Season 2, Episode 02:
No Direction Home
Still reeling from the loss of their friends, Kincaid drives Harrison, Suzanne and Debi away from the wreckage of the Blackwood Estate.
As they drive past debris on the road, Kincaid tells them that the coast looks clear and they need to figure out what their next move is. Harrison is distraught over the deaths of Norton and Ironhorse, but Kincaid tells him the fight isn't over yet. He reminisces over the promise he made to Ironhorse to finish the job he set out to do as they continue on.
At the industrial complex, the Morthren are evacuating due to their location being compromised after the incursion by Harrison and Kincaid. Malzor walks into the central laboratory to find Mana stroking a storage unit one of her failed experiments is locked away in. He tells her they have to leave, and she counters that she still has experiments to move over, but he says there's no time. When Mana chastizes him for letting the "humans" escape, he says they haven't escaped yet before storming off...
A car filled with Morthren soldiers subsequently begins tailing Kincaid's van. He notices this and decides to give them the slip, telling Harrison (who has gone to grab a handgun) to wait. He plays chicken with the car, causing it to swerve into a wall. As Kincaid's van drives off, a group of parishioners from a charitable soup kitchen go outside to investigation. The kitchen's lead parishioner, Father Tim, tells everyone to stay back while he goes to look inside the car — and discovers one of the Morthren soldiers bleeding from a head wound. The soldiers yank Tim into the car and drive off, while a parishioner named Ralph (who has something wrong with his mind]]) calls out that there are "wrong men" before being escorted back inside.
Kincaid drives the group to a garage that leads into a spacious underground tunnel system and base. He tells the group that this is the site he uses to monitor strange activity, and says that for the time being, it's home. While Suzanne takes Debi (who is still stunned after Ironhorse's death) to get some rest, Harrison asks what their next move is. Kincaid suggests re-establishing contact with the military, and makes a call to one of the generals in the U.S. military branch. After initially being given a run-around, Kincaid reaches a General, who asks him if he knows what happened to the Blackwood Project. Playing ignorant, Kincaid says he doesn't, and the general tells him that General Wilson has gone missing and there was an "accident" at the estate. The General asks Kincaid to come in for a debriefing, but the latter abruptly terminates the call before telling Harrison and Suzanne that they've been disavowed by the government.
Father Tim is brought to the Morthren's new base, while Malzor says he hopes the location is more secure than the previous one. Inside, Mana has set up her new laboratory, and says that she can use a clone of Father Tim to gain more intel on the humans. After a conversation on [[Have You Seen My God? the nature of God being "invisible}], Ardix clones Father Tim. The clone awakens and says he "now understands" the will of the Eternal, and is tasked by Malzor and Mana to infiltrate the homeless mission in the city so that Mana will have a supply of test subjects for her experiments...
Back at the base, Harrison awkwardly tries to figure out a plan for what to do next, while Kincaid tries to stow away pictures of his brother, Max. Suzanne comes in and tells them Debi isn't taking things well, she notices what Kincaid is doing and asks him what his brother would do in their situation. Kincaid says he would have told them to strike back, and they decide on a plan to go back to the Morthren's "old" base to investigate. Harrison and Kincaid head out while Suzanne stays behind.
As Harrison and Kincaid arrive at the site of the old base, several Morthren soldiers also arrive in a car. The two men head into the base and find Mana's failed experiments. Kincaid tells Harrison that the aliens are going to pay for what they've done, but before the latter can comment, Kincaid senses someone approaching and ushers him into a hiding spot. The Morthren soldiers arrive and sense their presence, causing Kincaid and Harrison to open fire on and kill them]]. Afterwards, Kincaid moves to leave, but Harrison discovers an alien device on the floor, which he bundles in his coat and takes along with them. Back at the underground base, they eventually discover that the device shares memories between individuals and was used in the cloning process. Harrison and Suzanne are able to conduct a test by touching the device, which displays an image of Malzor and Mana walking.
The Father Tim clone arrives back at the shelter and assures the other parishoners that everything is alright, but Ralph appears to recognize that Tim isn't who he says, referring to him as another "wrong man" before leaving. Ralph cries and rants to himself afterwards, with Kincaid seeing him on some of the base's security monitors. Giving him and his caretaker a ride back to the shelter, Kincaid learns some more information about what's been happening in the area, including "wrong men in the car" that crashed. Kincaid subsequently investigates the shelter and meets with Father Time, who acts unnerving and dismissive when questioned about the car crash. Kincaid comes to believe that he might have been kidnapped and replaced by a clone, and shares his findings later with Harrison and Suzanne, who have been in a state of fatigue since testing the device.
In an attempt to locate the Blackwood team, Malzor and Mana try to remotely activate the engram, which subsequently begins generating wind and displaying memories for Harrison, Suzanne and Kincaid. Aware that the energy feedback could kill them, they manage to stop the engram by channeling their own memories back into it, which shuts it off. Malzor and Mana are able to track the engram to the same section of the city as the homeless shelter and see the three members of the Blackwood team, and they order Father Tim to get more information.
