Tag: The Event S1x19 Us or Them

  • The Event: “Some Will Live, Some Will Die”!

    The Event: “Some Will Live, Some Will Die”!

    The-Event banner - Click to learn more at the official NBC web site!

    Hello The Event fans,

    A short recap Has us following Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) and Vicky Roberts (Taylor Cole) on a flight coming back from Russia. They are following a courier who is carrying the infected lungs of a dead World War One soldier in order that the disease could be spread out through the world population.

    Click to visit NBC Universal!
    They want to do this to make room for about two billion of their people they wish to bring here to escape their star’s explosion. Time is getting short, so Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes) is becoming more and more brutal in her plan to get her people here, resulting in their survival. Sophia is not really “Callous” per Se, but she is duty-bound to save her people above anything else. Sophia actually is taking no pleasure whatsoever in doing what she feels she has to do.

    We left the last episode with President Elias Martinez (Blair Underwood) worsening in his condition in the Intensive Care Unit/Critical Care Unit suffering from a poison which Raymond Jarvis (Bill Smitrovich) gave him via his morning coffee on instruction of Sophia. Sophia told Jarvis if he did this, Jarvis would become the Acting President and could save his country from the plague with which Sophia would use to winnow the Eartheaon population.

    Jarvis became acting president, and he had an argument with Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) We saw now that Sophia is getting more aggressive with Jarvis, and Jarvis is, I feel, well aware that he is being used by Sophia. At this point, he is in too deep and now must try to save himself. Sean and Vicky had the courier -“Alex” who turned out to be “Alexandra” (Angela Gots) (An Air Moscow Stewardess) in their sights, but Vicky did not take a shot which might have killed Sean, so Alex escaped with an accomplice..

    Sean Hostage

    Despite Michael Buchanan’s (Scott Patterson) hardened character about the mission to bring his people here, Simon Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) called him out on what he had become. Leila Buchanan (Sarah Roemer) also had words with him saying she did not recognize him…what he used to be… anymore..

    Through the episode last week, Michael began to see sense and helped Simon Lee escape from their Alien compound, getting shot and killed in the process. We left it with Leila crying and yelling at Sophia “YOU killed him!!” as she was being detained by two of the Others. Simon escaped with a vial of antidote for Martinez which Michael had forced Dr Liu to give to him. We saw him go over the fencing and into the woods.

    Simon and Leila in Woods

    “Some Will Live And Some Will Die”

    We open in the community, out by the fence and Sophia with the Others have Leila. Carlos goes and sees Michael. “He’s Gone” I feel he sounded genuinely upset at this fact Michael is dead. Carlos then came to Sophia apologizing for letting her down. Sophia does not seem angry at him though. “It’s not your fault” she tells him. At this point, Leila, crying says “You killed my father…” but Sophia interjects “I’ve known your father longer than you can comprehend. You have no idea what I felt for him.” Leila backs down a bit.

    Dr. Liu (Alexandria Bokyun Chun) came up to the group asking if Michael had the vial. She broke the news that Michael had forced her to give him the vial of the antidote. Sophia was shocked “What compound?” Dr. Liu replied “DNA repair enzymes. It can reverse the effect of the poison we gave Martinez” Sophia orders that Leila and Michael’s body be searched. She correctly surmises that Simon Lee could get this to Martinez and then “If Martinez recovers, everything we’ve been working toward will be compromised”. Sophia then orders the evacuation of the compound before Simon has a chance to alert the authorities.

    Sophia Orders Evacuation

    In the ICU/CCU, First Lady Christina Martinez (Lisa Vidal) is talking on the phone to her son. The doctor comes in saying they really have done all they can do.” “So, you’re just going to give up?” Christina asks through tears “No! just… No!” and goes back to Elias’ bedside.

    Saying I love you

    Agent Peel (Roger Bart) comes into the Oval Office, handing Jarvis a list of candidates for Blake’s replacement. Jarvis says “I want the best!” to which Peel replies “You fired the best… With all due respect” Jarvis shuffles the papers saying “Director Sterling was a dangerous man. Things he said about me? He’s not in his right mind! I can’t have a man like that as the head of Intelligence Operations and for you to constantly remind me of his importance only makes you suspect.” He pauses and then apologized to Peel as his phone rings.

    Jarvis And Peel

    Peel is dismissed and Jarvis answers his call. It is Sophia, in a car being driven somewhere as she says to Jarvis “We have a problem. Simon Lee has escaped with a counter-agent” She tells him this will reverse the effects of the poison they gave to Martinez. “you need to focus on finding Simon Lee” Jarvis is arguing with her.

    She pretty much tells him he has every resource on the ground to find one man, “USE them. She demands. Then in a softer tone she says “If Martinez recovers they will put you away for the rest of your life!” As Jarvis sits back down at his desk we can see he looks like he is going to be sick. He had better be scared, he blew his loyalties and he knows it.

    Jarvis Scared

    Sean and Vicky are in their car, trying to track where the Courier and her accomplice went to. Sean is trying to track them on his laptop. The Others have a rental car. From about the mid-nineties, rental cars have had tracking devices on them so the companies could keep track of their cars out in the roads.

    Sean is trying to find their car. Vicky, at one point snaps at Sean and then apologized. “You saw how those people died on the ship, if Sophia gets that out here, what could happen?” Sean replied “The Spanish flu killed about 50-100 million people, that was before international travel became so easy…” Vicky says “And this strain’s more virulent?” “Way more” replies Sean “If Sophia released it, I don’t what would be left.” The Tracking worked and they actually do find out the two Others are about fifty miles ahead of them. They speed up a little and go to find out where the disease may be.

    We are now in the Aliens’ Evacuation shelter. Sophia is told that Gerard has established contact with their home world and that it is worse than they thought. “Radiation levels have become catastrophic. Our people are dying. We need to make room here-it needs to get done!” Sophia replies “I understand that better than anyone.” She walks into a makeshift lab and computer room. Dr. Liu tells her (Rightfully so) that in order for this to be spread on a global pandemic scale, the host must live long enough to spread the disease.

