12 Monkeys - 'Year of the Monkey'

One of the drawbacks of being up to date with the series again is the relative paucity of screen shots, so instead enjoy this rather sexy promo image hinting that some of our cast may get to splinter into the 20s or thereabouts.

The gritty SyFy 'adaptation' of 12 Monkeys returns to our screens, beginning with a welcome recap of Season 1, given that it's been a while - a full year - since Season 1 finished airing and that I lost the end of the last episode to a recording fault.

We pick up in 2016, with the Army of the 12 Monkeys pursuing Ramse, determined that he must die to 'close the circle' and validate the Witness's predictions. Ramse and Cole are fighting back tenaciously. The Witness's future knowledge remains a powerful advantage, but a chance remark by Olivia tips them off that actually it is not prescience giving them away, but a tracker implanted in Ramse's neck. They call on an ex-Markridge researcher (played by Brendan 'Mr Bates' Coyle) to remove it, but he tries to betray them and gets shot for his troubles (I think; it as off screen, so maybe Cole is even more changed than we thought.) Despite their ongoing divergence of goals - as Ramse puts it, he is for the future, Cole is for the past - they decide to stick together and the Ramse reveals that the doctor let slip that the virus is set to be released in New York by Jennifer Goynes at the Chinese New Year.

Cut to Jennifer at a speed dating event, encouraging one of her partners to shoot her and save the world.

Presumably this bit of bone is to be reunited with its older self as a token of
the Messenger's origin.

In 2043, the Twelve, calling themselves Messengers, tell Jones to send them back in time to coordinates kept secret from her. She sabotages the first splinter, killing one of the messengers by sending only part of him through time. I'm not sure, but I've a feeling that it might have been the same parts that remained of the precursor corpse. This leads the head Messenger to threaten to kill Cassandra. Jones and Cassie are both willing for her to die, but the West VII tech gets the machine fixed instead.

Cassie persuades Deacon that she can save him from his progressive Wilson's disease and gets him onside. He grabs her guard while she stabs him, despite her obvious horror at the act, and they let in the rest of the West VII and Marcus to take back the facility. The remaining Messengers are killed, but half have already been Splintered to wherever they are going.

In New York, Ramse gets cold-cocked by someone, but Cole corners Jennifer on a roof. She asks him to stop her, but he refuses to shoot, telling her that she doesn't have to release the virus. There is no fate, he insists, laying out what I suspect will be the theme of the season. This is a choice; there is always a choice. He is cornered in turn by members of the Army, but they are killed by Cassie, reappeared from the future as a stone cold badass and here to assassinate Jennifer like Cole assassinated her father. Cole however puts himself in front of Jennifer and tells Cassie exactly what he told Jennifer: You don't have to do this. It's a choice.

I really like this series. I was a bit iffy about it at first, but just look at those pictures. I'm theorising in the captions instead of snarking. Now, I really hope they can keep this rolling, because Season 1's almost closed loop was really good, and in particular everything that had gone before was made better once it was finished, so they've got a lot to live up to now. 'Year of the Monkey' is a solid beginning, however, and promises more intriguing puzzles to come.