Last week’s episode actually ended on a positive note, with Dr. Railly (Amanda Schull) revealing that she had, in fact, found the Night Room. So, if all were to go well, Cole (Aaron Stanford) would have to make one final trip back in time in tonight’s episode, destroy what’s in the Night Room, and this would all be over, right? Well, as with everything in this show, that turns out to not be so easy.

SOMETIMES A NICE OLD LADY ISN’T NICE AT ALL

As an engineer myself, I can’t help but like Dr. Jones (Barbara Sukowa), and honestly, she does seem to care and really want to save humanity. But, looks can be deceiving as we learn tonight.

Max is now staying with Cole and Ramse at the compound, and she’s not a fan of Dr. Jones, not at all. Deacon (Todd Stashwick) had often talked about a “Dr. Grimm,” a German doctor who supposedly “turned people’s insides out.” At first, she thought it was just a trick Deacon used to keep people from leaving, but after meeting Dr. Jones, she’s not sure anymore.

And, of course, Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) has never trusted Dr. Jones and always thought she saw Cole as just a pawn, a simple means to an end. So, he decides to take a peek at Dr. Jones’ living quarters, and what he finds is very disturbing and shocking. Apparently, Cole wasn’t the first time traveler Dr. Jones had worked with. There were several others that were used as Dr. Jones perfected the process, many of which didn’t even return from the trip in one piece. One returned missing his head, another with severe injuries and burns.

Ramse confronts Dr. Jones about it, and she says with absolute certainty that she will *not* let anything happen to Cole. But, can she really be trusted? And, why is Cole so special that she seems to care more about him than the others?

RAILLY AND COLE FIND THE NIGHT ROOM — BUT SO DOES THE ARMY OF THE 12 MONKEYS

Pallid Man (Tom Noonan) and his Army of the 12 Monkeys always seem to show up exactly when Cole splinters, and this instance is no different (interesting sidenote: HOW does the Pallid Man know exactly where Cole is going to be and when he will be there?) Dr. Railly and Cole arrive at Mr. Bees Restaurant Supply AKA “The Night Room”,break into the facility and is met by Ivan, one of Jennifer Goines’ (Emily Hampshire) fellow scientists when she worked for the Markridge Group. This is the scene from the Sneak Peek clip, and the only thing we were able to get from that clip is Ivan saying he was sorry. It turns out he said that because the Army of the 12 Monkeys was already there, and he was sorry he was not able to warn them.

Cole and Dr. Railly are now taken bound and handcuffed to the lab where the vault is kept — the same vault where the virus is supposedly kept. Pallid Man orders Ivan to give him the passcode, but as we know from a brief flashback at the beginning of the episode, Ivan doesn’t have it — only Jennifer Goines does. Pallid Man says he believes him, but it doesn’t matter, and Ivan must die anyway.

Please, please, I just want to see my wife again — Ivan

Is she pretty? — Pallid Man

Yes — Ivan

Okay, Ivan, close your eyes. Just close your eyes — Pallid Man

Now, what kind of question is that — “Is she pretty?” Not exactly the kind of conversation I would expect between a murderer and the man he is about to kill. Pallid Man then shoots Ivan in the back of the head, with no emotion, with no remorse, and he actually laughs about it. This guy creeps me out more and more each week.

THE VAULT TO THE NIGHT ROOM IS OPENED — BUT IT’S NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED!

Now enter Jennifer Goines. We know from episode 2 that the Army of the 12 Monkeys had kidnapped her, but Cole was 100% certain that she would never tell them the location of the Night Room because doing that would require “them to break through a lot of crazy.” Well, maybe Cole should have killed her too like he did Dr. Toussaint because he was wrong, and Jennifer is actually the one who led the Army to the lab. Surely to God Jennifer has some secret agenda, right?

Jennifer does give Pallid Man the passcode to the vault, and when it’s opened, I think most of us expected just some vials or test tubes because the only thing that was supposed to be in there was the original virus. Nothing remotely like that in there, and instead, we get a freak show. Preserved in a huge container of fluid, the only thing in the vault is a half-decomposed torso of a human body.

