Stitchers - Full Stop - Review

Wow this episode was jam-packed with action and information. It was definitely an exciting end to the season. I am so glad the second season question has already been answered; otherwise I’d be cursing the gods of TV renewals.

We’ve known for a few episodes that Fisher has been doing some mysterious work for Leslie Turner. Last week he promised Kirsten that he would look into Turner’s statement that Ed died to protect her. In this week’s episode, Fisher meets Les for the first time. He personally asks Fisher to leave it alone. Once again we’re told how important it is to keep; Kirsten safe. Fisher agrees, but neither Les, Maggie nor I believe he will.

Fisher joins Kirsten at a restaurant/bar. From the expressions on Kirsten and Fisher’s faces, Camille has invited herself to their dinner meeting. He loses his patience when Cameron arrives. Camille stops the impending argument and drags Kirsten to the restroom. Fisher tells Cameron that he has something to tell Cameron about Ed Clark that he wants to tell her in private. I get the feeling Cameron has no intention of missing out on the juicy info because, instead of leaving, Cameron orders a drink.

Camille assumes she’s horned in on a date. When Kirsten denies this and tries to put a stop to this “girl talk”, Camille encourages her to enjoy her singlehood. Gunshots startle both women. Kirsten rushes out to find Fisher and Cameron both on the floor unconscious. Given the very disturbing vision from last week, I was a little surprised. An extremely small number of shows kill off a series regulars for purely story reasons ( as opposed to contract issues behind the scenes.) I spent the commercial break thinking ‘they didn’t really kill Cameron did they?’.

But, rest easy Cameron didn’t get shot. Cameron’s got a concussion but will be fine. Fisher, however, is touch and go. A waitress was also killed in the shooting, so of course she’ll be this week’s Stitch. The hope is that she saw something that would tell us what happened. In a fit of major short sightedness, we learn that Cameron is the only person who can pilot a Stitch.


Kirsten shows Camille and Linus the key Ed hid in her mother’s mausoleum. She’s concerned that all of this is happening because of her and the childhood she doesn’t remember. Linus immediately recognizes it as a safety deposit box key. Back into Ed’s stuff they go. Linus finds Ed’s belongings as interesting as Camille did when they were first delivered. But no time to explore, Kirsten keeps them on goal and Camille spots the bank statement.

Unfortunately, they need to Stitch into the waitress before Kirsten can chase this particular clue. Cameron summons Camille over to observe how he pilots. Linus volunteers, but is told to stay at his station. When Camille starts to ask him to map something, he snaps that he’s got it. Camille seems a little hurt. I can’t really blame her.

The Stitch picks up when Cameron tries to get Fisher to share some pasta. Fisher reacts to the man in the wheelchair standing. His reaction causes the waitress to turn just as the shooting begins. Cameron and the team learn that he was hurt when Fisher pushed him out of the way. They go back a little further and Kirsten sees the killer’s face.

Camille sits at Linus’ workstation running some law enforcement sketch artist software to produce a face for them to work with. Suddenly Linus is protesting that other people are using his computer; tossing him aside. All of this is forgotten when Maggie sits down and pulls up a photo of the man she recognizes. Robert Barbiero was head of security for the program when Kirsten’s parents running it.

Cameron starts training Camille in earnest. He seems to realize the short sightedness of not having any backup. Camille wonders why Kirsten is so good at Stitching. Marta was the only one of all of the volunteers that could Stitch, and she was nowhere near as good as Kirsten. Off handedly, he mentions that it’s like the lab was tuned to her brain pattern. Since we already saw little Kirsten in a tank, this confirms what the audience has believed for a while. They start running simulations as Linus walks in. He’s royally pissed that he’s been overlooked for this position. He is even less happy when Cameron tells him the truth. He doesn’t think Linus is qualified because he doesn’t possess the finesse or touch for the job. Ouch.

Kirsten heads to the bank to get into her safety deposit box. Her adult signature doesn’t match the signature on the bank’s signature card. She remembers being taught to sign her new name “Kirsten Clark” when she was a little girl. She re-signs and it passes. The box contains the missing book from the pilot.

