12 Monkeys: The Night Room

February 13, 2015 9:02 PM - Season 1, Episode 5

Cole and Dr. Railly face off with the Army of the 12 Monkeys when both discover the Night Room—an off-site, black ops lab that houses the virus that will one day destroy the world.
posted by DevilsAdvocate (5 comments total)

Lots of good stuff happening in this episode, both in 2015 and 2043. If you missed this one, you missed a lot of information.

We get some good (and much needed) background to Dr. Jones and the time travel project.

Jennifer is back with a vengeance (Emily Hampshire simply tears it up as Jennifer!). In a way, her manic babbling is filled with all sorts of thought-provoking ideas, especially the bit about doctors always saying "Jennifer", but not saying which one. At first I dismissed this as psychotic/schizo babble, but the more it rattled around in my head, I'm wondering if Jennifer isn't something much more than simply insane. Especially since the show opens in 2011, and we see a completely sane and focused Jennifer, apparently part of her father's project, in the Night Room with another lab worker, punching in the access codes to the vault. And she seems to know exactly what's in there.

I was wondering when we'd get an alternate future when Cole splinters back to his time. I wonder no more.

Jennifer's "Those eyes are familiar." is, I think, foreshadowing for when we discover what/who the thing in the vault is/was. My bet is that thing is Cole. Encountering an alternate self probably created the splinter into an alternate future.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:02 AM on February 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Considering the virus is destroyed then why is he still there?
posted by fullerine at 4:20 PM on February 14, 2015

This show is awesome. The bamboo scene almost made me faint.

I think they definitely want us to think that the vault inhabitant is Cole, but I don't think it is. Might be one of the previous Splinter subjects though.

Also, I'm wondering how Deacon knows about "The German Doctor" and her experiments.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:25 PM on February 14, 2015

You'd think the failsafe would fry everything inside and outside the vault.

I'm hoping this show gets even more crazy in the upcoming episodes. I thought the biggest takeaway this episode was that Dr Jones gave Cole her original surname. It happens early in the episode, but I'm sure it'll come up again a few episodes down the line. (Basically, take note of anyone talking about their past with Cole!)

Also, this show has to have other time travelers showing up. I wouldn't be surprised if Jennifer Goines is revealed to be one. I actually thought she'd end up jumping on Cole and being transported to the future at the end of this one.
posted by Catblack at 10:25 AM on February 15, 2015

Well, it appears the virus originates from the future via Dr. Jone's experiments to prevent the virus. (Which gives us a nice connection to the movie.) But clearly the specimen in the vault is not the only source for the virus, and foiling the Army here only delays their efforts. So they will find another specimen that will give them the virus? Or whoever was that specimen with the "familiar eyes" will end up being sent back at a different time or place? I wasn't expecting much from this show, but it has pleasantly surprised me.
posted by insert.witticism.here at 9:23 AM on February 16, 2015 [1 favorite]