    Sophia in Evac Center

    Sophia and Dr. Liu

    They watch a video Arron sent from the Irena Bogdanov. Dr Liu pointed out when the contaminant was released to the time everyone on the ship died. It happened too quickly. But, Dr. Liu also said this was in close quarters, the contaminant was in high concentration, she would need a better scenario to gauge the disease’s effects. Sophia tells Dr. Liu “If it’s more reliable data you need I am sure the next field test will provide it.”

    Blake Sterling is sitting at his home, reading the newspaper and smoking a cigarette. He hears a noise and quietly gets his gun, going to investigate. He lets the intruder walk into a room and makes his, and the gun’s presence known. The intruder turns around and we see Simon Lee. After the initial confrontation, Blake is still doubting Simon’s credibility. Simon hands him the vial explaining what it would do for Martinez. “I split from from Sophia, for good. Once I realized what she wanted to do…How many people she was willing to murder!”

    Blake and Simon Lee

    Blake still does not trust Simon but Simon points out “I was free and clear… ‘Even now I believe we can live in peace with each other… Starting with this…” He hands him the vial and says “If you don’t believe me, shoot me! But get this to Martinez.” Sterling tells Simon to step back from the window. Apparently someone followed Simon to Blake’s house and are out there in their car getting ready for the capture. We see two men in the car, one of whom was Simon’s partner for ten years, as they deploy to the house with others. Heavily armed the team assembles outside and get ready to go in.

    CIA around Blake's House

    Back in the car, Sean at his laptop; “They’re Stopped” he tells Vicky as they tail the Others ahead of them “Ten miles out”… He cross references a map and we then see a large mall parking lot. I know this mall! I am a female in Southern California. I know Malls in General. This, in real-life is the Del Amo Fashion Center, in Torrence, CA. It is near the Palos-Verdes Peninsula. We did Christmas shopping there one year staying ALL DAY LONG. It is a huge indoor mall, and if all this were real, would be a perfect place to release a bio-weapon.

    Mall shot

    Plans of Mall

    Sean and Vicky search for the courier’s car and find it. They find plans for the mall in the other cars’ trunk and this is for details of the air circulation systems. Alexandra and her accomplice are walking inside the mall and Alex said that Sophia want all records about this operation. They agree to meet on the roof, Alexandra takes the container and they part ways. We see the massive interior of the mall and then we are on the roof, watching “Alex” opening the air circulation machine. She then opens one of the black cases to reveal glass canisters containing the lungs of the dead soldier.

    Lungs from Soldier

    Back at Blake Sterling’s house, the tactical team are outside planning who goes where. They are deep into it when sirens and a multitude of police cars show up. They are blowing a CIA operation and finally one of the officers checked the credentials. After standing down the police tell the covert ops that they had received a call about an armed robbery at this address. Blake and Simon escaped during the melee.

    Easy, Easy...

    Jarvis is telling Sophia about Blake and Simon getting away. She is angered at this and tells Jarvis they must be stopped. Sophia is speaking to Jarvis like he is a child. Perhaps she is not wrong. That is why she chose to get to him, is it not? I also note the Aliens do not use cases on their iPhone 4’s. Not like they have to worry about warranty and so on, but that actually makes me nervous. Yes, I am a tech geek! In my opinion, it takes a good actor to make us ‘Hate’ or dislike his or her character. When we, the viewers are yelling at our televisions cussing at Jarvis or Sophia or whoever, that just shows that the particular actor is darn good at their job!

    Sophia Calls Jarvis

    “The last thing I thought I’d be doing is stealing a car” Blake tells Simon as he drives them to a warehouse. They decide the First Lady is the least problematic and they should use her to get the antidote to Martinez. Jarvis already suspects Agent Peel and so they will have to figure a way to meet with Christina. Jarvis already suspects Agent Peel. Blake and Simon in car

    At this same time, Christina is being blocked from her husband’s room by soldiers enforcing a higher security alert. She is denied her visit. and then she gets a call from Blake: “We need to talk… but not here…” .

    Christina's Denial of Service

    Blake calls Christina

    At this time, an agent comes into Jarvis’ office telling him there was a call to Christina from Blake Sterling which only lasted twenty four seconds. The call was encrypted so Jarvis orders that to be decrypted. On hearing this could take hours, Jarvis gets up, putting his jacket on and tells his secretary Eva to get a location on the First Lady.

    Order to find Christina

     

    Back at the Mall, we see Alex affixing a canister to a rectangular, bomb-like device and placing it

     

    onto the air circulation system. Sean and Vicky come into the packed mall and split up. Sean went to the roof and Vicky looks around to try to see their quarry. We see the accomplice meanwhile, in the main security center with the real Security guard down and out. The accomplice calls Sophia: “I’ve got you routed into the video surveillance system, you should have a visual on the site now.”

    Alex's Accomplice in Security room

     

     

     

    Sophia asks “How much longer until you proceed with the test?” He replies “Alex is arosolizing the virus as we speak”. We see Alex on the roof, having placed some of the contaminant into a pressurized canister onto the bottom of the device she made.

    Affixing Bio-weapon

     

    Vicky is now seen running through the mall and she tries a fire alarm switch, which doesn’t work so she gets a security guard to ‘help’. She knew the accomplice most likely disabled the alarm system. The Security man did not believe her, so she had him with her gun to his back, leading him off to do this.

    Back in the main security center, the accomplice sites camera four. “That’s the man from Alex’s flight. The one who tried to stop us” Sophia knows who he is. She says “…And I think I know who told him Alex was on the plane. He must’ve figured out we were going to release the virus. You can’t let him stop it!” The accomplice gets up and leaves to stop Sean.

