12 Monkeys “Lullaby” was written by Sean Tretta and was directed by Steven A Adelson, whose other credits include The Blacklist, Zoo, Helix, and Scorpion. Just when you think this show can’t get any better, it throws something like this episode at you. I adored the time loop that had Cole (Aaron Stanford) and Cassie (Amanda Schull) reliving the same day again and again, a la Groundhog Day, until they finally get it right. Bravo to Barbara Sukowa (Jones) for a brilliant performance in this episode.
The episode begins in 2020 with Jones’ haunting rendition of Brahm’s Lullaby. She is singing to Hannah (Harper Gunn) who has just died. Cassie comes up behind her, calling her name, and when Jones turns around, Cassie says she’s sorry and shoots Jones!
And then we’re back in 2044 and Jones is sitting by the machine reading the famous “To be or not to be” speech from Hamlet. It’s perfect as she waits to be erased – something she put in motion herself – her own version of suicide. As she reads the lines, we see Ramse (Kirk Acevedo) looking at the Red Storm – is he contemplating walking into it and committing his own journey to the “undiscovered country”?
Deacon (Todd Stashwick) wakes Cole in a panic to come and help rescue Cassie. Adler (Andrew Gillies) is fussing about a glitch with the machine. Cassie’s tether has disappeared and re-appeared. Jones chillingly says that it doesn’t matter whether Cassie’s tether breaks or not. Adler seems to be in on the plan when he insists that it’s not too late to bring Cassie back.
Cole wants to know what’s going on and why Cassie would go back to after the plague started. Jones tells him that there was another plague – one on time, and that she’s the catalyst of destruction. She sent Cassie back to kill her and stop her from ever building the machine. Jones laments that her attempt to re-write history has resulted in the destruction of time. By sending Cassie back to the moment Hannah died, Jones would never build the machine, and everything will be erased.
Deacon gives Cole a gun, Cole jumps in the machine and tells them to start it up. And then we get the tell-tale reset sequence. Birds fly out of the trees as a gun salute to the dead takes place at Spearhead.
The first time through, we see Cassie on her own, explaining to Sergeant Stavros (Tiffany Shepis) that while the CDC may be dead, she’s not and that she simply went around the West Seven Quarantine zone. We pass people in a cell – the Scavs – and get a very quick glimpse of Jennifer (Emily Hampshire) that’s really easy to miss. Colonel Foster (Xander Berkeley) is still alive and welcomes Cassie’s help – virologists are a scarce commodity. He tells her that a group of marauding women – Jennifer’s Daughters! – brought a new pathogen into the facility and that they’ve stopped treating the sick in order to protect the doctors and scientists!
Foster and Cassie go to his office. He’s called away when Hannah passes, Cassie takes his gun. As soon as Foster leaves, Cassie comes in, shoots Jones, and time re-sets. This time when the birds fly up, Cole is there. In going through the scenario again with Cole, things don’t go smoothly because Cole’s fingerprints are in the system as an 11 year old boy.
The two are thrown into the cell, and Jennifer is thrilled to see them – not surprised though. She’s been expecting them. She tells them she’s in a re-boot but has to know which version they are in. She asks them what comes to mind when she says Hyenas? And this is a nice little shout out to the next episode – that takes place in 2016, so she is actually trying to position them in 2020, not the time loop itself.
Because of the issue with Cole’s prints, Foster decides Cassie is an imposter, and Cassie and Cole try to shoot their way out. Stavros shoots Cassie, and Cole goes to finish the mission. Instead of Cassie when she turns, it’s Cole. Cole apologizes to Jones and he even has to look away before he shoots. Cassie looks right at Jones when she executes her. But time resets.
In the next sequence, Cassie goes alone because Cole made it harder. Cole ends up in the cell with Jennifer – round 3! Jennifer tells him that time likes time travel and won’t let them kill Jones. It wants her to invent it. Meanwhile, Cassie notices something about the machines hooked up to Hannah, but when Foster comes in, she shoots and time resets. I loved Jennifer telling Cole, “Bye bye. See you soon!” as soon as she hears the gunshot.
In the next reset, Cassie asks Foster to see all the recent data on the virus. Cassie cures Hannah who is immune to the plague just like Jones. It’s a bacterial infection that’s killing her – all she needs is antibiotics! But when they cure Hannah, time resets anyway.
Cassie and Cole are getting worse and worse nosebleeds from screwing with the timeline. Cole points out that the last time he felt like this he was dying. Cassie tells Cole that Hannah died because of Foster’s no treatment policy, not the plague. Cole tells Cassie that Jennifer told him that they can’t kill Jones or cure Hannah because either will prevent the creation of time travel. They decide to ride the day out where they are, do nothing, and hope that the machine picks them up and takes them back to 2044.
