Mike,

You missed a great show man. Here's my feeble attempt at a plot summary.

Max's seizures grow worse, and triptophane is becoming more and more difficult to find. Like a junkie needing a fix, Max steals the bribe money she and Kendra have been using to keep the police from throwing them out of their building, and buys one last dose of the herb.

Meanwhile, Kendra and Original Cindy are concerned about Max's mysterious condition, and mistaking her medication for drugs, flush them down the toilet. Desperate for a fix, Max breaks into a hospital pharmacy, and due to her weakened condition, is easily taken by hospital security. She is arrested and thrown into a public prison, with men, women, even whole families.

Meanwhile, Logan has been trying to find Max, and shows up at her job. Original Cindy is convinced that Logan is Max's "dealer," and wants nothing to do with him, until he convinces her that he's just looking out for Max's best interest. After some research, he determines that Max is in jail, and devises a plan to get her a new supply of triptophane.

Meanwhile, after a failed escape attempt with the help of a fellow inmate, Max is taken to the warden's house for a special detail. In reality, the warden is a sicko perv who's been molesting another young girl living under his roof, and plans the same for Max. But after posing as a prostitute and being intentionally arrested, Original Cindy finds Max and gives her the medicine. Recharged, Max leads an escape from the house, taking Cindy and the little girl with her.

While this has been going on, the private detective Max has hired in the past gets a tip from the prison that a girl with a bar code has been arrested. Wanting to "play ball" with Lydecker, he calls him up and gives him the tip. Lydecker arrives at the prison, but is just moments behind Max's escape.

My nits:

The 47s continue. When Lydecker asks how many female prisoners have been arrested in the last 48 hours, the guard and the computer reply 47. I've noticed the name Rene Echevarria in the credits, and since he used to work on TNG, it's no wonder we're seeing 47s in this series.

Lydecker's comment at the end, after missing Max, is great. "Looks like the private eye just bought himself another manicure." Great follow-up from last week's scene between the two.

Logan's video feed to the corrupt cop was hilarious. He videotapes the guard receiving a bribe from Kendra, then broadcasts it directly into his home. The cop is in turn blackmailed against ever taking a bribe again from Kendra or Max again.

Finding a nice family for the little girl seemed a little quick and convenient. Logan had "old friends" who always wanted a kid.

It was nice to see Original Cindy as something other than just the token lesbian. She actually had character in this episode.

It's always nice to see Abraham Benrubi (the vintage clothing store owner who helps Max out) act. I genuinely missed him when he left er. I hope he becomes a semi-regular on Dark Angel (it looks like the left the door open for that to happen).

Gratuitous Abraham Benrubi trivia: his father, Asher Benrubi (who looks a great deal like him), is a popular dj here in St. Louis (KLOU 103.3 FM, afternoons)--he calls himself Smash. I don't know if that's Abraham's actual voice we heard singing last night, but if it was he gets it from dad, who's also a good blues singer (the Smash Band).

Strange how in the commercial for this episode, you can see the wires when Max tries to jump the fence, but when it airs, it's much harder to see them.

I found this very interesting. On the same night both Angel and Dark Angel had a subplot of a young girl who was sexually abused by a father figure. In Angel the girl gets back at her dad but in Dark Angel Max gets back at the warden who acted as a father figure for the younger girl in this show.

Good ep; nice character and story development all around.

I'm attuned to voices and dubbing, and I'm pretty sure that was Benrubi's real voice.

Is anyone else as annoyed as I am at the name of this show? "Dark Angel" just isn't all that original.

Questions:
I wonder why Max, when she knows she is being hunted by lydecker, doesn't hide the tatoo at her neck? Apart from getting rid of it, she could tape it over. Every time her hair is of her neck somebody will notice the strange tatoo.

I get the feeling that lydecker isn't trying to find her. He has her picture, and even today there is SW to age a picture, and face recognition SW. Also, there are police cameras everywhere. It shouldn't be too hard to find max as she is cycling through the streets (Without a helmet!!), instead of torturing a small private eye.

logan must get a real kick-off pretending to be an underground freedom fighter, but the real police or governement obviously don't mind him. If they wanted, they could identify him pretty quick, because he shows his eyes in his videos. The eyes are used by todays face recognition SW, and the high-rise apartment logan lives in wouldn't be hard to find, either.

Did they kill the warden, or did max just shove him off the curb?

Comments:

I'm only a layperson, but as far as I know, a lot of people (mostly without knowing) have low serotonin levels, which results neither in shakes nor coma, but depression. Thats why chocalate and bananas, which contain serontonin, will make you a little bit happier. I don't know about tryptophan.

I hope somebody gives the poor girl counseling.

Considering that the US was hit pretty badly by the pulse, logan sure has the best equipment available, not only computers and communications, but also handicapped equipment (which is very expensive even today in a working economy)!!

How does Logan drive if he's crippled?

As far as I could see, he used a special car, made for handicapped people. He didn't turn the steering wheel, but a stick connected to something (probably accelerator or like).