    Sophia: "Stop Sean!"
    Sean is now on the roof of the mall, looking around and spots Alex with her device at one of the circulation boxes. He starts to venture out onto the area where Alex is and a shot rings out. Alex’s accomplice is trying to stop Sean from stopping them. Sean gets more assertive and comes out shooting at the accomplice who then runs past Alex. Alex shouts “What’s going on?” “Keep working!” he orders as he runs after Sean.

    "Keep Working!"

     

     

    She is soon on her phone reading the riot act to whoever banned her from seeing her husband in the ICU/CCU when Jarvis comes up to her. He said it was a mis-communication and he would straighten out the problem with her seeing Elias. He then gets down to business. He tells Christina that Elias was indeed poisoned and lays the blame on Blake Sterling and Simon. Christina remembered her time with Blake in Elias’ room and how he had told her there was nothing anyone could do. She told Jarvis about Blake’s phone call and she was to meet Blake at a warehouse on Kendal Street.

    Jarvis and Christina

    Sophia, back in the evacuation center, goes to a large panel truck and opens the back to find Leila is in there, restrained. Sophia remarked how hard it was for her to look at Leila and not see Michael “His courage, his resolve… I understand you better than you think. But you have to know how misguided you are I don’t want to hurt anyone. But if you had to choose between saving your family or saving someone Else’s, what would you do? who would you save?” Sophia then said “I need to know what you told Sean Walker.”

    Sophia and Leila in truck

    Leila denied telling him anything and Sophia wound up getting very angry snapping at Leila “Tell me!”. “Go to Hell!” Leila snapped back. Sophia’s voice became calm and level: “Don’t choose the wrong side on this Leila. Because I will do everything I can to protect my people… my family… OUR family!”

    Oh, and yeah, she played the torn loyalties card, but Leila replied “I’m not telling you anything” Sophia gets up and as she leaves tells Leila: “By involving Sean in this you’ve ensured his death. Same way you did with your father.” As Sophia closes the door of the truck’s cargo hold she says “Their blood’s on your hands”.

    Sophia And Leila

    Meanwhile the gunfight on the roof of the mall is in full swing. The Security guard with Vicky both come into the security center and Vicky gets the man to sound the alarm. It would still take about twenty to twenty five minutes to get all the people out. Vicky asks about shutting down the air circulation, but the guard says “I could shut down the breakers, but there’s a battery back up somewhere. I wouldn’t know how to do it”

    Vicky tells this numbskull to hit the alarm and it sounds out sirens with an automated voice instructing patrons to leave the mall by the nearest exit Sean and the accomplice are still shooting it out but Sean is now out of ammo, so he brings hand to hand combat into it with the accomplice. I believe the accomplice’s name is Devon, but am unsure at this point.

    Sean Fights!

    They both fight, rolling about and swinging punches. Alex had the bio-bomb attached and armed. Sean finally kills the accomplice and Vicky comes up at this point. After they find the bio-bomb the “how do we disarm this?” questions start as the seconds tick backwards…

    In the Briefing room, Jarvis, General Ambruster (Blue Deckert) and Agent Peel, among others see the SUV with Blake and Simon in it going into a warehouse via an IMED Satellite feed. Agent Peel is questioning Jarvis “source” and says that he doubts Blake would ever be involved with traitorous activities against his government. Jarvis is coordinating with the Air Force on this one. He instructs someone to ask Gen. McMillan if the Predator Drone is ready for its’ air strike.

    Jarvis 'Fires General

    Mr. Peel is appalled: “Air Strike?? You can’t possibly be serious?” Gen. Ambruster says “With all due respect sir, this is a mistake!” “This is an Order!” Growls Jarvis. “Well, I cannot condone it, Sir.” Says Ambruster Jarvis reminds him the He is acting President commander in Chief and if he cannot condone the actions of his commander in chief then he could “Get the Hell Out!!” We see Gen. Ambruster collect his things and walk out. “Anyone else?” asks Jarvis. “Fire when ready” Jarvis instructs and we see the missile, from leaving the drone to the explosion of the warehouse.

     

    Drone Fires Missile

    Missle approaches

    Warehouse hit

    We can plainly see that Agent Peel is not happy with Jarvis in office. He knew Blake Sterling and what Blake thought of Jarvis, I feel Peel is finding out Blake Sterling was right all along. I can read his face as Jarvis asks for confirmation of the kills. Bill Smitrovich is good in this role!

    Peel Hates Jarvis.

    Back in the Mall, the alarm is sounding and people are leaving.

    Mall Evac

    Mall Evac. Scene

    We see Alex getting onto a RTD local bus outside of the mall and releasing a pressurized valve on her ‘luggage’. I guess if she could not get the Mall infected, a bus would do. At least the Aliens would have some new data about the disease from the people on the bus. From the picture, I see a camera is also there. Alex will video the reactions of the passengers to the disease for the Others.

    Alex boards bus

    The Event S1x20 Alex releases bio on bus

    At this same point in time, Sean and Vicky are on the roof, trying to think of ways to disarm the bio weapon. Vicky says “I thought you were an expert!” “At… at COMPUTERS! Not this…virus producing…” Sean stammers at her “Ok, Ok…Fine! Just do SOMETHING! we’re running out of time..!”. “OK, the timer’s connected to an actuator that opens a solenoid valve that…” They argue about the timer, power source what have you Finally, Sean shoots the device, in effect killing the power supply to it.

    "I dunno what to do!"

    Disarming the BioBomb

     

    BioBomb Disarmed

    Uh, Are you SURE that is really disarmed? Want to burn it too? A bit of fun overkill…Literally! Good thing Sean did NOT puncture the container!

