“Tomorrow” was one of the best episodes of 12 Monkeys so far. Until this episode, the show was much better at showing us the story and progression than it was at showing us action. For me, the action parts seemed forced and awkwardly shoved in. This time, however, the action scenes seemed to blend better with the plot-driven scenes and fit better in the episode. This was also an exciting episode because the viewer splintered from 2017 to 2041 and then to 2043 from scene to scene while Cole only splintered from 2017 to 2043. He stayed put, but the viewer was given yet another page from Cole’s history.
During the 2017 storyline, Cole is still in Chechnya at the height of the plague. Lucky for him, Cassandra sent out an international message on behalf of the CDC for anyone who is immune from the plague to travel to the CDC in Baltimore, MD in hopes of developing a cure or for the CDC to study and further understand the plague. Cole overhears the message and travels to a military checkpoint where a soldier is waiting for him.
He travels to Baltimore to Cassandra who is not surprised to see him after a two year absence. She hands him an address “for his eyes only” and asks him to keep it on him at all times. She promises that Cole will find a cure and that all of his questions will be answered. In a scene that should have been more of a tearjerker than it was, Cassandra dies in Cole’s arms and the cracked crystal protecting her watch’s face is magically repaired. The writers have tricked me before by killing Cassandra and I do not trust them enough to let myself get upset. Her death also seemed to come out of the blue for me. The scene just did not tug at my heart strings.
We are briefly united with Jennifer Goines in this episode. She is outside of the CDC with a captive audience of possibly equally crazy younger girls spouting nonsense that hints at the Army of the 12 Monkeys. She said that they will be successful where men have failed. Her character intrigues me. She is such an enigma and I cannot wait to see what the hell it is that she is talking about. I just cannot decide if I should trust her or not. Time will tell.
The 2041 scenes are rather short and sweet, but they show us that Cole was not eager to help with the Splintering Project. Struggling to live day by day had taken its toll on Cole. He was short sighted and could only see ahead hours at a time. It was Ramse that was convinced that he and Cole should help with the project. Although Ramse is proving to be the nicest guy in history, his motives for convincing Cole to stay with the project were not entirely 100% altruistic. He figures they are safe among the facility (which of course proves to be relative when you discuss time travel and everything Cole and Ramse have faced while trying to turn back time) and the two are guaranteed a steady source of food.
Having seen Ramse force Cole to stay with the project is interesting when we see 2043 Ramse possibly facing off with Cole. Scientist-turned-badass Jones shot the Colonel and with Whitley’s help, overtook Spearhead and killed anyone that stood in their way. Spearhead’s Core was taken back to the Splinter Facility and Cole was retrieved. Ramse no longer trusts Jones who is fueled by her obsession to change history and save anyone who was killed by the plague, most importantly her daughter. Cole is staying the course as he not only wants to save the world, but also his beloved Cassandra. Meanwhile, Ramse is all in the present and his main goal is a future for his son. He feels that Jones should not have overthrown Spearhead and killed the Colonel who may have developed a cure for the plague.
With all of the main characters having their own driving obsessions, anything can happen on the next episode. Ramse and Cole are no longer invested in each other. Each has their own reason for succeeding and they are no longer in tune with each other. If Cole is successful, he could save the world, save Cassandra, and alter the memories and timeline of everyone. That means that Ramse and Cole might never have met and Ramse might not have had a son. This will be an interesting shift in the dynamic of the show.