12 Monkeys - Primary - Review

12 Monkeys, “Primary,” was written by Sean Tretta and directed by Magnus Martens. I felt this second episode really re-established the excitement I had for this show in the first season. I loved the clever plotting and the playing with time, especially the re-setting of the time line. I adored that Jones’ (Barbara Sukowa) injections cause time to move around them – so they don’t forget each other or what’s come before, so they remain on the same time line as the audience. This episode featured some terrific performance, most notably from Todd Stashwick (Deacon) and Kirk Acevedo (Ramsey).

The episode begins in 2044 and shows us a glimpse of Cassie’s (Amanda Schull) year in the future and what it’s done to her. She has had to “adapt, transform, metamorphosis.” We also see that she’s taking the shots, preparing to return to the past. But she also tells us that not every caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Her metamorphosis has turned her not into something beautiful but into something ugly and violent – but necessary.

Flash to where we left off last week. Cassie is pissed that Cole (Aaron Stanford) is working with Ramsey – of course, she’s not half as surprised as both Ramsey and Cole are at how close she’s become to Deacon. Cole immediately recognizes Deacon when Cassie says, “Let ‘em live, create an enemy.” Cassie appears to have lost all compassion. She is determined to simply kill Jennifer (Emily Hampshire). Cole won’t let her, however, and convinces Jennifer to hand him the vial.

All four head to the airport, and Jennifer’s stash of the virus. Ramsey won’t stop or help them because if it works, his son will be erased. They light the virus on fire – which didn’t really seem like a great idea to me, especially when it started boiling. When the vials break, isn’t the boiling virus then released into the atmosphere? However, it does seem to work and we see Cole, Ramsy and Cassie in agony and along with Jones in the future, they all get nosebleeds.

        There is a terrific special effect as we actually see time shifting around Jones in the future. She immediately runs to her rooms to see if she’s saved her baby. Hannah disappears and then reappears on the blanket. So at some point, the blanket was used enough to erase the name, but not in this time line. I’m curious as to whether Jones will stop trying to manipulate time once she has her daughter back regardless of how many other people they have saved.

Cassie intends to bring Cole back to the future, but he’s not the Cole she remembers. She tells him that he’s letting his emotions get in the way of what he knows needs to be done. When she’s convinced that he’s forgotten the mission, she injects Ramsey with the shot meant to tether Cole. Cole freaks out, telling her that they’ll kill him. Cassie is unmoved and only cares about what he’ll tell them before he dies. In fact, it’s Cassie who suggest threatening his son when Deacon’s torture doesn’t work.

Jennifer is quite gleeful that her otter eyes is stuck in her time – nobody wants him any more either! Cole doesn’t think time has changed, but somehow Jennifer knows that it has – just not in the way he thinks. She tells him that 607 is the way home. Cole assumes that it’s Jones’ phone number, but it’s actually the Emerson Hotel – room 607.

Cassie is convinced that nothing happened when they destroyed the virus, but Jones fills her in when she gets back – they did change history. Now the plague won’t start until 2018. It’s still Cassie who warns them. I had to wonder if this is an indication that we get at least one more season? Initially, the virus was supposed to happen in 2016 after all….

I loved Jones telling Cassie that she had to investigate their own investigation! For the people in 2044, nothing has changed, however. Jones says that at some point the Messengers were able to go back and insured the release of the virus somehow.

I loved the entire sequence at the Emerson. The desk clerk (Egidio Tari) won’t let them use the phone, so they book into a room. The hotel had a terrific look of a place that was likely very posh in it’s day – rather 1930s art deco – but has fallen on hard times. Hampshire is terrific in the episode, but I particularly loved the glee she took in registering them under the name Morris Morrison. Cole calls Jones in 2016, and she refuses to help. I loved her saying on the phone that if he was still there, time causality would indicate that she didn’t make a note to come get him in her journal!

Jennifer, however, is having a major crisis. She hears Olivia’s (Alisen Down) voice and hallucinates or remembers her. Jennifer has now lost her purpose and her way of silencing the voices. I loved the parallel scenes between now and the first season with Jennifer attacking Cole – and even acknowledging it herself as déjà vu! We also get a flash to Olivia telling Jennifer that she is “Primary” that she can see the changes in time. What this means is yet to be explained – but I can’t wait!

The two are interrupted by a knock at the door. Arlen Wills – the hotel’s owner – recognized Cole. He’s in the wrong room – he should be in his own apartment… 607! He tells them that his family has owned the hotel for 100 years, and that Cole’s – grandfather? – purchased the apartment in perpetuity in 1944. He tells Cole that his own father made him dust the apartment once a year – after Easter. Otherwise the apartment has been kept exactly the same. It’s another one of those twisty time things. Cole is here for the first time – but clearly this memory will influence him to buy the apartment in the temporal past but his own future.

