12 Monkeys “Hyena” was directed by Bill Eagles with a story by Christopher Monfette and the teleplay by the team of Monfette and Sean Tretta. Eagles other credits include The Magicians, Gotham, Fringe, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This is another fast paced episode – does 12 Monkeys do anything else? A theme of lies and truth runs throughout the episode.
Jennifer (Emily Hampshire) is don’t being a victim – she’s now armed and dangerous – with a strong Harley Quinn vibe to her first group of ladies – who call themselves the Hyenas. Jennifer picks her first followers from a select group of psychiatric hospitals.
First, they take care of the Dr Bandara (Sam Kalilieh). In fact, Jennifer leaves a phone for the Tall Man (Tom Noonan) with a note “For the Tall Man who pulls the strings.” He then finds Bandara strung up facing a hyena picture done in the style of the monkey drawings. I thought the whole scene had rather a Hannibal vibe to it!
In 2044, we finally see Whitley (Demore Barnes) back. The group is looking at pictures from the Milburn survivor’s camp – and it’s not pretty. There are skeletons and dead babies – but all were adults mere hours before the pictures were taken. Time has been driven insane according to Jones (Barbara Sukowa). Adler (Andrew Gillies) and Whitley don’t believe that killing the last primary did any good at all. Jones is convinced that killing just one more primary will reverse the storms.
Cole (Aaron Stanford) decides to go to Jennifer to get more information on the primary they are after. In the armory, Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) tells Cole about Titan – and Cassie (Amanda Schull) saying that she was in the Witness’s head when he was in hers. Ramse asks Cole to ask Jennifer about Titan.
Jennifer is as cryptic as always – “Primaries, plague, paradoxes” become a shell game – with the Witness as the ball. It’s not magic – it’s a lesson on perception versus deception. Next it becomes Cassie, Ramse, Jones, her daughter, my daughter are all distractions. Cole keeps losing at the game because he’s watching Jennifer’s hands and not the ball. Jennifer even bites him! But only the Tall Man knows where to find the primary he’s looking for. She tells him that he has to go back to 2016 to find out – even though Jennifer knows how it turns out, Cole has to go back because he did in the first place. Jennifer tells him that a wise man once told her that “There are many endings, but the right one is the one you choose.” And of course, in the end, we find out that the wise man is Cole himself. I love the clever writing on this show!
Jennifer also tells Cole that the search for Titan only leads to death. She also tells him that Ramse and Cassie’s rage is blinding them – Cole needs to stay the course. His purpose to stop the paradox and save the world. Ramse and Cassie are pissed off that Cole won’t help them, that he’s only focused on “his” mission. Cassie accuses him of getting his own vengeance – the Tall Man killed his father – while they all wait to get theirs.
Cole finds Jennifer with her followers – who she describes as The A-Team with all Murdochs! They’re really just misunderstood according to Jennifer. Vanessa (Eve Harlow) takes an instant dislike to Cole – probably because he dis-armed her so easily! She also describes them as family – and they already view her as their mother.
In 2044, Hannah (Brooke Williams) returns her baby blanket to Jones because they don’t have “things.” Jones tells her about the blanket – her Grandfather stitched her name in it even though he’d never done any stitching before that. Hannah asks about her father, and Jones tells her that he had an over-developed sense of self-preservation and ambition. He built the machine and she made it work. Hannah knows that Jones changed time to save her life. She tells Jones that when she was little she was told she was floating down a river on the back of a golden swan, but now she’s been told what Jones did. Hannah likes the swan story better because no one died. Hannah tells her, “Science killed the world, now you’re going to finish off the rest of us.”
Cassie and Ramse look for information on Titan. Cassie muses that they need a database. Hannah overhears and asks what a database is. Cassie tells her that it’s a place where information is collected and stored. And Hannah tells them about the Keeper (Christopher Heyerdahl). He can be dangerous so they’ve been forbidden from trading with him. He trades in truth.
Cassie insists on coming even though Ramse tells her it’s dangerous out there – after all, Cassie isn’t immune to the plague. She calls shotgun though, and goes anyway, because she knows if Ramse gets a lead, he won’t come back.
It turns out that Oliver Peters (Ramon De Ocampo) has been hiding with his brother’s help and has recently taken a job as the night janitor at Hudson University – Jennifer has been keeping tabs! He’s been working on a vaccine for the virus. Jennifer tells him the Tall Man is looking for him. Cole tells him that they destroyed the virus. Jennifer wants to kill Peters because he’s the only one who can engineer the virus, but Cole insists they can use him for bait to catch the Tall Man.
