She Wants Her Baby, Dammit!

And Eleventh Hour is back after being bumped for March Madness. Sadly, it’s also the season finale, so enjoy it.

We open at the Ray Wynne Residence in Alexandria, VA. He is the Deputy Director of the FBI and introducing Hood at a big, fancy dinner. Outside, Rachel talks to a guy in a car while inside, Ray’s wife is getting ready. We see someone grab a gun while Hood admits to wearing a clip on tie. Ray’s wife calls him up while Hood calls Rachel, who is still standing outside. She says guy in car was reporting a prowler. And then Hood hears gunshots. Found the prowler! He and Rachel race to Ray’s room, sending his teen children back to theirs. They find a crazed woman asking for her baby. Rachel takes her down.

Outside, we learn her name is Sophia Lions and she was an FBI lab tech. Her no-good boyfriend left her while she was pregnant. Then she went insane, insisting the FBI had taken her baby and Ray was her lover. In the cop car, Sophia shows Hood an implant being used to give Sophia her drugs. She insists she is trying to remain sane and that she is telling the truth. She begs Hood to remember her. He doesn’t believe her. However, the implant makes him curious. He declares her dangerous as we tick to the credits…

We return to the Crystal Springs Recovery Center. It’s been a week since the opening, thank you, Rachel. Hood is still wondering about the implant, especially since he noticed a major anti-psychotic drug. He says that to use the implant, the patient has to give informed consent (the bane of House’s life on his show) and Sophia clearly couldn’t give that. They find Sophia at the pool, now a lot calmer. She asks the duo to forget the events of the week prior, claiming she wasn’t herself. She praises Ray, blames the no-good boyfriend and says the baby never existed. She goes to wash the chlorine out, giving Hood a view of her new implant. He asks for a hairbrush, so Rachel snoops. She comes up empty so Rachel sends her to Sophia’s room. Hood hands Sophia her sunglasses, wondering at Sophia’s pool privileges. She says it’s from agreeing to an implant.

Hood goes to talk to Sophia’s doctor. He praises Sophia’s progress. Hood asks about the implants and the doctor says it could be a lifesaver to many people. Hood doesn’t buy it but switches to Sophia’s drugs. He mentions the drugs may cause contracted pupils, but she had normal ones. This unnerves the doctor as Rachel and Hood make off with Sophia’s hairbrush.

Felix joins them in the lab, where Hood is studying Sophia’s hair for drug use history. Felix is impressed with the science. Meanwhile, the doctor tests Sophia’s eyes. As his back is turned, she lifts his keys. Back at the lab, Hood discovers that Sophia did in fact deliver a baby full term. Meanwhile, the mommy in question walks across the lawns as her doctor realizes he doesn’t have his keys. Hood looks at her drug use history, noting crystal meth and DXM (active ingredient in cough medicine). Together, they cancel out the anti-psychotic drugs. Hood believes that Sophia thinks she’s clinging to reality. She drives off as we tick to commercials…

Hood, Rachel and the doctor find Sophia’s stash. They question her roommate, Louella. Louella sides with Sophia. The others try to convince her Sophia is delusional then threaten her privileges to find Sophia. Louella doesn’t respond until Hood promises they want to help her friend. Louella says Sophia was going to catch the big man. Rachel and Hood go to Sophia’s apartment, breaking down the door. She isn’t there, but Hood smells bleach and battery acid. Hood recognizes the ingredients to build a bomb. Rachel calls Felix to secure the Wynne family. Ray orders the family to a weekend house—really a nice house in a gated community.

Rachel and Hood drive up. He asks to be able to drive, to give Rachel a break. She refuses, saying she let him drive once and never again. They arrive just as the house explodes. Rachel exits the car to see the family safe on the lawn. Sophia told them to get out, showing Rachel where the crazed woman went. Hood calls 911, waiting for someone to pick up. You know, the time I call 911, I didn’t even have to wait for a ring! Meanwhile, Rachel walks into a scene from a slasher flick. There is fog and deserted streets and nearly manicured lawns…and a crazed person with a crossbow. She shoots Rachel, which Hood notes immediately. As help arrives, he runs to find Rachel. Wynne regrets not pressing charges. Hood feels it was so the real story didn’t come out—Sophia had the baby and there is no no-good boyfriend except in her FBI file. Hood realizes that Sophia hasn’t lost touch with reality, Ray is making her loose her touch. Ray threatens to slap Hood in the mouth. Seriously? That’s something you do to a naughty toddler so they understand biting hurts and is not good. Not to a grown scientist.

