Terra Nova - The Morning After

I thought maybe Terra Nova suffered from being only one night after The Walking Dead which is always still rumbling around in my head (it's a big open space up there).  Maybe I was being unfair and maybe it's not that lackluster.  I'm wrong. 

"Within"

The lesser storyline of the evening involves the Shannon's teen daughter, Maddie.  Her plex (flat, clear computer thingy) isn't working because the Intel Pentium Core processor went kaput.  HER WHOLE LIFE IS ON THERE! It's possible she won't be able to turn in homework!  There aren't any around, like anywhere though I'm thinking these things run all the tech at the colony so I find that hard to believe.  She's going to have to wait for the next pilgrimage to bring the supplies from 2149.  Bummer.  Her brother suggests she try bartering for it.  She attempts it, fails (she offers the dude an abacus), and goes to skeevy bartender dude who is a more successful trader.  When she offers to do some organizing of his office and papers he accepts until he hears her last name.  Instead of making her work for the processor he just hands it to her asking only that she tell her dad he was nice and generous to her.  Guess Sheriff Jim is starting to carry a little weight around the colony now.

Speaking of...Jim, who is now officially being referred to as the Sheriff, and Commander Badass are at the portal talking about the next pilgrimage to arrive.  Badass doesn't want anything to go wrong so Jim needs to find the spy right quick.  Jim interviews people to verify their whereabouts and when he gets to Skye she says that she was playing chess with his son.  Skye then finds Idiot Boy himself and asks that he cover for her.  She makes up some story about stealing copper wire and he agrees to go along with it. 

Skye runs off to bring intel to the sixers so they'll give her mom her latest round of meds.  While there Badass Jr. introduces himself and has a mission for her.  Meanwhile Badass's second in command, Lady Badass (she of the overly heavy eyeliner) has found a spot where someone could sneak in and out of the colony.  Jim instructs they put a camera on it in order to find the culprit in the act.  Skye takes the processor thingy Badass Jr. gave her to the Eye (Skye in the eye) and sees Badass Jr.'s data.  Skye heads back to the sneaky spot and is caught by the camera (an eye in the sky) so Jim knows she's the spy.  He double checks Idiot Boy's alibi and he confesses to covering up.  Jim gives him a no lying speech.  It's too late, your boy is an idiot. 

Jim tells Badass what he's found and Badass is noticeably disappointed but wants to double check Jim's intel with his man on the inside of the sixer camp...the dude he banished and then encouraged to join the sixers.  He better hope the guy followed his orders and is actually there and has gained sixer trust.  Commander Badass plays chess with Skye and baits her with some intel that they're moving a convoy of supplies..  He even goes so far as to say to her, "Your move."  Slick.  The trap doesn't work and Jim guesses it's because Skye actually does care about the colony.  He also correctly guesses that they must have something on her in order to get her to betray them.

Meanwhile Badass Jr. thinks he's figured out how to make the portal thing go both ways.  He warns Skye not to go back to the colony because it won't be safe.  His bosses, the people pulling the strings in 2149 will be coming to put Commander Badass out of a job.  Since he'll inevitably resist there'll be much fighting at the colony.  That's nice of him to pull a Bond villain and give her all that information.  Skye's mom encourages her to immediately go back to the colony and tell them EVERYTHING.  That would mean leaving her mom behind for the sixers to ignore though and Skye won't do it.  Mom, who is very valiant, tells her it's more important to warn them and to let her go.  Skye does what her mom tells her and runs back to the colony.  On her way she gets caught by Jim and Commander Badass who tell her they know she's the traitor.  She tells them what Badass Jr. said and they take off in their rover making her walk back to the colony by herself. I hope you have learned your lesson, young lady.  The next time you try to betray the colony we'll make you walk even further.  So there.

The portal activates but due to interference they can't get in touch with Jim and Badass.  Badass Jr. shows up and knocks everyone guarding the portal out with a stun gun thingy.  Badass and Jim show up and confront Badass Jr. but he tells them if they use the blaster it will make the portal unuseable, cutting off all ties with 2149.  They'd be stuck there with no replacement Intel Pentium Core Processors!  Badass Jr. walks backward into the portal and thusly back to 2149 (we're guessing).  Skye is requested at the clinic and finds her mom being treated by Dr. Shannon.  She thinks she can synthesize whatever the sixers were giving her.  Awwww...Badass did a nice thing for her.  Turns out the banished dude was at the camp and brought her back.  This earns him a spot back in the colony and Jim balks at this.  He or the writers have forgotten that Jim was in prison not too long ago and forgiven for his wrongdoings by Badass himself.  Commander Badass ends the episode speechifying about something but the DVR cut it off.  I'm sure it was very moving indeed.