12 Monkeys - The Night Room - Review

12 Monkeys, “The Night Room,” was written by Richard Robbins and directed by David Boyd. Robbins other credits include Scandal and Rubicon, so he’s well qualified to ramp up the mystery of the story. Boyd’s directing credits include The Walking Dead, Revolution, and Friday Night Lights, but he’s also known as a cinematographer and that really shows in the atmospheric quality of this episode. This episode opens up a lot more questions about the way time loops back on itself, and it also provides a really good look at what’s motivating our main characters. I really like that the characters are being fleshed out to be neither black nor white – there are no easy answers. The writing and the acting are terrific.

The episode opens in 2011 with Jennifer (Emily Hampshire) bringing the “precursor” to the night room. We get a preview of some of the many fail-safes, including the “evening stars” or the big burn system. When Adam (Joshua Close) questions whether anyone would ever try to steal it, Jennifer says “it’s happened before.” This, of course, opens the door to a flashback to that encounter. I wonder if it was the Pallid Man (Tom Noonan) or Cole (Aaron Stanford) or possibly someone else. One other quick observation about Jennifer. In the pre-asylum scenes, she’s always wearing glasses, but not in the 2015 scenes. It’s understandable she wouldn’t be given glasses as she could hurt herself with them, but how does she see? Contacts? Lasix?

We get a little glimpse into the characters and see them in a very rare moment of lightheartedness as Cole invites Jones (Barbara Sukowa) to join himself and Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) in their pre-jump get together. Max (Romina D’Ugo) is also there. Jones shows a little jealousy about Cassie (Amanda Schull) and Cole being on a first name basis with her, so Cole makes a point of inviting Katerina. I loved her determining that the calculations had been off because they hadn’t considered the alcohol in Cole’s bloodstream! It’s pretty ironic when Jones wants to open a bottle that she’s been saving because there’s “no time like the present!” It’s hilarious when they make a drinking game out of Jones saying “mission.” But they also learn that Jones was married – her maiden name was Werner – but she was only married for a few days. This leaves us to wonder whether he was killed by the virus or perhaps in a time travel experiment. Could the Pallid Man actually be Mr Jones?!

They are interrupted by an explosion and we learn that the power core is eroding. They never considered that there would have to be so many jumps and they are running out of power – and time. Ramse is concerned that both Jones and Cole are being reckless. What’s the hurry? It’s a TIME machine! Both Cole and Jones are frantic to achieve their goals, however, and push ahead. Given that Cole ends up in splintering back into what seems to be the future to 2043 – a future in which the West VII controls the bunker – Ramse clearly had a point. Acevedo is excellent in this episode, and is fast becoming the character with the truest moral compass.

I loved the scene in which Ramse goes to Jones to press her to see if Cole is even still alive. He says, “I know you’re hard at work, but I just discovered something. Are these my hands? Oh my God! We’re still here.” And Jones responds, “Sarcasm! I like it!” This is a nice loop back to her using sarcasm on him in the previous episode. Sarcasm, like irony and satire, is a by product of a literate and creative culture, and we come to see just how important that is to Jones. She does tell Ramse that they still have Cole’s tracer signal, but it’s pretty clear that that’s all she CAN tell him. They are totally flying by the seat of their pants.

Max tells Ramse about stories that are told about a Dr Grimm – is that a play on the Brothers Grimm and their disturbing fairytales? She questions why they trust Jones and what they know about her. Ramse investigates Jones’ quarters and finds her files. We also see a model of timelines, including 1987 and 1991 – are these times coming up on a future episode? We know Cole will go to 1987 to meet Leland for the first time after all. We also see a number of pictures, what appears to be a baby blanket with Hannah on it, and a music box. But it’s the files that are most disturbing. The first one looked an awful lot like the Pallid Man to me – is he a failed experiment? One of those lost in time? Others are bleeding, exploded, or cut open to be examined. This scene is interestingly cut with shots of the Pallid Man and the torso, reinforcing that there is a connection.

Jones finds Ramse and insists that the experiments had been necessary. She agrees that there is nothing she wouldn’t do. Ramse points out that it’s not working. They’ve changed nothing and all she’s got is blood on her hands. It’s very much a question of whether the ends justify the means. Ramse insists that THIS time matters. It’s all they’ve got after all, and there is no guarantee that the past can be changed to erase this present.

Jones’ motivation, however, is compelling. She tells Ramse it “wasn’t just the people. It was the ideas, the paintings, the books, and music.” She insists that it’s necessary because “in a thousand generations, we could not build what was lost. What are a few lives compared to the whole of human history. Without it, there’s nothing. Nothing. No future. Just drifting in the ocean of time, no shore in sight.” Ramse wants to know if Cole will be torn apart. Jones insists she won’t let it happen. When Max presses him about what he found, Ramse lies. He tells her he doesn’t trust Jones or her.

