In the previous episode of Stitchers, the lab was infiltrated by an unknown visitor who may be the same person keeping an eye on Kirsten. Meanwhile, Cameron finally told Kirsten what happened to Marta, Kirsten spotted a serious scar on Cameron’s chest and Marta woke up from her coma.
In the fourth episode, “Stitcher in the Rye,” Kirsten and the team investigate the death of a conspiracy theorist who just happens to be in possession of the algorithm for the Stitchers program. Meanwhile, Marta reaches out to Kirsten in an attempt to protect her, and Oded Fehr guest stars as Maggie’s boss.
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Is There a Traitor in the Program?
Kirsten and the team are asked to look into the death of Justin Lange, an ex-CIA operative turned conspiracy theorist who claimed to have plenty of classified documents in his possession. He died, supposedly of natural causes, just before taking one of these classified documents public. Maggie says they need to figure out where he stashed these documents and who he was getting his information from.
Kirsten goes into Justin’s brain and it is a bit of a mess. Even once Cameron and Linus clear things up, the memories are going by too quickly for Kirsten to make much sense of them. She does, however, figure out where Justin was hiding those classified documents — in a secret compartment in his food truck.
Unfortunately, Justin had the secret compartment rigged in case anyone discovered it, and it blows before the team can do much digging. But Kirsten manages to grab the file she believes Justin intended to post right before his death. Alas, Justin kept the file on an old disk their high-tech systems cannot access. But Kirsten remembers that Ed had an old computer that will be able to read Justin’s disk.
Once she reads through Justin’s files, Kirsten finds the algorithm for the Stitchers program. This is what Justin was planning to reveal to the public. Kirsten assumes that the only way Justin could have gotten the algorithm is if someone from inside the program gave it to him, so she goes to Cameron to ask if he gave up the information. Cameron says he didn’t, but Kirsten does not believe him until she checks his phone to see where he was at the exact time Justin was given the algorithm. Apparently, some of Justin’s paranoia and lack of trust has rubbed off on Kirsten, though one could argue that Kirsten had plenty of trust issues even before stitching into Justin’s brain.
The only other people with access to the algorithm are Linus, Camille and Maggie. Once Kirsten and Cameron rule out Linus and Camille, Maggie is the only suspect left. They all go to confront her in the parking garage, but Maggie gets shot the moment she gets out of her car.
Maggie is fine and she convinces them that she had nothing to do with the leak. Kirsten uses her temporal dysplasia to search through the memories she saw in the stitch until she remembers a woman with a tattoo on her wrist. Cameron connects said tattoo back to Marta and they all learn that Marta woke up from her coma over a week ago. She checked herself out of the hospital and practically disappeared. They all realize that Marta had to be the person who gave Justin the algorithm.
Kirsten Meets Marta
Earlier in the episode, Kirsten receives a copy of Catcher in the Rye in the mail. She also gets a strange, coded text message that she does not understand until she learns that Marta’s specialty was cryptography. Kirsten manages to decode Marta’s message, and it warns Kirsten that she is in danger and should not trust anyone. Kirsten texts Marta back and asks if she can protect her. Marta says yes and they apparently come up with a place to meet. When Kirsten meets Marta, Marta promises Kirsten that she is safe now.
Marta takes Kirsten home so Kirsten can pack her things. Marta knows a place where Kirsten will be safe from those in the Stitchers program. Kirsten does not understand why Marta believes her co-workers are a threat to her, and Marta says they are just using Kirsten the way they used her. While Marta rants about the program, Kirsten manages to sneak a call to Cameron so he knows she’s with Marta. Cameron has Camille call Fisher and the police while he heads to Kirsten’s place. Meanwhile, Marta continues her rant against the Stitchers program, telling Kirsten that the people involved do not care about most of the cases they look into. Marta believes Kirsten is being used as a test-run for something else, but she does not know what.
Cameron arrives and Marta pulls a gun, the same one she used to shoot Maggie. She clearly feels betrayed by Cameron and asks Kirsten if Cameron promised to protect her, too. Cameron admits to failing Marta, but Marta is not interested. She just wants to get Kirsten somewhere safe. The police arrive and Marta gets a phone call. She has a very strange reaction to whatever she is told over the phone, but she says she understands. Marta starts to head outside with the gun, and Cameron tries to stop her. She thanks him for bringing her flowers while she was in the hospital, and they have a little moment of connecting before Marta walks out. Since she is still holding the gun, the police fire on her and Marta is killed.
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What is Maggie Hiding?
Cameron once again blames himself for what happened to Marta. He and Kirsten want to stitch into her memories to find out what she knew about the Stitchers program, but Maggie says it is a no-go. She tells Kirsten her refusal to stitch into Marta is all about protecting Cameron, who might not be able to handle hacking into his friend’s brain. But that is only part of the story.
As the episode ends, Maggie meets with her boss, Les Turner. Apparently, he is the person who called Marta and got her to kill herself. He says he appealed to her protective nature and she did what she did to protect Kirsten. Maggie reminds Les that she lied to her team for him and let them believe that Justin’s death was not murder when it actually was. Les had Justin killed so they could stitch into his memories. He claims they had solid intel that Justin had their algorithms and this was the only way to find out if it was true. Maggie does not seem to agree with that, but she drops the subject. Maggie then asks Les what she should tell Kirsten when she asks what the program is really about, and he says Maggie can tell Kirsten whatever she wants, as long as it is not the truth.
What is the Stitchers program really about and why is Maggie in the know when no one else involved with the program seems to be? And since Oded Fehr is playing the role of Maggie’s boss, I am going to assume that means his character will end up being quite important to the plot. I cannot imagine the show would cast someone of that caliber for no reason.
Other Happenings
— After her latest stitch, Kirsten tells Cameron that she has seen the same teddy bear in two different sets of memories during her stitches. Cameron says that is not possible, so it suggests the memory might actually be Kirsten’s. But Kirsten does not remember ever having a teddy bear like that. She also does not remember anything from the time before her father left her with Ed. Is it possible that the Stitchers technology is helping Kirsten access her own long-lost memories? What caused Kirsten to lose those memories?
— Camille and Linus are still hooking up, but Camille is hesitant to let it continue. She knows Linus cannot handle a friends-with-benefits relationship, and that seems to be all she wants right now. And Kirsten and Cameron are now aware of their friends’ extracurricular activities, and Cameron uses that newfound knowledge to find out if Kirsten has a problem with co-workers dating. She doesn’t, but it is clear that Kirsten has way too much on her plate right now to be getting involved with anyone, let alone one of the few people she might actually consider a friend.
What did you think of this episode of Stitchers? Are you surprised the show got rid of Marta so soon? Can we assume that Marta was the person who broke into the lab and spied on Kirsten in the previous episode? She was wearing all black, after all. But with so many secrets surrounding the Stitchers program, I don’t know if we can assume anything. And why didn’t anyone at the hospital call Maggie or Cameron to tell them that Marta woke up? I expect Maggie would have left standing orders to be notified if there were any changes with Marta’s condition. What did you think of Oded Fehr as Maggie’s boss? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Stitchers airs Tuesdays at 9pm on ABC Family.
(Image courtesy of ABC Family)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
