Empathy Bonus
Empathy Bonus is the second episode of the first season of The Peripheral and the second episode of the show overall. It aired on October 21, 2022.
Synopsis
Mercenaries raid the family home. Seeking answers, Flynne returns to the headset and learns it is not a game, but a time machine that goes 70 years into the future. Flynne makes a deal with Wilf and Lev and agrees to help find Aelita.
Plot
Cherise Nuland, the queen bee of the Research Institute, talks with the man who attacked Flynne and Aelita. Cherise tells the man that the breach to the centre was too dangerous, but the man reassures her that a hit has been sent out on Flynne and those closest to her.
Back in the past, 2032, Burton and Flynne find themselves in a predicament with the numerous assassins approaching. Burton tells Flynne to get their mother, Ella, into the basement to safety. Reece tracks the onslaught with one of the drones. Using the Haptics, the men link themselves up and the Haptic marks on their arms glow, giving them the ability to see the visual field of the drone — this gives them a birds eye view of the oncoming assassins. Burton and the others begin picking off the men one-by-one, before Conner Penske arrives to help them out.
Wilf dreams of a time in which he approached Aelita for the first time on behalf of his employer. He explains that his employer is looking for information on the Research Insitute and belives that her position of employment there could be an advantage to them. Shortly after, Wilf awakens to a phone call from Lez, who tells him to come over immediately, as he has built a Peripheral for Flynne; this is their best chance at finding Aelita. After the call, Ash, Lev's companion, tells him that he doesn't think that Wilf can be trusted with the assignment.
Meanwhile, Flynne logs back into the sim to find herself in a new Peripheral, one built specifically for her. Wilf arrives momentarily and introduces himself to her, explaining that what she knows about the sim is wrong — it isn't a sim at all, but the future. Science and technology have advanced tremendously, and it is now possible for Flynne to occupy a space in the future through her Peripheral. Flynne is reluctant to believe Wilf, and to prove it to her, he shows her a newspaper with her mothers obituary in it, which is four weeks from Flynne's current timeline. He tells her that he has already authorised the release of a medicinal drug to Ella for the glioma; this has been paid for and will cure her mother in return for her help in finding Aelita.
Back in her original timeline, Flynne picks up the medicine from the pharmacy and talks with her mother about taking this. Although it is experimental, Ella agrees to take the medication, believing that it is her final hope.
Flynne tells her brother, Burton, about the drug whilst he ahd his friends bury the bodies of the attackers from the previous night. Burton is wary of Wilf and tells Flynne that he cannot be trusted. Burton tells Flynne that he will log into the Peripheral, but Flynne is against the idea.
When Flynne logs back into the Peripheral, she finds herself in a house in Notting Hill. Wilf introduces her to his employer, Lev, and his associates Ash and Ossian. Ossian maintains the connections between the two worlds via the Peripherals. Flynne finds out that her Peripheral has an eight hour sleep time and when she isn't controlling it, it is manned by an AI system. Furthermore, they explain that each time they come into contact with the past, the timeline branches off into a parallel timeline known as a stub. Aelita was providing them with a backdoor into the point of separation, and this is why she is so useful to them.
Flynne questions what happened to her family in their original timeline — a point before the time of separation — but Lev is reluctant to tell her. Flynne's hopes in the drug are slashed when she is told that it only has an efficacy rating of 57%.
Tommy finds a bullet in his car and asks Burton about it. Burton identifies the bullet, but claims that he knows no further details about it. Burton tells Tommy that they had a drone fight when Tommy begins to question the presence of numerous vehicles around the property.
Flynne tells Burton that the people from the future are willing to help them out. First, they will give them $250,000, which they recieve in the form of a lottery win via their cousin. At the bar, Flynne tells Burton that it would be a good idea to enlist Conner to help them, but Burton is reluctant, citing that Conner is regularly drunk and wouldn't be much use to them.
Burton considers the proposal to include Conner in their plans, and goes to his trailer to visit him. When he arrives, Conner is asleep on the sofa and when he wakes, he tells Burton that one of the attackers saw him the previous night, but allowed him to live — presumably out of pity. They talk about the rush of being in a fight again, but Conner is reluctant to listen to Burton and opens another beer before falling asleep on the sofa. Burton leaves him a note and leaves the trailer.
Meanwhile, Corbel finds himself within a sim, enjoying the company of an escort at a local bar. He is interrupted, however, by the man who attacked Aelita and Flynne during their previous encounter. He has an offer for Corbel, $10,000,000 in exchange for getting rid of Flynne and Burton.
Inquisitve, Flynne searches the internet for references to Milagros Coldiron and Wilf Netherton, but finds that there is no information on the internet for her queries. During this, however, her hand freezes and she finds herself unable to move it.
Waking up in the middle of the night, Flynne hears noises downstairs and believes that the men have returned. She calls Burton for help, but when she descends the stairs, she finds her mother in the kitchen looking for food. Her mother reveals that her eyesight has returned and she can see again.
Cast
Main Cast
Co-Starring
Trivia
Gallery
References