The Stitchers team investigates aliens (maybe) in this episode after an ex-Air Force Officer is murdered, but extraterrestrial beings don’t exist … or do they? Was the victim killed because the government is trying to hide something?
Also in “Dreamland,” Fisher has to make a decision about his future when Stephanie gets the job in DC, and a little snooping leads to a discovery about Ivy.
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Who Wants to Believe?
Ex-Air Force officer Fred Overmyer is found dead in Soledad Canyon, with no signs of a struggle, witnesses, tire tracks, footprints or forensics of any kind. Kirsten stitches into him and learns that he feels guilty about something involving a pilot, Rudy, from 1985. Though Rudy insisted he saw a UFO, Fred said to keep quiet if he wanted to keep flying but told a female officer that he wanted to tell Rudy the truth about aliens.
Fred took Rudy to a restricted area, where they were attacked … by an alien?! As for his death memory, Kirsten sees lights coming from the sky. Was he killed by a UFO?
While the others are more willing to believe, Cameron argues that aliens don’t exist. But Camille does have a great counterpoint: “Do you honestly think the Stitchers Program is the only secret our government keeps? X-Files, Cameron. X-Files. Saw the whole series growing up.” And while the series might not have been real, her crush on Gillian Anderson most certainly was.
Rudy from the stitch was discharged after a nervous breakdown and is now a major ufologist. He’s not surprised that Fred was killed because of what happened to them: the alien attack at Dreamland (Roessell Air Force Base, California’s answer to Area 51). While anyone can pull off a convincing hoax with a camera, tinfoil, drone and scotch tape, Rudy’s certain that there is life on other planets. He says he last saw Fred at his book signing and nothing seemed to be bothering him.
Rather than sit and wait like they’re supposed to at Dreamland, Kirsten and Cameron sneak into the restricted area from the stitch, and while they don’t find an alien, they do find a UFO declassified Air Force prototype they could never get off the ground that has been heavily documented. There’s plenty of “that’s classified” from Colonel Spencer, but they get to throw that back at him when he asks when Kirsten spoke with Fred.
Meanwhile, Fisher and Camille follow up on the money Fred has been giving to Pog Newcomb (half of the $1,000 he’s received in cash every month for the past 20 years). It was going to his sister, Peggy, who died a couple months ago in an accident at work.
Yes, Peggy is the female officer from the stitch. In fact, she worked in the research lab at Dreamland, and it can’t be a coincidence that Fred died from a lethal dose of a nerve toxin, can it?
The pieces come together once Kirsten stitches back into Fred. The alien attack was just a prank; Peggy was the “alien.” But when Fred told Rudy this at his book signing, Rudy refused to listen to him, and Rudy’s wife, Arlene, intervened. The UFO in his death memory was a drone, which sprayed him with the toxin.
While Rudy did say it would be easy to fake a UFO, he insists he’s never flown his drone. It was his wife who killed Fred because she couldn’t let him take away everything Rudy believed in. She found out where Peggy worked, threatened to cut her off if she didn’t give her the toxin and killed her when she refused.
The Truth is Out There in a File in Maggie’s Office?
While Maggie’s away, Cameron finds her folder on Ivy — with the photo of her with Stinger. Fisher tries to keep him from telling Kirsten, but Cameron’s learned from his mistakes and refuses to risk anything ruining his relationship again.
After he tells Kirsten, she fills in Camille (who can’t help the “I told you so”) and Linus (who thinks there has to be an explanation). Fisher tries to stop them from jumping to conclusions, but the photo proves that Ivy can get in touch with Stinger (something she said she couldn’t do). And even if he reached out to her, she’s still a risk.
Kirsten and Linus use a spare key to get into Ivy’s place (so it’s not technically breaking in). She finds proof that her sister has saved everything from her life with Stinger, which suggests that she doesn’t hate him like she claims — and if she still cares, what would she be willing to do to get him back? It’s Linus who finds the young Cameron avatar on her computer, leading them to realize that Ivy ran the anomaly on them and is the one who trapped Kirsten in her memory and almost killed her.
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Doesn’t Every “Meet the Parents” Include Medical Tests?
Kirsten’s sleeping restlessly (but she hasn’t remembered her dreams since she was a kid), and Cameron worries that something got tweaked in her brain when she was stuck in the stitch. She thinks they’d know by now, but he convinces her to see a neurologist, someone not in the program, and promises they’ll keep the results between them.
Who else figures out immediately that the neurologist is Cameron’s mother? Everyone, right? And that’s even before he reveals they’re going to meet her at Kirsten’s house and is too nervous for her to just be a doctor while waiting for her to arrive. He probably should have told Kirsten, though, because meeting the boyfriend’s parents isn’t something that should be sprung on a person.
After a brief conversation to give us a good idea of Cameron’s relationship with his mother — she likes to analyze him; they don’t see each other often — and a mention of him seeing his father recently, Cameron’s kicked out. His mother doesn’t need to be told he’s dating Kirsten because he’s never reached out for anyone before. She can tell he loves Kirsten, but Kirsten doesn’t answer when she asks if she loves her son.
While they wait for the test results, Kirsten sets Cameron up to have dinner with his mother because, as the neurologist explains, she couldn’t stand by and watch the man she loves turn his back on a relationship with his mother when that was something she didn’t have.
As for why the results aren’t back yet, there was something odd on the EEG, but Cameron shouldn’t be worried. It just looked like some sort of reflection, his mother explains, sure it’s nothing. (It’s totally something, isn’t it?)
Will He Stay or Will He Go?
Stephanie gets the job she wants — in DC! — and she wants Fisher to move there with her. But he’s happy where he is, with the team that has become his family. And while Maggie looks into a transfer for him, there won’t be a job for him in DC.
Stephanie’s already sorting their clothes and planning the winter wear they’ll have to buy and simply suggests that he’ll find something or she’ll find him something once she settles in. He thinks that they need more time to figure things out, but she sees it as him choosing work over them again. “Aren’t you?” he counters. This isn’t going to end well for them. It can’t.
Do you think Fisher’s going to move to DC (even temporarily)? What did you think of Cameron’s mother? What do you think Ivy’s going to say when Kirsten confronts her? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Stitchers season 3 airs Mondays at 9/8c on Freeform. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of Freeform)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.
