help." Ryan warns that he doesn't know what Anna's capable of. "Or who she really is," Erica says, going over to a bed and throwing the bloody sheet off of Malik's half-flayed corpse. Chad recoils in horror, but more at what his hot alien boss looks like underneath than from the people who did this to a fellow creature for reasons they probably haven't even explained yet. "What do they want? Chad wonders. "Why don't they jus kill everybody and take over?" Erica basically says that humanity occupies a different spot in the Visitors' intergalactic game of Marry, Fuck, Kill, and asks him if he's sure he's ready. He gives one of his stiff little nods, probably because after this long day of shuttling back and forth between the Mothership and the church and back and back again, that's all he can manage.
Anna thanks the person who got the damning footage of Jack -- Tyler, of course. She takes his hand and tells him, "Please be careful. You're not just a friend, Tyler. You're like a son to me." And like any mother, she's got his genes -- in a jar on her shelf.
Erica's back home, staring at a picture of herself and Tyler taken in more carefree, less lizard-ridden days, where there's a knock on the back door. It's Lisa, and she's not in a good emotional place. Erica tries to get her to say more, but Lisa keeps it vague, saying Anna's trying to change her. Erica says Anna can't change who she is inside, and says that Lisa can talk to her. One motherly hug later, the symbolic child-swapping is complete.
Anna comes downstairs to the bilges for another gloat-session with Diana, saying Lisa passed her test. "As you passed all my tests?" an unimpressed Diana asks, half emerging from a moss-covered cocoon chair of some sort. She says she also tried to make Anna like her, but it didn't work. "Caution has not -- has never been - your nature." Yes, I seem to recall Diana always stepping so carefully in the original series... not. Anna says that although caution isn't her thing, foresight is. "Good. You're going to need it," Diana smirks before sinking back into her nest .Of course, if Anna really were so big on foresight, she's already know that.
One last visit tonight, and I think we all know what it's going to be. Ryan is waiting in Anna's office when Anna walks in carrying the baby. Two V guards keep him from getting too close. "She's so peaceful when I give her Bliss, isn't she?" Anna smirks, just as the baby peacefully smacks her on the collarbone. She asks what Ryan found out today. Ryan says, "I found the Fifth Column. I know who took Malik." And before he says where and who they are, the episode ends. Ooh, cliffhanger!
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M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com.