S01.E10: A Time to Be Born

[formerlyfreedom]

When Teresa goes into labor, Jana, Suzy and Sam band together to turn Bitscan into a makeshift delivery room. Meanwhile, after spending some time with Dr. Lommers, Lex grows concerned after noticing a sudden shift in her behavior. Elsewhere, Leo continues to unravel the conspiracy behind the virus outbreak, while Jake stumbles upon some damning information about who may be involved. Finally, fed up with his lies, Katie confronts Dr. Cannerts.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

 Meanwhile, after spending some time with Dr. Lommers, Lex grows concerned after noticing a sudden shift in her behavior.

Only 9-10 hours elapsed from when Dr. Lommers/Lex were exposed to Thomas until the end of last episode -- so they should be in quarantine at least another 36 hours.  Yet the clip shows Lex and Dr. Lommers OUTSIDE the cordon with the rest of the police/military.

When Teresa goes into labor, Jana, Suzy and Sam band together to turn Bitscan into a makeshift delivery room.

There is still absolutely no explanation how Bitscan is intact -- meth-head tweakers smashed though the glass doors and a bomb went off in there, yet all the glass walls and doors are intact and the hermetic seal is working again.  How exactly ?

Who wants to bet that at least one scene has "You're having my baby" playing in the background.

while Jake stumbles upon some damning information about who may be involved.

My money is on either aliens or the Bilderberg Group </sarcasm>
Where is Jake going to find this "damning information" ?  Stapled to the side of the crematorium.

Finally, fed up with his lies, Katie confronts Dr. Cannerts

But Katie is in quarantine and will be for 48 hours, so how does she "confront" Dr. Cannerts exactly ?  Wait until he shows up outside her quarantine cell -- and start yelling at him righteously demanding answers.

[NorthstarATL]

I hate having to admit I was wrong! BUT unless the Doctor whom Katie was scolding did something to her cell it looks like I might have been. (Another possibility is that the virus presents and then is fought off by whatever is happening with Katie. Sucks for those who assumed it was all over at the first sign.) Also, Katie has a druggie background we find out, which might also affect her ability to fend off the virus.

 Claudia Black backed down pretty quickly. The actress might have wanted off a sinking ship or the character might have something up her sleeve. I still think the "culprit" is her husband, since we have yet to interact with him, and all the clues that lead to her also lead to him.

  Suzie actually stepped up for once. I am in shock.

[Free]

On 6/23/2016 at 9:30 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

But Katie is in quarantine and will be for 48 hours, so how does she "confront" Dr. Cannerts exactly ?  Wait until he shows up outside her quarantine cell -- and start yelling at him righteously demanding answers.

Funny you should mention that.  XD.

[ottoDbusdriver]

And after endless previousliles, we get another Bible quote from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, with "A Time to Be Born" highlighted in red.  That's right, Pregnoteen, is going to be renamed Teen Mom 3 (since Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 were already used by MTV).

And we start out with Lex and Dr. Lommers still in the container in quarantine on Day 15 -- and for some reason they are released from quarantine without a physical examination at all for signs/symptoms.  They do realize that the whole 48 hours quarantine is an average right, and they should still get checked out. And where did the bucket go ?  They both look as fresh as the day they entered the container -- which was two days ago.  And shouldn't Lex have a 5 o'clock shadow of some sort after 2 days without shaving -- seriously, they are portraying it like they were in there for about an hour.  And now they are both off home for a shower and a change of clothes.

And in the last 48 hours neither of them have been filled in on what has gone on during all that time -- they couldn't give even give them a radio, or were they so scared that the virus might jump through the air via the radio.  This makes no fucking sense at all.  And somehow Lex's cell phone is still charged after 48 hours, and he discovers 17 missed messages from Leo the reporter.

Meanwhile, Katie mopes in quarantine and small talks with Jake, as Quentin basically ditches her to go see Thomas -- considering that his Mom might have a deadly virus and she might yet die he opts to go hang out with his friend.

Suzy takes the pregnancy test and it's positive -- she's carrying the child of the married man she was having an affair with.  I wonder if the virus skewed the results -- one can hope.  Theresa is doing a bunch of poorly acted groaning and claims that she "thinks" her water just broke as Xander sits on the other side of the glass.

Lex visits Leo after cleaning himself up -- and Leo claims that Lommers is behind the outbreak.  As Leo shows Lex the paperwork he's collected, Lex claims that he's seen the logo for MonerGen before in the apartment of Leo's dead friends who were inside the cordon.  They look at the video that was taken by Xander, and there's no way that Lex "spotted" that logo since the video is dark and lo-res, and requires visual enhancement to even be recognizable (so how did Lex see it ?  Plot convenience).

