We start back in DC, with an anxious Ed Truman appearing in the White House. Davis is polite, very sorry about the mess he made killing Allenford. Let's hope Allenford regretted killing his own wife before he died. Davis, to symbolize just how much trouble Ed is in, orders him to sit on the bloody chair Allenford died on. He does, thinking that this is the time to obey.
So, Davis rants that Texas and California should have been fighting now, that Carver, President of Texas, should be dead. And how did Monroe and Miles manage to keep them from succeeding? By Ed failing. Because Ed is in charge of the Willoughby situation. Ed, who we know is just barely succeeding as an administrator of the town, tries to be conciliatory at first. But Davis' guard behind him already has his hand on his sidearm.
Ed, desperate, shoots up into the air. Davis tries to order him back down, but Ed doesn't want to die today. He'll stand, and protect what little is left of his dignity. He then accuses the President, a violent dictator, of meddling in Ed's work, sending other people to handle Miles and Monroe, who all failed and interfered in the running of Willoughby. Davis, instead of killing Ed, wonders if maybe he got it wrong after all. Maybe, instead of sending Horn and Doyle and Neville, he should just admit that Ed has the balls of Hillary Clinton and give him what he wants. So, what does Ed want?
Well, a train ride back to Willoughby, for starters. Since when do trains run through Texas? Straight to Willoughby? Where is this train station? We don't know. We do see Ed greeted by Shaw, torturing people in Texas for over a year now. Shaw presents Ed with a local, who repeats to Ed that he's seen the enemy at a local chemical factory. Ed is thrilled. Not even back and his hard work with the locals has paid off with intelligence. Some army dude puts his head in, and wants to know when Ed will need them. Oh, now. Ed then orders Shaw to find Neville. And fire him. With a severance package of lead.
Charlie is wandering through an abandoned golf course (what, Ed didn't re-open the golf course?), calling out for Miles, who can hear her, but not much else. A bloody, weak hand rises from the tall grass (come on, Ed, just cut the grass and open the course), slowly floating in the air. Charlie's about to go when, a quick look back reveals Miles' hand. She runs to him, plunking down at his side as she calls for her Mom. We next see Miles recovering in Gene's medical tent, doing well enough to be restless. Rachel wants to coo at Miles for a while, but he has more important things to discuss, and holds up the guitar pick from the basement. The one that reminded him of Rachel. She's clueless, and he's a little disappointed that she doesn't automatically remember that night.
Aaron checks up on Nano Priscilla, who doesn't understand that advertising is all fake. Can't Aaron get her to go outside, interact with some real humans? For a being that supposedly sees all, the Nano can be duped by magazine pictures. Aaron starts bitching that he wants Priscilla back, but the Nano tells him that she's doing what she wants for as long as she wants. Aaron is about to uselessly beg for Priscilla's return, when he hears birds. Lots of them. Like, from the Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Either they're shooting an Alfred Hitchcock movie, or you should run
All of the camp is just staring at entire flocks of birds fleeing something. Really? Aaron worries that it's the Nano, but Priscilla can only tell Aaron that he should run. So, Aaron does what he does best, panics, and bursts through the crowd like George Costanza at a kid's birthday party, screaming that they should run. Everyone is a little confused at first, but then Miles sees the yellow smoke. And they all panic. Mercenaries, Mathesons, and Monroes scramble to run as fast as possible through the maze of the abandoned factory, while the gas flows toward them, and Patriots hiding in the gas, take pot shots at people fleeing to higher ground, and collapsed in the yellow haze. The men who arrived with Ed. They're a chemical warfare team.
Aaron, with a head start, has managed to scramble up the small hill leading from the factory. Miles spies an empty tanker truck, with its cargo hold open, so they all scramble in: Miles, Monroe, Connor, Charlie, Rachel, Dr. Dad, Scanlon, and finally, Aaron, who was actually thinking of going back for Priscilla. They lock themselves in, Monroe holding a gun to the hatch as a last stand from the Patriots. Priscilla is taking a gentle stroll through the carnage, disturbed by what she sees. Two Patriots find her, still standing in a haze of deadly poison gas, and they have a staring contest. Other Patriots scramble up the hill, encountering the tanker. Unable to open it, a Patriot decides to shoot some holes in it, for good measure. The survivors scramble to plug the gaps. After that, it's a long wait, through cries for mercy and gunshots.
A better world. A yellower world.
Ed, back in Willoughby, is rummaging through a drawer in Marion's home. She's surprised, but happy to see him, wondering what he's digging through. Ed leaves, promising to swing by later that night, after she's home from visiting her dad's grave. Marion, hesitantly, goes through the drawer. It's the usual. Uniform, socks, gas mask, scary instructions about something shocking.
I've only got one gas mask. And it ain't for you.