Hood talks to Sophia, who has an injured Rachel. She says she will only deal with Hood and wants Ray punished and her baby back. She keeps Rachel as Hood pleads with her. We tick to commercials…

We return to a seedy hotel. Rachel is cuffed to the bed, screaming for help. But the other tenants are having a rowdy party, so no one hears her. Sophia brought Rachel painkillers for her leg and a WiFi phone, difficult to trace. Rachel is not in a good mood, announcing Sophia will go to jail. Sophia tries to make the agent more comfortable, but she’s in a lot of pain.

Back at the house, Felix finds Rachel’s gun and a crossbow. Wynne orders a search party and then tells Felix it was his crossbow. The Director shows up to comfort Ray. Ray complains about Hood, surprising the Director. Ray believes Hood will get Rachel killed. Felix says Hood left with the state police. He’s in what I assume is his house, watching his laptop. Oh, he’s in Sophia’s apartment as he takes her call. Sophia says she ix-nayed an abortion, but agreed to an adoption. But she changed her mind after her son was born. Next thing she knew, she woke up in her apartment without her son and missing 36 hours from her memory. Sophia says she’ll trade Rachel for her baby. She says if that doesn’t happy, someone will die. She ends the call by sending a picture of Rachel over.

Rachel is in a lot more pain so Sophia tries to offer more painkillers. Rachel refuses. Sophia tells her that Hood will get her baby back and they will have a new start. Rachel tells Sophia not to put too much hope in Hood’s ability to get her son. Sophia tells Rachel her baby’s weight but refuses to tell her his name, knowing she’d have to change it once she skips town. Rachel tries to reason with the woman.

Ray goes to talk to the Director with Rachel’s phone. He found Sophia’s fingerprints and notes the last call was to Hood. Ray feels Hood is in on it. The Director correctly points out that any agent would chase down his/her partner. Ray spins it so that Hood does in fact sound like the Big Bad Wolf. Felix takes a call from Hood, who is on a pay phone. He needs Felix’s help to track down the kid. Ray comes in to announce that Hood is a person of interest in Rachel’s case. He reminds the agents that Hood is not sworn in and is not one of them. He orders them to get Hood so he pays for betraying Rachel. Hood hangs up, angrily.

Felix meets Hood in an internet café. He assures the scientist no one followed him and then tries to convince Hood to come with him to the Bureau. Hood says no thanks and dismisses Felix if that’s all he’s going to do. Felix pulls up a chair to view…Maya Wynne’s MySpace page. Namely, her brother and father’s pictures. They both have a yellow-tinge to the whites of their eyes. Hood believes the condition would’ve been passed to Sophia’s son.

In the hotel room, Rachel tries to reach the phone while Sophia snorts some meth. Sophia comes out, thinking Hood called. She tells Rachel to call her if the phone rings. Felix schmoozes with the receptionist at the National Institute for Health. He pretends to be working on a case. She finds one with the syndrome Hood mentions and shows an adopted son in Virginia. However, Felix tells Hood the kid is in Carroll County, Maryland. Umm, wrong state there, Felix. VA=Virginia, MD= Maryland. Hood calls Sophia and asks that Rachel listens in. He gives her an address and mentions a diner with the worst pancakes in the world. The FBI moves on the address, which Rachel tells Sophia is a fake. But she knows the diner.

Sophia and Rachel pull up to the deserted diner. Hood rushes to cradle Rachel, calling Felix. He is stalking the baby’s adopted parents. Hood shows the video from Felix’s phone to Sophia, who watches her son. The FBI tracks down Hood while Sophia goes nuts. She wanted her son physically in her arms. Hood tells her to let her son remain with the adoptive parents to give them time to sort things out. She yells at him and he yells back to think of her son. She yells she wants him with her and then pulls the arrow out of Rachel’s leg, essentially allowing her to bleed to death. Sophia takes the phone and the car, but Hood finds a car with a screwdriver for a key. He loads Rachel into the car, trying to keep her with him. She tells him not to feel guilty if it doesn’t work out.

Hood races to the closest hospital, carrying Rachel into the emergency room. A team of doctors take care of Rachel as Hood waits in the waiting room. Ray comes to see him. Felix and the Director follow, showing the video of his son. Hood now has proof Sophia was telling the truth and that Ray abused his power. The Director does not look pleased—he was betrayed by his deputy who in turn made him betray his friend.

