Stitchers: Red Eye – 24 (Review)

‘Stitchers’ intensifies in this episode. ‘Red Eye’  has 12 people drop dead “mid-flight” and this means a very busy 24 hours for Kirsten and the team.  There is at least one casualty that has nothing to do with the New York to Australia flight.

Cameron’s new relationship with Nina crashes and burns. The cause?   Kirsten answers Cameron’s cell when his new girl calls about their dinner date.

At the start of the episode Kirsten calls her half-sister Ivy Brown. Her new-found sibling reacts badly and hangs up. It is 08:14 a.m. and Kirsten’s long day is about to start.

Camille passes Liam over to Kirsten on the phone. Granger (Jack Turner)  is in the girls’  shared home taking pictures of the “Stinger” wall.  The team make stitcher history as Kirsten does six consecutive stitches in order to find out what killed all 12 passengers. They then break their record by doing five simultaneous stitches.

(Sidenote: Somehow the six victims got pared down to five with no mention as to why. So what happened to victim number six?)

This ordeal is hard on Kirsten, she actually has  a nosebleed at one point and later passes out briefly.  Cameron has an idea about having Kirsten do one stitch after the other with a short break in stasis.  A tired Ms. Clark finds herself in a black area all alone. She does not like it.

Young “Cameron” shows up to sooth Kirsten and tell her how to solve the murder by showing her a vision of herself as a child with a daisy chain around her head. Her mother made it.

This moment in the show makes it clear that the young Goodkin is a manifestation, or avatar of Daniel Stinger.  The way to find out what killed the 12 people is to do a “daisy chain” of the deceased so Kirsten can stitch them all simultaneously.

After the visit, Nina calls and Kirsten answers Cameron’s phone. Linus finally hears from his father and his frustration and fear for his “Baba” is evident.

This is a clever episode.  It has a running in-joke; Australia, which is Emma Ishta’s homeland. It also has a pretty impressive murder weapon; an RFID chip in the Australian passports. The episode also has the feel of a “locked room mystery.”  12 people murdered mid-air on a plane. Top that Miss Marple.

In ‘Red Eye’ Kirsten discovers that one of the victims had the passport next to their heart. The team all examine the documents and Camille points out the chip.  Cameron comes up with his idea of “hot swapping” two victims.

Linus messes up.

Once the team rescue an unconscious Kirsten she reveals what young Cameron (played brilliantly by Willem Miller) told her in stasis, although she does not tell them where the idea came from.  Camille steals some head harnesses and the stitch proceeds.

Young Cameron was correct, this was the “lost piece” in the stitch and it enables Kirsten to see who the murderer is.  She and Fisher go to the airport to arrest the man who threatens to kill Quincy with the same device. Kirsten grabs the broken laptop from  quantum computer girl and knocks the murderer out.

The Stinger Trail:

Kirsten is still working on that wall and seriously wants to get in touch with her half-sister.  Liam takes pictures of the wall and seems rather intrigued, is he really working for Daniel or someone else.

Young Cameron must be Daniel Stinger, or sent by him, although his reassuring touch signals a personal connection to Ms. Clark.

Quantum Computer Girl, aka Tracy Green (Aynsley Bubbico) is doing math equations for a quantum computer on the plane. Coincidence? Almost certainly not. Check out the rather snooty young lady’s name – Tracy Green. What is Kirsten’s half-sister’s name? Ivy Brown.  Do all colours lead to Daniel Stinger? The clue is in the computer…

Pop Culture References:

Cameron quotes the ‘Hunger Games’ “May the odds be ever in your favour” at the start of the first stitch and later misquotes, or paraphrases the Betty Davis line from ‘All About Eve‘ –

“Fasten your seatbelt, it’s gonna’ be a bumpy ride.”

Overall Thoughts:

Great storyline this week with the multiple simultaneous  stitches and the reappearance of young Cameron (Stinger?) and the revealing reaction of Kirsten in stasis:

“I am nothing. I am all alone.”

Mary Poppins Man – Liam was playing Camille as she played him. This chap really is practically perfect in every way and still a mystery.

The “Nina and Kirsten Situation” has the two women at last revealing how they really feel, about one another. Kirsten feels abandoned and Nina betrayed, although it is clear that neither trusted the other. (Keep your enemies closer, eh girls?)

Like an episode of ’24’ but not in real time, the clock ends after the 24 hour day Kirsten has had,  with Ivy (Poison Ivy?) Brown calling her  back and saying she has changed her mind.

(On a sidenote: It would not be surprising at all to find that Ms. Green is an employee of Daniel Stinger, there are, after all, only five of these heavy duty super computers in the world. How much of a coincidence can this really be? Answer: It must not be one at all, it is another Stinger-ism.)

The episode ends with the exhausted, and frazzled, stitcher’s gal being contacted by Ivy and arranging to meet. Next week must result in a reunion of sorts.

‘Stitchers’ airs Tuesdays on Freeform.