Originally aired March 29, 1996
Written by Jon Povill
Directed by Paris Barclay
After Quinn rescues a young woman on a violent world, her homicidal boyfriend follows the Sliders through the vortex. They all land on a world where San Francisco is a maximum security prison...and is due to be destroyed by an earthquake.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Alternate History: The Loma Prieta earthquake on October 21, 1989 was much more severe than on Earth Prime, which led to the federal government evacuating the population of San Francisco and turning the city into a maximum security prison. Just as the sliders escaped to the next world, an even worse earthquake resulted in the whole of the North Bay sliding - no pun intended - into the ocean.
- Antagonist Title: "El Sid" refers to Sid, Michelle's boyfriend.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Michelle is certain that no one sticks their necks out for anyone else. Wade reminds her that Quinn saved her from Sid in the teaser and didn't even know her at the time.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the teaser, Quinn tries to be this for Michelle against Sid. She gets away, but Quinn fares poorly, so Rembrandt knocks Sid out from behind.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: L.J. seems like a nice guy, but he tries to force the Sliders into giving him and a few other prisoners the timer.
- Bond One-Liner: Sid laughs at Quinn confronting him and smacks him around. Rembrandt then clubs Sid from behind.Rembrandt: You laugh at that.
- Chained Heat: The "buddy" system.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed. Quinn saving Michelle and taking her on the slide sticks the group with a dangerous, unpredictable criminal.
- Dystopia: The world where the Sliders meet Michelle and Sid is one.
- Fake Defector: Arturo in order to get the timer away from Sid and Leo.
- Godzilla Threshold: Per the prison's buddy system, if one inmate commits a crime, whoever he's "buddies" with gets executed along with him. Meanwhile, others tend to earn perks by reporting crimes. L.J. acknowledges how the system sucks, but he says it's the only thing keeping the city from self-destructing ahead of the big earthquake.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: After talking Sid down from strangling Quinn, Arturo looks sincerely worried about the boy. Seeing he'll be fine, though:Arturo: Well, don't expect any sympathy! If you used your brain, we wouldn't be in this mess.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Rembrandt and Arturo are rather incredulous about heading underground as more and more earthquakes occur.
- Arturo points out that the timer was originally configured for three people only. He says it's handling the four Sliders fine, but he worries about how adding more bodies to the mix will make sliding more dangerous.
- Nerves of Steel: An inmate harasses Rembrandt and Arturo by throwing a knife in their direction. Rather than freak, Arturo simply chastises the guy for this, and Rembrandt refuses to return the knife. The inmate threatens to really get violent, but Arturo gets him to back off by calmly exploiting the neighborhood watch system and the nearby presence of a guard, all while ignoring the inmate's threat of settling up later. Rembrandt also gives the inmate a mocking glance before leaving with Arturo.
- Properly Paranoid: Rembrandt immediately doesn't trust L.J. and Michelle notes that the L.J. of her world was very treacherous.
- Shout-Out: The title refers to El Cid Campeador.
- Significant Anagram: The title also functions as an anagram of the word "slide."
- True Companions:Michelle: What is with you, huh? Who the hell gets to be happy? Why don't you look around yourself, for God's sake? Do you see any reason why you should be happy?
Wade: Yeah, I do. I see people I care about who care about me, people I can count on. I think I'm pretty lucky. - Wham Line: "This is prison, man. San Francisco National Penitentiary."
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Arturo is none too pleased with what Quinn's heroics have led to.
- As part of the Fake Defector gambit, the other Sliders "condemn" Arturo for betraying them.
- Wild Card: Sid is an unhinged criminal. It's amazing he has any level-headed moments at all.