Cameron discovers a disk in the spine of the book’s fake binding. They play the video on the disk and what I see makes me see red for a few seconds. It’s Kirsten’s father, and he has put his little girl into the Stitch machine. I calmed a bit when Kirsten said she had a headache and he immediately volunteered to stop. Little Kirsten insists they keep going. It does not go well though. He didn’t know that Stitching kills a living subject. The realization that she was not born with temporal dysplasia but got the condition when she was Stitched into her mother rocks Kirsten’s world.

Maggie and a SWATish team storm into Robert Barbiero’s apartment and find his dead body on the floor. He’s been stabbed multiple times. Based on the lack of blood, Maggie knows he was not killed here. Which of course means Barbiero will be the second Stitch.

Kirsten sees him on the phone with a woman. (Am I the only person who thought this woman sounded a lot like Maggie? Hmm, I can’t help but wonder if it’s Kirsten’s mother.) Barbiero is angry about the woman’s appearance at the site of the shooting. He blames the woman for the fact that Fisher is still alive. Kirsten can’t see the license plate but she realizes that Cameron may have since he walked by just before Barbiero went into the restaurant.

After the traumatic realization of earlier, Kirsten can’t focus during this Stitch. When she touches Ed and is sent to a memory he had of her and her mother when she was a little girl she can’t move on. She wants to stay. Cameron sends her back to the phone call just before Barbiero was killed. Kirsten begs to be sent back to her mother. In fact she refuses to focus on anything other than getting back there until she hears the voice on the phone begin talking to her. When Barbiero hears Kirsten’s name, he knows exactly what’s happening. The woman is using him to send a message to Kirsten, which means someone, will try to kill him soon. A moment later he is stabbed. Kirsten bounces and tells Maggie she heard nothing. Maggie, not being an idiot, doesn’t seem to buy it for a second.

Cameron catches up with Kirsten outside of Fisher’s room. She tells him about the message, but when she hesitates to reveal more, he wonders when she will really trust him. She points out that due to circumstances it seems impossible to ever trust anyone. He announces that he has an idea and leaves.

When Kirsten arrives at the lab she learns that Cameron’s brilliant idea is to stop his heart and have her Stitch into him. Everyone, even Linus who has spent the episode in Royal Jerk mode, protests the stupid idea. When Les walks in and sides with Cameron, the room is filled with refusals and arguments. Of course Cameron stops the discussion by injecting himself. Kirsten makes the call not to waste the opportunity Cameron has given them.

Everyone gets to their stations in record time. Camille is awesome. Despite her panic, she’s focused and doing her best not to waste time. But it is her first time, and it takes a bit for her to find the correct memory. Kirsten learns first hand that Cameron has a crush on her. As she says she’s “everywhere.”

Unfortunately, Kirsten can’t see the license plate because Cameron’s brain is fighting the Stitch. (Apparently, there is a difference between clinically dead and dead.) Camille loses control of the mice for a second, and Kirsten winds up in the most shocking memory of them all. Cameron and Kirsten first met when they were children. Cameron is still in the hospital after his heart surgery, and he stumbles across Kirsten painting her mother’s fingernails. Little Kirsten breaks down into tears. Cameron offers comfort and support. He really has always taken care of her.

Camille screams at Kirsten to bounce and she does. They frantically try to get Cameron’s heart started but that’s not to happen this season. We hear the machines flatline as we fade out until next summer!

Exciting episode. We, and Kirsten, learned a lot about the history of the program. This episode also set up some interesting intrigue for season two. Who ordered the hit on Fisher? Will Fisher survive? Who is the mysterious woman on the phone?

Did you enjoy the season finale?

About the Author - Prpleight

Prpleight is a screenwriter and senior software engineer with solid geek cred. When not writing code, screenplays, or watching TV (sometimes she does all three at the same time), she uses her broadsword Bessie to battle evil. She's been a frequent contributor to the SpoilerTV discussion boards for several years now. Currently, she's reviewing Stitchers and Major Crimes.

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