Recap / Extinct E 05 Broken

Silas tries to persuade Lynn to join the Skin Riders, and Abram discovers details about his past.

Teaser

At a Skin Rider camp near a crashed Karik vessel, Lynn attempts to escape, but is re-captured by Jax. Meanwhile, Abram attempts to communicate through the Obelisk the importance of lowering the forcefield so they can free Lynn, but there seems to be no response. He remembers riding helplessly with his wife Tasha to the hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Ezra sees the fact that their previous Reborn lives were withheld from them as yet another sign that the Obelisk, and whoever is communicating through it, cannot be trusted, and wants to destroy it. Yellow Drone objects, but Ezra says that it’s keeping him from his wife. Yellow Drone points out that his wife is only reborn in the first place because of it, but Ezra says that he’d rather she be dead than a Skin Rider. Yellow Drone says that if she is turned, the kindest thing he can do is kill her.

Act 1

Lynn wakes in chains as Silas enters to bring her food. He tries to convince her to join the Skin Riders, implying that she’ll be killed if she doesn’t cooperate. Duncan watches Silas depart the crashed Karik vessel where Lynn is being held, then takes Red Drone into the forest, opens it, and begins working on it, not knowing that Jax is observing him.

Feena brings soup to Abram, who has had no luck with the Obelisk. She reflects that Duncan was a much better cook than she was, which leads her to wonder whether the Sparks could make someone who is already alive. They ask the Sparks via Yellow Drone, who reports that “The Sparks do not create what already exists.” When asked whether Duncan would be recreated if he were to die, Yellow Drone reminds them that it does not decide who is reborn and who is not. Feena concludes that Duncan must be freed of the parasite, but Yellow Drone states that’s impossible.

After working on Red Drone, Duncan succeeds in generating a hologram of Feena. Duncan’s parasite proceeds to tell Holo!Feena that she is Duncan’s greatest distraction, the thing that most interferes with its control over him, and that it wants him to know that when it finds her, it will kill her. With that, it shuts off the hologram.

Abram tells Ezra and Feena that their objective should be to use the weapon to destroy the Ancestor, weakening the parasites’ hold over the infected Reborn. Feena objects that they don’t know how powerful the weapon’s effect is, and that it might kill the Reborn, too, like Duncan and Silas. Abram suggests that they bargain for time by asking to be allowed out of the settlement to rescue Lynn if they also locate the Ancestor. Ezra makes a point of telling Feena that Duncan is not an objective: he’s already turned, and as far as they know, can’t be turned back at this time, while Lynn might still be saved. Feena icily responds that she knows the objective. The three agree to propose their plan to the Obelisk.

As Jax guards Lynn, Silas and Duncan enter, bringing Red Drone. Silas says there are 150 brain states in the drone, including hers, Ezra’s, and those of others she knows. Duncan activates something inside Red Drone, and a hologram of Kylie appears briefly. Silas tells her that the minds of the Skin Riders are all connected, even those that are dead, through the Ancestor. He offers her that in exchange for infecting herself with the parasite so they can test their planned neural rewiring on her. Jax objects that they should forcibly infect her, but Silas insists that Lynn “always makes the right choice,” and the Skin Riders leave.

Duncan says he doesn’t know how to make the required modifications to the drone to perform the surgery. Silas responds that the Ancestor knows everything, including every neuron of the human brain and how the drones work. He tells Duncan to bring the drone to the Ancestor, and Jax to go with him. When Jax says that Ezra will come for Lynn, Silas responds, “I certainly hope so.”

The Obelisk agrees to the Reborns’ plan. Ezra and Feena leave, vowing to return with Lynn or not at all. Abram stays behind at the settlement.

Act 2

As they walk, Ezra and Feena debate how to deal with any Skin Rider they counter. Ezra won’t kill his brother, believing there must be some way to rescue him, but he also remembers that Silas said killing the Skin Rider kills the host, too. Meanwhile, Abram remembers being with his unconscious wife Tasha in the hospital, and searches for evidence that she was reborn, too, reasoning that both Ezra and Feena had their loved ones reborn, too. Yellow Drone points out that there’s no guarantee that she was reborn, but Abram says it would make sense to do so, as monogamous relationships provide stability that is crucial for families, which are important to rebuild humanity. Yellow Drone tells Abram that it wants to show him something, and brings him to the graveyard. Even though there are no markers, Yellow Drone can scan a grave to determine who is buried there, if their DNA matches an individual in its database. Abram tells it to scan the others.

Jax still does not trust Duncan, believing him to still be more human than Skin Rider. He tells Duncan that he saw him talking with Holo!Feena. Duncan explains, but Jax is still not convinced, and threatens to kill Duncan, though Duncan reminds him that the council will execute him if he does.

Lynn knocks a glass jar off a shelf and grabs a glass shard, intending to use it to cut the leather bands on her wrists, but Silas enters before she can. She conceals the shard as Silas tries to convince her to join them. When she makes clear she won’t, Silas injects her.

