“Have you considered the man that keeps bringing artifacts back into the world? The one who’s trying to kill the people you care about? That, this Brother Adrian, is the evil.” ~ Mrs. Frederic
Last time in ‘Endless Wonder’, Myka and Pete tracked down a bowl from the Colossus of Rhodes that caused people to grow uncontrollably and literally pull apart while a young pharmaceutical rep, Deb, joined them in the investigation. Suspecting that Pete and Myka have access to more life saving objects, she tracked Pete to the warehouse where she was introduced to its ‘Endless Wonders’ and realized that keeping it a secret was the safest option for everyone. Meanwhile, Claudia and Steve helped Artie track Brother Adrian and discovered he had been using the Threshold of Limentinus to enter the warehouse. They successfully retrieved the threshold from him, but not before he threatened everyone Artie cares about and escaped once again. Later, H.G. Wells arrived and tells Artie about her suspicions that he used Magellan’s Astrolabe to set back time.
In ‘Second Chances’ Pete and Myka head to Dalton, West Virginia to discover the artifact that is causing people to rust while Steve and Claudia head to Steve’s home in New Jersey to find a way to get him off the metronome. Meanwhile Mrs. Frederic, H.G. Wells and Leena confront Artie about Brother Adrian.
Recap
After receiving a ping about a man who had been admitted to the hospital because he was literally a bit rusty, Artie sends Pete and Myka to Dalton, West Virginia to discover the cause. They talk to the man when they arrive and find that he works at a steel mill where the steelworkers are currently on strike. They suspect the owner, Siskel, is responsible for causing the rusting among the workers, so they question him while Artie does some investigation about him. They discover that the steel mill owner is Hank Blaloc, a man previously convicted for poor working conditions and cutting corners.
During their investigation, however, another person whom had never been to the steel mill becomes ill. They find that she works out at the same gym as the steelworkers so they head to the gym to find the artifact causing the rusting. Pete does some “hands-on investigation” with each worker, questioning them about the union representative’s possible motives, but ends up getting knocked out by Cody Bell. During a big fight that night, Myka sees Cody’s arm transform when he knocks out the other boxer. When the union representative falls ill, they realize that Cody is the cause of the disease and head to the hospital to talk to his father.
After questioning his father and getting some more information from Artie regarding Cody’s marine service, they realize that the artifact is shrapnel from a museum that is embedded in Cody’s chest. Cody overhears Pete and Myka discussing that Cody is the cause and takes off to the steel mill to kill Siskel. Pete catches up to Cody at the steel mill just in time to save Siskel who takes off running while Pete tries to keep Cody from killing him. Myka stops Siskel and threatens him to fix the situation with the workers and admit to the insurance fraud or she’ll reveal who he really is to the authorities. Pete finally convinces Cody to stop his attempts to kill Siskel, but is already overcome by the rusting by the time Myka gets to him. When Cody tells her that the shrapnel in his chest is too close to his heart to remove it without killing him, Myka improvises and “takes the goo to the artifact” by injecting the goo directly into his chest. The goo neutralizes the artifact and Pete as well as the other victims’ symptoms disappear. Under Myka’s threat, Siskel hires all the steelworkers back, saving their jobs and fixing the working conditions.
Meanwhile, Artie finds a poem written by Robert Schumann who had been connected to the metronome by his fiancé. The poem explains how to disconnect from it safely and indicates that Steve has to go back home to where he was born and get a pure start, so Steve and Claudia head to New Jersey. Once there, Steve and Claudia greet his mother, Emma, whom Steve has been upset with since his sister’s murder. After catching up a bit, they head to another room and attempt to stop the metronome. When it causes both to nearly die, Claudia starts it again and Emma rushes into the room. After Steve storms out, Claudia explains the connection to the metronome to his mom and Emma, in turn, tells Claudia that Steve left after she fought to save his sister’s killer from the death penalty.
