The Cure - Recap

In Milford, Massachusetts, a van pulls up to a diner and men in protective suits drop a woman off into the street and drive away. The woman walks down the street into a diner and goes inside. She sits down and starts coughing, then examines her arms which have bruising on them. The waiter calls the police and then brings her soup and she starts to eat it as he talks to her. The woman says she can’t remember where she’s been. The policeman, Marty, arrives and tries to find out where the woman is from. She says that she was born in Boston but can’t remember where she lives now. The woman says that “they” did things to her, giving her a red medicine. Marty asks her to come with him and she panics. He handcuffs her and calls in to the station, but suddenly everyone in the waiter collapse in pain, bleeding from the eyes. Marty grabs the woman but then starts bleeding and screaming. The woman starts bleeding from the eyes… and then her head explodes in a gout of blood.

As the team set up to investigate the diner, Walter stands in the street and hums along with the electrical wires. Olivia is somewhat irritable. They don protective suits and go into the diner, while Broyles explains that they’ve identified the woman as Emily Kramer, who was being treated for an incurable disease, Bellini’s Lymphocema. Walter examines the body and determines that her disease was in remission. He also determines that the body temperature of the victims is abnormally high: their brains boiled until they died.

Olivia talks to Emily’s doctor, Dr. Patel, who says he has no idea that Emily was cured. Walter and Peter examine Emily’s body and notice the odor of hyacinth flowers. Walter determines she was being given injections of a drug he doesn’t recognize. She was held captive but Walter concludes that she was released as part of a field trial. Olivia gets a call: Claire Williams, another woman with lymphocema, has disappeared. She meets with Charlie to talk to Claire’s husband Ken. As they go in, Charlie notes that it’s understandable she’s upset by the deaths, and then wishes her a happy birthday. They talk to Ken, who claims not to recognize Emily but Olivia is suspicious of his hasty denial. He says that Claire had recently gone into remission and wants them to find her.

Claire is in a laboratory as a doctor in a protective suit examines her. They administer a red medicine to her then leave to monitor her from the next room. The man in charge goes over photos of the laboratory and notes that the last one was a test, but this one counts.

At the lab, Walter experiments with a papaya which heats and ruptures as he exposes it to microwaves. He found radioactive isotopes in Emily’s body that released the right amount of radiation to cure her disease. However, something injected into her bloodstream caused all the capsules to activate at once, giving off the microwave burst. Olivia wonders if Patel is involved and goes to talk to Emily’s parents. Peter goes with her, and Walter asks him to bring cotton candy back for him.

As they arrive at the Kramer house, Peter notes that all of their recent cases involve human experimentation. They people go in for the wake and Peter is reluctant, but Olivia insists they need to continue the investigation before Claire dies. She goes inside and goes directly to Emily’s room to search the place. Emily’s mother Paula comes in demanding to know what they’re doing and Olivia explains that Claire’s life is at stake. Paula knows Claire: she was receiving treatment with Emily. She has a photo of Ken with Emily and Claire. Olivia and Peter go back to talk to Ken: he explains that they started to pool their resources with other victims of the disease and financed their own radical therapies. Three months ago, they found a cure. He lied to Olivia so she wouldn’t stop the treatment of the other victims. He tells them they’ll have to get the names of the other patients from Dr. Patel.

The doctor gives Claire another injection of the red medicine. as Claire asks them what she’s doing. She also gives her a blue medicine and says it will make her special.

Olivia confronts Patel and he tells her that he gives a drug company, Intrepus, updates. He warns her to stay clear of it but Olivia demands a name. He goes to his file cabinet and grabs a gun. Olivia draws her gun and he gives her the name of David Esterbrook… and then shoots himself.

Charlie digs up information on Esterbrook, who works for Intrepus and does exotic experimentation. Olivia goes to where Esterbrook is giving a speech to a humanitarian aid forum, pretends to be a drug company representative, and claims to be a fan of his work. They have drinks and she talks about how lawmakers put up laws interfering with their research. He tells her that what’s important is the resolve, not the money. She then admits she’s knows Patel and saw him kill himself. He warns her off and leaves.

Broyles gets word that Olivia met with Esterbrook in public and tells her that they’re under close scrutiny and she can’t intimidate high-profile suspects. Olivia insists Esterbrook is covering up and she plans to find Claire, but Broyles warns that if he can’t trust her to control her emotions, he can’t trust her. He tells her to run everything past him from now on.

The doctor puts a white rat in the isolation room with Claire. It approaches her as the man in charge, Esterbrook, returns and makes sure that Claire will be ready for transport. Inside the chamber, the rat crawls over Claire… and then bleeds from its eyes as its brain boils.

Peter tells Olivia that Walter is working to isolate the compound in Emily’s blood. Olivia snaps at him and he asks her what’s wrong. She apologizes and explains that her stepfather drank and her mother put up with his abuse. One day he broke her nose, and Olivia took his gun and shot him with it. However, she couldn’t bring herself to fire the final shot and he left after he recovered. Now, every day on her birthday he sends her a card as a reminder. Peter suggests that Olivia talk to Nina Sharp, who has connections to pharmaceutical companies and can get Olivia what she needs on Esterbrook. Olivia doesn’t believe Nina will tell her anything obtained illegally. A determined Peter leaves, and goes to an equestrian center where Nina is riding. He tells her about the situation with Intrepus and asks her where she thinks they might conduct their covert research. She notes that she spent a lot of time with Peter as a child and she was close to Walter. Nina knows that Peter has made contact with a tribe that has access to certain metals that Massive Dynamic needs. She offers him the information about the location of Esterbrook’s human trials in return for a future favor, no questions asked.

In the lab, Walter smells hyacinth again and realizes that the chemical he’s smelling is the key. Identifying the chemical, he comes up with a bonding agent that will stop the reaction. Peter goes to find Olivia and gives her the address where Claire is being kept. He claims that he knows someone with access to a spy satellite that can track the radioactive isotopes. He assures her his lead is solid and she calls in to Charlie for a tactical team. Walter gives her the cure and instructs her in how to use it.

Charlie briefs his team and the squad goes in and secures the immediate area. The doctor throws a switch “activating” Claire just as Olivia arrives. Olivia pushes the syringe through the door and tells her to inject it. As the radiation levels rise, Olivia talks her through the procedure and Claire injects the antidote into her neck.

The FBI goes to Intrepus and Olivia informs Esterbrook that Claire is safe and the doctor, Elizabeth Sarnoff, has testified against Esterbrook. He claims she’s a disgruntled former employee but she insists on bringing him in to FBI HQ for questioning. She’s also made sure that the press is outside to get the story, and notes his board of directors will act against him once the entire thing goes public.

At the office, Olivia goes through her mail but doesn’t find anything from her stepfather. She goes to see Broyles who is less than thrilled at her actions against Esterbrook. She doesn’t deny that she’s emotional, but she insists it motivates her. She tells him he can fire her, but she hopes he won’t. He warns that she’s not getting off that easy.

Nina is in her car and listening to a radio broadcast about Intrepus’ stock value dropping, with a resultant increase in Massive Dynamic. Olivia hears the same news report. She visits Peter and Walter at their hotel and talks to Peter in private. She says he knows where he got his information and wants to know where Nina wants in return. Peter tells Olivia not to worry about him and he insists on looking out for her the same way she’s been looking out for him. Olivia tells him that she didn’t get the letter from her stepfather.

Olivia goes back to her apartment and notices that an envelope has been slipped under her door. She opens it and finds a card inside, with the words “Thinking of you.”

Share this article with your friends