While Father Tim interrogates Ralph in a bid to find out where the team is, Harrison and Suzanne elect to take the device to the shelter to ascertain whether it reacts in Tim's presence. They reach the shelter and Tim reacts to the engram's presence, revealing himself to the duo. Harrison and Suzanne both see a vision of the clone Tim rising after birth, but the moment is interrupted by Ralph, who runs out of the room yelling that Tim is the "wrong man". Realizing that Tim knows who they are, Harrison, Ralph and Suzanne all make a break for it. Kincaid, who had been sleeping as the duo left, wakes up and sees them fleeing the shelter, then tells Debi to stay put while he goes after them.
As Harrison and Suzanne flee through the streets, pursued by Tim and two Morthren soldiers, Kincaid finds Ralph and tells him to get out of the area. Kincaid and Suzanne shoot down one soldier each before the trio reconnects, taking cover behind a building. Tim appears, holding Ralph as a hostage, and orders all of them to leave cover. As they do so, Harrison uses the engram to activate Tim's memories of the cloning process, which distracts him long enough for Ralph to break free and Kincaid to shoot and kill him. The device dissolves into nothingness, while the real Tim, no longer being drained of his energy by the clone, gathers enough strength to climb out of the chamber and flee from the base unseen.
The next day, the team volunters at the shelter, where the real Tim tells them that he doesn't remember much, if anything, from the last 24 hours. He thanks for the their help, and they return to the underground base, newly re-energized by the experience and ready to face the Morthren head-on. Kincaid tells Harrison and Suzanne they can stay at the base for as long as they want, and they crack open a beer in celebration...
Tropes:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Kincaid lives in an underground sewer base that doubles as a command post, with enough space to comfortably house Harrison, Suzanne and Debi, along with a research area, living quarters and access to sewer tunnels that are big enough for people to stand in.
- Action Girl: Suzanne, who manages to gun down one of the pursuing Morthren soldiers on her own.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: After seeing aliens arrive on Earth, his commanding officer cloned and the results of a Morthren scientist's failed experiments, Kincaid has trouble believing that a projected image of Malzor and Mana isn't real. Nevermind the fact that they're walking through air, don't acknowledge anyone and disappear after a few seconds. Even Harrison, the group's resident skeptic, immediately recognizes that it's just a projection.
- As the Good Book Says...: Ardix reads a pair of passages from the Bible to the clone of Father Tim, in a mocking tone to indicate how little he thinks of human religion.
- Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of the episode, when Harrison learns that there's a group of Morthren chasing them in a car, he grabs a pistol from a nearby case and loads it before Kincaid tells him to wait (and gives the car the slip). Later on, when he goes to investigate the remnants of the Morthren base at the industrial complex, he uses the same weapon to kill a Morthren soldier, showing that he's become ''much'' more capable with firearms.
- Continuity Nod: At the end of the episode, Debi tells the rest of the team that she wishes she had a photo of Norton, so she could have something to remember him by.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Most of the parishoners at the homeless shelter seem to regard Ralph as a Talkative Loon, but it is implied that whatever was done to him, he now recognizes who is and isn't an alien, and is affected by the alien engram (which is nearby in Kincaid's base).
- Easy Amnesia: Despite being transported to (and escaping from) the Morthren base, Tim loses his memories of the experience shortly after returning to the mission, and is unable to tell the Blackwood team where the location is.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Kincaid's hideout, which was built as a command post for the military in the 1950s and later co-opted by him for his own use.
- Have You Seen My God?: Discussed.Ardix: (examining a Bible) The god these humans worship is invisible. They can't see it.Malzor: We also have a god. And it is not invisible.
- Heroic BSoD: Debi goes into this as a result of her experiences in the previous episode. Justified, as she's only a child and has just witnessed one of her friends die in front of her.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: How much of the Morthren technology works. The alien devices sap life energy from its operator, regardless of whether it's human or not. Harrison finds (and subsequently tests) an engram that was used in Mana's cloning machine, and has the power to store and display memories for those who wield it. By the end of the episode, the only thing Harrison and Suzanne discover is that they can activate the device by touching it.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: At the end of the episode, Harrison, Suzanne and Kincaid celebrate the victory at the shelter by cracking open a can of beer and splitting it between them.
- It's All My Fault: Debi blames herself for the events of the previous episode, saying the fatalities incurred likely never would have happened if she wasn't taken hostage.
- Manly Tears: When the Father Tim clone arrives at the shelter, Ralph runs away after calling him a "wrong man" and starts crying in his tent in the city.
- The Fundamentalist: Ardix mocks humans because of their belief in an "invisible God" as opposed to The Eternal who appears to the Morthren regularly. He and Ardix also study a Bible excitedly to learn how to manipulate the humans.
- Took a Level in Badass: It's suggested that Harrison has become much more proficient with weapons in the interim between seasons. He not only expertly loads a handgun when the group is being tailed by the Morthren, but proves to be a very capable shot by shooting and killing the soldier retrieving the engram from the former base.
- Un-person: The Blackwood Project is given this treatment by the U.S. military, which chooses to disavow them and refuse to acknowledge their presence after the destruction of the estate. Kincaid coldly tells Harrison and Suzanne that they're on their own, though given the nature of the setting, it's likely that the military couldn't help them even if they wanted to.
- Unwitting Test Subject: Dialogue from the lead female character in the Mission reveals that Ralph (who refers to the Morthren, and later Father Tim, as "wrong men") was subjected to experimental tests by the government at some point in the past.