After nightfall, Team Miles creeps from the tanker. The air has cleared, and the Patriots seem to be gone. Priscilla finds them, and they wander off together in the night. All the mercenaries, except Scanlon, are dead. They are back to the small group they started with. Around the fire, still reeling from the carnage, Priscilla claims she hid in a fridge to avoid the gas, having smelled it before anyone else did. Rachel seems satisfied with the answer.
Monroe, not caring about anyone else's survival, wants revenge. He decides to steal some mustard gas himself, and take out some Patriots, as many as possible. Innocent people included. He tells Miles that he's tired of listening to people who don't want to just kill everybody. It's time to kill everybody. Just when you think Miles will try to talk some sense into him, he gets up and agrees with Monroe instead. Monroe, Miles, Connor and Scanlon march out into the darkness. Rachel follows, saying nothing, and Miles turns around to face her.
He tells her, frustrated, that he can't think of anything else to do. He's done trying to save lives, too. So Rachel, bitterly disappointed, says she's not fighting over Miles anymore. In true high school girl fashion, she declares that Monroe can have Miles. And Miles can have his war. But Miles can't do this and have Rachel. She dumps Miles right there. As the four men ramble towards wherever an extra can of mustard gas might be, Monroe tries to console Miles. But there's nothing worse than a sympathetic Monroe.
Miles gets Monroe to tell him what the brilliant plan to retake the Monroe Republic is. Monroe insists that he still has a ton of soldiers in the Northeast, and that they will rally to him when he re-appears, alive, after the Patriots tried to kill him. It's never occurred to Monroe, that the Patriots framed him for the nuke that destroyed Philly. If he sets foot in the Northeast, he'll be slaughtered on sight. Miles doesn't say this, but it's obvious that he thinks Monroe is an idiot. But Monroe isn't done. Once the victory parades in Philly end, he and his instantly reborn Militia will defeat the Patriots in D.C., and take Georgia.
Miles isn't surprised, just disappointed. He realizes that Monroe wants the entire East Coast, and isn't afraid to use chemical weapons to get it. Monroe insists that he'll bring some order to the East Coast, after the bloody mess the Patriots have made of it. Miles reminds Monroe that crazy psychopaths don't bring order. Monroe, acting contrite, says he's learned from his mistakes, and this time will be different. Except that, trying to find some mustard gas for wiping out the town of Willoughby, Monroe has already shown that nothing has changed. And Miles knows it.
Also wandering in the dark, despite Rachel's worries, are Priscilla and Aaron. Has it ever occurred to characters that all the comings and goings from their new top secret hideout might give them away? You don't get a hideout, and then go roaming the countryside. You hide out there.
What did the crazy AI do now???
Aaron follows Nano Priscilla into a dark and creepy house, with horror-movie-shenanigans in every little scene detail. Aaron at first sees someone reading a newspaper, and retreats to a corner like a scared little kid, but when there's no activity, he slowly approaches, only to find a dead Patriot. Aaron removes the gas mask to see that his eyes bled, meaning he probably died from some internal hemorrhage. As he realizes what Nano Priscilla's been doing, the lights and sounds of a 21st century home blast all of sudden on Aaron. It's momentarily terrifying to be surrounded by what was normal, but Priscilla sashays into the living room, like a 50s housewife in a magazine ad.
She has big news for Aaron. She thinks, after reading a few magazine articles and reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods, that she's got humanity figured out. She declares to Aaron that humanity is miserable. Aaron sarcastically tells her this is not news to him, as he is the Great Wallower in Misery of the show. Priscilla isn't done. She's sure that humans being miserable, sad, angry, jealous, whatever, is the source of all their bad behavior. Figure out how to keep humanity happy and contented, and they'll behave. Aaron is horrified, mostly because he doesn't think the dead Patriots still sitting around the house look all that happy, though they have stopped gassing people.
Aaron looks ready to give up on ever getting the real Priscilla back. Nano Priscilla isn't just here to observe for a while. She's got a long-term project that includes killing humans until she finds the magic way to alter our limbic system into permanent contentment. As he tries to leave, Priscilla traps him in the house, deciding that he will help her. But why should he? He can tell Nano Priscilla will never give him his ex-wife back. So, what will Nano Priscilla threaten him with next?
Shaw finally finds Neville in the dark, who looks like a shell of his former self. Agreeing that Ed Truman wants an update, Neville leads Shaw right to his temporary home, and abandoned house (the one from last week?). Shaw already has his gun drawn behind his back. Neville can't see it, but we all know that tone he's using; the I'm-going-to-kill-you-before-you-kill-me voice. Neville pours them both some old hooch, as Shaw tells Neville that he no longer has to look for Monroe. Neville still doesn't act, turning around as Shaw pulls out his gun. Before he fires, he steps forward, and the floorboard gives way to a massive, steel bear trap that slices right through Shaw's leg. He's in excruciating pain and on the floor. Neville tells him he has time for one drink, and that they're going to talk a while.
