Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
Episode Recap: Fatherland
The search for Titan City leads everyone to 1961, where truths, secrets and revelations change the course of the story – and time itself.
Berlin, 2016. Olivia tours an abandoned medical lab. It's apparent that something went down here. When her guide asks her what happened in this place, Olivia responds very simply. "betrayal." Woah. Okay. Meanwhile, back in 2044, things are getting BAD! The temporal anomalies are getting worse and closer to the facility every day. They know that this is a result of a paradox that occurs in 1957 so Cole and Katarina want to go put the kibosh on that. Cassie and Ramse, however, want to head to 1961 and find this Dr. Kirchner who can maybe point them in the direction of Titan and The Witness. For revenge.
Katarina ultimately decides that stopping the paradox that leads to this scary time storm killing them all is a better bet than finding The Witness and gives Cole the go ahead to go to 1957. Cassie and Ramse are pissed off and go to Dr. Adler to see if there's anything he can do to help their cause. He regrets to inform them that he doesn't have a say; he just programs the machine.
So, our team splinters to 1957 where they meet at the bar in the hotel to have a friendly drink to put behind all the ugliness of their previous debate behind them. Soon, Cole starts to feel kinda funny, his vision gets blurry and everything sounds kind of far away and… yep, he's been drugged. Even more shocking? He was drugged by Cassie and Ramse. Apparently they DID GET Dr. Adler to send them to 1961 so they could find Dr. Kirchner. Cole is gonna be FURIOUS when he wakes up.
When Cole comes to in their hotel room, he discovers that his two frenemies have robbed and abandoned him in NYC to head to Berlin to carry out their own mission. Cole calls on his old buddy Agent Gale, whom he met hunting Messengers in 1944, for help. Gale ultimately decides to help, but warns him that Israeli intelligence is also looking for Dr. Kirchner for war crimes he committed. Point is, this mission ain't gonna be easy.
As Cole makes his way to Berlin, Cassie and Ramse have come up with a plan to get the doctor before he gets taken out by Israeli spies. Unfortunately, they're spies, thus easily a step or two ahead of our heroes who get outmaneuvered and ultimately captured… uh-oh. According to Agent Gale, the spies might just decide to take Dr. Kirchner out, and if Cassie and Ramse are with him, they won't fair much better. Luckily, Cole finds his "friends" with the help of his FBI buddy and rescues them before they can be killed. Cole is pissed though, ultimately telling them that he was able to see the un-redacted CIA document that lead them here. The only reason it mentions Titan and The Witness is because they came back in time and said it! Cassie and Ramse created their own clue! Except…
The doctor is wearing the symbol for Titan that Cassie saw in her hallucinations. The team starts questioning the doctor who finally admits that he was responsible for creating The Messengers. Yep - apparently the Witness travelled back in time, told Kirchner of the plague and gave him info to create a race of humans that could survive it (The Messengers). In exchange for keeping him alive, Kirchner agrees to take them all to his lab where he has a sample of the messenger DNA. If the gang destroys this sample, maybe they can save time.
Here's where we run into some trouble. The lab just so happens to be on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The gang comes up with a plan to get to the other side, but we knew someone would trip over a shovel, right? It's Kirchner. Shots are exchanged and ultimately Agent Gale sacrifices himself so the rest of the team can get across. And now we have another problem. The "sample" Kirchner was talking about is a little girl. They can't just take out a little girl… can they?
Before anyone can make a decision, the 12 Monkeys show up, lead by our Messenger friend Mantis, who the gang had a run in with in 1944. Shots are fired, Kirchner is killed, and the 12 Monkeys get away with the girl as our team splinter back to the future. Before they go, Ramse is able to rip off a chunk of the "Word of the Witness" document – a clue that may point them to Titan.
Having escaped the lab, Vivian takes the little girl to what's going to be their new home. Vivian will be her new mommy and they will both be under the protection of The Witness. Also the little girl turns out to be Olivia, who now back in 2016, leaves the lab and heads to her childhood home where she ultimately decides to walk away from the 12 Monkeys. She felt betrayed by The Witness who told her that she was going to be their leader but then gave the responsibility to someone else.
Back in 2044, the temporal storm is practically knocking at their door. Good news, they know where to find Titan. Yay! Bad news, they don't have time to use that info before they are all ultimately killed. Boo. Cole orders that Cassie and Ramse be imprisoned for their earlier betrayal as the storm moves even closer. Uh-oh.
