12 MONKEYS: 02x08: Lullaby: Loopdeloopalooza!

Here comes a lot of jibba-jabba about the nature of the GROUNDHOG DAY loop that Cassandra and James find themselves in when Cassie is Splintered to Spearhead 2020. Her mission: Kill Jones and thusly prevent time travel from being perfected.

C+C quickly learn that that is easier said than, umm…undone. Why? Because it turns out that…

TIME *LIKES* TIME TRAVEL…

So, what exactly were the conditions required to break out of this loop/super-Jinn?
We know that Time wants time travel to exist so…

1. Hannah Jones must die.
2. Katarina Jones must mourn her daughter's death and live to perfect time travel.

We see several loops in which Katarina is killed, and in each, her death triggers a reset.
We see one loop in which Cassandra saves Hannah. That triggers a reset.

As far as Time is concerned, letting Hannah live is equivalent to killing Katarina. Time's kind of a bitch, eh?

But what happens when C+C do nothing? Letting the day play out without their intervention *should* satisfy both of Time's requirements, for without Cass's medical aid, Hannah dies, apparently of the virus, and bullet-free, Katarina lives, motivated by her daughter's death to turn back time to prevent the outbreak and undo it. Why then, does the day still reset?

ANOTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE.

Jennifer. Suspected for attempting to infect Spearhead with the virus, Jennifer Goines is being held prisoner, to be executed on the following day. It's her imminent death that triggers the reset at the end of the do-nothing day.

[aside]
Strange, tho, that the reset seems to happen in the deep of night. Is Jennifer executed at that hour? I don't remember hearing gunshots. Or perhaps there's some last order given in Spearhead at that moment that seals Jennifer's fate? Nah. That doesn't seem fair, right? Time would have to allow for a call from the governor right up to the last second of Jennifer's life.
[/aside]

Maybe the "natural" duration of the loop isn't determined by events within the loop. Of course, an event that would break Time or delete time travel (the deaths of any of our faves) immediately triggers a reset, but if that doesn't happen, reaching a particular second of the day triggers it "naturally."

When reset time is about to hit them on do-nothing day, Cass tells Cole, "The longest day was my first." Was there a day we weren't shown? And how did Cass get to the end of it, playing nice w/Foster and letting herself be jockeyed away from Katarina in mourning? Were there actually two days when Cass was alone at Spearhead 2020?

That missing first day and Cassie's mask are two little things that bug me. RE: Cassie's mask—she is maskless when she sits down to Splinter in 2044, but masked when she arrives in 2020. Waitasec… Whoa… Does TIME actually pass for a traveler within a Splinter? Cole mentions seeing colors and flashes of memory *while* Splintering. Could Cass have had the mask in her hand or pocket and put it on while Splintering?

I always want to capitalize Splinter but I'm not sure if it's correct.

As a Primary who has played an important role in guiding and connecting members of Team Splinter across decades, Jennifer's 2040s self is integral to Cassie and Cole arriving in the Spearhead 2020 Jinn in the first place. Jennifer has to survive 2020 and live to become that self. Jennifer explains that much to the Puzzle-maker while they're in holding together.

So, Time's *complete* to-do list for C+C in Spearhead 2020?

1. Hannah Jones must die.
2. Katarina Jones must mourn her daughter's death and live to perfect time travel.
3. Jennifer Goines must live to lead and Primary.

So, how do they check off all three boxes? Given that numbers 1 and 2 happen on their own during the do-nothing day, C+C only need to act on number 3. They just have to break Jennifer out of Spearhead after Hannah dies.

But, Cole has something else in mind. Something very "New Cole"—saving life instead of taking it. First, he feels compelled to check in with Katarina herself…

COLE: Just answer me this—is a little bit of happiness better than a lifetime of anything else?
JONES: Yes.
COLE: I'm gonna hold you to that.

That question. Man. Let's just focus on it as it pertains to Katarina. Boiling that general question down to the specifics of her situation, Cole is asking her if more time—ANY kind of time—with her daughter, ever, is better than losing her completely, for the rest of her life. Is Hannah's living presence of more value, or…importance, than the void of her absence.

I should think that that's a question that doesn't need asking. Right?

(Storywise, tho, I love and feel that Cole is asking that question of and for everyone we care about in 12 MONKEYS. =)

But, "I'm gonna hold you to that" kind of explains why he asks, right? He wants an idea of whether Katarina will hold C+C (and anyone else involved) responsible for taking Hannah and hiding her away for 24 years. He needs to know that when mother and daughter are reunited, Katarina won't hate them for taking her away, but rejoice at having her returned, having her at all.

If you were to ask any other person, that answer in 2020 would not necessarily correspond to the actual reaction in 2044, but this is Katarina Jones we're talking about. She knows herself, and across alternate realities/Jinns, she is a constant.

