12 Monkeys Recap with Spoilers: “Shonin”

“Shonin” kicks off just after Ramse splintered to 1987, Tokyo, Japan at the end of last episode.

1987: Ramse is in an alley in Tokyo, very disoriented from the trip. He stumbles around, the bright lights affecting him greatly. Cole splinters in at nearly the exact same point, but Ramse is already around the corner. While Ramse is sick and disoriented, Cole is old hat, and starts looking for his former friend immediately.

We’re then taken to a club, where a young Leland is sitting. A Tokyo businessman brings out the “specimen,” the dead body from whence the virus is presumably created, right into the club, and Leland inspects it. He worries that the corpse may not have enough intact tissue, being from the Himalayas and 1000 years old.

He passes on the corpse for $500,000, and Nakano is unhappy with him saying no, to say the least.

Cole approaches Leland Goines, smashing him into a wall and asking him about the Army of the 12 Monkeys and the virus, and Leland knows nothing about it. Unfortunately, right after Cole tells him that the corpse contains a virus, sparking his interest, Ramse attacks his old pal. A vicious, glass-shattering fight ensues, until Nakano calls a halt, by shooting into the air and having his bodyguards restrain them.

Now under Nakano and company’s control, the man throws a knife down between the two former friends, enticing them to finish their fight. Ramse overpowers Cole and stabs him, pulling back his bloodied hands. Indeed, in 2043, we find out that Cole’s vitals are decreasing – he’s dying.

Now, with the knowledge of a virus, Goines buys the corpse at Nakano’s price. Soooo Cole’s plan to tell him about it backfired pretty heavily there.

Still in 1987, we now see Fuchu Prison, still in Japan. Ramse is in a cell. He’s being prosecuted, and an English speaker, presumably from the US Embassy, is trying to get his personal information, while he’s trying to explain he doesn’t have a social security number.

1988: Jose Ramse is still in Japanese prison, and it is not going well for him. He gets beat down pretty badly in the yard, but back in his cell gets a letter. It is written in English. “We’ve known of you for a long time, traveler. you were born Jose Ramse, you had a child, you are now separated from him by a great distance.” The female writer of the letter encourages him to join her, saying she can save his son. It’s signed, Olivia.

1990: Olivia now sends Ramse a box, including Juilus Caesar by Shakespeare and Sun Tzu, asking him to also write down the future as he knows it.

1992: Ramse’s tormenter beats him down regularly in the yard, and taunts him about it. Finally, Ramse stands up, and reveals in Japanese that the man tormenting him works for the guards and has been snitching on everyone else at the prison. He leans into the man and whispers in English, “I killed you, without lifting a finger.” Looks like that “Art of War” copy has helped him out significantly. The other prisoners beat the man to death.

1995: A guard enters Ramse’s cell, and gives him clothes, a passport, and the medalion that Jennifer Goines had given him in 2043. “Dear traveler, your time in the desert is over,” Olivia writes. “We have so much to show you, a great journey is ahead of us. You are the key to our next cycle.”

It is the striking woman. We have a name! She receives him in Virginia at a large estate. “We have waited and waited, and now you are here.

The next day, Ramse is taken to the Pallid Man, the man who has presumably been leading the 12 Monkeys, who also wears the amulet. Olivia takes both amulets, and places them together on a podium. The blast from the paradox shakes the trees, and turns all of the plants nearby from green to red – like the plant in the bar last episode.

2011: “Sixteen years later,” and Ramse is still working with Olivia. He knows that a company, Markridge, creates the virus. The pair go and meet with Leland Goines, Ramse introducing himself as Ethan Seckie. They’ve been investing in Markridge. Leland gets a note and begins to leave the room. He recognizes Ramse, says “Tokyo, 1987. White Dragon? You sure we haven’t met?” He goes to see his daughter who is saying “Everything’s changing.”

2013: Olivia says she can’t find The Night Room, they’re pursuing a scientist who knows.

2014: James Cole murdered the scientist. “The period of interference has begun.” Ramse tells Olivia Cole will return in 2015, and that he has to see Jennifer Goines.

Still in 2014, we now move to the hospital where Jennifer is locked up. Leland is there to see her, she thinks to get her out. He says he could, but doesn’t believe she’s rehabilitated. He warns her not to tell any of his secrets, and that he’s leaving her there. “It’s best if you’re here for the time being.

He mentions he’s moving the M-510 samples out of the Night Room, in fears that she’ll tell someone where it is.

Jennifer frantically draws the symbol of the Monkeys on the wall in chalk, then, shaking, rubs it on her own eyelids. It’s creepy.

2015: Back to that meeting between Leland and Cole, where he told Cole of 1987, and Cole killed him.

Now another side of the story, as the Pallid Man speaks to Ramse about the events from early in the series. Olivia tells Pallid Man “the period of interference must be maintained.” She’s allowed Cole to do everything he has so far in the series, despite somehow knowing about it – from Ramse’s writings? That remains unclear, as she did know about Ramse already, and where to find him.

We see Olivia’s meeting with Aaron, after which she gets into a car with Ramse. He tells her they can’t kill Cassie, because she needs to leave the message. He also says Cole is not a problem, because he killed him during his last jump in 1987. “What’s next? The plague, and the coming of the Twelve.”

Elsewhere, the Senator, Royce, is going to be running for President as seen on TV by Cassie. Aaron was vetted, and fired from his camp, though, due to his involvement with Cassie and Chechnya. Aaron is very drunk and talking about everyone being “dead men.” He wants to find a shelter “in the middle of nowhere” and hide with her. He has given up. She tries to encourage him to go back to Royce.

Royce tells Aaron he’s sorry about things happening this way, and Aaron asks him about a project he has working in the private sector, a “selected survivor protocol.” Turns out the invester in the project is… yup, Olivia.

Back at Olivia’s compound, Jennifer Goines has been brought to it after the hospital escape. Olivia comes to talk to her, telling her she knew Leland. Olivia is very gentle and calm with Jennifer, and explains that they have something in common: overbearing fathers who used them as parts of a plan. She talks about Jennifer’s mother as well, being taken away, and offers her protection. “You can be a daughter again.” Outside the room, the Pallid Man tells Ramse that Olivia is currently “securing your future.”

2043: We’re back to the scene where Katrina and the others see that Cole is dying, his vitals dropping. She wants to try to send him to 2015. Just before Cole is going to be executed in 1987, he splinters.

Whitley comes to have a drink with Katrina after these events. “So, this is goodbye?” Indeed, they have lost the tether to Cole. He thinks the mission is over. She insists that it’s just a temporary setback. Whitley leaves, along with six of the other guards.

Katrina talks with the other scientist about the way children “make us – can destroy us.” She tells him that she won’t leave Project Splinter, “my last breath will be here.”

2015: Cassie returns home to see blood all over the floors. Cole is lying on the ground, hurt from the stabbing. He knows that they’ve been “one step ahead of us the whole way, and now I know why.” He identifies Ramse as “The Witness,” and we fade to black.

What did you think of “Shonin?” Sound off in the comments!