Act 3

Abram and Yellow Drone continue scanning graves, with Abram marking the graves of those who are unidentified. They find a child who is not in Yellow Drone’s database, indicating that the settlers were probably there at least eight years before the virus. Yellow Drone pauses after scanning another grave: it’s Ezra.

Ezra and Feena continue searching for Lynn. Feena points out that they have to consider that Lynn may already have been turned, and that in that case it is vital they preserve themselves. Suddenly, an arrow hits a nearby tree; they’ve been discovered by a Skin Rider scout. Ezra returns fire and the scout flees. Feena tells Ezra it’s in their best interest not to kill him, but to follow him at a distance to see where he leads them.

Duncan and Jax stop for a rest. Duncan comments that Jax wasn’t so grumpy before he got a Companion. He calls up Holo!Jax from Red Drone, who is confused about where he is. Jax tells Duncan to shut it off, but he calls up Jax’s wife instead. Jax is clearly moved, but Duncan snarks about how she could possibly have fallen in love with him. That’s too much for Jax, who knocks out Duncan. He wakes finding himself tied to a tree, and Jax tells him we waited for him to wake up, just so that he’d see him leaving. Meanwhile, Lynn continues trying to cut off her bonds, noting that her infection is spreading.

Abram asks if Ezra, Feena, and himself are in Yellow Drone’s database. It responds that they are; that’s how she knew to let them into the settlement. He asks if Tasha is also in its database, as he remembers his wife in the hospital, and being asked to take her off of life support, and praying for a miracle. Yellow Drone tells Ezra it will answer by showing him two more graves.

Ezra and Feena lose the Skin Rider’s trail when it comes to a stream. Duncan hears them and calls out to them. Feena is relieved to find him, but Ezra is wary. Duncan says it’s good they’re both there; and surprises them by saying they’ll need all the help they can get to rescue Lynn.

Act 4

Duncan tells Ezra and Feena that his parasite is weak, and that he has been pretending that it is in control. He says he antagonized Jax in order to get him to ditch him so that he could meet up with them, since otherwise he’s never been left alone. When Ezra pointed out that he attacked Feena, he explains that he did so only to keep up appearances with the other Skin Riders. Ezra checks the lump on his neck; it glows dimly, apparently confirming that it is not at full strength. Ezra says that if he tells them where the camp is, and his information checks out, they’ll come back for him, but Duncan complains that if they fail, he’ll be left tied up. Ezra fires an arrow into the tree next to him and repeats the demand.

Lynn frees herself. Seeing the parasite’s development advancing, she pushes her arm into a nearby jar of Sparks

Yellow Drone shows Abram the grave of a woman he does not recognize, but it says he has interacted with her in his first life. It reawakens the memory in his mind: Her name is Eleanor, and she was a volunteer at the hospital where Tasha died from a stroke. She gave him a blanket she had knitted and provided some words of comfort for him as he was grieving his wife’s impending death. As Abram views the memory, Yellow Drone tells him to look closer at Eleanor. He notices a peculiar bracelet she wears: it bears the “knowledge” glyph from the Obelisk.

Act 5

Abram sees himself and his wife asleep and wonders how this could be his memory. Yellow Drone explains that it’s Eleanor’s. He watches as Eleanor takes out an injector device containing Sparks. A blue drone comes out of her bag and attempts to scan Tasha’s brain state, but reports that her brain is too damaged from the stroke. She interacts with the blanket over Abram, which is revealed to be an advanced device with a holographic interface. She programs it to cause Abram to sleep for a few more hours.

Lynn removes her arm from the jar, and finds that the spore has been destroyed, then begins the arduous climb to the top of the tall chamber where she’s being held. Meanwhile, Ezra and Feena argue about Duncan. Ezra doesn’t trust him, but Feena does, and calls Ezra a hypocrite, saying he only believes love is worth fighting for if it’s his. They part ways, with Feena heading back to Duncan.

Lynn climbs up a tall, ornamented panel in the chamber, nearly falling several times, until she gets to a doorway at the top and collapses, sobbing. Ezra finds the camp, but a guard discovers him and brings him to Silas.

Abram sits sobbing in the graveyard, when Yellow Drone reminds him that there was a second grave it wanted to show him. It’s his own. Yellow Drone says that in the settlement, Abram was able to find a new life, and that it hopes he can again.

Feena returns to Duncan, but asks how she can be sure he can be trusted. He says Ezra’s right, that she shouldn’t trust him, that the parasite is inside him and he’s trying to fight it, but can’t do it alone. She kisses him and cuts him free. He tries to tell her to go back to the settlement, but she won’t hear it. He tells her to be careful, that she doesn’t know how dangerous the Skin Riders are. As she turns away, he gazes at her with a cryptic look on his face.