    We see a bus inside the Aliens’ evac center, which I am guessing is just a huge, hollow warehouse I’ve seen trailer-like offices and so on within the large building in this episode. Alongside the bus are the bodies of the people which were on it. Alex is drinking some water and Sophia comes up to her to thank her for the contribution she has made. Alex asked about the device at the mall, and Sophia tells her that it was disarmed. Alex, apologizing, said she should have stayed with it. Sophia said “No, if you had we might have lost everything!!” She walks around the area with the bodies and Others charting and taking notes about the victims.

    Victims from Bus and Alex

    Sophia now says; “Dr Liu has been studying the video you filmed on board the bus. Now that she’s able to see every minute of how the virus affects humans, as well as having these test subjects to autopsy. we’ll be able to move forward.” Turning back to Alex Sophia continues; “We owe you a debt of gratitude.” Carlos comes in to tell Sophia Dr. Liu needs her in the lab. Sophia goes to see her. As we see Dr Liu in her makeshift Lab, she tells Sophia they may have a way to slow down the virus. “Viruses mutate when they jump from species to species. Like Bird Flu becoming H1N1when it crossed into humans. If we jump the virus into the right species, it’ll mutate on its own and we can screen for the variation we need.”

    We need a Hybrid

    Sophia asked “What kind of species would that be?” Dr. Liu replies “The virus doesn’t effect us at all, and it kills the human beings too quickly. We need to infect a bridge species who’s DNA lies somewhere in between.” “Sophia gets a small smile on her face as she says “A Hybrid…” Dr. Liu responds: “Yes, and from what I understand, we’re in luck” Yes, of course she means Leila.

    Christina and some Secret Service men are entering the hospital. “Give me a minute” Christina tells the men as she enters into a gift/florist shop on the first floor. As they wait, she gets a nice bouquet to take into Elias’ room. We then see them all coming from the elevator to Elias’ room and Christina excuses the Secret Service and goes in, alone. She meets the Doctor who tells her it is hopeless. his last EEG showed no signs of high-functioning brain activity. Nothing to be done. Christina refused the doctor’s words and went into the room, closing the curtains behind her.

    Christina Brings Flowers

    Amid the rubble and burning wreck of the warehouse, people searched for bodies. They did not find any bodies, but they DID find a trap door into an underground tunnel. Apparently this led to an outbuilding. Jarvis was told of this news. Also, the earlier phone call from Blake to Christina was decrypted and Jarvis heard it as Blake told Christina “You have to trust me. Jarvis is behind everything that’s happened to your husband but I have a way to save him. I’ll call you on the pay phone in five minutes.”. Christina lied to him. She was in on it in regards to Blake and Simon. He told her about the warehouse…Which she then relayed to Jarvis. it was all a diversion! Jarvis, in his office, alone, whimpering ‘Oh, God…!’

    Jarvis is cooked!

    Back in the Hospital, Christina, alone with Elias, flashes back to the florist’s shop, Leaving the Secret Service men outside as she went into the florist’s and seeing Simon Lee there. She begins to pray quietly as she retrieves the syringe from the flowers she brought in and removes the cap. She goes to Elias, lifts his sleeve and injects the contents into his arm as she prays. This is almost ‘sacred’ she wants her husband to get well again. She kisses Elias and he see him sleeping.

    Friend in the Florist's shop!

    Hidden in those flowers

    Antidote Administered!

    Elias still out
    Back in the Alien’s Evac center, a portion set out for medical, we see Leila strapped to a gurney and Carlos goes to take her head in his hands. Dr. Liu comes up beside her with a petri dish of a yellow substance and a ‘Q-Tip’ type of applicator.

    Infecting Leila

    As Sophia comes in speaking to her, she seems to know what is about to happen. Sophia is talking to her; “In 1918 the Spanish Flu Pandemic killed twenty percent of the world’s population. There were localized strains and mutations. This is one of them. A strain so deadly, it turned entire cities into graveyards…. Overnight.” Leila is struggling against the restraints and Carlos’ hands on her head, also cupping her chin. She is crying “No…Please…!” as Sophia continues: “We worked very hard to find this particular strain. And now you, a Hybrid… a bridge between our people … You’re gonna help us spread it.” Carlos holds Leila’s head steady as Dr. Liu places the applicator, filled with the infectious matter into Leila’s nostrils. Leila looks at Sophia, Sophia’s face becomes blurry and the scene fades out to black.

    Leila's now a carrier

     

    My Take…For what it is worth…

    We leave this week with the Aliens’ home world inching closer to all out destruction by the Supernova. Blake and Simon Lee are working together. Elias Martinez having received the medicine he needs. Jarvis, who I doubt could run a lemonade stand, let alone a country, is a simpering fool, so easily played by those around him, has ordered an air strike on domestic territory and fired General Ambruster. The Aliens are displaced into another refuge where they have their shelter and labs, computers etc… again off the radar for the most part. A busload of people who succumbed to the virulent strain of the virus, and Sean and Vicky having saved a mall full of people. Leila, is now apparently going to be the Aliens’ version of “Typhoid Mary” and be freed to the world so she can spread this disease all around. It kills pure humans too quickly, the Aliens are immune to the disease entirely. Leila, as the Host, would live long enough-if she even gets sick at all, to effectively spread this disease.

    While much of this could make sense, and would seem somewhat indicative of what we as a species would do, I’m anxious to see what Sophia’s people are actually like. I personally believe they would be more like Simon Lee. Not only advanced in Technology, but also in Spirit and mentality. If one has ever watched the newer “Twilight Zone” series from the eighties, there was an episode based on an Arthur C. Clarke short story called “The Star”. It was aired in 1985 for Christmas, and dealt with the study of a nebula by astronauts of Earth’s future. On an outlying dead planet, they found a pillar and underneath that was an archive of music, art, writings images what used to be a peaceful, advanced People. Humans who have lived in Peace for over a thousand years.