Meanwhile, Sophia finds her son playing with his adoptive mom in the park. She pretends to be a random parkgoer who thinks the baby is cute. She asks for the baby’s name and is told it is Michael. Felix finds her and she goes willingly.

A doctor tells Hood Rachel should make a full recovery. She is channel surfing as Hood enters her room. She says she starts physical therapy and asks about the case. He says Ray is in jail and will be kicked out of the FBI and Rachel hopes Sophia will get the help she needs. Rachel says that his new handler better not get comfortable. As Marley Shelton is pregnant, this is probably the cover for Rachel not to be in the first few episodes of the new season. I’d imagine Rachel will make a return about November sweeps. Hood, however, offers to let her switch assignments. I originally thought he was going to say he was getting out of the FBI, leading to episodes where he keeps having to solve mysteries before running into Rachel again, finally returning to the Bureau. However, Rachel protests saying that she wouldn’t switch assignments, especially since Hood is a bad driver. I would’ve felt it more appropriate for her to repeat the line she said in the premiere: that he wouldn’t get rid of her that easily.

And thus ends Season One of Eleventh Hour. It is usually in the Nielsen Top 20, so there is a good chance the show will be renewed for next season. Chances that it’ll retain it’s plump time slot behind CSI are a bit shaky as CBS likes to debut shows there and then move them around. Anyway, Harper’s Island replaces Eleventh Hour next week, a murder mystery series. I think I’ll give it a go, mostly for Christopher Gorham, who I loved as the adorkable Henry on Ugly Betty.

So, after Hood’s reaction to Rachel’s abduction and injury, how long before we see a Rachel-Hood relationship?

Quote of the Episode:

“It’s the pancakes, they probably poisoned someone.”--Rachel

I Think Tyra and Ms. J Have Found Their Next Runway Challenge!

NEW YORK! Someone named Haley is stalked by the paparazzi as camera go off constantly. One photog gets a smell of Haley and suddenly goes from snapper to slapper. He fights with Haley’s escort as Haley screams. Neither survive the fight. Meanwhile, it’s fashion week! And as models do their little turn on the catwalk, on the catwalk, do their little turn on the catwalk, a bodyguard goes insane when he sees a model. He attacks her and everyone stands around doing nothing as he kills the model. Then they do something. 

Felix introduces Hood and Rachel to our two crime scenes. And then Rachel and Felix have to explain that Haley Vaughn is a popular model. Hood decides to go for the crack and booze first, which Felix goes to test. We tick to the credits…

And, unlike me, the show does refrain from busting out either Right Said Fred’s “Too Sexy” or RuPaul’s “Supermodel.” I’m afraid I will probably use the latter some time later, so…mea culpa.

We come back to a lab as the techs get to swab everything down. You know, there could’ve been a chance for a shout-out. Jerry Bruckheimer produces Eleventh Hour as well as CSI: NY and Without a Trace, all set in New York. One shout out, please. Rachel and Felix are already in the FBI. Anyway, Felix interrogates the bouncer, who is surprised at his own behavior. Felix confides that he was a bouncer in a strip club. I believe it. Anyway, he says it just gets to you—all the skin. The bouncer agrees he just snapped and felt he and the model had a connection. Rachel interviews Haley, who says she uses new stuff all the time and doesn’t know why this happened.

We cut to an Ugly Betty-ish receptionist at Haley’s agency. She is leaving a message for a date who left early from a date due to a phone call. Oh, I hope it wasn’t a bailout call. She berates herself for her cheesy message and then shows Rachel and Hood into Haley’s escort/manager’s partner/wife’s office. The wife admits that their marriage wasn’t so good lately but still praises her dead husband’s work ethic. Hood asks if her husband was doing or using anything different. She says no but admits they hadn’t seen each other due to Fashion Week. She breaks down but Hood isn’t convinced. Rachel thinks their best bet is to talk to Ugly Betty.

By the way, the actress playing the assistant is Samantha Shelton, Marley Shelton’s real life sister. It’s a family affair!

Meanwhile, Haley’s doorman Tom brings her her mail. He too is enthralled by her…or rather, her perfume. He forces his way into the apartment. This does not bode well. We cut back to Rufus Sewell watching the Shelton sisters act. Ugly Betty—I’m sorry, Gretchen—tries to keep her boss’ secret to protect his wife. But Rachel gets her to admit to dead manager’s affair with Haley. So, it’s to Haley’s Rachel and Hood go. They spot the door open, which sends up a red flag. As Rachel says, nobody leaves the door open in New York—no matter how safe you think your building is. They discover Haley’s body and the doorman crying on the fire escape. He doesn’t know why he did it, staring at his bloody hands. Then he just falls and we hear him hit a car below as Marley’s eyes grow big.