Scanlon bitches about being bait for Monroe's plan. When Connor defends his dad's strategic brilliance, and points out that if Scanlon is worth so much more, how are his mercenaries dead, they have a nasty fight, ending only when Connor pulls a stick or blade out the fire and holds it to Scanlon's neck. In a very strained voice, Connor threatens Scanlon with some unspecified violence, and says that Scanlon has no idea how dangerous Connor really is. As they are bonding, gas-masked Patriots approach, but Miles and Monroe, in gas masks of their own ambush them. And look what Monroe now has.
Marion, like she does every Sunday, visits her dad's grave. At night. Alone. Dr. Dad, her former boyfriend, who knows her routine, meets her there. Marion, who doesn't support Team Miles, ever since Monroe's attack on the kids' brainwashing camp, doesn't want to leave with him, but Charlie appears with a shotgun, and apologizes for kidnapping Marion.
Neville plays with his victim a bit, trying to get Shaw to confirm if his wife is dead. He spends some time pointing out his responsibility for Jason's death, how he didn't listen to his son, he wasn't there for the kid. But his real blame, real hatred, is reserved for the Patriots that turned his son into a living weapon. He admits that Jason was right, as Shaw tells Neville that he doesn't know if Julia is alive. But Neville reads his face, realizing that Shaw holds out no hope for his wife. Shaw, finally, after torturing and killing others, is in the position of begging for his own life. It isn't pretty how weak bullies actually are. Shakily declaring his whole family gone, even after everything he's done, tells Shaw, in between stomping on his broken leg, that the Patriots will burn. He then wastes a perfectly good pillow as a completely ineffective silencer when he shoots Shaw.
Back at the top-secret garden shed/rebel hideout, Monroe tries to offer Miles some hooch, to celebrate their victory. But Miles defies all Monroe's expectations and refuses to get drunk. Monroe is stunned. Miles somehow lures Monroe outside, maybe offering to drink with him there. Once Monroe is outside, Miles shuts the chain-link gate and locks Monroe out. We see Rachel mixing something, and she explains that it's lye and something else, made to neutralize mustard gas. The mustard gas that Monroe just stole to use. Monroe realizes he's been had, and that Miles had already chosen Rachel, even before leaving with him. Dr. Dad brings in Marion, and Miles explains to her what they've got. Marion could have assumed that the mustard gas was really Miles', except that the scary plans she saw earlier prove that the Patriots are moving a chemical weapon into the area. She tells Miles that Ed Truman is bringing about 100 tons of the stuff to Willoughby. It's bad news, but Marion is already paying off as a spy, which she agrees to do for Miles.
Yeah, sure, how hard can spying be?
Monroe isn't happy. He tries to tell Miles that he's pussy-whipped, but Miles isn't having it. He tells Monroe, again, that he can't be a part of anymore crazy, violent schemes by Monroe. Monroe has finally been more trouble than he's worth in the war against the Patriots, and Miles tells him he can go or stay. Miles won't kill him, he can't, but he won't help Monroe do anything. He tells Monroe that Monroe will end up alone again, and he'll have only himself to blame. Again. The bromance is officially over. Rachel had nothing to do with it. But Monroe knows better, as he saves a specially angry look for Rachel. Who has the decency not to gloat. Monroe takes off with Connor, and Rachel is relieved when she hears it from Miles.
Rachel, though, wants to know: why is Miles changing tactics, and cutting ties with Monroe? What does he want now? Instead of telling Rachel what he admitted to her dad, that he's fighting just to have something to fight, he shows her the guitar pick again. Rachel, still doesn't realize its significance. So, Miles informs her that it's a specially rare pick, made in Germany. And that he owned one before the blackout. He was using it to play guitar the night they met. He tells Rachel that they've both done dumb, terrible things. But that she's rejected cynicism and chosen hope, and so will he. For her. And Charlie. Because wanting to be with them again is the only reason he climbed out of that basement.
Neville makes a different choice. Monroe leads Connor back to the chemical factory, totally free of any Patriots now, and he proceeds to some back alley area, where he unearths a trunk full of guns, declaring that their father/son takeover of the nation begins today, and they don't need Miles after all. Connor is a poor substitute for Miles, though, as Neville manages to take Connor by the neck, almost like his son Jason did just weeks ago. Monroe thinks that Neville is here for him. Oh, no. Neville is here because he and Monroe have work to do. So Monroe gets his wish from a few episodes back. The son of a bitch who could get a job done is with him.
The show's damsel in distress. In distress again.
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