12 Monkeys - Yesterday - Review

12 Monkeys, “Yesterday,” is directed by Michael Waxman with a teleplay by Oliver Grigsby and the story by the team of Grigsby and Natalie Chaidez. Grigsby has also written for Nikita and Heroes. Xander Berkeley joins the cast as General Foster, continuing the great connection with the Nikita franchise.

This week’s episode takes place primarily in 2043 as Jones (Barbara Sukowa) tries desperately to get Cole (Aaron Stanford) back before his real time tether is lost and he is lost in time. The universe of 2043 is opened up to include Spearhead run by General Foster, and we get some of the backstory on how the Splinter Project began. I really liked how the two encampments set up a terrific debate on the nature of time travel. Is everything truly fated, or can the past really be changed?

I thought it was interesting that we didn’t get our usual time stamp for Cole, but it became apparent that the episode was toying with us at the end – what a great shocker of an ending! I love how they keep finding different ways to play with time and really keep us disoriented. We see that Cole has survived the blast after all, and then suffer through him disinfecting the wound with alcohol and removing the bullet himself. Does anybody think that that can possibly not be infected? We see that milk glass fall and break again, but this time we also see a boy and a drop of blood. Cole hears voices – Aza (Nataliya Rodina) and her father Mikkail (Sergey Shpakovsky). She’s quite concerned about his cough – in hindsight, it’s clear that she’s worried he has the plague. The fact that she’s coughing likely means that she has it. As they try to rescue Cole he is almost pulled back to 2043 – until the core completely burns itself out.

Meanwhile, Cassie (Amanda Schull) is having trouble accepting that it’s over, that Cole has been erased. Aaron (Noah Bean) is supportive and is on board with trying to get information from Senator Royce (Bill Timoney) about whether they actually found Cole’s body. Royce sees them – it’s not clear whether Aaron still has a job with him or not, but Cassie does convince Royce to let her actually go and check the site. She has to threaten him with going to the media, but in the end, she really convinces him by saying she’ll go as a CDC envoy to make sure it doesn’t become a PR nightmare for him.

Cassie actually asks Noah to go with her, and I thought it curious that he insisted she go alone. They do seem to be drawing closer. We, of course, know that the virus hasn’t been eradicated. I was wondering why Cassie wasn’t concerned that Wexler and the others’ bodies had been removed – surely they must be the point of origin? Cassie manages to bribe a cab driver (Vlado Jovanavski) and some soldiers to gain access to the blast site. There’s a terrific juxtaposition with what she is seeing, and Cole being pulled up out of the hole. It’s not until we finally see Cole ask Aza what year it is that we learn Cassie isn’t seeing Cole because he’s standing in 2017, and the plague is fully underway.

Back in 2043, we learn that Jones at one time worked with General Foster and all the brilliant minds left to develop a cure. In fact, they tried for 20 years with no luck. Foster took over Spearhead through a military coup and Jones left to work on the Splinter Project. We also learn that while Whitely (Demore Barnes) went with Jones, his father, Captain Frank Whitley (Rutherford Gray) is Foster’s head of military. They have a very formal reunion. Barnes was great in this episode as we finally get to see just a little beneath his skin. His father is cold to him, and clearly Whitley is loyal to Jones. I hope we get more backstory on this!

We get quite a lot of backstory on Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) as he runs into the love of his life, Elena (Amy Sloan), and discovers that he has a son, Samuel (Benjamin Meranda). We learn that she thought he was dead – that the West VII had finally gotten him. She tells him she went north before finally finding Spearhead and becoming a lab tech for Foster. She clearly believes in what Foster is doing. Acevedo is excellent in this episode as he worries about his friend and as he deals with having not only Elena potentially back in his life but a son as well. Meranda is excellent as Sam and Sloan and Acevedo definitely have chemistry.

Children play prominent parts throughout the episode. Ramse tells Whitley he can see why Whitley’s dad isn’t happy. Who would want their kid to grow up in the bunker when they could grow up in Spearhead which is a beautiful facility. This nicely sets up what will no doubt be the big problem for Ramse. He won’t want to leave Cole and Jones for Foster nor will he want to deprive either Sam or Elena of living at Spearhead. We also learn that “Hannah” was Jones’ daughter – yet another reason for her to try to get the past rewritten.

Foster won’t give up his core because he’s using it to run a huge room full of servers all working on an algorithm that will not only determine when the virus will mutate but how it will mutate to provide a cure. Jones is convinced that this is not possible. We have a classic science versus faith debate set up. The first time Ramse sees Foster, he’s praying in the lab. This follows nicely from the very first scene in which Ramse asks Jones if she’s praying over the core to bring Cole back. He makes it very clear that he has no faith in faith – in the power of prayer. Foster, however, brings up faith on numerous occasions. Is there anything more dangerous than a religious zealot?

I love Jones simply turning up at Spearhead and the dysfunctional dinner that followed. I also loved Ramse trying to get them both to focus on the real problem at hand – “A lot of lives at stake and you’re having a dick measuring contest!” Foster calls Jones Herr Frankenstein and asks if she’s still chewing up scavengers in her machine. Jones reminds him of the blood he spilt when he took control of Spearhead – neither of them are free from blood on their hands.

When Foster demands to know what she has to show for her efforts, she presents him with his own wedding photos that were burnt in a fire. Jones dangles the carrot in front of him – you can have it all back. Family, society, culture. Foster tells her that the pictures are very precious to him. We know that it was his own wife succumbing to the plague that set off his coup. He tells Jones, “Let me show you what righting the past looks like.” And he sets the photos on fire – so they are still burned as the past dictated they should be. He goes on to say, “the past is the past. The cure is not some memory.” He goes on to ask the paradoxical question. What if all of this was simply meant to happen? What if it’s just fated to be this way – no matter what you do in the past, it still results in the same future. Of course, we know that’s not true from Cole’s trip to the alternate future.

Foster does offer Jones a deal. He’ll let her use his core to bring Cole back but then she must come back to work for him. Ramse wants her to take the deal to get Cole back. Is it possible that Ramse is now envisioning the possibility of a life with Elena and his son? I loved the scene between the two as Ramse is about to leave when he starts out saying how handsome Sam is but then turns to how he gets his looks from her. Ramse does argue in favor of Foster’s plan to predict the mutation, to move just move forward in time. The other scientists agree with Jones, and she reveals that the cure Foster has is for a strain of the virus that is already dead. Jones dismisses everyone and confides only in Whitley. Even he is leaning towards taking Foster’s deal, but Jones insists that if Foster won’t let them have the core, then they take it by any means necessary.

This was another fast paced episode. I loved the contrast in the sets between Spearhead and the Splinter project. I also loved the questions raised. What is the value of hope and faith? Does it negate the place of science? Are things simply fated to happen – I think that question has really been answered anyway. But most of all, I loved that I was completely confused about what Cassie was seeing and Cole experiencing right up until Aza said it was 2017. What did you think of the episode? Do you think Jones has enough might to take the core by force? How are they going to move it? Do you think Ramse and Elena have any chance at all? 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.