I read somewhere that the monotone Comcast commercial is supposed to be full of subliminal messages. If it is, I’m missing them.

NEW YORK! Danny and Stella…no, sorry, wrong show…Hood stops the ME from taking Haley after spotting odd spots on her wrists and neck. Rachel finds some perfume. Hood asks Rachel how she puts her perfume on. She responds: wrists and neck. Where the spots are…Hmm…At the agency, Gretchen receives her boss’ mail—it contains the perfume box. She’s distracted when Rex, the guy who left her, calls. Apparently that phone call was a real emergency—he had to go visit a family member, I assume. They set up a second date. Aww, Gretchen. She’s happy and doing better than Ugly Betty has since Gio and Henry left.

Hood and Rachel go on a tour of the perfume plant with an employee who gives us a history lesson of perfume. Though his assistant, Renny, gives us the dour side—use of perfume to cover the plague. Hood points out that companies don’t have to list the ingredients in perfumes, unlike food. But the manager promises that they don’t use any odd things in their perfumes, just natural ingredients. Rachel shows him Fervor, the perfume taken from Haley. He says they sent it to the top 100 influential people in the fashion industry. When informed Haley’s dead, he refers her to the company lawyer. She protests that the perfume is safe and there is no need to pull the product. The manager protests that he perfected Fervor and it is safe. But they agree to let Hood test it and Rachel says if anything odd pops up in the perfume, guess who is getting the blame? The lawyer tells the manager it will be him.

Felix joins Hood in the lab, saying Rachel is in the coroner’s office. Hood tells him to write things down: Vanilla, Honeysuckle, Jalapeno Pepper, Civet Musk…Sounds like Bath and Body Works line. Felix remembers they use beaver glands and whale fat, but Hood says not so much. But they work on the theory that a tainted ingredient may be the cause. Meanwhile, the manager talks with Renny, asking him to certify the perfume is clean. Renny is silent until the manager asks if everything was done properly. All Renny replies is that he did everything the manager asked him to do. Sounds like someone isn’t too happy with his job. Manager takes a bottle of Fervor out of a safe.

NEW YORK! In a nice hotel room, the manager plays a hooker…sorry, “escort”…to sit on the bed and put on Fervor. You know, I wouldn’t have this problem—I’m allergic to perfumes. Wouldn’t wear them and would be too clogged up to notice them.

Rachel returns to the lab with the discovery the perfume is the one thing in common. Hood believes the manager is using pheromones, which Felix knows it is used to attract mates. Hood explains that only certain people are attracted to certain smells, so chemistry isn’t a myth. Meanwhile, the escort is getting restless about doing nothing and tries to leave for her next appointment. The manager attacks her and restrains her. We tick to commercials…

NEW YORK! Another crime scene and still no shout out to Mac or Stella or anyone. Felix tells us the escort shot the manager, most likely in self defense judging by that last scene before the break. Hood goes to talk to Lyla, the escort. He knows it is self defense and asks her if he made her wear perfume. He asks to see her wrists—there are marks. She says he was just making notes and then snapped. Hood explains it was an experiment that went wrong. Lyla is even more distressed to learn she was a guinea pig but Hood assures it that the manager was the lab rat, not she.

Hood returns with his FBI detail to the lab and says that the perfume they tested was a decoy. He runs the perfume in the hotel and finds: a chemical that serves a messenger to the brain. The one in the perfume makes people crazy. They realize someone else is tampering with Fervor. So they go back to the company and note that Renny challenged the Fervor patent because he wasn’t credited. They realize he is behind it, especially since he called in sick. The lawyer brings them to their clinical trials. Hood realizes the perfume was leaving a mark before it started out as a potential self-tanning lotion using neuro transmitters. However, the trials showed that the self-tanning lotion also served as an aphrodisiac. But it’s down side was a violent streak. Rachel wants to round up the samples.