What is that thing? — Cole

The origin of my father’s virus — Jennifer

What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Is this the remains of the Ground Zero patient? Before Ivan was killed, he called the contents of the vault the “Frost 510 Pre-Strain.” If they wanted to store samples of the original virus, you would think it would be a lot easier to simply retain the virus itself and not an entire human torso. I have no idea of who or what that is, and I suspect none of us will know for a while.

In fact, we may be lucky to find out at all. Besides the passcode to open the vault, there is a 2nd code you must enter to deactivate the fail safes. Pallid Man doesn’t know this because one of his men nearly gets his hand burned off when he tries to pick up the container in the vault. Now, Pallid Man is really pissed off and goes to get Jennifer again. Jennifer originally said she didn’t have the fail safe password, but Pallid Man doesn’t believe her and pushes her once again. In the process, he also reveals to her that Cole is the one who killed her father. Pallid Man had also spilled the beans that Cole killed Dr. Toussaint too, and while Dr. Railly didn’t take that news very well, Jennifer’s reaction is the complete opposite.

Ha, ha! They told me. You killed Daddy. That is awesome! — Jennifer to Cole

Cole looks at her with this confused look on his face, and I think any of us would have done the exact same thing. It sounds like Jennifer has some serious Daddy issues. Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg, because what Jennifer says next stops Cole completely in his tracks.

I told them I’d never open it. Only for you — Jennifer to Cole

What?! Did we miss something? Jennifer and Cole had met only once, and it was in the looney bin. And, she didn’t even seem to like Cole because she caused him nothing but trouble in his short stay at J.D. Peoples. Perhaps Cole made some additional trips back in time that we don’t know about yet that caused Jennifer to have a change of heart. Who knows. But, Jennifer’s actions definitely make you start to wonder.

With the Army about ready to get their hands on the virus, Cole has to think fast, and he remembers Ivan talking about the Big Burn switches. In the event a virus is about to escape the lab, there are 2 burn switches that when both are flipped, everything in the lab is completely incinerated. Cole looks up at Dr. Railly, and she knows what he is thinking. They flip the switches, Cole grabs Jennifer, runs out the door, and everything — including the Frost 510 Pre-Strain and several of the Army’s men — are burned up in a matter of seconds. Mission accomplished. Game over. Right?

AN ENDING THAT PACKED A PUNCH — ACTUALLY A DOUBLE PUNCH

If all had gone well, after the virus was destroyed, Cole would have just disappeared. But, just like after killing Leland Goines, he remained, and he knew he had eff’ed up again. What’s more, Pallid Man was now mad as hell, and runs off with Dr. Railly as his prisoner.

Cole isn’t far behind, but before he can catch up with them, he splinters, and poor Jennifer Goines is left standing in the middle of a parking lot wondering if she had hallucinated what she just saw.

And, it gets WORSE folks. Cole makes it back to the year 2043 and to the compound, but Dr. Jones, Ramse, everybody are nowhere to be found. Somehow, someway his action of destroying the virus pre-strain has altered history, and now the compound is occupied by the West 7. Oh my God! Does that mean Dr. Jones is dead? If so, what is Cole going to do now? He could just go back in time again and try to fix whatever he broke, but oh yeah, he doesn’t know how to operate the damn time machine. Sigh. At the very least, let’s hope Dr. Jones is nearby and still alive.

I have only one word to describe Cole’s current predicament — FUBAR. I can’t wait to see what he does next week to try and get out of this frakking mess!

12 Monkeys airs on Fridays at 9/8c on Syfy.

Critic Grade — B+

NEXT WEEK ON “12 Monkeys” — Episode 1.06 “The Red Forest”

Official Synopsis from Syfy: “After the tragic events of the Night Room create an alternate reality in 2043, Cole risks his future to save Dr. Railly.”

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