They find Steve in his sister’s room and his mom explains that she did what she had because that’s what his sister would have done. Claudia suggests that Steve try to do the same thing and think about Olivia and follows Emma out of the room. Later, when he comes down to them, he apologizes to his mom as she is looking at the metronome and they hug. Claudia seizes that opportunity to take the metronome out of Emma’s hands but when she touches it, it completes a connection between the three of them and begins to kill Emma. Steve quickly grabs the metronome and smashes it against the wall breaking it to pieces, saving his mom. Shortly after doing that, Emma recovers and he and Claudia realize that he is still alive because of the sacrifice of pure love he was willing to make for his mother.
Meanwhile at the warehouse, Mrs. Frederic, H.G. Wells and Leena confront Artie about Brother Adrian. After telling him everything they suspect about his use of Magellan’s Astrolabe, they convince Artie to tell them what happened. He finally tells them that he used it to turn back time because the warehouse and everything in it, including Pandora’s box, was destroyed. Mrs. Frederic admits that he did the right thing and that she would have done the same and asks about Brother Adrian’s warning. He tells her that Brother Adrian had warned about an evil he would have to live with for the rest of his life and tells them he suspects Claudia because of a nightmare/vision he had. Mrs. Frederic points out the possibility that the evil is in fact Brother Adrian, and he agrees that she could be right and the vision is possibly an implanted suggestion. Mrs. Frederic decides to talk to the other regents to reach out to the Brotherhood of the Black Diamonds to find a solution to Brother Adrian and what he could possibly want. After this, Leena tells Mrs. Frederic where Artie hid Magellan’s Astrolabe and unknown to Artie, Mrs. Frederic gives it to H.G. Wells to keep safe, instructing her to disappear and have no further communication with anyone. Telling her to trust no one.
Review
‘Second Chances’ was interesting and finally brought a resolution to some things. Pete and Myka’s use of the goo to neutralize the shrapnel artifact was kind of cool. Now we know the goo is safe for human injection. Good to know. Pete’s line about the Purple Heart was great. I wonder how long the writers have been waiting to fit that into the storyline? I’ve also been wondering what would happen to Claudia if Steve were removed from the metronome, apparently nothing, but hey, Steve’s off the metronome! He doesn’t have to worry about hurting Claudia anymore…though they had some pretty funny moments with that connection! But now I guess that means Steve will have that whole pain inconvenience thing again.
‘Second Chances’ also delved into Steve’s history. It was great learning more about Steve and seeing this character developed. We’ve already had some glimpses from last season regarding his sister, but I liked learning a bit more about that. And did you see that picture of his sister? He wasn’t kidding when he said Claudia reminded him of her. Looks alone suffice for that, not to mention her room complete with a guitar and all. At any rate, that’s one storyline resolved at least: Steve’s off the metronome and now they can get back to fieldwork and tracking down artifacts again!
Also, Artie finally told someone about his little psychotic, evil, bent-on-dismantling-Artie’s-life’s-work-and-killing-the-people-he-cares-about Brother Adrian problem! Finally! I had been speculating that Brother Adrian was the evil, so I have to say, “Thank you, Mrs. Frederic, for pointing that out to Artie.” That’s not to say I’m right or that Mrs. Frederic is either. It could just be a twist to mislead and I’m easily fooled in that respect, but I’m glad someone pointed out Brother Adrian’s evilness. Now, I’m curious if Mrs. Frederic is right, or like I said, if that’s just something to mislead us? Also what will Artie do when he realizes the astrolabe is gone? Mrs. Frederic will at least tell him she took it, right? She’s not going to wait until Artie has a break down looking for it, suspecting Brother Adrian somehow got his hands on it or something, is she? Either way, I’m glad someone knows and Artie doesn’t have to keep it all to himself anymore. That was driving him crazy.
Next time it looks like we’ll get a little further with the whole Brother Adrian shtick. I hope that too comes to some form of resolution, if only to get rid of Brother Adrian. I’m beginning to really dislike that smug little psycho.
