Believe - Recap

Four weeks before the Blackout

Bryce is meeting with a doctor who warns he's in stage four cancer and most treatments at this point won't do any good. Afterward, Bryce gets into his SUV and pulls out of his slot in the parking garage, and hits a car behind him. When the man gets out and starts complaining, Bryce slams his SUV into the man's car again. Bryce finally gets out and walks away.



Two weeks before the Blackout

In Tokyo, Keiko Arahida is at her office building, applying lipstick in the women's restroom. A man arrives to call her to her meeting, where she explains to the board of Nakahara that she started working with robots as a child. She went on to become a mechanical engineer with degrees in bio-medical engineering and robotics. She talks about her personal hobbies but the men on the board aren't impressed. Keiko talks of her class ranking and how she's suited to Nakahara.

Bryce is working on a patient but is distracted. Afterward, Olivia questions his commitment to his profession.

Keiko returns home and finds her family and friends waiting to congratulate her on getting the job. Her mother Yuuka has invited two boys over to set Keiko up but when Keiko balks, she asks her daughter what she wants.

The day of the Blackout

In therapy with Dr. Fleming, Bryce admits that he's never been a very good doctor and that he doesn't want to tell his family about his condition because they've been through enough. When he notes his condition is terminal, Fleming tells him that no one can know the futureand he should take care of himself. Afterward, Bryce drives down to the beach, loads a revolver, and goes out on the pier. After one last look at the ocean, Bryce prepares to shoot himself and the Blackout occurs. In Bryce's flashforward, he is sitting in a restaurant in Tokyo. Keiko arrives and he says she's finally there, and he invites her to sit down. He takes her hands and looks at the kanji tattoo on her left wrist, which means "Believe." The Blackout ends and Bryce wakes up. In Tokyo, Keiko wakes up in her bathroom and laughs.



The Present

At his apartment, Bryce learns Japanese but then throws up due to nausea from his cancer. He then goes back to studying his sketchbook of his flashforward and drawing another sketch of Keiko.

Mark calls to tell Aaron that he's been looking into Jericho but hasn't been able to find much. He has learned that Jericho is working out of the Burroughs Institute for International Peace, a think tank located in Los Angeles. As they talk, Aaron checks on his sleeping daughter and finds an empty bottle of whiskey. Mark hangs up to take a call for Olivia on her phone and finds the text message saying that he was drinking in his flashforward. She claims she didn't think it was important to tell him since he brought it up on his own.



At the hospital, Olivia congratulates Bryce on a successful surgery and notices that he looks sick. She tells him to go home but when he refuses, she checks him more thoroughly and discovers he has a central line in his chest for chemo. He finally tells her he has stage four renal cell carcinoma, and that he's known for about a year. She realizes that's why he tried to kill himself, and Bryce admits he was terrified at the prospect of dying and putting his family through that. However, he says that since the Blackout he's okay because now he has something to live for.

Tracy makes dinner and pours herself some wine, and Aaron finally tells her he can't have her drinking around him. Tracy takes the wine and leaves.



The Mosaic team meets and goes over the NSA enhancement of Suspect Zero's ring with NSA agent Levy. She explains that they've determined it has an alpha symbol on it, but they're unable to further enhance his face. Levy finally admits she's uncomfortable talking to the team because one of their members has been red-flagged by the NSA. They tracked an untraceable to a Bureau cell phone that belonged to Demetri. They figure it's the call from the woman who warned Demetri about his murder, and he realizes that the NSA has a recording of the call. She can't give it to him because it's classified but he begs her to call whoever she can to get the call for him. Levy finally agrees to make the call.

At Nakahara, a bored Keiko is in her cubicle watching her servo hand sort jellybeans and remembering her flashforward. In it, she is running toward the restaurant. She starts playing air guitar to a Bob Dylan video when she's summoned to help her boss. When she arrives, she discovers he's called her in to serve tea. Nakahara's aide informs Keiko that she's the only woman in the department and they're not going to hire another woman to serve tea. Keiko pauses for a moment and then begins pouring tea.

Bryce practices his Japanese with Nicole and she admits that it's cool he's learning Japanese for someone he hasn't met. Bryce insists that he'll meet the woman and admits it sounds crazy, but Nicole tells him it's a good kind of crazy.



Mark meets with Aaron after an AA meeting and admits that things are going worse since he learned that someone sent Olivia the text message. He emphasizes that he only told two people, and Aaron was one of them. Aaron snaps at him, kicks over chairs, and tells him to find a sponsor he can trust.

Keiko goes to a tattoo shop and insists she wants to get a tattoo. When he doubts that she's serious because she's an office girl, Keiko tells him that it's for her, not them.

Mark gets the recording of Demetri's call from the NSA and lets Stan know. Stan has him send it down to audio forensics and Mark asks him if he sent Olivia a text. He points out that when he told Stan, Stan was pissed at the revelation. Stan tells him to get out.

Bryce talks to a Japanese patient, Ms. Kondo, and practices his language skills, She asks how his search is going and he shows her the finished drawing. Ms. Kondo recognizes the t-shirt that Keiko is wearing as belonging to a restaurant in Tokyo, the Sushi Arihada. As Bryce goes, Olivia calls him over and tells him she's found some possible treatments. A friend of hers is running an experimental drug trial and Olivia has got him into the program in Houston. Bryce is reluctant about the side effects, and explains that he doesn't want to risk his health further. Olivia points out he might be alive in his flashforward because he took the drug. She gives him a hug and tells him to take a couple of days off.



Bryce flies to Tokyo and goes to the Sushi Arihada. He talks to the owner and shows him his sketch of Keiko, and tries to explain that he's in love. One of the cooks finally recognizes Keiko from the drawing.

Keiko tells her mother that she's quitting Nakahara and refuses to let her arrange her marriage. She insists that there's someone else out there for her, and Yuuka tells her to move out if she won't respect her parents' wishes.



Mark, Demetri, and Vreede listen to the recording and Vreede filters out everything but the background noise. He identifies the music in the background as The Symphony of Lights, which plays every night in Hong Kong Harbor. Demetri and Mark approach Stan, who refuses to let them go to China given the current state of relations between the two countries. He notes that the caller may not even be in Hong Kong any more and tells them he'll do what he can, but they're not going to Hong Kong. Outside, Mark tells Demetri that they're going anyway.



Bryce goes to Keiko's home and Yuuka comes to the door. He asks for Keiko and shows her the drawing. Yuuka realizes he's the man Keiko was talking about earlier and denies knowing her, and then slams the door in his face.

The next morning, Bryce calls Nicole and admits he was an idiot. She suggests that he has to be patient but Bryce wonders if he misinterpreted the entire thing as a way to run away from his problems. Nicole suggests that he come home.

Aaron is contemplating Tracy, who has passed out drunk on the couch. Mark arrives to talk and they go outside, and Aaron tells him that Tracy is broken, He blames himself, since Tracy enlisted to be like her father. Aaron tells Mark he can't be his sponsor any more, but admits he could use a friend. Mark assures him he'll be there for him.

Bryce arrives at LAX, unaware that Keiko is on the plane behind her with her guitar. In her vision, she arrives at a Japanese restaurant in L.A. and meets Bryce. As she leaves the terminal, she considers the "Believe" kanji tattooed on her wrist.



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