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in: Season 4, Episodes, Season 4 Episodes, Season Premiere

Ghost in the Machine

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"Ghost in the Machine"
Season Four, Episode One
S4E1
Episode 31
Air date June 22nd, 2014
Written by David Eick
Directed by Greg Beeman
US Viewers 3.67 million
Episode Guide
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"The Eye"
Cast Guide
Starring
Noah Wyle as Tom Mason
Moon Bloodgood as Anne Glass
Drew Roy as Hal Mason
Connor Jessup as Ben Mason
Maxim Knight as Matt Mason
Seychelle Gabriel as Lourdes Delgado
Mpho Koaho as Anthony
Sarah Carter as Margaret
Colin Cunningham as John Pope
Doug Jones as Cochise
Scarlett Byrne as Alexis Glass-Mason
Will Patton as Daniel F. Weaver
Also Starring
Laci J Mailey as Jeanne Weaver
Brad Kelly as Lyle
Ryan Robbins as Tector Murphy
Megan Danso as Denny
Treva Etienne as Dingaan Botha
Dakota Daulby as Kent Matthews
Desiree Ross as Mira

"Ghost in the Machine" is the first episode of Season 4. It premiered on June 22, 2014.

Plot Synopsis[]

On the outskirts of Charleston, just steps away from perceived safety, the Mason Clan and the remaining 2nd Mass suddenly find themselves under brutal attack by a new Espheni war machine and a new, deadly creation unlike anything previously encountered. Divided like cattle and spread to the winds, the Masons must each forge new relationships and abilities to survive.

Plot[]

Tom, Anne, Ben and Matt trudge up a hill in a caravan on a bright sunny day. They've been marching for 22 days. The rest of the group, including Pope and Captain Weaver, along with Tector and Anthony, reach the crest of the hill and the group is happy to see Charleston down below. Anne and Tom's daughter Lexi is the size of an eight-year-old now. She pauses and announces: "We don't all have to die here." Seconds later, alien warships swoop overhead and drop giant spike-like structures into the ground. They open and activate, laying an electronic lattice around the group as mechs close in and attack. The 2nd Mass is quickly picked apart. Tom gives the order for everyone to run but another force field stops them. Tom and Anne are separated when a mech torches a line of fire between them. Tom tries to collect his sons as he takes aim at the mechs. Tom is knocked to his feet by a powerful blast. He looks up and sees Matt running toward him with Lyle -- but a force field pops up in front of Lyle and he essentially evaporates as he hits it. Stunned on the ground, Tom yells at Matt to run, then he passes out. 

Four months later Inside an old building, Tom tries to sketch out the words to the Gettysburg Address. It becomes clear he's in captivity. He hears an angry voice coming from the floor below him and realizes its Captain Weaver. Outside the fortress they're in, the city is in ruins and people fight in the streets over food. A flying alien swoops in and grabs a man off the streets. Down the street, Tector and Hal prepare to try to disable the electric force field by shorting it out, as they say Tom told them to, but the field just absorbs the metal they throw it. They need more electricity to short it, but that's in short supply. 

In a forest, Anne runs drills on assembling weapons. Anthony tries to talk her down. The Volm came and picked up the rest of their kind three months ago, she isn't holding out much hope. Anthony makes a plea to Anne to let the men sleep. Anne has been running things and gets word a truck with confiscated ammo is coming through in the morning. 

Meanwhile, Ben wakes up in a re-purposed home furnishing store, hooked to an IV. He finds Maggie, who tells him he was in a coma. When he asks about Lexi, she tells him he won't believe it. Maggie shows Ben the nice, clean mall in Chinatown where they're safe. Vegetables grow in planters and kids play on playgrounds. Lourdes joins them, fully recovered from her alien invasion. She explains to Ben that the Espheni haven't attacked their compound, which is devoted to peace. There is a lush Japanese garden and Lourdes introduces Ben to Lexi, who is now a young woman with bright blonde hair and green eyes. She's wearing a necklace with intersecting circles that she explains means unity for "all three of us." Lexi explains that she is going to protect him. When she walks away, he gets dizzy. He tells her he wants to leave, but she promises they'll be safe. 

Out on the streets, Tom conducts surveillance on the aliens while a crowd of people fight over a food drop, with Pope muscling in. (It's not immediately clear why he's not in his cell anymore.) Tom covers his face and rides up on the group on a motorcycle, using a flame thrower to cow Pope into sharing food. When the aliens swoop in, Tom follows their movements and takes note of where the aliens come from, then he speeds off. 