Jennifer finds an old picture of Cole with Cassie. She’s already made the ominous declaration that the two of them together is the end. End how? Of the plague or of the world? Jennifer decides that if she can’t silence the voices by killing everyone else, she’ll kill herself. Cole steps in and stops her. She tells him that “It’s all in my head. Pictures, places with her.” Is Jennifer going to provide a road map for them? Cole tells Jennifer that the only thing she has to do now is get out of all of it. He sends her off to find her purpose.

Cole thus sets up a debt, that sends an Emissary (Ayisha Issa) of the Mother to Jones in 2044 to send Cassie back to 2016 to get Cole at the Emerson Hotel. Jennifer did find her purpose – it was to lead the Daughters. But she sees Cole’s act as an act of mercy, so the Emissary tells Jones that the debt is now paid. When Cassie shows up for Cole, she shows him a note on the Emerson Hotel stationary that reads “I found my purpose.”

In 2044, Deacon is enjoying torturing Ramsey just a little too much. The scene in which Deacon is half drowning Ramsey is brilliant and both deliver fantastic performances. Deacon goads Ramsey by pointing out how in the past Ramsey would get all “judge-y” when they’d go on a survivor raid but now Ramsey is actually part of the group who released the plague.

Ramsey says it was because of his son. It’s clear that Ramsey doesn’t think there’s any way to actually appeal to Deacon on a human level, so he opts for hurting him back. Ramsey reveals that he made a point of seeking Deacon out in the past to try to understand what made him such a sociopath. He reveals that he was sitting outside Deacon’s house in 2013 and was the one to call 911 when Deacon’s father almost beat Deacon’s mother to death. He talks about how the eldest son – Teddy – was crying and kept crying. It reveals something to us about Deacon, but it also embarrasses Deacon in front of his own men. It wasn’t “Teddy” who did anything to save his mother – he now owes Ramsey for doing it.

Ramsey tells him, “Teddy, all the talking has got me a little thirsty…” And Deacon totally loses it. He likely would have killed Ramsey if Cassie didn’t intervene. She drags him off and tells him that there’s another way. And that’s when they threaten Ramsey’s son, Sam (Peter DaCunha). Cassie is totally creepy as she stands beside the boy, smiling in answer to Ramsey’s “2044 made you that hard, Cassie?”

I loved the scene in which Jones briefs the team on the change in the timeline. Did anyone else cheer to see Dr Laskey (Murray Furrow) back? Of course, the best part of that scene was Dr Eckland (Michael Hogan) asking Jones, “You really don’t remember me?” She responds that she noted the contribution his molecular biology research made, but he wasn’t a part of her original reality. Eckland responds, “That’s going to make it awkward when you come to bed…” The look on Jones’ face is priceless! I’m also thrilled to have Hogan join the cast – now, please don’t kill off either Eckland or Laskey, please!

When Cole finally makes it back to 2044, Jones welcomes him but locks him up in the cell across from Ramsey – it’s another nice echo from the beginning of season one. Ramsey tells Cole that Cassie threatened to hurt Sam. Cole isn’t ready to accept that she’s changed that much.

Jones briefs Cole on the changes. She even plays him music over a short-wave radio. There are more survivors. Human lives were saved because they dared to challenge fate! She sees it as hope. Cole points out that they’ve all made mistakes, but when Jones asks him if he’s still with her, he says yes. He then tells her that they have to go to 1944.

Jones heads to her quarters and does a perfect turn on her heel when she finds Eckland there. I love him already, and he’s clearly very special because he knows exactly how Jones is feeling – he’s packing up his things. He tells her, however, that “the most fun I ever had was breaking down all the walls you have around you. And now I get to do it all over again!” He’s not giving up on them – and I can’t wait to see him win her back!

The episode ends with Cassie and Cole finally talking as they look at the investigation board. Cassie remarks that so much is different. Cole responds, bitterly, “Yeah. I noticed. Everyone is cozy with Deacon.” Cassie brushes it aside saying that they have a mission to finish – the ends justifies the means apparently.

Cole believes that he’s responsible for the way Cassie is. But Cassie insists that she’s responsible for herself. Everything changes. But Cole tries to explain his new outlook: “I save someone who should have died. It’s the only thing that’s ever made a difference.” Cole tells her that he’s ready to continue the mission when she is – and gives her the picture of the two of them from 1944 – visual evidence that they will work together.

This was a terrific episode. I loved the time twists and the fact that this show is tightly written and makes you think. The special effects continue to be top notch. None of this would work, however, without such a great cast. What did you think of the episode? Has Cassie gone too far? Can Cole bring her back? What about Deacon? Is there more to him than meets the eye? Is he going to become a true ally? And what happened to the shot Cassie promised to bring back for him? Will she even be able to find that medicine in 1944? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

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