Cole tells Cassie a story from his childhood. He and Ramse were caught out in the open by a gang who had just robbed an ammunition/gun store. They had boxes and boxes of green ammunition boxes at their feet and unloaded on Cole and Ramse. They were untouched. Cole tells her that there are two ways to look at the incident. The first is that it was a miracle. It wasn’t their day to die and there is something out there bigger than they are. When Cassie asks for the second explanation, Cole tells her that the green boxes were blanks. Yet, even that explanation – the luck that they only picked up green boxes could prove the first theory. Not to mention that a blank can kill depending on how and where it hits you…
Cole tells Cassie that he wishes that he’d never broken into her car. But again, Cassie tells Cole that he’s not responsible for her life. It is her life, her choices. And besides, she only had a few years left to live anyway. Cole insists those could have been good, happy years without him. Cassie tells him to worry about his own purpose. Cassie wonders why the mission is even still worth it to him. He tells her that the only world worth having is the one with her in it – and before she can really respond, the day re-sets.
Cole goes to Jennifer again. She’s upset that she didn’t see them “yester-today”! Slackers! She asks him if he ever thought of doing something but not doing it. He gets angry at her for talking in circles, and one has to wonder why she doesn’t just tell him what to do. Jennifer tells him, “You need to do something but nothing.” She tells him that she’s going to be shot tomorrow, and that “Hope is lost. Get it back. Not just you!” She goes on to say that a leader is only good if they lead. She and Jones are the pieces of the puzzle.
Cole then goes to Foster and tells him that Jones helped Jennifer bring the virus in. Cole, Cassie and Jones are brought before a firing squad. But it’s all a set up so that Cole can asks Jones one very important question: “Is a little bit of happiness better than a lifetime of anything else?” Jones says yes, they are shot and time resets. And Cassie takes Cole’s hand as they are about to die, even though she’s got to be pretty sure they won’t stay dead.
But now Cole knows how to get them out of the loop – but the show isn’t just going to give up the solution! I love that they make us wait to find out, keeping the surprise for us too. In 2044 the tethers are back and Cassie and Cole return. Jones is angry at them for failing. They tell that they shot her again and again, but time wouldn’t let her die. Cole reminds her that she’s the one who told them that time was conscious and that it needed primaries to think. He tells her “Time needs you.”
Jones laughs – and so did I when she ironically says, “Time is on our side?” She is convinced that it was their broken machine – they were caught in a slingshot. And this brings us right back to whether it was a miracle that boxes contained blanks or just happened. I love the way Cole’s story resonates – and also shows the depth of his own character. It wasn’t the machine that was broken, but Jones herself who has lost hope.
Cole and Cassie take Jones to Jennifer’s camp and we finally get the story of how they got out of the loop – and it took them a few tries to get it right. But Cassie did save Hannah’s life – after letting Jones believe she was dead. Cole broke Jennifer and her followers out of Spearhead – and Cassie delivered Hannah to Jennifer for safe keeping.
In a beautiful moment, we see Jones reunited with her now adult daughter (Brooke Williams). Sukowa is simply wonderful in this scene. And we loop back to the beginning as the haunting lullaby plays over the scene.
Cassie and Cole talk. Cassie wonders that Jones doesn’t hate them, but Cole points out that Hannah was dead but now they have a chance to know each other. It’s not perfect, but it’s something. He takes Cassie’s hand. Cassie tells him that they know they are going to lose so much. Cole like Jones, would rather have that moment of happiness, but Cassie has lost all hope and pulls away. She tells him, “It’s the losing that haunts us. This can’t happen.”
She retreats to her room, and Ramse is waiting for her. He tells her, “Know why I left? Because I hated this place. Cole sees a light in you. I don’t. What happened to you, happened because you wanted it. I have two bullets. One for you. One for me.” Cassie says she doesn’t blame him and would take Sam’s place if she could. But she suggests they can get the one responsible. When the Witness was in her head, she was in his and knows that he feels safe at a place called Titan. She suggests that the two of them go there together. Ramse wants to know what happens then, and Cassie tells him, “We kill the Witness.”
I thought this was possibly the best episode yet. It’s the classic Groundhog Day time loop story, but done pretty much perfectly. And it was nice to see at least Jones have some happiness in her life. Of course, what might happen if she loses Hannah again? Emily Hampshire and Barbara Sukowa were both standouts in this episode for me. I’m a little disappointed at the direction that Cassie has taken, and I hope that she can have some hope restored by the end of the season – which is fast approaching! 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.