    One of the crew was a Jesuit Priest who was able to analyze data about when the Star in question exploded. The Star exploded, the light of that Supernova reached Earth only visible for a short time at certain co-ordinates . The Priest figured out the time line. He was angry because this had destroyed a peaceful planet and people….yes, people…. so that we could have the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ here on Earth. As he was dwelling in his anger and sadness at his God, one of his colleagues came in with something they had decoded from the lost civilization. The last item placed into the archive and first one retrieved:

    “Mourn not for us, for we have known the light. and looked on Beauty, have lived in peace and loved. Grieve but for those who go alone, unwise, to die in darkness and never see the sun”.

    I would like to feel that a truly advanced race of people… or otherwise… would realize when their time had come. I hope also when this sun may go nova, that this species can be the same. Sometimes, the price of one’s ‘survival’ is just too high for the other.

    Next week is the second to last episode of this fine season. Included below courtesy of NBC Universal is the sneak peek of “The Beginning of the End”.

    I do hope those in NBC’s decision making power will grant a second season. Be sure to watch live, or in On Demand to help the ratings! Monday night, 9/8C tune in for The Event! In the meantime, included below courtesy of NBC is “Some Will Live, Some Will Die”!

    If you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or on See You on The Other Side“! Click to visit and follow Celtica (Jen) on Twitter!

    Regards,

    Celtica (Jen)

  • The Event: Us Or Them!

    The Event: Us Or Them!

    Hello The Event fans,

    When we left off last week, President Martinez (Blair Underwood) had been poisoned by Raymond Jarvis (Bill Smitrovich) under the ‘guidance’ of Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes). Blake Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) along with Agent Peel (Roger Bart).

    Click to visit NBC Universal!
    We observed surveillance video of the meeting room before the call to order that morning and saw Jarvis hanging around the coffee cart, taking something out of his pocket and later, when the President had fallen, he saw Jarvis -in the surveillance video- reaching and taking a used packet of sweetener that the President had put into his coffee. Blake knew Jarvis was behind this and yet he had no real proof.

    Until after the convening of the executive branch to vote for Jarvis to become acting President. When Blake returned to his office, he noticed a coffee stain on his sleeve which had been there all day from the time President Martinez’s coffee had spilled that morning.

    The Event S01x18 Blake's Sleeve

    Michael Buchanan (Scott Patterson) and Leila Buchanan (Sarah Roemer) argued about Leila calling outside of the Aliens’ community with details of what agent Simon Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) had told her The Bodyguard, who we now know as Louis, who was assigned to keep an eye on Leila came up on them as they were arguing. He told Michael that Sophia had to be told what happened. As we saw them walking… presumably to where Sophia was, Michael killed Louis. He and Leila then took the body to their home to dispose of it and clean up the evidence.

    The “weapon” recovered by the Aliens was in fact the body of a World War one soldier who had died of the Spanish flu. The Soldier’s corpse had been taken to a ship in Port in Murmansk, and he was being autopsied by a medical examiner. The M.E. wound up cutting his own hand, apparently got out and others on the ship became infected with the strain as well. Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) and Vicky Roberts (Tayler Cole) discovered “Irina Bogdanov” was not a woman, but was a large ship ported in Murmansk, Western Siberia.

    Unwrapping the Corpse

    They got to the ship and boarded it to find everyone they could see there had died. When they found the corpse in the makeshift autopsy room, the soldier’s lungs had been cleanly removed. Sean and Vicky did find a man who had been there and he told them the people who were there before got someone to take the tissue to the United States. “I don’t know what, but they are bringing contaminated tissue to your country!” The man told them it was being taken by Air Moscow to America.

    President Martinez had all the symptoms of a brain bleed and his condition has been serious and then deteriorating through the episode. The compound that the Aliens gave Jarvis to spike the President’s coffee with was supposed to be “Quick and Painless”. It most likely would have been, had we not all the medical tech we do today for trying to save stroke victims. We ended with Christina Martinez (Lisa Vidal) being rushed out of the ICU as Elias was going into a convulsive seizure and what is termed as ‘Coding’ (pulse, breathing etc stopped or in arrhythmia) in the ICU, with staff trying to stabilize him.

    Hospital Upset

    “Us Or Them”

    We open this episode with Jarvis being sworn in as President of the United States by the Chief Justice. The solemn voice of the swearing in took place with alternative scene of the emergency treatment being given to the President. His pupils are ‘blown’, this is anomalous and very serious.. At the same time, Raymond Jarvis is placing his hand on the Bible taking the oath to become acting president.

    Jarvis Swearing in

    President Martinez is apparently getting a ventricular aspiration to analyze spinal fluid or in the attempt to relieve pressure but there is nothing there. No fluid. The pressure is increasing, then he goes into cardiac arrest. Several attempts with the defibrillator and his brain function has diminished. They do get him back, but with the Electroencephalogram (A test of brain activity) being ‘significantly flattened’, he is now in a deep, unresponsive coma.

    Resuscitating Elias

    Jarvis and the Chief Justice

    Simon is in his room in the medical house in their community and is watching the news about President Martinez. He knows Sophia had something to do with this. Michael Buchanan comes in to see him, saying “I hear you have to be fed and watered.” throwing a packed lunch on Simon’s bed. He begins to walk out.. Simon asks him if he has seen the news about the President. Michael says that she is only doing what she has to do for their people. “By committing genocide!” Simon replies. “We need to make room!”

    Michael replied. Simon points out that this is an indication of how Sophia has changed. Killing former friends, turning against her own. “How do you know you won’t be next?” Simon asked. Michael says “I’m not a traitor” Simon claims Michael is worse. Just blindly following her… “You’re a sheep… a Coward…”Simon tells him. With that, Michael explodes with temper and strikes Simon.

    Michael and Thomas Fight

    Fists fly from Michael on Simon, but Simon is in restraints. It comes down to Michael trying to strangle Simon, but Simon fights back, breaking the restraints on one hand and working on the other when Michael again attacks him. Simon is subdued and Michael pulls a gun on Simon saying “Accept!! The Native population is DONE! They don’t have a chance!” Simon looks at him dazed and says “Don’t underestimate them.” I can see why Simon is a Favourite character. He is acting the way I hope any ‘real’ extraterrestrials would, not just coming here to kill us all without any thought.

