"I Am The Greatest"
Airdate: January 28, 2000
Dr. Morris sends Michael on a mission to determine if an up-and-coming boxer, Macao T. Jones is actually Private Timothy Foster and the product of an earlier version of the same government experiment. Things get complicated when the man's pain finds an echo in Michael's soul.
Michael is more right than even he knows when early in this episode he tells Dr. Morris, "You really are an evil man." How can the doctor expect his creation, a man he knows to be filled with loneliness and longing for his past life, to not only clip the wings of another just like him, but to do so with the full knowledge that the other man, in all likelihood, will be lobotomized? Although Theo gives several good reasons as to why Jones/Foster should not be allowed to roam free, mercy isn't always the most logical course of action. But it is still the only human one.
The most moving aspect of this episode is the inherent comparison between Jones/Foster's desperate need to be free and Michael's acceptance of his fate and place in the scheme of things. It isn't that Michael doesn't have that same overpowering instinct to cut and run, it is just that his bond to his family is stronger. While he could break free and disappear, he would forfeit any chance, any hope of ever seeing his wife and daughter again. Unlike Macao/Timothy whose people are all dead, Michael still has hope, still believes that one day he will be reunited with his family. It's the only thing keeping him sane.
The love that Michael has for his family is both his prison and his salvation. Without it he could break free of his chains, but just like Macao/Timothy he would have a hole inside him that no amount of fame or fortune or even freedom could fill.
Kudos should be extended to Eric Close specifically for the moment, when Jones/Foster offers Michael the world, money and freedom with his family by his side. You can see just how much it hurts Michael to even contemplate how wonderful that might be because he knows deep down that it could never happen. His eyes are filled with pain as he lets the fantasy go.
But even though he can't accept the offer, neither can he subject another person to what he knows will happen to Macao/Timothy if he turns him in. It should be remembered that this is the same man who declined Dr. Morris' offer to wipe out everything but what he had learned in "Origins" with the phrase, "You don't understand. My memory... it's all I've got." He cannot be a party to the destruction of Jones/Foster's memories because Michael knows that memories are what makes the man.
And while Michael struggles to hold on to the person he was, Lisa takes steps to leave her old life behind. Confronting the dreaded first day on the job syndrome, she survives. Just barely. She soldiers on however and her diligence pays off with a charming, handsome client who could make things very interesting in future episodes.
Oh, and... call me a kid of the eighties, but I can never get enough of "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett. I was probably bouncing around my house more than Heather was around hers.
-- Linda M. Najera
Now and Again airs at 9pm EST, Fridays on CBS.
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