| The Education of Jaime Sommers | |
| Air Date | October 24, 2007 |
| Written by | Elizabeth Heldens |
| Director | Jonas Pate |
| Next episode | "The List" |
Jaime goes undercover at Stanwick University to investigate a professor who may be selling neural implants to terrorists. Things get complicated when she starts having feelings for a teaching assistant who may be a suspect.
Synopsis
In an army hospital, an unconscious soldier wakes up. With a vacant look in his eyes he slashes another soldier with a scalpel, grabs his military rifle and guns down everyone in sight. Jaime drinks margaritas with Becca and her friends at home. They tell her she needs a man, but Jaime doesn't think so. Everyone thinks this is a pathetic attitude, including Becca. A TV news story reports on the soldier, a POW, who was held captive and near death for two months, and was about to be shipped home. Jaime's phone rings.
At Berkut, Jonas informs that the soldier was treated for depression with a neural implant, with obvious side effects. Three other POWs were held and released by the same Al Qaeda cell, and all made similar attacks. The implant comes from cutting edge scientist Howard Samuels, who teaches at Stanwick University. Antonio will go after the buyer, and Jaime will go for the end client, going undercover at Stanwick as British transfer student, Clarissa Whyte.
Jaime has to pose as a neuroscience student, so Nathan tries to familiarize her with course material. Jaime admits that her dream was to major in Irish literature and write her dissertation on James Joyce. She can't fake being a science student. Nathan tells her to wear glasses, she'll look smarter. Jaime is sitting in a large lecture hall at Stanwick listening tor Professor Samuels when her cell phone rings. Samuels scolds her in front of everyone, and asks her what region of his brain is going crazy. Sympathetic and cute graduate assistant Tom Gilchrist passes Jaime a note with the answer.
Antonio and Ruth identify another student, Nadeem Samad, as a suspect. Is it racial profiling or brilliant detective work? Jaime's tiny Japanese roommate Aoki eats hidden food constantly and loves neuroscience, but is baffled with her assignment to write a paper on James Joyce. Jaime offers to do it if Aoki will do her lab work.
Aoki takes Jaime to a party where she runs into Tom, and sparks fly. Tom admits that Samuels is mean, but brilliant. Tom's dad died of Parkinson's last year, so now Tom wants to be a neurosurgeon. Watching from Berkut, jealous Nathan plants a screech in Jaime's bionic ear, reminding her that she has to break into Samuel's lab to investigate. She finds files on neural implants on Samuels' computer and sends them to Nathan. But as she sees a file on Tom, Jaime has to take a look just as Samuels and TA Sean find her.
Samuels thinks Jaime is stealing for a pharmaceutical company, but Tom arrives to dig her out of trouble, with the story that he told her to clean out the monkey cages to get back in Samuel's good graces. Afterwards, Jaime explains that she needed a copy of a lecture, since she can't read her notes. Tom promises to help, but only if she will accept his invitation to dinner tomorrow. Charmed, Jaime accepts.
Bored and skeptical, Antonio tracks Nadeem, until Nadeem receives a call about a drop. Samuels' class proceeds to a lab to witness the miraculous progress of a patient with a neural implant. Sean is at the controls, and the implant allows him to make the patient act on command with modified pain tolerance. Jaime freaks out and begs him to stop. Meanwhile, Samuels comes up clean, so suspicion shifts to Tom, who has a degree in Cognitive and Neurosystems Sciences from Stanford.
Jaime and Tom have coffee and share their first kiss, which is interrupted by Antonio, who claims to be Jaime's uncle. After Tom leaves, Antonio informs her that Tom is a suspect, since he lied about his Stanford degree. Jaime doesn't buy it, but Antonio insists she consider Tom the enemy. Later, Tom calls to confirm their date. Jaime tells him that she's headed to the bookstore.
Jaime is attacked on her way to the bookstore by Samuels' patient, who claims he can't control himself. Jaime brings his implant back to Berkut, and admits that Tom was the only one who knew she was going to the bookstore. Jonas wants to pull her out, but Jaime insists that no one can get closer to Tom than her. Their date is awkward, and when both admit that they hate sushi, they leave the restaurant and go back to Tom's to rip each other's clothes off.