    Gun on Simon

    Next, we’re in the ‘war room’ as Jarvis addresses his new command. In brief, he says we must open diplomatic channels with Sophia and try to work with them. Jarvis orders the military to stand down from the aliens. “Letting them live in peace, so that we may do the same.” Blake is not happy at all seeing Jarvis in power. We then see Blake and Agent Peel conferring about the coffee stain, and the shirt has been sent to be analyzed. Peel pointed out to Sterling that Jarvis is now the President and that his proof must be completely irrefutable.

    Jarvis Orders Stand Down

    Sophia is with Michael in her house as he briefs her on what happened with Simon. After Michael leaves Sophia gets a call from Arron. Overlooking a beautiful scene of a Russian city, he is in a hotel telling Sophia that the body they had excavated is still ripe with a strain of the virus. Arron also told Sophia about the others on the ship being accidentally compromised. “Everyone on the ship died within hours. the strain works even more quickly than we’d anticipated”. We learn the couriers’ name is Alex and the tissue is en route from Moscow to New York. At this time, it is presumed “Alex” is a male.

    Arron In Moscow

    Sophia on Phone to Arron

    At the Moscow Airport, we see a man carrying a metallic suitcase boarding the flight. He declines check-in of the suitcase and boards the flight. Next scene is Sean Walker and Vicky Roberts running thru the airport to the boarding area. They ask about the passengers on the flight, but the attendant nicely tells them she cannot give out that information. Spur of the moment tickets are bought by Sean and they both board the flight as the boarding is now closed. –I feel I’m correct in surmising the Bag that Dempsey gave to Sean also contained money. He knew they would need to board trains, planes and so on. As Sean and Vicky board, they pass the man who boarded earlier and we see the suitcase under his seat.

    Run to Boarding Gate

    Scene of the Air Moscow flight over the a layer of clouds with the night sky. In the plane, Vicky is playing ‘tourist’ and watching the Stewardess prepare the cart for the passenger refreshments and when the woman leaves, Vicky sneaks a peek at the passenger manifest in the galley. She gets back to her seat beside Sean saying “I got the passenger manifest. There’s no ‘Alex’ on board. I even checked first and last names.” She shows Sean the manifest. Sean points out a man ahead of them is “Acting real weird, looking around him… He’s coming back from the bathroom” We see the man -carrying that suitcase- coming back. Sean asks quietly “Who brings their carry-on to the bathroom?”. Vicky notes the man’s seat location.

    Vicky gets the Manifest

    Sean and Vicky in seats

    Back in Washington DC, Blake Sterling enters the ICU of the hospital to see President Martinez. Christina Martinez is there, keeping vigil over her husband. After greeting Blake, she tells him it isn’t good for Elias. She starts to blame herself for the stress put on Elias and other things. Blake gently tells her “This is nothing you did! Nothing could’ve helped him”. Christina is taken aback by Blake’s words.

    “What do you mean?… What do you know?” Blake replies, “Nothing… I just meant Elias would be heartbroken if he thought you were blaming yourself for this.”. Christina is not buying this. “I know you Blake” she said firmly. “You know something! Tell me..” but Blake gently apologizes again to her and leaves. I liked Blake at this point. He always seemed so ‘unemotional’ but this scene showed him having a soft spot.

    Blake Comforts Christina

    Dr. Liu Tells Sophia

    Sophia is being briefed by Dr. Liu, She tells Sophia the compound has already slowed Elias’ brain activity and he could die either later today or tomorrow. Michael heard the discussion as he came in to see Sophia. After the Doctor leaves, Michael and Sophia talk a bit. “Do you know what scares me the most?” asks Sophia. “The letting go. of who I used to be.

    I knew that it would be painful to follow through on Thomas’ plan that in order to make room for our people here to ensure their survival, I would have to… sacrifice some of my principles.” Sophia (Laura Innes) played this part very well. that voice of hers, so soft and easy, makes me feel I want to be on her side. Even knowing full well what that means. Michael interjected “You’ve taken a huge burden on your shoulders, Sophia.”.

    Michael comes to see Sophia

    Sophia replies, “But that doesn’t make what has to happen next any easier”. She paused and then continued “This morning, Simon attacked Carlos in the infirmary and he nearly escaped” Michael said that Simon needs to be moved to a more secure location. Sophia says no. “I was hoping that Simon would soften his views and that we could welcome him back into the fold” She sighed “It’s clear to me that that will never happen. He needs to be taken care of.” — I know, she does NOT mean to ‘care for Simon’. THAT line NEVER means anything good as we know, but actually she thinks she has to kill him.

    I was hoping she would not take this route. If I were Sophia, I would secure him more thoroughly and then let him see the fruition of the plan. THAT would be a pain to Simon, unmatched by any physical torture. Michael asked why she was approaching him about this. Sophia said he had always been loyal, able to set aside his attachments to his family for what needs to be done. “You will do this for me” she says as a matter-of-fact. Michael agrees.

    The Letting Go

    On the Plane, Vicky walks past the suspected courier and spills a drink into his lap. The courier gets up and goes into the Galley for a cloth, of course carrying his suitcase with him. Sean and Vicky tackle him in the galley and Vicky opens the case…. To find Cocaine. “We have the wrong guy” she says to Sean “It’s Coke.”. One of the flight attendants enters, asking if everything is alright, and they all assure him it is. Back in their seats, Sean says “we have to let the authorities know there’s a WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) on this plane. You used to work for the CIA, you have to know someone that we can get word to…” Pointing out at least the virus could be contained just to this plane. Not everyone else. Then, again, he sort of questions why Vicky is still staying with him and why she is helping him. She tells him not to flatter himself, that she is doing this to protect her family too.

