| Brotherhood | ||
Air Date - June 13, 2009 on  | ||
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Brotherhood is the title of seventh episode of season 1. It first aired Saturday June 13th, 2009 at 8pm (eastern) on NBC.
Synopsis[]
(*From the official NBC write up*)
King Silas Benjamin dreams that he's standing in a forest. Suddenly, he's engulfed by a cyclone of leaves. He wakes, standing in the palace living room, clutching the dagger he keeps under his pillow. Brown leaves litter the floor, blown in through an open window. Among them, an Acacia branch, a tree not native to Gilboa. Silas picks it up. Is it a message from God?
Silas seeks counsel with Reverend Samuels, who agrees it's an omen. Perhaps God has forgiven Silas and is speaking to him again. Samuels says that Acacia is a portent of change, of death and resurrection -- and eventually rebirth. Change comes from within the heart, and those Silas loves will be its agents. If God wishes to communicate further, there will be more signs. Samuels advises Silas to let them guide him, assuring him that his door will be open shall they guide him there.
An ambassador from Gath comes with a message from their premier, who asks Silas for a favor. Put bluntly, "We need your help." At council, Silas presents Gath's request. General Abner is steadfast against it, seeing no reason to benefit Gath. However, Jack thinks inaction is more dangerous than agreeing to secure the peace. Silas agrees to send a team. When Jack volunteers to lead it, Silas reflects on Samuels' words, "Those you love." To Jack's displeasure, Silas tells him to take David Shepherd, who has a knack for these kinds of things.
In the Republic of Gath, flanked by Jack and soldiers from both territories, David speaks and assures the Gath press corps that Gilboa remains committed to handing over the current Gilboa territory of Port Prosperity to Gath on schedule. On their way back, Abner calls Jack to give the all clear. Jack gives an order and the convoy diverts course into a wooded area. Here, Jack tells David that the press conference was their cover to get them behind enemy lines. Their real mission, at the behest of Silas and the Premier of Gath, is to eliminate the insurgent known as Belial. Jack makes it clear that the mission is under his command.
Queen Rose prepares for Silas' birthday, which is just days away. She asks for Princess Michelle's help in ironing out the details, but her philanthropic daughter has an appointment at the hospital to see that the new health care policies are being implemented. Rose, unimpressed with her daughter's dedication to changing the lives of the little people, thinks she should do something "less noble" and more glamorous.
As they plan for the mission, a Gath guide warns them that Belial doesn't play by the rules of engagement. When David, who is still sullen about the surprise mission, wonders why Gath hasn't taken out the insurgents themselves, the guide says that Belial has spies within their government. David complains that they are four people going in against an army. Jack insults him with a correction, saying there are only three who have experience and David is just a diversion. David quips that he's been in combat before, prompting Jack to warn him to know his place. He reminds David that he's his commanding officer, not his friend on this mission.
Michelle gets a hospital tour from a doctor and the Health Minister. The halls are lined with patients. The Health Minister, with barely veiled hostility, says her health care reform bill is responsible for the overcrowding. However, the doctor sees it differently. Those patients wouldn't have had any care before her bill. And, that a quarantined mother and son who showed symptoms of a deadly plague might have slipped through the cracks and unleashed an epidemic.
Michelle brings the Health Minister before Silas, outright accusing him of hiding the threat of the plague from the kingdom. The Minister tries to play the threat down, but Michelle says he hid the mother and son in quarantine without notice. Silas wants a worst-case scenario, and it's grim. The plague, which is ravaging Sidon, is highly contagious with no cure or vaccine. The disease is contagious for 12 hours, but if the two came into contact with anyone before isolation, thousands could become infected. They only way to be sure to avoid an epidemic is to quarantine the whole city. Silas orders him to find out for certain if it's plague.
While advancing on the insurgent camp, David steps on a mine. Jack immobilizes it. Later, after sneaking down a hill, the Gath guide tells them the insurgent encampment is at the base of the valley. When David suggests that the enemy may have seen their approach from the hill, Jack reminds him he's in command, not some puissant who's never killed anyone. They head in, thinking they're clear until insurgents, hidden on a hill above, open fire. They've walked right into a trap, outnumbered, and must fight their way out.
Michelle checks on the plague patients and learns that the boy's mother has died. When she's concerned that the boy has been left to die alone, the doctor, who is working on finding everyone they came into contact with, is sympathetic but is concentrating on saving the living. Taking an enormous risk of infection, Michelle enters the quarantined area to comfort the boy, named Corey. At the Kingdom, the Health Minister tells Silas that they've confirmed it's plague. But, he brings even worse news -- Michelle entered the quarantined area.