Jaime stops the make-out session, asking Tom to go get her pink champagne, then searches his apartment. He's perfect. When Jaime spots a vial of tarragon, it all seems too perfect, and the vial yields an implant. Tom lied, and Jaime leaves, feeling like an idiot. Meanwhile, Antonio and his men track Nadeem to his brother's apartment. Antonio persuades Nadeem to tell him about the implant drop.
The patient's implant matches Tom's, so Jonas orders Jaime to follow Tom. She is not to let him make the drop, and should use deadly force if necessary. Jaime sees Tom hand an envelope to a swarthy guy, but it only contains a quiz. Tom demands to know who she works for, admitting he is CIA. They've both been setting each other up, which sucks. Jaime uses her bionic ear to hear the drop taking place at a nearby farmer's market.
Trying to be chivalrous, Tom tells Jaime to stay behind, then goes to retrieve Sean, the guilty party. Jaime spots several armed men, and jumps into the fray for the big fight, saving Tom's life from a gunshot. When Sean tries to escape in the hubbub, Jaime takes him out with a cantaloupe, impressing Tom. Afterwards Antonio explains that the CIA hates Berkut because they get things done without the red tape and hooking up with Tom is not a good idea.
Jaime packs her bags, telling Aoki she has a family emergency. Aoki returns the James Joyce paper. She got an A, and her teacher wants her to apply to grad school, pleasing Jaime. Jaime goes by Tom's to say good-bye. He tells her how he got started in the CIA, and asks Jaime her story, which she doesn't want to talk about. Can't they just have normal fun on their last night of college? Jamie tells Tom her real name, and they share a meaningful kiss.
Commonality with original Bionic series
Jaime's fantasies of her academic career suggests that she would've eventually enjoyed post-graduate research in Irish literature. This indicates that had she had her way about her life, she might well have ended up as a teacher or college professor, somewhat mirroring the career path of the original Jaime Sommers.
Background
- This is the first episode in which Jaime's streaming optical interface is shown to be able to transmit audio information as well.
- This episode clearly demonstrates that the Berkut Group is known to, and tolerated by, the US Government. Not only does the CIA see them as an ally — if an "arrogant" one — but a brawl during which clearly-identified Berkut employees act to subdue criminals raises no apparent suspicion from local police on the scene. Despite Berkut's known status as an extra-governmental group, neither Jaime's exceptional fighting skills nor Antonio Pope's broad-daylight brandishing of a weapon, leads to either being questioned as a vigilante.
- The real name of Jordan Bridges' character is not given in this episode, despite the fact that Jaime ultimately reveals her real name to him.
- This episode has some fun with audience knowledge of Michelle Ryan's nationality. When the Berkut plan is revealed to be that Jaime will pose as a British exchange student at a university, the teaser ends with a line that nearly breaks the fourth wall. Bledsoe asks Jaime: "How's your British accent?" Later, Ryan utilizes her natural, British accent much longer than is strictly necessary to establish her cover. Asked by Nathan why she's continuing to speak to him in a British accent — when there's no one around who needs to hear her using it — she glibly replies that she's a "method actor". Nothing revealed about Jaime to date in the series adequately explains how Jaime might have been able to mimic a British accent so convincingly.
Cast
Regulars
- Michelle Ryan: Jaime Sommers
- Miguel Ferrer: Jonas Bledsoe
- Molly Price: Ruth Treadwell
- Lucy Kate Hale: Becca Sommers
Guest starring
- Keneth Welsh: Howard Samuels
- Jordan Bridges: "Tom Gilchrist"
- Kevin Rankin: Nathan
Co-starring
- Lara Gilchris: Carly
- Erin Karpluk: Robin
- Matthew Smalley: Pvt. Matt Walsh
- Valerie Tian: Aoki
- Juan Riedinger: Student Sean
- Trevor Addie: Parkinson's Patient
- Shafin Karim: Nadeem
- Sunita Prasad: Nadeem's Girlfriend
- Lee Majdoub: Student Buyer
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