The 2015 storyline parallels and reinforces the 2043 storyline. Once again, Cassie parallels Ramse. When they take Adam away, she wants to try to stop them, but Cole tells her, “You can’t save everyone.” And she replies, “I thought that was the point.” Cassie is the one to worry whether Jennifer is still alive. Cassie is stunned and angry that Cole killed Henri. Cole justifies it by saying he couldn’t let them find Henri. Cassie tells him, “I trusted you. I had a good life before you. Now there’s just death.”

        Trust is also an important theme in the episode. Cole responds by revealing his own motivation. He tells her that he and Ramse had rules for themselves that included never kill in anger, only for self defense, but self defense came to include food and shelter in order to survive. He tells her the story of them raiding a farmhouse and killing an old woman after she stabbed him. Before she died, however, she looked at him and forgave him. Cole tells Cassie, “I never knew before that moment, but that was what I wanted.” Cassie fills in “Forgiveness,” and he continues, “That’s what I’ve been rushing towards. Maybe I can fix this and all of it won’t be for nothing.”

Like Jones, he justifies what he does in the present for the greater good it will create in the future. But Cassie tells him, “You need someone else. You’re willing to do what’s needed. I can’t. I just want to heal people. Fix things.” Cole tells her that she doesn’t want to be like him. Yet, in the end, it’s Cassie who must pull the failsafe switch, and burn the soldiers in the room. She does end up with blood on her hands.

We also learn more about the Pallid Man in this episode. I’m still convinced he’s from the future. Noonan continues to be incredibly super creepy. The way in which he tells Adam to shut his eyes and think about his wife – letting him see her one last time – and then shooting him is both shocking and strangely kind. At least he didn’t see it coming, right? Of course, the scene with him sticking the bamboo under Cole’s nails is cringe inducing – is there anybody who didn’t have to look away?! And there’s evidence he did that to Jennifer as well. Then there’s the giant bugs he puts on her…

The Pallid Man tells Cassie and Cole about “the Witness.” Cassie thinks he’s talking about God at first, but he clarifies he’s not. According to the Witness, 99.9% of species are now extinct, and “the natural order is no longer sufficient.” Clearly, wiping out man will prevent man from wiping out any more species, right? The episode ends with the Pallid Man taking Cassie.

There are a number of interesting echos between the storylines and some possible hints to what’s going on. Jennifer is once again fixated on Cole’s “otter eyes.” She mentions them several times in the episode. She also describes them as “like two full moons pulling back the tide.” The moon controls the motion of the oceans, and this also harkens back to Jones’ comment about drifting in the ocean of time with no shore in sight. Tides only make a difference on shore, after all. Cole is always going to be the key. In looking at the torso, Jennifer remarks, “there’s something about its eyes” and we see Cole get “wobbly” when he’s close to it – almost like in “Atari” when he was close to himself and almost in a paradox. Or is it just that he’s close to splintering?

The Pallid Man says that the torso contains a centuries old virus, but how is that possible? Is the torso actually Cole’s? Does Cole somehow go back in time and contract a virus and die in the future with it but the antibodies in that body would ensure that Cole would be immune when it’s released again? Or is Jennifer actually recognizing her own eyes? Sometimes this time stuff gives me a headache!

Hampshire continues to delight as Jennifer. I felt like her performance was a little too manic or over the top at first, but she’s really settled into the role now, and her performance is more nuanced than I initially gave her credit for. She gets a few great lines in this episode. I loved her, “Quick question. Who’s this bitch?” And when Cole explains that Cassie helped to find her, she says, “Thank you. You can go now.” When they trip the invisible failsafe, Jennifer is ecstatic, saying “melting like Raiders!” Meaning they will melt the way the characters do at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark when they open the ark of the covenant and see the wonders they aren’t meant to see.

However, when Cole grabs the soldier’s gun and shoots out the case holding the torso, he should have released the virus into the air. Now, Cassie is upstairs to trip the switch because she went up there to get a mask so as not to be exposed to the virus, leaving the mask downstairs to Jennifer. Jennifer and Cole hide in the vault while the big burn kills the torso, virus and soldiers, but there are at least a few seconds when Jennifer does not have the mask on before the vault door closes – also, could some of the virus have survived in the vault with them? Seems an imperfect system. Is Jennifer immune to the virus or is she now the source?

My one complaint with the episode – and the show in general – is that it’s often hard to hear and understand what a character is saying. I want to hear every word because clearly everything they say is an important piece in the puzzle that’s going on! What did you think of the episode? Do you trust Jones or Max? Do the ends justify the means? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.