After being absent last week, Nina’s back…with a vengeance.  She’s also in a severe downward spiral and Rosen isn’t aware of just how bad it is until a string of incidents involving people who seemed to have been pushed crosses his desk.  What’s interesting here is that we finally get some back story on Nina.  All that was revealed about her past last season was that when she came to Rosen, she was out of control and there was some sordid past that was never really discussed.  This week we get to see the root of the problem and it’s really no wonder why she’s as messed up as she is.

The episode kicks off with Nina visiting her childhood home.  We get a flashback to when she was a young girl having to witness her father on the verge of walking out on her and her mother.  As he’s getting ready to leave she pleads with him not to go.  Her father ends up staying and this seems to be the first time her ability has been realized.  Fast forward to present day, Nina’s childhood boyfriend pulls up in her car and tells her that the trip down memory lane is killing his buzz so the two drive off.

A man in his PJ’s is seen leaving a bank, carrying a baby.  An officer responds to the bank alarm and recognizes the man as the bank manager.  He knows something if off and asks the man to hand over the baby but the man doesn’t want to.  The cop tasers the bank manager, who drops the baby.  The cop looks down and it’s not a baby at all.  It’s a bag filled with money.  Looks like Nina is trying to get some cash.

Bill and Rachel show up at the office and Rachel is telling Bill about how John lied to her about the reason for not wanting to date her.  Gary streaks across the office in a towel fresh from the shower and after a funny bit of Gary freaking out because his morning routine was wrecked, and showing Bill and Rachel his “fruit”, John shows up looking for Rosen, who is having a session with Kat.

Kat is showing Rosen her ability to learn quickly and Rosen is trying to figure out a way to combat her memory loss.  She likes not having a long-term memory citing that she doesn’t have to worry about a “rear-view mirror”.  Rosen explains the importance of memories and gives her a camera phone and asks her to record whatever she feels like so that she can start building some memories.  Kat, meanwhile, just wants to get out and do covert agent stuff, but Rosen isn’t ready to let her off the leash just yet.

John comes in and tells Rosen about the incident with the bank manager.  John is sure it’s the work of an alpha and Rosen realizes that series of cases isn’t the work of just any alpha, it’s the work of Nina.  Rosen shows the MRI results to Cameron and Rachel and tells them that it’s Nina’s handiwork, but Rachel says the effect lasted too long to be Nina.  Cameron tells them both that toward the end of their relationship Nina pushed him and he lost half a day.  Rosen explains that she’s getting stronger and the inductions are lasting longer and that they need to find her.  Cameron asks him to put Bill on point, but Rosen doesn’t agree.

In a flashback, young Nina sits in her backyard listening to music trying to drown out the sound of her parents fighting.  A young boy jumps the fence to pass through and he also hears her parents.  He tells her that she should hear when his folks go at it and he invites her to go get a slice with him.  She declines saying she needs to stay close, so he offers to bring one back for her.  That, she agrees to.

Rachel goes to rustle up Gary, and finds John in the kitchen making breakfast.  She confronts him about not wanting to date her, telling him that she knows he’s lying.  He finally tells her the truth and explains that when he was stationed in Afghanistan his unit was hit with an IED.  He suffered serious burns and when he shows them to her, Rachel reacts in a dreadful manner.  It wasn’t intentional, but he took her reaction as one of disgust, even though she didn’t mean it that way.  He makes a hasty exit leaving her standing there looking shocked.  Cameron shows up and asks if she’s ok and the two set off to find Nina.

Later that evening, Cameron and Rachel search out a club that Nina took him to.  Rachel catches a whiff of her perfume and they split up.  Rachel happens upon her first and Tommy shows up and hits on her.  He also happens to know all about her and her abilities.  Nina tells Rachel that she doesn’t want to see Rosen and then pushes Rachel to kiss her….which she does.  Cameron sees this and heads over, pulling Rachel off of Nina.  Tommy tries to intervene, but Cameron isn’t having any of it.  Nina pulls a fast one and next thing Cameron knows is he’s carrying Rachel out of the club.

Back at HQ, Rosen gives Cameron a dose of meds to counteract the induction.  He confirms that Nina’s ability is getting stronger and that they need to think of her as an addict.  The more she pushes, the more she needs it.  Bill comes in and tells them that Cley is circling but Bill lied to him to stall for time.  Rosen remembers Nina mentioning Tommy in the past and they decide that he’s where they should start.  Bill tells Gary to look in old year books from one city, while Cameron corrects him telling Gary to look elsewhere.  Rosen finally steps in and tells them that Nina embellishes about her past and Bill and Cameron realize they don’t really know her at all.

The next morning Tommy brings Nina a hot chocolate and he tells her he loves her.  She responds by telling him that she loves him as well, but you can tell she’s bothered by what’s happening.  Meanwhile, Bill and Cameron go talk to Tommy’s wife, Becky.  She tells them that she’s glad he’s gone and it’s what’s best for her and their son, Lucas.  Bill gives Becky his card and asks her to call him if she can think of anything else.