Gretchen, though, decides to spray Fervor generously. Something tells me the date with Rex is about to go south fast. Felix says they almost have all the perfumes back and then he will join in the search for Renny. Hood also asks him to get an inhibitor that would block receptors in the brain from processing the perfume. Meanwhile, Haley’s agent’s wife realizes Gretchen took the perfume. Gretchen doesn’t pick up her phone as she takes a cab driven by a driver more invested in his fare’s life than Ranjit on How I Met Your Mother—and Ranjit is their primary driver. The driver becomes affected and gets creepy. He turns off the route and Gretchen panics. As he admits he loves her perfume, we tick to commercial…

Rachel keeps trying to reach Gretchen as Felix searches the company’s security system for Renny. They find him looking through the manager’s office and taking an invite to fashion week. Spiffy. Felix moves out as a cop pulls up to meet Rachel and Hood. He’s going to use GPS to find Gretchen, Felix heads to the Dior show. Renny’s already there. With a bottle of Fervor.

Gretchen fights off the cab driver and escapes, running away—but first takes off her shoes. Smart move. Rachel follows while Renny sprays models with Fervor. Not good. The cops find the taxi, but no Gretchen. Or driver. They see Fervor, a shoe and blood. Not good. But they call in a canine unit as Gretchen runs away. What part of Manhattan are they in that’s so deserted at that time of night? Early morning, yes. Late night, no. Gretchen comes to a dead end and is stuck between an amorous cab driver and a chain fence. The cops come to the rescue and nab the driver while Sewell watches the Shelton sisters act again. Felix calls from Dior as the men start attacking the models.

Renny watches the commotion as Hood enters. Felix stops Renny, who admits he was disgruntled with his job. Then find a new one and quit, doofus. Don’t turn innocent people into killers. Hood uses the smoke jets attached to the runway to disperse the inhibitors into the show. It works and they calm down, dazed.

Now it’s Hood’s turn to walk the catwalk. Felix says he isn’t going to wear cologne for some time and Hood jokes with him. The two decide to walk to meet Rachel, who is 20 blocks away. Oh god, do you know how long 20 blocks is in Manhattan. Ouch. Gretchen is trying to call Rex, but figures it is a lost cause—being stood up isn’t good. Rachel leaves him a message saying Gretchen helped the FBI. Hopefully, Rex will call Gretchen back. Rachel puts Gretchen into the car of the NYPD as we fade to credits.

Quote of the Episode:

“You and that fine model had a connection? Are you on any medication?” –Felix

Looks like Eleventh Hour isn’t new next week. And I refrained from a RuPaul “Supermodel” reference. Go me! 

Scaring You Out of the Subway

Sorry about last week. The job got crazy and I ended working overtime, meaning all I did was veg out on the couch when I got home, let alone thinking about writing my blog. I hope to one day go back to the episode I missed because it was good—scary since I kept getting static shocks—but good. 

This week we open in Philly. A man is rushed into the hospital while another one deals with a man no longer breathing. An EMT thinks poisons—which the other hospitals test. A system detects a poison cluster.

Elsewhere, Hood is searching through a school for rock and roll after a student catches anthrax—the real thing. Rachel comments that her dad would hate the school, saying he yelled at Bon Jovi on the TV. I now have “Livin’ On a Prayer” stuck in my head. Hood replies that her dad would hate Beethoven—long hair, dressed like a tramp and threw garbage for entertainment. He then returns us back to the subject at hand—a guy has anthrax. No one has gone anywhere the man was—and the capital is scared since it’s in Maryland. After Hood tells Rachel to not be afraid about the anthrax, another agent comes in. He says Hood has a reputation for not being stumped. And he won’t again. Hood tells him the anthrax came from uninspected skin on the victim’s drum.

Rachel pulls Hood away and tells him about the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS?). She brings him to Philly as they banter. I like their banter. Meanwhile, in Philly, someone woman watches over some dogs as an older lady comes in. She’s not feeling well, but refuses to go home. The woman tells her she will get one of the dogs ready to go home…when the old lady explodes! Well, catches on fire. That is scary.

We return to a hospital in Philly. A doctor tells Hood her theory and he asks her which branch she served in—only someone from the army would test for nerve agent. Rachel is confused—the victims have nothing in common except for the fact that they are all victims. Hood asks for their personal affects. The doctor asks Rachel who he is and she tells her that she is the man who grabs the genie from the bottle. Hood is working out why the victims would have such a high dose of poison. He and Rachel are stumped.

And it’s Felix, who was hoping to go to support the G8 and meet the President. Rachel shoots back the President must be disappointed. Hood is surprised to know the G8 is meeting, saying he prefers cartoons. The Three Musketeers go through the affects before Felix is sent for a map of Philly. He mutters the thank you he felt he deserved before Hood pops out to thank him. Hood talks about governments, poisoning and a tampered bathrobe. He solemnly points out that the victims could still be damaged even if they survived. The old lady who exploded didn’t survive. This spurns them on to go through the affects. Hood sniffs her clothing but can’t tell anything.