Back at Bitscan, they actually argue about where the best place to give birth is -- and Jana explains that they should do it in Clean Room 3 (and thus explains away how all the glass is intact since the bomb they build went off in a different clean room, except that's just not true).

Is Suzy even aware of their circumstances, because she is adamant that they can't have a baby born there at Bitscan.  Whatever, she's having it.

Outside the cordon, the family members of the soldiers that went into the cordon are pressing for access to their loved ones.  And Dr. Lommers' hair looks exactly the same as when they got out of the quarantine.  And the plan is to go see the soldiers themselves since Captain Scott is conveniently not available by phone.

Jake updates Katie that Lex told him about these dead reporters and their apartment o' evidence -- when did that happen exactly ?  I don't recall Lex getting in contact with Jake.

Pregnoteen puts out a shopping list of items she "needs" in order to give birth -- does she realize that she's not in a hospital ?  Like a data recovery company would have the necessities for an epidural just lying around.

Meanwhile, Dr. Cannerts watches the lab tech that started coughing up blood despite the fact he had been "cured" by Thomas' blood is nearly dead, as Dr. Cannerts describes his condition.  As he does rounds, Katie flags him down to give him shit (remember, she was all about calling him out on his lies).  But he tells her that Thomas may not have the cure, but may be able ease symptoms so the patient can survive -- and that it is taking longer than 48 hours for symptoms to manifest.   Oh noessss  !!!! What does that mean for Dr. Lommers and Lex who left quarantine exactly 48 hours after being exposed ???

Dr. Lommers and Lex push their way through a group of protesters and camera people to check on the soldiers that entered the cordon -- and it ain't good.  11 of 12 have become symptomatic. And Dr. Lommers uses that information to get Captain Scott on her side.  And then proceeds to show the effects of the virus to the camera people, and tells viewers that she will save America as long as the cordon stays intact.

Jake heads to the apartment of the two dead reporter friends of Leo to try and find more evidence against Dr. Lommers, but all he finds is evidence burned in the bathtub and a missing computer, so someone is covering their tracks.  Lex meets Jake in the sluice -- and Jake suddenly remembers that the gang at Pregnoteen's mom's store had a satphone, but that was the satphone that was stolen by Pregnoteen's mom and was returned to a gang member who if I remember correctly ended up dead in the stairwell in Bitscan so who knows where that phone is now.

Lex jumps to the conclusion that the Police Chief is working with Dr. Lommers since the chief has the keys to the satphone lockup, and the chief has been getting the streetgang to do his dirty work -- WTF ? That seems like a stretch.

Blah, blah, blah, Quentin tells some stupid story to Katie.  Quentin's father was a drug addict, and apparently Katie was also a drug addict for a while -- was it while she was pregnant with Quentin ?

Leo the reporter is tailing some woman to dig up leverage on the Police Chief -- not sure who this woman is supposed to be, maybe the wife of the cop with the satphone that joined the gang, I guess.

Building manager at Bitscan, Sam, MacGyvers up a stehoscope so Pregnoteen can hear her baby's heartbeat -- right when Dennis, Suzy's married affair partner, shows up and he's very symptomatic -- and wants to talk.  Really ?

Jake goes to Pregnoteen's mom's store and immediately gets a gun pointed at his head -- because he's an idiot.  And somehow gets to talk to Meese (the ex-cop with the satphone) who confirms that he destroyed the research.  But if the satphone has been out of Meese's hands since Pregnoteen's mom took it, how was Meese getting marching orders to destroy evidence ?  That was over a week ago in showtime.  And the gangleader is so concerned about Pregnoteen he gives Jake some MREs for her because he is a sympathetic parent.  WTF x 100 ?

Here's a question -- whatever happened to Bertie the rat wrangler ?  Last we saw him he was lying on the ground in the middle of the riot with a severely injured foot -- and that was two days ago.  Is he dead ? Does anyone care ?

As Pregnoteen moans in pain and the Sam helps since he watches too much TV, Dennis continues to pound on the glass wall to talk to Suzy because he knows he is going to die and has a few thoughts.  How about what the hell happened to his family ?  Remember how he bailed at the church to go find them ?  Did they infect him ?

How does Dennis know that Suzy is pregnant ?  She just found out for sure earlier this episode -- she tells him she isn't pregnant and she tells him to leave.  So why does he just up and leave after finding out that she's not pregnant ?  Was that all that mattered in his last moments ?  What the fuck was he expecting to accomplish ?  Did he want to infect her as he spent quality time with her ?  WTF ?