After they spot Belial with the night scope, David dons insurgent's clothes and slips into the camp. He lobs a grenade, and then dives into a tent. After he sees that Jack has grabbed Belial, he notices a cache of weapons in the tent with the Gilboa insignia. He grabs an automatic rifle and finds Jack, who is just about to stab Belial. David stops him, saying someone from their side has been arming the insurgents. And, only Belial can tell them who.
At the hospital, Rose and Silas are furious and horrified that Michelle would risk her life like that. Silas wants her out, but the doctor says doing that could expose the entire city to the plague. Silas orders the city shut down. At the Kingdom, they scramble to get the city on lockdown. William offers to set their differences aside for the moment to tackle the plague, offering CrossGen's top scientists. He also opens their hospitals to the general public, free of charge.
Silas visits Samuels at his church, worried that God has cast the plague on Shiloh. With Michelle exposed to it and Jack trapped behind enemy lines, he says God tests him beyond his endurance. "Yet you are here. You answered his call," Samuels says. Silas requests his help in getting the people to obey the 12 hours of curfew needed to assure the plague doesn't spread. Samuels agrees to help, then warns Silas that all these are warning signs of a poison in the body. Meaning, someone close to him is working against him. Once that poison is removed, the signs will stop.
While David leaves to try to find a vehicle, Jack interrogates Belial about the weapons. After giving him a fierce beating, Belial tells Jack about the story of Cane and Abel. When Jack tells him the war is over, Belial says that no war will ever end as long as there are those who make profit from it. And, he's just a hired gun on no one's side. He then infuriates Jack when he says that David will be his brother one day. David returns to see Jack strangling Belial and pulls him off. In a rage, Jack beats him unconscious and has to restrain himself from shooting him. Belial says prophetically, "Perhaps brothers after all."
Via radio address, Samuels asks the citizens of Shiloh to close their doors and light a candle in their windows until sunrise in hopes that the plague will pass them by. Hansen tells Silas that they have Belial in custody and believe someone from their side has been arming him. Abner is alarmed to learn Belial is alive. Silas orders Hansen to send rescue teams to the border, then go home. Silas figures that William is behind it. Abner reminds him that William is sending aid. However, Silas is convinced. When Abner offers to kill William, Silas asks Abner to bring him proof that it's William, and him alone.
Jack tells David that the day he saved his life, he destroyed it. Had he died, he would have been a hero. He tells David he should have left him to die, then the King would never know he existed. David tells him he's not his enemy. Jack says, "Enemies, I can understand. You. I don't know what you are." David assures him he's part of this mission and suggests they go home.
Rose is at home, waiting out curfew instead of being at the hospital with Michelle. Silas says he can save them all if the diseased limb is cut off. Meaning, that he must kill William to heal all ills. Rose tells him to cut the diseased limb. Silas says she should let her daughter hear those words. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Corey is so ill that he can't see and thinks that Michelle is his mother. Michelle plays the part of the dying boy's mother and sings to him as he passes away.
Abner brings Silas proof that William is working with Gath. Silas orders Abner to kill William and not let a drop of his poison blood spill on Gilboa's soil. Beside Abner, a candle that he just lit blows out. He relights it, but it blows out again. Abner dismisses it as wind, but the omen isn't lost on Silas. Afterward, in direct contrast to Silas's command, Abner phones in orders to shoot anyone trying to cross the border. Jack and David arrive at the border and the soldiers open fire. During the fracas, Belial attacks Jack and almost kills him until David shoots him. The soldiers stand down when they see it's the prince.
The next day, Abner reports to Silas that the termination order has been given. Silas tells Abner that he stayed the order, then confronts him about selling them to the enemy after 30 years by his side. Abner, ever the warrior, says that Silas lost his way and became weak. He would rather fall on his sword than lay it down. "No, you fall on mine," Silas says and stabs Abner in the heart. Minutes later, Silas gets news that the plague is over with a death toll of 10 instead of ten million. The citizens of Shiloh obeyed the curfew. The sick died at home, behind closed doors.
At the hospital, Michelle's blood is tested for plague as Rose, still angry with her daughter, worriedly waits out of sight for the results. At church, after Silas prays, he tells Jack and David that he's proud of them. Jack is distraught that Abner betrayed them. Silas leaves them to pray, asking them to mention Michelle. Jack tells David he's made his first true kill. No easy thing that he did for him. When David says he doesn't owe him anything, Jack says that words don't settle debt. Later, Michelle, cleared of the plague, visits David at his apartment where they offer each other comfort.