A woman picks up her daughter, saying they have to get her son from school before going to work and watching a movie. Meanwhile, a group of young adults meet in a shadowy place while some guy with a European accent tells them they are going to do something important. He then grabs a gun and threatens to kill those who don’t go through with it.

Felix and Rachel mark out the victims’ movements. Felix professes his love for post-its. I love ‘em too. So does Hood. But he doesn’t see a pattern but thinks it is significant. He decides to look for what isn’t there—car keys. He starts drawing lines from homes to work locations—and comes up with subways. He finds a path where they criss-cross. Felix identifies it as the City Hall station and asks Hood what it is. He replies “spill, spray, snakes on a train”…Really, show?

Our nice mom and daughter go up to catch the trains while Mom leaves a message for people looking for work at her theater. She tells her daughter they have to get off at City Hall. Dum dum dum.

PHILLY! A police captain, Clarke, comes in to meet Hood and Rachel. Hood asks Clarke to close the station and clear it, letting the trains pass but not stop. As Hood asks for Felix, Mom and daughter see City Hall, but it is closed. The station is evacuated and Hood is ready. He uses the PA system to tell Rachel to be one of their victims, the lawyer, and tells her to start walking his path. He tells Felix to be another victim and tells him to start walking her path. He pretends to be in a crowd. Hood wants to see where their paths cross. Clarke tells him they won’t meet up. Hood figures that the victims probably had little shortcuts and redirects Felix. He and Rachel bump into each other in a corridor. Hood asks Clarke to cue up the surveillance for that spot at 8:57 that morning. They notice a guy with a back-pack get bumped and spray all the victims with something. Back-pack tries to make a call (ha, good luck, pal) and then disappears.

Meanwhile, Mom and daughter pick up son from school. He shared a girl’s ice cream, despite being lactose intolerant. They agree she had to be cute. After a transition from the viewpoint of the train, Hood leads Clarke and Rachel to find where Back-Pack Guy disappeared. They find an old closet and…dead Back-Pack Guy. With a bomb.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BRIDGE! Rachel reports to the director. Felix wonders if the director asked about him. Rachel replies sarcastically and Felix says he just wants to know if he’s doing his job well. She tells him he’s still there. Hazmat and Hood deal with Dead Back-Pack Guy and his bomb. Rachel, in Hazmat gear, brings him a number Dead Back-Pack Guy tried to swallow before death. They call it and hear Mom’s message about jobs. They wonder what suicide bomber worries about a job. As Hood and Rachel talk about chemicals and Japanese monsters. Hood knows the difference between Adora and Godzilla. They identify Dead Back Pack Guy has a Belgian army guy with issues.

Mom lets everyone, including our scary five, into the theater as the one with the gun calls someone. Dead Back-Pack Guy’s phone rings. Hood listens to his voicemail and is scared that they realize he has friends. And that the subway wasn’t the target. Mom leaves her kids in the room with their electronic devices. She’s having a Wizard of Oz sing-along as the guy with the gun says the time is set. The FBI evacuates a school arriving to across the street. Rachel introduces herself as the five open fire. Rachel knocks Mom to the ground in safety while a gun fight ensues. Mom crawls but the gun fire is too intense. Main gun guy flees while his comrades surrender, except one. He makes a beeline to Hood but Felix shoots him. Both Felix and Hood are stunned.

Hood finds the other bomb but Gun Guy goes to get Mom’s children.

The surviving comrades are handcuffed while Clarke gets treated for some injuries. They are home-grown extremists planning to take the theater, the kids and demand attention from the G8. Remember, they are meeting? Mom runs into Gun Guy with her kids and offers to switch as she can show him out. Hood, however, realizes they are missing one as the emergency exit alarm go off. The kids are dumped in a backroom but soon found by the Three Musketeers. They chase after Mom and Gun Guy, down into the subway.

But it is crowded. Hood calls Gun Guy so they can spot him. He talks with Gun Guy, who claims to be a holy warrior. He tries to get him to let Mom go. She makes contact with Rachel. He fires a shot, sending everyone running. Another shot sprays the contents of the bomb onto Mom. Hood sets off the sprinkler above her while Felix and Rachel chased down Gun Guy. Hood gives Mom a make-shift decontamination shower and takes off the shirt covered in poison. Rachel and Felix surround Gun Guy, who tries to shoot himself. No more bullets. Tough darts, Gun Guy. No martyrdom for you! Rachel notices he’s been contaminated too.