Back in his cell, Tom works on a map he has hidden, noting where the aliens came from. He hears Weaver yelling from his room about losing his daughter Jean. Tom tries to reason with him, explaining that the aliens are feeding them and even though Tom has been in solitary for two months, he's being well taken care of. He questions what they want with him and surmises the aliens need them. 

Elsewhere, Matt is among a group of tween children dressed in Hitler youth-style outfits who are forced to watch Espheni propaganda. They are rewarded with food for spouting pro-Espheni drivel about how the Espheni are there to help them and taught to keep each other in line. They are clean and kept in a former university. 

Back in the concentration camp, Tector and Hal find Pope surrounded by loot in an abandoned mansion, watching Gilligan's Island. They ask him for his generator, and when he says no, they take it. He follows them out into the street and takes on Hal, who he easily overpowers. Finally, Pope backs off but a bystander takes note of the generator. 

Back in the woods, Anne's group lays charges to detonate a bridge before the truck carrying ammo drives across. But when it fails to explode, Anne grabs a man's shirt and makes a Molotov cocktail of sorts, then she runs in front of the truck and throws it at the cab, which explodes. Her group opens up the back of the truck but finds it's not full of ammo -- it's packed with frightened children. 

At the "re-education camp," Matt pulls a girl who objected aside and explains she has to keep those thoughts to herself. Matt's supervisor watches to make sure he gets her in line. 

Back in solitary, Weaver gets a metal leg of his bed free and prepares to try to take on his skitter guard. Tom pleads with him to cool it, saying he'll just get himself killed and Tom is going to need him soon. Weaver crumples to the floor, barely holding it together. Out in the woods, Anne plans to follow the road the truck was on in the hopes of finding her daughter. Under cover of darkness, Tom meets with the Volm, Cochise on opposite sides of the force field. Cochise explains the Volm had to leave to defend their families in another galaxy. He says the Espheni are building a power source that would help them control humanity forever. Cochise explains he can't engage the enemy. Tom asks him to look for Matt, Ben, Anne and Lexi. Cochise tells him the "ghetto camps" are worldwide and the human race is facing extinction. The bystander who watched Hal's beatdown by Pope approaches Hal and Tector and introduces himself, explaining that he's broken out of camps like this several times. Tom makes his way back into his solitary confinement cell, through an elevator shaft and hidden passageways. Weaver sees his return. Tom explains that he's been gathering intel on the enemy, but isn't ready to make a move just yet. 

Back in Chinatown, Ben asks Maggie where his guns are. He can't believe she's bought into the peace talk. He wonders what happens when a mech finds the place. Maggie takes him to a powerless mech in the square and explains that Lexi told everyone to wait when it entered and then it was struck dead by a bolt of lightning. Maggie thinks Lexi might have the answer to ending the war. 

In his dorm room at night, Matt addresses his peers, including the new girl. He explains they're pretending to go along, "then we're going to screw these guys hard." 

Back in Chinatown, Lexi sits an altar. She plays with a moonbeam streaming through the window and is able to harness its light. Meanwhile, Anne wakes up with a start from a memory of her time on the Espheni trip. In his room, Tom tells Weaver he needs a distraction for his escape plan so he can get the 2nd Mass back together. Weaver is in. 

Out in the streets, someone spray-paints an emblem of Tom's mask and goggles disguise, calling him "Ghost." On a Espheni ship, one receives orders: "Bring me the vigilante immediately or we exterminate every last one of them."

Other Cast[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

Deaths[]

Significant Events[]

  • Lyle is killed.
  • The 2nd Mass is significantly separated for the first time. Anne now leads what is left of the 2nd Mass outside the ghetto.
  • The Espheni deploy their new weapon, Obelisks.
  • Alexis' ages significantly changes.
  • First appearance of the Black Hornets & Eye in the Sky.
  • First appearance of Dingaan Botha and Scorch.
  • Last appearance of human Jeanne Weaver.
  • Espheni Ghettos are now set up by the Espheni across the globe.
  • Cochise reveals that the Volm have left to defend their families and that he and his men are all that's left. He also mentions a new power source the Espheni have that will allow them to control humanity forever. This becomes an important plot point later in the season.

Tom's History Lessons[]

  • As Matt is walking up the hill, Tom tells him that Walter Payton used to say, that you have to climb until your legs feel like sand, then until they feel like water, then keep climbing until you can't feel your legs at all.
  • Matt tells Mira about the reeducation camps used by Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II.

Outside References[]

Photos[]

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