    Sean Fights in Galley

    "It's Coke!"

    Back in their house, Michael and Leila are in their kitchen. Leila tells Michael she has found a spot to bury Louis’ body. about a mile into the woods, the ground is soft. Michael tells her they will do this tonight and starts to walk out. Leila stops him with a question. “We can bury Louis, but what about everyone else? How many people will have to die?” Michael says the title line when he replies “Leila, I don’t like this any more than you do, but it’s Us, or Them! Now, I ‘ have to go.”

    Leila retorts “When I was a kid, I was playing with the boys across the street and they killed a bird. I told you what happened and you said we were the strongest and smartest things on the planet, so we had a responsibility to protect the smaller weaker things because if we didn’t do it, no one else would. That it was the right thing to do. I don’t know if you remember that but I do. But I’m looking at you and I don’t recognize that person anymore.” Michael looks almost ashamed as he wordlessly walks out from their house.

    Michael Leaves Leila

    Blake is in his office as Mr. Laduchi comes in with the preliminary lab results of the tox-screen run on Blake’s sleeve. “The analysis came back as containing coffee and sucralose which is a very common sugar substitute, but I also found traces of an unknown bio-catalyst. It’s not something naturally occurring it’s synthesized, which… is strange, because as far as I know, we don’t even have the science to create it.” It seems as if Blake is now fully aware of who does have the ‘science’ and seems to remember Jarvis pushing for diplomacy with the aliens. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a better explanation” concludes Mr. Laduchi Blake sighs and looks at Laduchi as he says: “I think I do.”

     

    Blake walks in to Jarvis’ office. Jarvis is going through paperwork and his head is resting on one hand.”Blake, What is it?” he asks tiredly. Blake says “We need to talk. I don’t think what happened to the President was an accident” Blake tells Jarvis that he had a sample of the coffee from that morning which spilled on his clothes analyzed. “So” Jarvis replies “You really do suspect foul play”. “There was foul play” Blake says as he gives Jarvis copies of the report from the lab.

    Blake shows Jarvis the report

    “I have reason to believe the compound came from Sophia’s people” he said. “And once I realized Sophia was involved, it all made sense to me.” “Meaning…What?” asked Jarvis. “Meaning you’re not capable of doing something like this alone… Raymond.” Jarvis became upset and spluttered “H-how DARE you! Accuse me!”… They start to argue vehemently, but Blake’s onto Jarvis.

    Blake said to Jarvis that Sophia only used Jarvis so she could get control of this office. “You’re a PAWN, Her puppet!” then, Blake softens and says “I know you care about this country, but trusting Sophia will only lead to more death and destruction… Whatever you’re doing, Put an end to it…Now… before it’s too late” Jarvis cites Blake’s accusations as baseless and says that this is where they part ways. At this point Jarvis effectively fires Blake and tells him “You’re Done!” He looked like he would spit fire at Blake if he could have.

    Back on the airplane from Moscow, everyone in the cabin is sleeping or appears to be. Sean looks out of his window and sees the Military escort sidling up to the passenger jet. Cabin lights come on and the Stewardess announces that they “…are currently under military escort. There is no reason to be alarmed, Our flight is being redirected to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland only as a safety precaution. At this time we ask that you remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened. Thank you”. Passengers are whispering and talking among themselves.

    Sean sees Military escort

    Military Jets

    Stewardess Makes announcement

    We see the suspicious man getting up and walking to another part of the plane. On being told to go back to his seat, he says he wants to go to his wife. they were given separate seats, but he wants to be with her. The Attendant saying “I’ll see what I can do” leads him off to the other area of the plane. Arron is now on the phone to Sophia, telling her that their courier just emailed him telling him their plane now has a US Military escort. Sophia say they must get the virus to a better location. as this strain works too quickly. In other words, the tissue they have would kill only those in the plane and not allow it to spread out the way they need it to.

    Jarvis is telling Agent Peel about having to fire Blake. As the agent leaves his office, Jarvis gets a call from Sophia. Sophia, no longer playing nice, tells Jarvis to issue a ‘stand down’ order on the Military escort of the Russian jet. “You don’t need to know anything, just do it.” She threatens Jarvis with more destruction of his people and a full-disclosure about Jarvis role in the attempts on Elias life. “You will call off the F-16’s Now!” –Her voice is no longer soft or friendly. She lays it on the line to Jarvis, Jarvis knows he has no hope of arguing her down.

    Sophia lays it down on Jarvis

    Sophia, in my opinion has just attained the “BAMF” (BAMF=Bad a** mother f***er) Status. She is harder in voice and action than we have seen her before.I believe this is due to having been lied to for all these decades and her knowledge that time is of the essence for her people now.

    At the same time, back on the jet, Sean, Vicky and the others see the fighter jets leave. The Captain announces the threat was unfounded and they are now back to the regular flight. Vicky says Sophia must have someone on the inside. They finally land at JFK airport, Sean and Vicky see the flight attendant go through as another steward offered to share a cab with her and called her “Alexandra”. “Oh, my boyfriend is picking me up” Alexandra replies as they walk through past the line Sean and Vicky stand in, waiting to get their bags checked. It was the Stewardess! That is why she was not on the flight manifesto.

    "Alex" Is Alexandra

    Jarvis is told by his secretary that Blake Sterling has been escorted off the grounds. Jarvis thanks her, and turns to face out the window, hi expression could be read as disappointed and even ‘horrified’. Mainly I see anger at the fact he realizes he has been ‘Played’ by Sophia. It is as if Blake’s words have come back to haunt him now. Jarvis has been indeed a pawn in the greater game between two very powerful people.

    Jarvis Regrets

    Carlos and Simon

    Back in the infirmary at the community, Simon is bound and in his room. Michael come in to the room and the guard, Carlos, his nose bandaged most likely from the earlier attack on him by Simon, says it isn’t a good idea for him to enter. Michael tells him “Sophia asked me to take care of things. You can go now”. Carlos leaves. Simon looks at Michael asking “So, Sophia asked you to do her dirty work for her huh?” He looks at Michael and continues “You’re going to have to face up to what you’re doing, Michael.

