Helios-685 (episode)/Plot

Plot - based on Showcase recap - a work in progress

We see a group of vulnerable people who are being controlled by a cult leader, he is yelling about the upcoming rapture and the group are about to commit suicide. They sit by the water and raise their glasses of poison, only to grab hold of their heads and shriek in pain.

When the consciousness transfer is complete without any accidental misfires, the fresh group of travelers get up and march in a line away from the waterfront; the leader stops by a garbage bin to pick up a lunchbox.

Through blurred focus we see the soldier who was injured by the antimatter explosion in episode 2; that he's been hospitalized and he wakes to find Major Gleason, standing beside his bed. Gleason demands to know what happened the night of the explosion. His subordinate can't remember and thinks that Gleason probably saw more than he did since he said he was following behind.

Without realizing it, the soldier does become helpful when he reveals that a "car came out of nowhere and a woman walked out". Gleason starts an investigation into who that woman was and what that car was doing there.

FBI agent MacLaren talks to his wife, Kat, about her craft of repairing antique furniture before he heads to work. As she does some sanding, he tells her how impressed he is by her ability to take something broken and make it whole again. This is not normal behaviour from her husband but Kat enjoys it nonetheless. What she doesn’t enjoy is him having to miss dinner once again.

MacLaren apologizes and leaves for work. Then we catch up with Trevor who is attempting to teach his sexist father a lesson about gender equality when his dad forces his mom to change into a dress that he prefers. When his mother obliges to avoid a fight, Trevor dishes out a compliment as well about how lovely she looked in the other outfit. She's touched by this and pecks his cheek as she gets into the car to drive out of town for the night. When Trevor's parents are out of sight Carly pulls up and he hops in the passenger seat. They head to the traveler hideout and headquarters of course to begin their next assignment or more accurately to RE-begin a past assignment since this is something they started back in episode 2.

MacLaren is sympathetic to his team about their rough condition, after being capturing by the unknown group but says they must go on, regardless of how bruised their bodies are. Getting rid of this antimatter is why they were sent to the 21st since it triggers the beginning of the fall of mankind. In preparation, Marcy injects them all with something that will prevent their nervous systems from shutting down and Trevor leads them in a traveler inspired prayer.

Meanwhile, the new travelers have boarded a school bus to migrate to their desired location and are injecting something as well. Dr. Delaney receives a text from MacLaren sends her a text saying that he'll be dropping by soon. Delaney is surprised by two aggressive men who arrive with a firm request that she come with them. Unfortunately she assumes they are members of MacLaren’s team, but they work for Major Gleason. One of them stays behind to guard the antimatter as the other leads Delaney away towards a large white warehouse where Gleason is. He’s not surprised to hear that she was expecting someone else.

MacLaren and Carly talk in the van. Carly is worried about not being able to protect her son from harm and MacLaren tries to keep her focused on the present. When she asks if he's worried about his wife, he avoids answering and her jealousy grows. We see another arrival who is literally sitting in her death bed. The host's name is Bloom and she was just about to drink poison in an assisted suicide because of terminal illness. She leaves, surprising her attendant. MacLaren and his team pull up to Dr. Delaney's place of work disguised as cleaners. Delaney was supposed to have told security that there was another leak, but she was abducted by before being able to do that. The guard on duty doesn't know about the "leak" and refuses to let the travelers through the secure iron gates.

MacLaren takes matters into his own hands, zaps the guard unconscious and Marcy does the same for the remaining two guards. The other officers turn out to also be travelers and assist in getting rid of their comatose buddies. Philip notifies MacLaren that police and military radio signals are jammed outside the facility and the wind direction is on target. Now, all they have to do is find Delaney and give her the antitoxin and explain what's going on.

Carly's reinforcements, who are the busload of senior citizens, have been stopped at the border because of an expired passport. When MacLaren and Marcy enter the facility they discover that Delaney is also missing in action, which puzzles them, but they go ahead anyway.

Trevor and Phillip get right to work and worry about how a change in the wind direction could would result in a toxic cloud being blown towards the city. They're interrupted once more by a man with a gun. He attempts to radio for help but his radio signal simply will not work, which Philip tells him repeatedly. Philip tries to warn him, but the gas releases and the man with a gun dies. Whatever Marcy injected the travelers with earlier on has protected Trevor and Philip. As the team intended, a warning alarm goes off in the building about an air quality alert and demands that all personnel evacuate or head to their refuge areas.

Carly stands at the gates, pointing cars towards the exit as employees flee the scene. She welcomes a cab with a new traveler in the backseat as well, Bloom. Carly huffs about her being late but she retorts that the "device" hasn’t arrived yet so she isn't late. She takes Carly's arm for support and walk towards towards the facility. Dr. Delaney is being grilled by Major Gleason in a shadowy room. Gleason accuses her of selling the antimatter to a foreign power like Russia or North Korea. She denies the allegation and restates that what she created was a fraction of what she "thought" she created. He in turn threatens to charge her with aiding the enemy and espionage and she calls him an idiot. Back at the facility, the travelers are disappointed to learn that the missing Delaney put a biometric lock on the material which requires her retina scan to unlock. Trevor tries to crack the code and Philip begins his search for Delaney, they now suspect she was taken against her will by the military.