Felix is in the bathroom, shaken up. Aww, it must’ve been his first gun fight! And the bathroom he’s in…has very girly soap for a men’s room. He asks Rachel about protocol now that he’s shot someone. She’s very comforting with him, telling him he saved lives. Daughter and Son are reunited with Mom. Hood comments how brave Mom is while Rachel praises Felix. Hood concurs then teases her: “And where were you?” She tells him to shut up.

I’m really liking the dynamic between the three, especially how it’s changed Hood’s and Rachel’s into more of a partnership rather than genius and bodyguard. Shelton and Sewell have great bantering chemistry.

Next week: Fashion week! A perfume that kills people.

Quote of the Episode

“Hey, Voice of God, you fold a map like a girl.”—Rachel

Exchange of the Episode

“Hmm, it’s interesting.”

“What is?”

“Felix moves out and his mom gets a yorkie.” 

When Treehuggers Go Vigilante

I’ve gotten into Eleventh Hour…mostly because of Rufus Sewell…so I’ve decided to start recapping. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go back and recap the episodes I’ve missed.

The episode starts with patrons in a bar watching a car chase on their local news. A helicopter report named Terry is up in the air reporting on the resulting crash when he seems to have problems. The anchor asks him if he can see anything going on on the ground, but Terry responds he is blind. The police tell him to climb higher but he’s panicking. Someone off camera orders them to cut the feed and the screen goes fuzzy as Terry’s copter spins out of control.

The next day, Dr. Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell) and FBI agent Rachel Young (Marley Shelton) arrive at the crime scene. Rachel says that they are getting some help on this case and Hood spots him. A young man runs up, all excited. He is Agent Felix Lee. He tells the two about the previous few minutes. He tells them that Terry was part of the Hostage Rescue Team, along with the director. Hood wonders why the sight went while Felix offers a theory of River Blindness, caused by nematodes. Hood shoots it down. Felix does offer Terry’s wedding ring. The clock ticks to eleven and we go to credits.

Hood and Young visit Terry’s widow. Hey, remember Center Stage? It’s the actress who played Maureen, the school’s queen bee. She’s crying about her husband and Hood explains that Terry suffered from Rapid Onset Blindness. He asks her if her husband had complained of other symptoms. She says no and that Terry took his job seriously. She suffers some pain and reveals she is pregnant, crying that she didn’t want to raise a child alone. Hood promises to tell her if they find anything. Hood and Young leave to go to the studio, to watch Terry’s footage.

They sit with Terry’s assistant, now junior reporter. She worries about Erica, Terry’s wife. Hood thanks her, calling her Debbie. He notices the following: Terry turning the volume down on his headset, a lingering rash, and sweating when it is cold. Debbie beats herself up for not noticing and notes it began two weeks ago. Rachel gets a phone call while Debbie talks about being told Erica was pregnant. Meanwhile, the wife has gone blind and rushed to the hospital.

Hood talks to a doctor. He’s confused about Erica’s condition. He does say that he’s seen a lot of patients with odd symptoms, like a traffic cop who couldn’t write tickets. Hood says “Minamata,” a city in Japan where they first learned the damage of heavy metal poisoning. The doctor goes to test for it, leaving Hood to go find the source. Meanwhile, some guy empties his RV out as a trooper scolds him for polluting the environment. The guy gives him a ticket.

It is mercury poisoning. It is curable but Erica can’t be given treatment because she is pregnant. They tell her she and the baby are in trouble and they need her permission to perform an emergency C-section. Erica panics—she is only in her second trimester—and asks for percentage. It is low but Hood tells her that the two will get sicker if she doesn’t get treatment. Erica is determined not to lose the baby. And we tick to commercial…

Rachel says they are bringing a team from the EPA while Hood tries to figure out what contaminated these people. Rachel says they only have four cases but Felix comes out to say that there are 25 new cases reported by other hospitals. Rachel asks where they start and Hood replies with immersive garbology. Felix is all for it until…He learns it is going through people’s garbage. Rachel expresses her disgust as they go through the garbage. Hood figures they either ate or drank the mercury. An officer approaches—he’s the traffic cop. He isn’t as toxic so Hood asks him for help. He has more dietary concerns than me. Rachel finds milk and the officer notes he uses the same brand. Hood tests the carton and it comes back…positive. Felix is sent to issue a recall for Lake Fresh as the company investigates production.