Cassie takes off her mask. What would happen if she died in 2044? Who would leave the message? Ramse suggests that someone else would leave the message. Cassie brings up that Cole said they were supposed to save time, and Ramse says that sounds like Cole. They come upon hanging corpses with “Liar” in Latin signs on them. They are approaching the House of Truth. The Keeper takes them prisoner when he gets the drop on them. Heyerdahl is wonderful – as he always is – fully inhabiting this new character.
Olivia (Alisen Down) seems to have lost all hope. She’s surprised that he’s embraced technology in the way he has – he’s scanning the Word of the Witness – which is missing one corner. Peters’ press conference leads her to remark that the Witness didn’t foresee that – and calls him a liar! The Tall Man is not impressed and almost smothers her with his bare hands.
The Hyenas want to tell the world that there is no hope, that the apocalypse is coming – they are planning on having an actual press conference. Cole tells them that the press conference was just a trap – that people turn into real animals when they lose all hope. Vanessa wants to shoot Cole again, so Jennifer tasers her – which triggers the rest of them and they turn their guns on Jennifer too.
The Keeper was the only one who thought to save the books. He waxes poetic about how the world did for its words what it didn’t do for humanity – digital immortality. He collected the digital records from Amazon and the Pentagon – so now he’s the Keeper of history. He has both Cassie and Ramse tied up and attached to lie detector machines.
Cassie tells the Keeper that they are looking for Titan, and Ramse is not happy about it. The Keeper asks why Ramse hates Cassie. He denies it – but the machine doesn’t lie. Cassie tells the Keeper that she hates Ramse because he’s selfish and let countless people die. That is also a lie, but then she tells the truth. That someone she cared about and sacrificed everything for chose Ramse over her. And Ramse admits that it’s the same for him. Aw – they’re jealous over Cole! It’s a nice moment of understanding between the two of them.
The Tall Man takes the bait – of course. Cole tells Jennifer that she really is crazy, and she tells him that the otter is a member of the weasel family. This was hilarious! Their escalating fight is just a ruse to take down their guard. The two get the Tall Man in the basement. He taunts them – is this a trap? Are you here to kill me? And Cole tells him he’s there to save him – which leaves the Tall Man flatfooted for a change!
And while they might not want to kill him, Cole gives him a pretty savage beating – which seems to hurt Cole’s hand more than the Tall Man’s face. The Tall Man tells him he doesn’t know about the Messengers – mothering was up to Olivia. Cole turns to a hammer to save his hand – with some pretty gruesome results. The Tall Man tells them the final powerful paradox takes place in 1957 – but it’s already happened. The Tall Man is concerned about the time – at 8pm Peters is going to divulge important information.
Cole realizes that the Tall Man is a distraction – NOT the ball. He’s planted a bomb because they don’t need Peters. It’s too late and the Hospital is blown up – taking Peters and the Hyenas with it. The Tall Man’s bodyguard has tracked his phone and rescues him from Cole and Jennifer.
The Keeper gives Cassie and Ramse what they came for. A classified CIA report that mentions Titan. It’s the only record he has – and he doesn’t have the de-classified version. He also warns them that it won’t be their hatred of each other that divides them but the lies they tell to camouflage it. East Germany, 1961 and a Dr Kershner – they have a new mission. Ramse doesn’t want a new partner with a death wish though!
Cole brings Jennifer her tortoise – Jerry – at the Emerson. She’s ready to give up. She feels guilty for the deaths of the Hyenas and all the people in the Hospital. Cole tell her that she isn’t a woman who fails everyone – when she asks what happens in the future, he tells her – “the right ending is the one that you’ll choose.” He says he’ll see her soon and splinters. There is an immediate knock at the door – and it’s Cole!
Adler is upset when Hannah shows up – his child is still lost. Hannah apologizes for her directness earlier, and Jones interrupts her. They’ve already lost so much time, Jones tells her, that she doesn’t want to waste any more time on pretty lies – there’s that them again about lies. Jones asks what Jennifer calls Hannah. Hannah tells her that Jennifer has always called her Zeit – Jones laughs and explains that’s German for time! Jones shows Hannah a picture of her father. He was a brilliant man, who only gave her two things – Hannah and the machine. Hannah tells her that she can call her Hannah.
In 2016, we see Elliot Jones (Peter Outerbridge) bemoaning the death of Peters – to the Tall Man. He insists that the technology doesn’t exist to do what the Tall Man wants. The Tall Man wants insurance – against the future. The project is massive – and it’s called Titan!
Another great episode that begins to set us up for the ending to the season. Clearly, all of these threads are going to come together – some will make more sense in the next episode. I love how this show really pays off what it teases. What did you think of the episode? 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, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. 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.