So, answer gotten, Cole moves forward with his plan. It takes them several resets to get all of the moving parts in sync, but in the end…

1. Cassandra revives Hannah after she apparently dies in front of Katarina. (I'm not sure if she medically faked her death, or if she actually died and Cass brought her back.)
2. Cole breaks Jennifer out of Spearhead holding, reuniting her with her Daughters.
3. Cassandra manipulates protocol so that she can get away from Spearhead with Hannah and deliver her to the Daughters.
4. They manage to do it all without revealing their identities to Spearhead and Katarina. Cole can be a random scav Morris Morrison, maybe with hacked digital records that connect to some kid in Philly. Maybe Cole helps Cass get into Spearhead when he escapes with Jennifer. Cass avoids showing her face and never IDs herself as Dr. Railly. She gets into a hazmat suit as soon as she can and uses her medical know-how to bluff her way close to Hannah.

That closes the loop, and Time lets Project Splinter pull them back. Well, you know what happens then, so I'll spare you the Kleenex and skip it. Hooray!

THIS LOOP, AND ITS CLOSING, ALWAYS HAPPENED.

We don't see any of our serum soldiers experience a reality change wave (and we don't hear anyone refer to one). This could be an editing call, but I'm gonna assume that if C+C Splinter Factory changed history, we would be clued into it in a pretty overt way. Yes, they suffer nosebleeds (which is a physiological side effect of a reality change for serumed travelers), but they suffer increasing pain, nausea, and damage with each reset. I believe this phenomenon is similar to the deterioration Cole suffered when he landed in Pirate Ramse's 2043, a reality in which Cassandra was killed in 2015 and Cole never joined Project Splinter. I do not think that each reset they experience ripples down to 2044 with changed history. No changes or ripples escape the loop until it is closed and again connected and in sync with the flow of the timeline, and then the ripples are ones that always propagated into the future.

And, when C+C do return to 2044, Katarina greets them with…

JONES: If you seek congratulations for failure, I have nothing for you.

She hasn't experienced any rewrites to reality in their absence. I take that to support the case that C+C's GROUNDHOG DAY experience was always going to will have had to have happened. If, before Katarina sent Cassandra to 2020, someone had gone to visit the Daughters for a census, they would have encountered 28 year-old Hannah.

I honestly can't remember the face of the Daughter-ninja who infiltrated the Splinter facility earlier this season (all my brain recalls is warpaint, wrap, and “NINJA!” =), but I would *LOVE* if that was Hannah (Brooke Williams). It would be wonderful proof positive that she's been with the Daughters since she "died" in every timeline we've seen so far in season 2.

SO, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

One man's miracle is another man's green box.
God, what a perfect story for James to tell! =)

Can this maneuver that Cole and Cassie and Jennifer engineered get a name? One of those confidence/scam names, y'know? Like Three-card Monte or the Nigerian Prince? What should it be?

The Sick Daughter?
Meanest Prank Ever? =)

I'll have to think about that.

It may seem a bit, I dunno, cheap? cheap-ish? to use this temporal sleight-of-hand again in the show, but if ever there was a moment that could use it, I'd say it's Cassie dying in Cole's arms at the CDC. In Cole's memory, it happened in 2017. In Cassie's personal future, I suspect it's meant to happen in 2019, offset in time due to the change in the date of the outbreak.

Just a thought… (that I might have had while watching season 1, dadgummit =)

Unmake history!

Keep on keepin' on~

P.S.

How is Katarina gonna have any cred when it comes to having a Smoking-is-Bad discussion w/H?#12Monkeys @barbara_sukowa @brookeofficial_ =)

— CabinBoy (@cabinboy100)

June 7, 2016

12 MONKEYS: What might we get from “Lullaby?”

I'm not much for looking ahead/around at promo materials for a show, but this fun tease from Syfy for next week came up in my neighborhood of St. Tweetersberg…

So. Much. Stress. #12Monkeys @TerryMatalas pic.twitter.com/iE2yLxnIh3

— Danyi (@SinEater_Danyi)

May 31, 2016

This is the wonderfully-ghastly-logical follow-thru on Jones’s ominous last words in “Meltdown…”

CASSANDRA: All this, it's my fault…Cole…Eckland…Sam.
JONES: No, it's mine. And for this, there is a solution.

What do we get out of a visit to Spearhead in 2020…?

• Jennifer Goines and her fight taken to the street…
• Hopefully, Katarina w/Hannah…
• And even better-more…Cassie w/Hannah
• MAYbe—a longshot, but I'd love it—Elliot w/both of them?
• Possibly younger Eckland!