Debbie is busy putting together a memorial segment for Terry as the trooper from Mr. RV comes to see her. They are married and he consoles her. It is so sweet if you didn’t already know he’s a little psychotic.

Felix gets results from someone at Lake Fresh, calling Rachel. The equipment is clean at both plants but the milk is tainted. So they have to trace the milk to the dairy farm, but Felix narrows it down to one—Andoria Farms. As Rachel and Hood travel to the farm, our trooper friend goes to get an old, broke down refrigerator. Oh yeah, totally psychotic. As he buys it, our two heroes arrive at the farm. The owner gives them a tour and Hood notes that there aren’t as many cows. The owner says he sold some to raise money but Hood notices a freshly plowed field. He calls in Felix to bring in a digger. They find a dead cow.

Felix talks with the farmer, saying his family farms as well. He takes the “I understand” approach with the farmer. The farmer admits he thought the cow had Mad Cow and put her down. Hood informs him that it was mercury poisoning and that he should’ve contacted the Health Department. The farmer is taking into custody as the doctor gives Erica a sonogram. He says the baby looks fine but Erica is in danger from the mercury poisoning. He encourages her to have the C-section, revealing her baby is a boy.

Back at the farm, Hood gets a call. He had asked a friend to run a model on an alternative treatment for Erica but it didn’t work. Felix asks Hood how he deals with the people no longer being just names. Hood honestly replies he doesn’t know. Rachel comes up and asks if there is a way to find the source of the poisoning. Hood says she is standing it in and she notices she’s standing in manure. Hood analyzing it to find fish bones, fish meat used to supplement the cows’ diet. Felix finds the fish, tainted with mercury. Hood focuses on the herring. He goes down to the lake and notes that herring normally don’t carry mercury. Rachel wonders how they will search Lake Michigan but Hood says they’ll just follow the seagulls. They follow the gulls into a scene from The Birds, with the gulls attacking the car. A gun shot scares off the birds as Debbie’s husband came to save the day. They let him have a gun?!?! Tick to commercial…

Debbie’s husband works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife and says he’s seen the alarming harm we’ve done to the environment. He blames the government but Rachel reminds him they aren’t the enemy. Hood gets a gull’s GPS transmitter and Hood follows it to the source of the mercury poisoning. He sends a scuba diver down and they lift up…the old refrigerator. We all knew where this was going the minute the husband entered the picture, right? Hood opens it to find liquid mercury, Felix focuses on the maggots and Rachel notes the glass. Felix says it is from old barometers, which contained liquid mercury. Hood and Rachel play verbal ping-pong, impressing Felix. The two have a great repertoire.

Hood is called back to the hospital after Erica suffers a setback. Hood goes in to talk to her. Erica is scared and can’t ask her husband, earning Rachel’s sympathy. Erica asks Hood what he would tell his wife. Important note: Hood’s wife died a few years ago from cancer. The question chokes him up and he tells her to go with her heart. Rachel watches, concerned as Debbie comes for a visit. Hood comes out to tell them she will have the baby. Debbie talks to Hood as Felix comes up. He has found out how much barometers were sold. A man named Lars Sandersy bought them. Debbie says that the name is the Latin name for a gull. Hood notes her necklace, starting to oxidize. She gives up her husband.

He’s down at the lake with a refrigerator as Debbie approaches. She asks him, Ben, and pleads that he wasn’t the one poisoning people. Ben figures mercury poisoning was curable. Debbie cries, wondering what her husband did. He argues he did it for their family and for their planet. He’s an eco-warrior, isn’t he? Debbie finally notes what we all knew—he’s crazy. Ben argues that the tragedy will make people take notice. Debbie returns the necklace as Rachel approaches to arrest him. He’s all doom and gloom about the planet while Rachel says she’s not sorry since he killed someone. He runs and Felix takes him down. It’s impressive.

At the hospital, Erica sees—yes, sees—her baby boy. The doctor tells the duo that the baby is strong. Outside, Felix seems to be practicing a speech. He talks with Hood and Rachel. Hood thanks Felix for his help. He says good-bye but then uses his pitch—hanging around, saying he is wanted. However, Rachel and Hood burst his bubble with the director’s comments about Felix begging for the assignment. Turns out, he’s a big fan of Hood and Rachel. He asks to join the team. Hood throws it to Rachel, who throws it back to him. He asks if he’ll regret it and Felix hugs him. Rufus Sewell’s face is priceless, but they walk out together.

Next week: A small town is struck by lightning 30 times. Felix joins Rachel and Hood in solving the crime.