This episode we got a lot more of the lead in to how Elena came to be at Arcadia. At first, she was told she didn’t get the scholarship she was cramming for. Instead, a slick looking corporate woman came to recruit her outright for Arcadia. Her father wouldn’t have it. Fortunately, he knew exactly what the woman was trying to get Elena into. Ben/Aaron also threw in his two cents.
Later, she was told the person who did get the scholarship was knocked out of eligibility, and it was hers.
Why do I get the feeling this was what the corporate madam meant when she said she had a “90% closure rate”? Obviously, either something goes wrong, or it’s just an outright scam.
Ben/Aaron tries to show young Theo the ropes in this piece of past history as well, hacking the currency exchange, bumping the market into a surge, making their exchange rate enough in their favor to fund Ben/Aaron’s plan to get co-op farmland for he and Elena. Unfortunately, the money goes up in smoke, as Elena’s father’s business is firebombed. Hmm. Coincidence? Doubtful.
In the present, Ben and Laura are going over their options for a kid. If they go the genetic engineering route, they’d pick their baby’s genes (Eew) and have it implanted in a Gestator (basically, a surrogate). All the corporate types apparently do this for their perfect little genetically engineered kids, and no one goes through the inconvenience of pregnancy. Ben convinces Laura to have the baby naturally, but it’s not about tradition–it’s about him not wanting to actually have a kid at all with the wife he’s conning. He’s twisted Hendrick’s arm into getting him male birth control patches. If they were to go the surrogate route, there’s no way he could duck it.
When they go to the doc about all this, the doc wants to look at their genetic profiles to make sure there’s nothing in their genes that might have an adverse effect on any future offspring–and of course, some hinky things show up in Ben’s DNA. He quickly uses his cover story to explain them–when Seattle flooded (apparently, this is where he’s claiming to be from) he wasn’t airlifted out immediately–he lived in poor conditions with lead contaminants and malaria. The doc tells them they’ll have to sign a waiver to have a natural birth.
Naturally, this freaks Krauss out. She tries to convince Laura not to do it. Ben and Laura present a united front–they’re doing it. (Well, not really, but the only one who knows that is Ben.)
Evidently, Roger has gotten into the keyhole (well, at least he didn’t totally get ripped off after eating a raw rat). He sees the footage of Elena, and wants to (naturally) know how he can use it to bring Ben down. He starts digging around, and Hendrick tips off Ben. Ben plays innocent, and they give Roger Elena’s (redacted to uselessness) personnel file. So, Roger decides to go the direct route, and see Elena in person. I bet he’s going to end up in way over his head there. Elena is bright, and she’s survived this long. She’s probably going to eat him for breakfast.
Roger makes a deal with the father he hates to set up Elena’s outcall, and we learn more about his family. In exchange, he’s supposed to convince his brother to seek treatment. Apparently, his brother had cybernetic enhancements to his brain that went haywire and wiped out his centers of emotion, basically rendering him a very smart, emotionless shut in. He refuses to leave his room (which is covered in oragami swans) until Roger assures him it’s only until he makes daddy pay, and gets the house for himself. Roger is one messed up dude.
Theo is definitely in over his head with Terrence. Terrence tells him if he wants to get paid for his fights, he’s now Terrence’s flunky, and that includes being a leg breaker. Literally. Some kid is supposed to be getting out of the Red Zone on a sports scholarship, and Terrence is asked to make sure it doesn’t happen–so Theo needs to literally break one of the kid’s legs. Theo gets some unexpected hero worship from the kid (he’s seen Theo’s fight), and it makes Theo feel pretty guilty. So instead, he gets the kid drunk and tries to give him his money from the fight and tells him to get lost. He tells the kid what he was told to do. The kid is pretty pissed, but tells Theo to just get it over with, and takes the money as guilt payment. Theo does it, and you can see a little bit of his soul escaping. This is a bad road for you, kid.
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JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.