    To me, and the billions of people Sophia will ask you to kill.” It appears that Michael will indeed shoot Simon, but he doesn’t. After firing a round, he goes to Simon “We gotta get you out of here” Simon looks back at the wall where a bullet hole is and sighs. Next, we see Michael in the room as Carlos comes back in “Give me a hand with the body” he says. As Carlos comes in Michael knocks him out. Simon and he are going to meet on the northwest side of the compound in the woods.

    Alex Getting away

    Sean and Vicky are running through the airport and they see the stewardess with her bag, they chase and try to intercept her but another man drives up, blocking them off from Alexandra. The man jumps out and grabs Sean holding a gun to his head, preventing Vicky from shooting. Sean kept telling her to take the shot. Vicky refuses. Eventually, Vicky puts her gun down and she kicks it away on the man’s instructions. The Stewardess gets into her car, with the case and drives off, letting the other man get into the car with her. Sean and Vicky heist a car as per usual and they drive off in pursuit.

    Sean Hostage

    Back into the Community, Carlos is discovered, gagged and bound in Simon’s room. The call goes out “Michael and Simon are gone! Lock down the perimeter before they escape!” Scenes of the woods and Leila and Simon standing, Leila asks “where’s my dad?” Simon answers “He said he’d meet us here”. We then see many of the Aliens going out on search from their streets into the woods

    The Search is On

    . Michael shows up to where Simon and Leila are, closely followed by the search party. Michael tells the other two “The Perimeter fence is straight ahead… about fifty yards through those trees..” We see them running to the fence. It looks as if they’re about to make it, but gunfire erupts from the search party and fire is returned by Simon and Michael. Leila is seen running to the fence and the search party is hot on their trail.

    Simon and Leila in Woods

    Searching for the Escapees

    Michael directs to escape

    After Michael lets the other two get ahead, he stays behind and fights with the searchers from the community. It looks like he is completely outnumbered, and we see him get a bullet. As Simon and Leila reach the fence, we see Michael coming up to Leila and he has indeed been shot. Leila holds him, trying to get him to run. Michael falls and Leila is calling for her dad to stay. Michael, while calling her ‘baby’ and so on is hurt bad but tells Leila there is a vial in his pocket. She is to get this to the president as soon as she can. Leila will not leave her ‘Dad’ and does not go with Simon. I was hoping she would leave with Simon. This could have put another twist into the story later.

    Michael is Hit

    Michael keeps telling her to go, saying “Go…Leila…” She tells Simon to take the vial instead. Simon leaves, jumping the fence and Michael dies in Leila’s arms, while apologizing to her for the way he had acted before. As Leila is captured and taken back from her father, she see Sophia and looks at Sophia saying “You did this! You killed him!” Sophia’s face is unreadable.

    We are left with Sean and Vicky going after the courier of the infected tissue, Simon on the run and Leila, now apparently fatherless, in the hands of “The Others”. Elias Martinez is still in Critical care and Blake has been fired. Jarvis is now the President and realizes what has happened but will he change back to the side of the Humans? Will he have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to Sophia and her people? That remains to be seen…

    You killed him!

    My take…For what it is worth…

    I will miss Michael Buchanan if he did, in fact die. We are left to presume he passed away, but most Sci-Fi people know that “No one really dies in Sci-Fi”. He was in a way a good guy/bad guy, leaning more to the side of peace but stuck in the control of Sophia’s plan.His inner conflict made him an interesting character.

    If Sophia did not kill Michael directly, it was her orders and ways that did ultimately result in Michael’s demise. At least from what I saw, Michael saw what he had become and repented for this to his daughter, and to himself. He went back to what I feel the Aliens would really be about were they not facing such desperation in their people’s fate. There are very similar mannerisms among the Eartheaon people. I feel throughout history Man has been like this.

    We would all like to think we are so much better than that, but are we really? Best to ask some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Australia, Africa etc and see what they would say about this. I doubt our history is much better than we would like to think it is. A lot of the actions in history was based on greed. Invading tribes did not face a supernova or the extinction of their people. Some actions were based on a survival instinct, sure: Food supply, water and shelter, but if they had not wanted it all, but wished to share.

    I believe the history of this world would have been very different indeed. I feel that had the aliens been helped instead of lied to and detained all these years, things may well have been very different. Now, the time of their Supernova is nearer than eer, and the desperation in Sophia and her people is making them harsher in their actions.

    I feel that sometimes, Sophia would be someone feeling like what Jessica Dovey was quoted as saying: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”. This was when she told another of her people in the last episode that she took no joy in seeing this man (President Martinez) fall, and neither should he. Many people attribute the above quote to Dr. Martin Luther King, but he in fact did not say this.

    I do not and never have felt that Sophia actually ‘Hates’ Eartheaons. If anything, she is first and foremost about saving her own people. She is looking at this as more clinical, or unattached than we would in her situation….Or is she? Would we not take a weaker race or species asunder if it meant the survival of our own people? I unfortunately, believe we would do exactly the same thing.

    Be sure to watch the next episode of the Event, “One Will Live, One Will Die” which returns on Monday May 9, 2011 on NBC 9/8C. We include the promotional trailer for the next episode and the entire “Us or Them” episode for your enjoyment courtesy on The Event on NBC

     

     

    Click to visit and follow WormholeRiders News Agency on Twitter!Thank you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency.

    Please fee free to leave a comment here or if you prefer, you may also click the social media icons below to share this news article or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit the WHR on Facebook or me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story and or on See You on The Other Side“! Click to visit and follow Celtica (Jen) on Twitter!

    Regards,

    Celtica (Jen)

error: Content is protected !!