Lex approaches the police Chief with evidence of Meese's sudden windfall from the APD bouncing Meese's house out of foreclosure and paying off all his gambling debts -- and the Police Chief confesses to Lex that he did it.  Does the Police Chief not know how conspiracies work ?  It's always deny, deny, deny.  But the Chief says he got Meese to destroy evidence of the Syrian involvement, while Lex tells him that it was to destroy evidence implicating Dr. Lommers.  The Police Chief is confused.

Pregnoteen starts asking for her mom as she goes into the final stages of labor, but did she not know that her mom left because she was probably infected ?  She was there when her mom left -- WTF ?  For some reason, Suzy needs to talk to Jana alone -- in order to give Jana a pep talk that Jana clearly wasn't needing.  More stupidity by the writers.  And then Suzy pep talks Pregnoteen with some truth -- let the pushing begin.

Dr. Cannerts tries to explain things to Katie, but Katie is very indignant that he is lying and "blinding her with science" and that she knows about the real Patient Zero.  And for good measure calls him a coward as he walks away -- big words for someone in quarantine.

As Pregnoteen continues to wail, Sam is all concerned that he has to go tell Xander something, so Jana tells him to lie.  Really ?  That is the major concern at that moment.  Fuck that, Xander's in the waiting room outside the glass, leave him be.  But as Sam walks over to the glass wall to talk to Xander, the elevator slowly climbs up to the Bitscan floor .... and it's Jake.  Such a bullshit dramatic entrance for no reason at all by the writers. And Jake has delivered a baby before -- which isn't really all that surprising considering he's a cop.

Leo wants to release his exposé on Lommers, but Lex manages to buy 2 hours to get more proof.

And Pregnoteen gives one last mighty push -- and a baby is born.  Is it the savior of all Humanity ?  The Anti-Thomas ?

Lex confronts Dr. Lommers with his evidence of her conspiracy -- and tries to get her to resign.  And she agrees to resign -- and he believes her, and just leaves.  WTF once again ?

Pregnoteen gets wheeled over to the glass wall to reveal to Xander his new daughter and name her ... Lee Ann ... at least that's what I think she said, the background music was so fucking loud you could barely make it out.  Meanwhile, Jana, Suzy and Sam play arts and crafts and build a bassinet for the baby.

Jake returns to the hospital to give Katie the good news about delivering Pregnoteen's baby -- and they act all flirty and Jake makes some crack about being there the next time Katie gives birth. Seriously ?  Right as Katie starts coughing up blood.  Yes !!!!  Katie has the virus !!!  Finally !!!!

[Free]

Talk about a boring episode, more than usual with the cliched pregnancy in crisis plot and Katie being stuck whining.

[laserlady]

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Lex visits Leo after cleaning himself up -- and Leo claims that Lommers is behind the outbreak.  As Leo shows Lex the paperwork he's collected, Lex claims that he's seen the logo for MonerGen before in the apartment of Leo's dead friends who were inside the cordon.  They look at the video that was taken by Xander, and there's no way that Lex "spotted" that logo since the video is dark and lo-res, and requires visual enhancement to even be recognizable (so how did Lex see it ?  Plot convenience).

Yeah, I loved that part!  "Oh yes, this uninteresting corporate logo is instantly recognizable as the blurry spot on a little piece of paper in the background of a grainy video."  Totally makes sense.

I have to admit that, even though Katie was driving me crazy throughout the whole episode, I did feel a little bit bad for her -- and much worse for Jake -- when she suddenly coughed up blood right at the end of her quarantine.  Somehow I do feel for these characters, even though they're often stupid, frequently unrealistic, and regularly annoying.

[izabella]

I would feel a lot better about this show if Katie just dies like everyone else.  But, she's a special snowflake (worst teacher/guardian ever!), so she'll probably be the key to figuring out a cure or something.  Hate her more for the fact that she's infected and won't die.  Pure speculation on my part; that's just how these shows go.  They aren't going to break up the epic love between Katie and Jake now that they've spent umpteen episodes trying to make us believe it exists.

[xaxat]

Oh God. It's not over yet?

For some reason I thought this was only running for ten episodes. So I viewed this episode expecting some kind of dramatically rushed, and ultimately unsatisfying, conclusion.

Even though there was some plot advancement this episode, I'm still expecting a dramatically rushed, and ultimately unsatisfying, finale. Whenever it happens. . sometime in the future. . . hopefully the near future.

And, because I am weak, I will stick around until it airs.