Traveler 117, the elderly engineer who Carly escorted inside, arrives. She greets each member and gives them some gossip from the future. Apparently MacLaren's team is infamous. They're rather controversial and folks are arguing for and against them in heated debates. Bloom also discloses that it was she (among others) who located the travelers when they were taken prisoner in episode 5. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know who took them prisoner. Lastly, she reminds the gang that if this mission is successful it will deflect an asteroid called Helios 685 from it's path to Earth. They would save millions of lives and drastically alter the course of humanity which would eliminate the illness, the shortages, and the wars that manufactured their post-apocalyptic home. It could also mean they were all never born.

While the travelers process the idea of never existing, Carly radios in to say that the "device" has been delivered via helicopter. It's An x ray laser of course which they will use to channel the energy from the antimatter and deflect the asteroid. After MacLaren argues with Bloom about what the best contingency plan should be if they don’t find Delaney, Philip announces a potential lead. He's got the license plate of a car that arrived at the facility early that morning and goes to find that vehicle while the engineer heads to the roof to check out her laser, and Marcy leaves her social worker David an emotional voicemail saying goodbye. She advises him not to worry if she doesn't return, because she might "be relocated".

Bloom is not well. Her host body was dying from cancer and she doesn't have whatever medication she needs. She does have marijuana and lights up a joint since her only task in the next few hours is turning a key. Philip's much more difficult task of locating Dr. Delaney has been accomplished by tracking down her tablet. MacLaren drives off to get their scientist back which Carly is not excited about. She's been holding off police officers and firefighters who arrived on the scene to give a helping hand. In order to shoo them away, the travelers set off a second blast which sets off a second toxic cloud which sets off more non-traveler humans evacuating the area. MacLaren confidently walks into the warehouse where Gleason is holding Delaney and uses his FBI authority to intimidate, deceive and persuade the major into releasing the scientist into his custody.

When they go to retrieve her she has vanished. Maclaren scolds him and sprints to sniff out Delaney. Delaney is in the back of the traveler’s van. She's being injected by Marcy to protect her nervous system. The busload of elderly travelers arrives and Carly is thrilled to get them locked and loaded.

Gleason becomes suspicious. He orders his squad to suit up and get ready to go.

Marcy, Delaney, and MacLaren arrive with what he thinks is plenty of time to spare but Carly says otherwise. He uses his plenty of time to passionately kiss his lover before she gets into firing position alongside Becky, the best sniper among the grandmas. Delaney is less passionate about the mission and refuses to provide her retina so the antimatter can be used to fuel some laser sitting on the roof that she’s never seen before. MacLaren attempts to get her on board by explaining that there’s an asteroid headed towards earth (Helios 685) which hasn’t been detected yet and when it strikes the Atlantic Ocean in 18 months the wave will knock out most of the Eastern Seaboard resulting in all of the bad stuff that Bloom mentioned earlier. But, if the laser is fired precisely 12 minutes from this chat then the beam will strike Helios and deflect it by 0.7 degrees which is enough of a deflection to miss the earth and bring all of the nations together, Brady Bunch styles. In order to power the laser though they need an antimatter detonation and as Delaney cautions it could be miles wide and would kill innocent people.

Bloom is aware of this factor already and she’s cool with it. She’s also cool with everyone in the facility dying and even dying herself and she’s VERY cool with Gleason and his men being shot at by Carly and the elderly travelers but she doesn’t want them to die, since you know, protocol 3. When Gleason recognizes that the snipers aren’t shooting to kill, his cohort moves forward without fear. An anxious Delaney concedes and provides his retina to scan. As soon as she does, Bloom informs MacLaren that she doesn’t want Delaney to die either ‘cause the future could use her and she orders him to get the scientist as far away as possible. MacLaren insists that they stay until the mission is complete. He’s worried about the soldiers getting in and messing everything up big time but the engineer isn’t concerned. If that happens, it will be in the hands of the director. So, the travelers do as they’re told and guide Dr. Delaney to safety.

Bloom then sets the process in motion. She lights a joint as she watches her invention/the laser glow in triumph. She’s pumped to be able to turn the key of her life's work and go down as the greatest champion of all time. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get the opportunity to do that because Gleason and his boys come charging in, guns ablaze and take her out before she’s able to finish her joint. But, as Bloom predicted, the director takes control of the situation and suddenly the consciousness of a traveler possesses the body of a solider. When that soldier saunters towards the key Gleason takes him out too. And when another traveler soldier and another traveler soldier and another traveler soldier do the same Gleason executes them as well, one after another, leaving him standing alone in an empty room, which means… you got it. He grabs hold of his skull and cries out as a traveler makes their debut in the major’s brain. When he lands, he smirks, acknowledges his whereabouts and proceeds to stop Helios 685 from destroying earth.

Or does he? MacLaren and his team veer off the road as the antimatter detonates and the laser maybe does its thing and the asteroid is maybe deflected. Delaney asks how they’ll know if it worked and the agent replies that he isn’t sure that it did. Why? ‘Cause they’re still alive of course! Looks like it’s not the end for the travelers after all but it might be the end of humanity.