The Stitchers team knows how to throw a surprise birthday party. Kirsten arrives at the lab to find alarms blaring. Cameron runs over and tells her that they need her help. Cameron rushes her over to a room where her co-workers are waiting to surprise her with cake for her 24th birthday.
Kirsten isn’t exactly surprised. Her only reaction is to wonder why the birthday cake has two brains on it. It’s hard to pull off a surprise birthday party for someone who has temporal dysplasia. There’s no time to eat cake, though. It’s back to work for the Stitchers team.
The Stitchers team has to investigate the death of Dr. Anna Barmal. Dr. Barmal was 35 years old and a lead researcher of epidemiology. Dr. Barmal committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. She left a suicide note, asking that her body be cremated within 24 hours and the ashes be sent to her parents.
Dr. Barmal worked with deadly viruses and died under mysterious circumstances. She was found slumped in a scalding hot shower. The heat in house was cranked up to the maximum. Dr. Barmal had a photographic memory, so she didn’t write down anything that could help the team figure out what went wrong.
Camille can’t wait to find out if Kirsten accepted Liam’s proposal. Kirsten didn’t give Liam an answer. She needed time to think about it. Kirsten asks Camille to keep quiet about the proposal. She hasn’t told anyone else that Liam proposed. Unfortunately, Kirsten and Camille were talking on an open channel. Cameron and Linus heard everything.
Detective Fisher is back from the special assignment Leslie Turner sent him on. Fisher isn’t allowed to talk about the assignment, even to Maggie. Fisher just came for the birthday cake, so he’s leaving until it’s time to eat it.
Kirsten stitches into Dr. Barmal and accesses her memories. Dr. Barmal wore biohazard gear in her lab. Suddenly, Dr. Barmal takes off her mask, gloves and biohazard suit. She injects herself with a mutated strain of the Spanish flu. Dr. Barmal then runs a blood test on herself. She doesn’t like the results.
Kirsten is forced to bounce out of the memory when the sensors activate. Maggie hits the emergency lockdown button. They've got a problem. Dr. Barmal injected herself with the virus and her body just went symptomatic. The virus spreads airborne and causes flu-like symptoms. Death occurs within hours.
Maggie calls Leslie Turner and updates him on the Stich lab lockdown. Leslie will assemble a hazmat team, but it’ll take a while. Maggie tells him to reach out and see if Dr. Barmal’s colleagues know anything about the antidote serum Dr. Barmal was working on.
Leslie Turner tells Maggie to put Kirsten in isolation. She’s the most important member of the Stitchers team. Of course, Kirsten refuses to be put in isolation. She’s ready to stitch back into Dr. Barmal and find the formula for the antidote.
Dr. Barmal's memories are distorted due to the high fever caused by the virus. Everything is a blur, but Kirsten manages to get the antidote formula that Dr. Barmal was sure would work.
The team has to hurry because Linus is already showing symptoms. He has a fever. If they don’t act fast, Linus could start bleeding from his eyes. That gruesome detail makes Linus wish Ayo sugarcoated the bad news. According to Cameron’s calculations, there is a 98% chance that they are all infected.
They can use the computer to check what went wrong with the antidote, but they need a sample of Dr. Barmal’s blood. The blood sample is in the medical bay, but the lab’s security system is a bit too thorough. They are locked out due to an automatic security precaution to isolate the virus.
They need someone to get in through the access panel. It has to be someone small who can fit through narrow spaces. Kirsten already has a fever, so it’s up to Camille to crawl through a converted drain pipe to get into the medical bay.
Camille is doing great until a rat jumps on her. There are two things in the world that terrify Camille. Rats and hairy backs. Camille starts freaking out and Kirsten has to calm her down. “Do it for Linus”, Kirsten says. Camille faces her fears and reaches the medical bay. She’ll definitely have rat induced nightmares, though.
Camille checks in on Linus, who isn’t doing good. Linus rests his head on Camille’s shoulder and they both admit that they are scared.
The Stitchers team uses the computer, but they find that Dr. Barmal’s formula was correct. It should have cured her. Maggie tells the team to say goodbye to their loved ones.