Thing is, if Cassie's sent to 2020, well, it’s not gonna be easy for her to be anonymous. She's the face of the CDC during the outbreak, right? And in the latest version of reality, deceased by 2018(?). Does she have a "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" cover story for 2020?

Also, is Cole gonna sit by and let this happen? He's got to follow, or maybe… Maybe he’s already there for a later mission? No no no. Wait—An EARLIER mission! To retrieve Foster’s photos!

JONES: The man I sent back into time…he retrieved them for me.

I explained that line away in my head with the idea that Cole may have been sent back on supply runs to collect certain items between Mission-critical Splinters, and he collected those pics on one of those. Team Splinter knows the layout and protocol of Spearhead, should be easy enough to give Cole appropriate cover story and credentials to safely spend a day or two to grab a few things, right? At the time, it didn’t seem like all that loose an end to tie up, but now?

So, before confronting Foster in 2043, Jones sends Cole to Spearhead in the past… And now, in 2044, she’s sending Cassie then and there, too! Why would she send them anywhere near each other, spatio-temporally? How about because when Cole returns from the Spearhead photos run, he tells Jones that he meets a future Cassie and helps her complete *her* mission, without giving her any gory details. Maybe 2044 Cassie and 2043 Cole work out what he has to tell her when he returns so that she tells Cassie just the right things when she is sent. In any case, Katarina has known that she would be sending Cassie on a Splinter to Spearhead 2020, but didn’t know when or why. Now, when confronted w/the ruins of “Meltdown” that knowledge clicks into place.

Katarina would have had to have kept schtum about all of this, having lived thru it as her 2020 self. Fun!

And Cole would have had to have kept mum around everyone about his Cass team-up interaction because it's yet to happen for Cass. Fun!

And then there’s Jennifer’s 2020 activities, too, right? Fun!

Maybe we get Cole holding wee Hannah… = )

MAYbe we get Cole and Cassie and Elliot Jones helping to work out a plan to SAVE wee Hannah, via time travel. Wee Hannah, who grows up in the past to become Olivia (one of my pet theories). This/these Splinters could definitely fill in some blanks I’ve got in the math. =)

Wow, this is gonna be SO MUCH FUN! =)

Unmake history!

Keep on keepin’ on~

P.S. If Cassie (and helper Cole) are successful with their assassination attempt, what should the result be? 2044 Katarina’s intention is to prevent successful time travel to the past by removing herself and her knowledge from the Splinter team. Will that be enough? Will there be no one else to step in and revive Project Splinter? And just how strong is Katarina’s quantum serum now? Can Cole, Cassie, Jones, and Ramse survive with their current memories and histories intact? Can Jones survive in a reality in which she’s already dead? Cole couldn’t, back when he landed in Pirate Ramse world.

Assuming it IS enough, that dead Jones = no time travel to the past ever, then unless red leaves occur naturally in nature, the Witness never exists, the time-traveling component of the virus never happens, all of the Army’s interference w/history and society never happens. Maybe we get very alternate versions of all our heroes, somehow. And it ends weirdly like BIG, with an adult Cassandra arm in arm w/fiancé Aaron walking on a boardwalk, when a young boy named James Cole bumps into them, running from his friend Jose Ramse, the two of them engaged in a Nerf gun fight. Cole falls down and Aaron helps him back up. Cole mutters some apology-sounding words and then locks eyes with Cassandra and they have a weird moment. Then James and Jose’s adopted mom, Jennifer Goines, catches up the boys and mock scolds them, exchanges pleasantries w/Cass and Aaron, notices the engagement ring, asks about the big day and plans, and Cass mentions the Keys, and as the couple walks off, Cass turns to look back at Jennifer and the boys, Jennifer says, “Cassandra doesn’t like to travel.”

Or something…

And once Cassie is on the ground in 2020, can she (and Cole, and maybe Elliot?) come up with an alternative solution? Try it Cole’s way (well, Cole’s way 1 out of 4 times), by saving someone instead of killing someone? By saving Hannah and removing the most immediate motivation for Katarina to revive Splinter? Yeah, not really a guarantee, but if Hannah survives to a later mutation of the virus, then Spearhead’s computer-predicted vaccines would keep her (and everyone who’s survived) alive. Wow. If the show had to end here (w/a happy-ish ending) it could happen and be pretty satisfying. Katarina never had to kill Foster. 2020 Cole survives w/Ramse. Ramse meets Elena and Sam is born. Maybe they’re all reunited in the 2040s. And our 2044 Cole and Cassie can settle down in 2020, or maybe join Jennifer and her daughters to fight the 12 Monkeys in whatever form they’ve taken.

Huh. Maybe that’s how Katarina is left alone in that future we see via webisode? The serum has preserved her but the difference between her personal history and the new reality is so drastic that she’s out of phase with most everyone else in reality, living alone and out of sync. Until someone comes for her…