Mikes Film Talk

Last week’s episode of Stitchers, I See You left the subject of Marta’s waking up from her coma in an earlier segment of the show and Stitcher in the Rye centers on the previous stitcher while divulging the darker and more sinister element of the stitcher program. This sudden change in direction of the show was brilliant and anyone watching would have felt a tinge of excitement at this shift in focus.

At the start of the episode Kirsten has returned from her run and collected the mail. Camille picks up a package addressed to her roommate and opens it, revealing that someone sent Kirsten the J.D. Salinger book Catcher in the Rye. Camille asks Kirsten who sent her the book and she responds by asking who told her she could “open my stuff.” “Force of habit,” says Camille, “at least now I don’t have to reseal it and pretend it never happened.”

The two also have a discussion about Camille’s borrowing clothes from Kirsten and not asking. Since Clark has Temporal Dysplasia, Camille argues, she can ask after borrowing the items and it will not matter. Kirsten agrees, much to her roommate’s, and co-worker’s, delight. Later in the episode the matter of borrowed clothing crops up again.

The latest stitch is a mobile health food entrepreneur and conspiracy blogger who used to work for the CIA who has just had a heart attack. The man, Justin, was a major annoyance to, as Maggie puts it, an “Alphabet soup of government agencies,” and his death means that files he was suspected to have in his possession will be difficult to find. Kirsten must go in and learn where the former CIA agent kept his secret files, the latest of which had just been received by the deceased and was to have been publicized.

Kirsten enters Justin’s head and she has a odd moment where a memory from another stitch intrudes and she finds the deceased man’s hiding place. Going out to his mobile food van, she opens the secret compartment which has files and older computers (pre internet machines that are “totally un-hackable,” says Clark) and Kirsten grabs one file. *Another excellent pop culture moment here where Cameron uses a line from Hot Fuzz, “By the Power of Greyskull,” which in turn is a reference to the 1980s Masters of the Universe.*

Once the file is removed the hiding place begins to spark and smoke; Detective Fisher, Cameron and Kirsten all run from the van and the vehicle explodes in a shower of sparks, flame and smoke. The folder that Kirsten grabbed has an “old fashioned” floppy disc in it that none of the machines at the lab can access. Clark learns about Cameron’s that Maggie refers to Cameron as Dr. Goodkin, when “she’s annoyed.” “She must call you that a lot,” quips Kirsten.

Clark and Cameron talk about the weird thing that she saw in Justin’s stitch. While discussing the issue Cameron tells her that the memory could be one of hers. Kirsten reveals that she cannot remember anything from before Ed, her surrogate father. Talking about the picture she found with the word remember written on the back, she has an epiphany and thanking Cameron, she leaves.

She has remembered a moment where she was using one of Ed’s “old” computers and part of the memory revealed that there were more. She finds one and inserts the floppy disc; printing off the information on it. The print out, which she shows to Cameron first, is of the stitcher’s program algorithm.

Playing detective, Kirsten goes through her list of suspects, beginning with Cameron and after clearing him, moves on to Linus. It is after she hacks his personal computer that Kirsten and Cameron learn that Linus and Camille have “hooked up.” The clue was that Linus is wearing Kirsten’s sweatshirt. The couple are cleared also, which leaves Maggie as the only suspect. All four of the stitcher’s group head to the lab to confront her. As they come across Maggie in the parking garage, the leader of the organization is shot.

After Maggie is treated for her gunshot wound, she clears herself and also gets rather tacky about the members of her little team. Camille points out, “You’re nasty when you get shot, you know that?” Baptiste’s alibi is that she was having breakfast with head of the agency, Les Turner (Oded Fehr). The four team members are tasked to find who leaked the information and who shot Maggie.

Camille is in the middle of trying to ease things off with Linus when Kirsten reveals that the leak did not come from within the lab. Cameron asks Clark to slow down the images from Justin’s stitch and she remembers a butterfly tattoo. Goodkin says he knows exactly who leaked the algorithm, it was Marta. The team learn that right after the former stitcher woke up she checked herself out of the hospital.

Cameron reveals that Marta’s specialty with the NSA was cryptography and Kirsten realizes who sent her the Catcher in the Rye, checking the book she finds the template for a code and matches it to the spam messages she has been getting on her phone. She deciphers the last one which says, “You are in Danger. Trust no one.” She responds, “Can you protect me?”

“Yes,” is Marta’s reply and the two meet. Marta comes across as being paranoid and almost mentally disturbed. Her accident in the stitch seems to have left some lasting damage. She tells Kirsten that the stitcher program is not about helping people. “You really think it’s about solving murders?” she asks. Marta tells Kirsten that the agency is setting the program up bad things and that stitchers are evil. She admits to giving the file to Justin and shooting Maggie.

Marta is bitter and upset. She wants to save Kirsten and as they start to leave Clark’s house, Cameron, Detective Fisher and the police show up. As Goodkin tries to talk Marta down, she pulls a gun. After getting upset and asking Kristen if Cameron asked her to trust him, the police order her to come out of the house. Marta then gets a call on her cell phone.

“How did you get this number,” she asks and then listens to the caller. “I understand” she says, Marta then thanks Cameron for the flowers, and goes outside with the gun in her hand. Rodriguez is shot down by the police. Afterward, Maggie tries to convince Cameron that what happened to Marta was not his fault. He wants to put her body in the lab and do a stitch. Kirsten questions Maggie about what Rodriguez really knew about the program and Baptiste refuses to put Marta’s body in the machine.

It turns out that Maggie lied about her alibi and that Turner had Justin killed rather than have details about the stitcher program released to the public. Baptiste says that Kirsten Clark is too clever, she then asks, “What do I tell her?” Turner says to tell her anything she wants, “as long as it’s not the truth.” It turns out that Maggie is CIA as well and that the program is not what she has been advertising it to be.

In Stitchers the actors are all meshing very well, Alison Scagliotti and Ritesh Rajan get big time brownie points for having an excellent chemistry and a great give-and-take performance. Emma Ishta and Kyle Harris are dancing ever closer to a “will they, won’t they” subplot and their chemistry is also brilliant. The inclusion of Fehr as show baddie is a great touch. This veteran actor will hopefully be making many more appearances on the show.

This shift into the darker side of Stitchers is an brilliant move. It was a stretch for viewers to believe that all that money was being spent to solve the murders of, pretty much, average people. The expense behind this government program is obviously huge and the fact that Camille had been hired to spy on Clark shows that the group are not afraid to play dirty.

This is one of the best shows on television at the moment. Great writing, excellent acting and a plot that keeps getting thicker with twists and turns that keep the interest levels high. If you are not watching Stitchers on ABC right now?

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