15 hours ago, laserlady said:

I have to admit that, even though Katie was driving me crazy throughout the whole episode, I did feel a little bit bad for her -- and much worse for Jake -- when she suddenly coughed up blood right at the end of her quarantine.  Somehow I do feel for these characters, even though they're often stupid, frequently unrealistic, and regularly annoying.

I actually think the actors have good chemistry. 

Totally inappropriate for the circumstances, but still good.

[raven]

22 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

How does Dennis know that Suzy is pregnant ?  She just found out for sure earlier this episode -- she tells him she isn't pregnant and she tells him to leave.  So why does he just up and leave after finding out that she's not pregnant ?  Was that all that mattered in his last moments ?  What the fuck was he expecting to accomplish ?  Did he want to infect her as he spent quality time with her ?  WTF ?

That was so bizarre. Dude, that's why you stay with the group! He has blood oozing out of every facial orifice and thinks she's going to let him in, he just wants to talk?  You know, I actually thought she was going to let him in for a minute.  I'm still not sure why I should care that Suzy is pregnant.  One pregnancy per show is enough.

The baby has to be the savior of humanity.  That teen was getting her full Melanie-Wilkes-in-childbirth on, has to all be worth something.

22 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Dr. Cannerts tries to explain things to Katie, but Katie is very indignant that he is lying and "blinding her with science" and that she knows about the real Patient Zero.

This was kind of funny.  She said he thought she was a silly girl and I'm thinking, well, you DID sort of have sex with a shower curtain!

There's lots of dumb in this show but it seems like most of the actors are giving it their all - Lex, Jana, Xander, Jake most of the time, Claudia Black is appropriately stern and creepy....Katie is very annoying though the scene where she confesses her drug past to her son was OK.

Can't believe that woman let the blogger into her house with his vague explanation (or at all).  Nah, he didn't look weird and suspicious and it's not like there's a crazy virus around or anything!

Did they show the teen's grandma who fell down and cut her leg last week?  I might have missed it. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

53 minutes ago, raven said:

Did they show the teen's grandma who fell down and cut her leg last week?  I might have missed it. 

Nope -- and her husband Bertie has been MIA since the riot as well, and that was two days ago in showtime.

[thuganomics85]

Well, I figured all the time between Katie and Xander being in, well, containment, was going to lead to one of them being infected, but I'm at least glad it was Katie, since she's pretty annoying.  Of course, I doubt they would kill her since she's a regular (and they would never dare end this epic love story between her and Jake!), so I'm guessing either she'll have some kind of magic cure that stops her from actually dying, or they actually find the cure in time to save her.  Yawn.

Lex and Leo gets some dirt on Lommers, and she claims she is going to resign tomorrow.  But I have to think she has another angle.  No way is she going down this easily.

Tersea finally gives birth.  I'm sure Hanna Mangan Lawrence will be glad to phase away the prosthetic baby bump!

Jake suddenly being able to deliver a baby is a bit much, but since he's one of the few characters I come close to liking, I will allow it.

I know I was suppose to be siding with Katie over Cannerts, but when she said something about how he talks to her like she's an annoying brat or something, I was just like "Well, I can't really blame him on that front...."

I thought it was ten episodes too this season, so I can't believe we got three more of these puppies.  How are they going to keep dragging this thing, out?

[Free]

On 6/29/2016 at 4:33 PM, xaxat said:

Oh God. It's not over yet?

For some reason I thought this was only running for ten episodes. So I viewed this episode expecting some kind of dramatically rushed, and ultimately unsatisfying, conclusion.

Even though there was some plot advancement this episode, I'm still expecting a dramatically rushed, and ultimately unsatisfying, finale. Whenever it happens. . sometime in the future. . . hopefully the near future.

And, because I am weak, I will stick around until it airs.

I actually think the actors have good chemistry. 

Totally inappropriate for the circumstances, but still good.

It's baffling how they thought they could try to do a long running series out of it when it's been running on fumes on a drawn out premise.

[AudienceofOne]

On 6/29/2016 at 1:16 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Lex confronts Dr. Lommers with his evidence of her conspiracy -- and tries to get her to resign.  And she agrees to resign -- and he believes her, and just leaves.  WTF once again ?

Firstly, the show had me pretty convinced it was her husband who was behind it and that she was just what she appeared to be. So kudos to the show for that. Also, kudos for having a female antagonist have complete agency. 

But that positive feeling was all ruined by her "I'll call a press conference for tomorrow" and this guy who's supposed to be a cop is all like "oh, you want enough time to spin the story to clear yourself and implicate somebody else? Ok! Cool!" Really, cop guy. Really?