Since they might die, Cameron decides to let Kirsten know how he really feels. Kirsten should have told him that Liam proposed. Friends tell each other things.
Cameron tells Kirsten to call Liam to say goodbye. Kirsten has no intention of dying, so she refuses to call anyone.
Linus calls his parents, who immediately think something is wrong. Linus doesn’t tell them that he’s dying. He tells them that he is happy. He loves his job and he has a girlfriend. Life is amazing because of them. Linus’s parents get excited that he has a girlfriend. They want him to bring her to dinner. When his mom asks if they have a future together, Linus gives the heartbreaking answer “I think we’ll be together for a very long time”.
Maggie leaves a voicemail for Benjamin. She apologizes for not being around for him. She’s sorry that they fought before he was redeployed. She understands his responsibility to the guys. Most importantly, she doesn’t want him to feel guilty if anything happens. They both did what was expected of them.
Cameron calls his mom, Dr. Goodkin. Clearly they have a rocky relationship. She asks if he is keeping up with his medication. Cameron’s mom doesn’t understand Cameron’s career choices. He gave up a coveted research position at MIT. Was it worth it? Looking at Kirsten, Cameron says that it was.
Camille doesn’t have anyone to say goodbye to. Her parents abandoned her when she was sixteen and she hasn’t seen them since then. Camille tells Linus that everyone she cares about is there in the lab with her.
Maggie gives Kirsten her birthday present: the truth. She shows Kirsten the other half of the torn photograph with the word ‘remember’ written on the back. Maggie knew Kirsten’s mother. She worked with her when she was first administrating the Stitchers program.
Kirsten mother and Ed Clark worked on the original design of the Stitchers technology. Despite what Kirsten was led to believe, Kirsten’s mother and Ed were the real visionaries behind the Stitchers technology.
Kirsten’s father couldn’t keep up with them and he compensated by taking credit for Kirsten’s mom’s work after her death.
After Kirsten’s mother died, Maggie promised to look after Kirsten if something ever happened to Ed Clark. She thinks that is the promise Ed wanted her to remember.
Maggie thinks Ed wanted Kirsten to remember who she is and that her mother loved her completely. Kirsten wishes she could remember her mom. She only remembers Ed.
Maggie is certain Ed cared about Kirsten. He was the gentlest person she ever knew. Kirsten challenges that, asking why Maggie didn’t grieve when Ed died. Kirsten and Maggie are alike. They both have trouble showing their emotions.
Cameron is frustrated when Kirsten refuses call Liam. She needs to accept the fact that they may die. Cameron knows all about facing death. We finally learn how Cameron got the scar on his chest.
Cameron tells Kristen that he needed a valve in his heart replaced when he was ten years old. He had to undergo heart surgery and there was less than a fifty percent chance of surviving. He did survive, but his parents treated him like he was too fragile to do anything. He wasn’t allowed to play sports or have fun on the playground. They were afraid he would die if he exerted himself.
His scar is a reminder of how fragile life is, but it also reminds him of how fragile his parents thought he was. Kirsten thinks Cameron has proven them wrong several times already.
Cameron and Kirsten suddenly realize that the virus was brought back to life in the cold corpse cassette. Heat will make the antidote work. That’s why Dr. Barmal cranked the heat up before she died. She just realized it too late. They have a chance of surviving if they increase the lab’s temperature and get the antidote.
Detective Fisher gets the serum from Leslie Turner, but the elevator isn’t working. Fisher has to climb down the elevator shaft. The security system thinks there is a breach in the elevator. Fisher has ninety seconds to get out of the elevator shaft before gas is pumped in and all the oxygen is sucked out.
Fisher almost passes out. Heroically, he hands Kirsten the serum and tells her to save herself. Kirsten refuses to let any more people die protecting her. She manages to pull him into the lab.
The antidote works and knocks out any trace of the virus. Maggie gives the team the rest of the day off. Only Kirsten would think that was the best birthday ever.
What did you think of this emotional episode of Stitchers? Camille’s scenes with Linus were touching, as was Cameron explaining his heart surgery scar to Kirsten. What did you think of Maggie’s revelation? Kirsten’s dad isn’t looking like a good guy. Do you think Maggie told Kirsten the truth about her parents?
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