In another flashback, young Nina and Tommy go to a liquor store and Tommy tries to buy a beer.  The clerk tells them to get out or he’ll call the cops.  Nina pushes him into selling it to them and once her and Tommy are sitting out back drinking it, she explains what she can do.  She also demonstrates by pulling a page out of Terminator 2 by having a guy stand on one foot, then jump up and down.  Tommy thinks this is pretty awesome.

Tommy and Nina enjoy pizza on a yacht and after Nina pushes the steward to swim ashore to get them red pepper, Tommy tells her that they should get a boat and just sail away together.  She claims to not know anything about boats, but he says he does.  He mentions Becky’s name and Nina’s hackles rise a bit.  Tommy tells her to forget Becky and that he loves her and wants to run away with her.

Rosen reviews old tape of one of his sessions with Nina when Kat walks in recording on the phone he gave her.  She tries to get him to open up, saying how she has to pour her heart out to him, so he should do the same.  Rosen explains that he’s taking it slow with her because he doesn’t want to miss anything and that sometimes his passions get ahead of his practice.  He’s feeling guilt over Nina and Kat realizes this.  Cley walks in, and asks about the status of the case.  Rosen tells him they are still working a few leads.  Cley then tells him that he also needs Rosen’s report on the Building 7 escapees.  Cley knows Rosen is hiding something but doesn’t push it.

In yet another flashback, Tommy and Nina go to her house to find her father just sitting on the couch.  She asks why he’s not at work and he said he can’t leave.  This is a result of her pushing him to not leave her and her mother.  She tells him it’s ok to go to work, but to just come home after.  Tommy realizes that what she’s doing isn’t right and tells her so.  She pushes him momentarily and immediately regrets it.  He tells her that he doesn’t want to see her anymore and to stay away from him.  Ouch!

Later on, Rosen is on the phone with Cley assuring him he’ll have the report the following day.  Back at the office, Rosen tells Bill, Cameron and Rachel to drop the case on Nina for the time being and to focus on the Building 7 case instead.  Meanwhile, Becky shows up at the office and tells Bill despite what she told them, she didn’t want Tommy to leave.  Rachel realizes she’s been pushed.  They tell Rosen this and he’s adamant about them focusing on the Building 7 case.  After some questioning, Rachel realizes that Rosen had a run in with Nina and she pushed him to leave her alone.  They track down Tommy at the boat he and Nina were on, but Nina isn’t there.  She observes from a distance and takes off.

Tommy is taken to a hospital where Rosen tells him that all of this was fabricated by Nina’s ability.  He denies it, until Becky and Lucas walk in.  He then remembers Nina showing up and him leaving with her.  Outside the room, Bill leaves with an officer and Nina shows up and pushes Cameron into helping her.  She goes into the room to get Tommy and sees him there with his family.  She tries to convince him, but it doesn’t work, he won’t even look at her.

She uses Cameron to get away and the two end up on the roof.  She allows Rosen to come out and tells him she’s sorry and doesn’t want to hurt anyone anymore.  We get another flashback and see young Nina arrive home only to find her father had committed suicide.  Back on the roof, Nina releases Cameron and Rosen seems relieved, until he realizes she’s about to jump off the roof.  Cameron realizes this too, and uses his mad skills to catch her as he goes over, while grabbing on to a cable.  Dangling over the side, they’re pulled to safety by Bill.

The next morning, all’s quiet in the office, until Gary starts his morning routine.  Bill compares him to a rooster and makes a crack to Kat about it.  She voices a concern about what she’ll find if she sticks around and Bill tells her that even one good memory makes up for all the bad ones.  Kat then heads to Rosen’s office and puts on a record, remembering that he mentioned to her his records all hold memories for him.

Rachel apologizes to John about the way she reacted and John offers condolences about Nina.  John invites Rachel to breakfast, telling her it’s not a date.  He also tells her that he hasn’t been with anyone since his injury and also lets her know that she’s not the only one who is sensitive.  He tells her that whatever happens, they need to go slowly.  She agrees.

Cley tells Rosen that he should have been read in on the situation, but that he’s put Nina in Rosen’s care.  He also tells Rosen that was his last freebie.  Nina is in the hospital, shackled to the bed with her eyes covered.  Cameron is there, and Rosen shows up.  Cameron asks him how Nina is going to get past this, and Rosen tells him with a great deal of help.  Rosen then goes in to see Nina.  He apologizes to her for the restraints and the bandages over her eyes, but she tells him that she understands and admits that she’s dangerous.  Rosen shows her the faith he has in her by taking off the bandages covering her eyes, even though she tells him not to.  He looks at her, says hi, and sits down to talk with her.

So that does it for another week.  I like the fact that we finally got a chance to see what Nina’s story was.  The scene at the end between Rosen and Nina was pretty touching.  We stepped away from the whole Stanton Parish thing this week, which was a nice detour.  Next week looks like it may be another stand alone, but I’m sure Stanton Parish will show up again at some point.  Also, best line of the episode goes to Gary when told Bill and Rachel to get out of his office or they were going to see his fruit.  Classic stuff right there.

About the author

Tracy Ladd has written 534 articles on this blog.

Tracy has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she's back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks. Follow her on Twitter: @ReelGoddess

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 at 9:04 am and is filed under Television, TV Show Recaps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.