CBS’ Zoo season two continues with episode three titled “Collision Point” airing on July 5, 2016. The episode finds the gang still busy attempting to stop the Noah Objective which would wipe out the entire animal population on Earth. Jamie is still trying to make her way to safety along with the help of Logan, and Jackson is debating whether it’s now the right time to tell Mitch that his blood type has changed following a dog bite. Plus, the episode found a tiny insect causing havoc and beavers earning their title as nature’s best engineers.
“Collision Point” kicks off somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, with the gang angry Ranger Dariela Marzan killed the mutated human who might have held the cure for the plague. Then an argument breaks out over whether or not they should tell the government what’s going on with the phase 2 mutant.
Next we catch up with Jamie (Kristen Connolly) and her new buddy, Logan (Josh Salatin), who last we saw were on the verge of freezing to death in New Brunswick, Canada. They’re trekking through the forest but Jamie’s in pain after stepping on a nail. They’re following the river, and their plan is to make it to Caraquet where they hope to stock up on supplies and/or get rescued. Jamie and Logan make small talk and it turns out Logan’s a courier who flies in supplies to the area. He’s apparently lugging around his life savings rather than any useful supplies.
Marzan’s working out her anger on tires stored on the plane, pissed off Chloe (Nora Arnezeder) won’t inform the authorities and still steaming over the mutant’s murder of her entire team. But, whoa, she’s not so angry that she can’t find time to leap into Abe’s and land a smackeroo on his surprised lips. Did not see that coming – seems completely random and sort of out of place, given everything that’s going on onboard that plane.
The action zooms to Geneva where ants are marching up a metal table leg in a fancy restaurant’s kitchen.
Nope, not sticking with Geneva for long as now Jackson (James Wolk) and Chloe are arguing over whether they should tell Mitch (Billy Burke) about Jackson’s blood type changing. Jackson wants to tell him; Chloe is adamant they should not. Just then Mitch walks up, they both clam up, and off they go to listen to an update by phone from Eleanor Lewis (April Grace) who says they’re pushing forward on the Noah Objective (the plan to get rid of every animal). They promise to return to Geneva and meet her at her hotel (the one with the ants she knows nothing about yet) as soon as possible. She gets off the phone and starts choking, with some weird electric crackling thing going on in her mouth.
The scene quickly switches back to Jamie and Logan who are now lost after following the map and sticking close to the river. Come to find out – a little late – the river has moved. Are the beavers smart enough to have accomplished the complete rearrangement of the river?
In the episode that I’m now going to remember as a compilation of quick cuts of random scenes, we’re now at the hotel in Geneva because Eleanor didn’t show up at the airport to meet their plane. No one knows where Eleanor is, but General Davies (Peter Outerbridge) is there to tell Chloe she should be working with him on the Noah Objective and not traveling around with “Frodo and Sam.” Jackson tells the General the Noah Objective is madness, and then Mitch figures out where he knows Dr. Davies from – he’s got a graduate degree from Cambridge (not sure why any of this needs to be mentioned). General Davies is done discussing the Noah Objective with them and storms off, while Chloe, Jackson and Mitch take off to find Eleanor.
Oh, yes, it was the beavers! They diverted the river and even flooded out a coal mine, creating a lake in the process. Damn you, beavers! Jamie and Logan are lost, but at least they know who to blame for why the map is incorrect.
So now Abe (Nonso Anozie) is dropping off Marzan who doesn’t even give him a kiss good-bye. Abe says it was brief but a very good brief, but before he finishes his sentence she’s already gone.
Logan can’t believe the river is that far off course and Jamie thinks they should just keep moving.
Mitch, Chloe, and Jackson find Eleanor dead in her hotel room, her mouth completely separated from her jaw. In other words, her face is really gross and you shouldn’t watch this scene with food in your mouth. Before they call the cops, Chloe wants to find whatever it was that Eleanor wanted them to know in private, without any eavesdroppers. Mitch figures out the wounds were made from something burning her from the inside out, and Chloe thinks she was assassinated. Mitch needs Eleanor’s spinal fluid to figure out what killed her and Jackson decides to spend the time looking through drawers and closets. Mitch has to jerry-rig a way to extract the spinal fluid using a straw and sucking it up while Jackson looks on completely disgusted. We’re right there with you, Jackson. As Jackson’s looking away from Mitch’s spinal tap, he notices the ants.
Jamie and Logan try to find their bearings, but they need a higher vantage point. They climb up the mountain, with Jamie limping and Logan volunteering to go on ahead to check things out. It’s actually a ploy to get Logan to put down the bag as he climbs, and Jamie quickly goes to check it out. Inside is a bunch of money and photos of the location where she was being held. There’s also a newspaper article and photos of her gathering wood. A nearby beaver growls at her and Logan returns to let her know he saw the mountain peaks and they’re heading the right way.
Back on the plane, the news reports Eleanor’s death. Now that Eleanor and Amelia are both dead, Chloe and the team are effectively on their own. The news also reports more deaths in Geneva due to strange mouth burns. Mitch has it figured out after looking at Eleanor’s spinal fluid. There were ants inside Eleanor when she died.
Ranger Marzan wants to go back to her unit, but she’s not getting anywhere. Then she spots a lieutenant (Eleanor’s assistant) who is hightailing it out of Geneva. She follows the general who’s following the lieutenant. The lieutenant lies and says he’s been called stateside, but the general believes the Lt. took Eleanor’s laptop and files. The general didn’t kill Eleanor but he does kill the lieutenant after he swears he doesn’t have the missing laptop. Marzan watches all this from a hiding place. She moves forward to the dead lieutenant just in time to see the train station short out.
So, yes, once more we’ve moved off to the plane where a discussion is being held about male ants dating attractive female ants. But, actually, the conversation’s about Abe and Marzan hooking up. Chloe barges in to say Marzan has something to show them and they need to meet her at the train station. Off Chloe and Jackson go while Mitch and Abe stick around to play with ants. They discover the ants are all moving in exactly the same direction, but Mitch would rather drink than figure out why. The talk turns to what Jamie would have wanted, which just rips the bandage off Mitch’s wound. Their argument is interrupted by the ants giving off electrical charges in their little ant container.
Chloe and Jackson find Marzan who shows them the wrecked train station and the pile of metal that is stuck to the now-magnetized transformer. There’s a smell of sulfur and Jackson looks around for ants, which give off the sulfur smell. He finds the huge pile of dead ants, but none of them understand what that actually means. Loud bangs are heard in the distance and they (the people, not the dead ants, obviously) run off.
The situation with Jamie and Logan has gone from bad to worse, as now it’s pouring rain and pitch black. They do, fortunately, stumble upon a rundown little cabin with a stove. Logan volunteers once again to go and get firewood, but this time he takes the bag with him. He’s only gone 30 seconds but that’s long enough for Jamie to make her escape.
Mitch and Abe call Jackson, Marzan, and Chloe to tell them the ants can generate electricity, which is what killed Eleanor. “Enough of these ants together could generate a powerful enough charg to…,” says Mitch and Chloe interrupts to say, “Blow up a transformer.” Mitch tells them where the explosions have been and Abe figures out all the ants are heading to the same place: a Large Particle Accelerator. Mitch then explains it’s the largest machine of its kind in the world and the ants are going there to attack. The attack would generate a charge large enough to kill every living thing within a thousand-mile radius.
Logan fairly easily tracks Jamie down, warning her not to run away. She doesn’t listen and falls, and he catches up and asks if she looked in his bag. He tells her it was never about her, it was always about the leopard. He was sent to capture it and take it back. Jamie wants to know where his plane is, and he says the animals have torn it apart. He also doesn’t know where the men are that hired him, although they were on board the plane with him. Jamie plays 20 questions, sort of likes what she hears, but wants his gun or else she won’t trust him. He hands it over.
Mitch, Chloe, Ranger Marzan, Jackson, and Abe explain about the ants and how they’re marching on to the LPA. As they run to stop it, they encounter a huge stream of ants that all go around Jackson’s feet without touching him. Mitch and Marzan wonder what’s going on. The threesome continue their quest to stop the ants that are now coming in the room and getting closer. Mitch, Marzan and Jackson find the override switch but it’s locked. Marzan and Mitch team up to stop the ants temporarily so that Jackson can throw the switch. It works and the ants all stop marching, but Marzan’s choking on an ant she accidentally swallowed.
Logan and Jamie have made up and Logan wants to have a look at her hurt foot and sees her big black, dead toe. It’s not good and he eyeballs the axe.
The gang hooks up Marzan to an electric chair with low voltage but high enough to kill the ant.
Logan holds the axe, but says he can’t do it. Chloe tells him he has to.
Marzan is shocked – literally – and Abe anxiously awaits the news that the ant has died. It didn’t so they shock Marzan again.
Logan heats up the axe blade and Jamie wants to know if, because her foot is numb, it won’t hurt. She asks about his girlfriend and down comes the axe. As it lands on her toe, she reflexively fires Logan’s gun.
The battle of Marzan vs the ant is still going on, and the ant’s winning. She demands Jackson throw the switch and zap her again. They do for a longer period and this time the ant is dead but Marzan hasn’t got a pulse. Abe takes over doing CPR, willing her back to life. It works. She coughs and asks if the ant is dead. It is, but it’s dead somewhere inside her which is gross but not life-threatening.
Back on the plane, Chloe asks if Marzan wants to stay with them but she wants to go back to her unit. She tells Chloe she saw General Davies murder the lieutenant and that thegeneral thought the lieutenant had stolen files from Eleanor.
Jackson gets Mitch alone and says he has something to tell him. Duh. It’s about time.
Chloe and Marzan go over Eleanor’s files and find a simulation of the Noah Objective that shows wiping out 5 billion animals would also wipe out a huge number of humans. Over 2 million people will die if the Noah Objective goes forward. Chloe says they have to stop it.
