Zoo Mid-Season Check-In

Synopsis of 02×01 – 02×07: After the plane crash, Jamie ends up stranded in Canada with the leopard while the rest of the team is rescued and begins trying to piece it all together. Even after they rescue the leopard but are forced to leave Jamie, the cure ends up being defunct as the mutation takes on a new form and proves to have outgrown it. The team is forced to come up with a new plan, while simultaneously dealing with all of the chaos around them.

At the end of the first season of Zoo, a plane crashed and the team lost both Jamie and the leopard which held the key to the cure to help the animals infected by whatever it was making them go insane. They were left facing down a herd of freed zoo animals as the team attempted to access transportation that would get them to Jamie, and that’s where the second season picked up.

They quickly overcame that incident and regrouped with their government contact in order to access better resources. With a helicopter at their disposal, the team made their way to Canada to try and rescue Jamie and the leopard, only to arrive and find that she had been chased out of the house and left the leopard behind for the team to find.

They acquired the leopard, but animals began to converge on them and they had to get into the helicopter, leaving Jamie behind to fend for herself in the wilderness. After the returned with the leopard, Mitch synthesized the cure as he had before, only to find when they injected it, the animals were no longer cured. They realized quickly that the mutation had spread far beyond their discoveries and they were essentially back at square one.

Jackson and the team began to look for clues, which led them to a scientist in South America who was traveling with a group of rangers. The rangers ended up ambushed by a man-turned-monster and while Jackson and his team were able to save one ranger, the scientist they sought was dead and gone.

They took the man-monster in with them, back to their swanky new plane which had been donated by a mysterious third party, and Jackson let it sink in that a bite he had received from a dog meant his DNA had changed and he was mutating like the animals.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Jamie fought the elements and tried to keep herself alive. She met up with a young man named Logan who appeared to be in a bit of trouble himself and the two worked together to try to survive.

Before she left the house, she left a message on the roof to tell the team she would see them in Caraquet, so she and Logan continued to head that direction, even as Logan proved himself to be anything but trustworthy.

After she managed to sneak a peek in the bag he was carrying, she found money and pictures of her and realized quickly that he had been in the woods looking for her and, as he later admitted, the leopard.

Back with the main team, the remaining ranger, Dariela, joined them in their cause, albeit reluctantly, even after she killed the man-monster which may have held the key to saving Jackson. Their only friend in the government, and one of the few people against the Noah Objective introduced in season one, ended up killed by ants which electrocuted her by creating some sort of electric current after she ingested them, as if the world weren’t terrifying enough.

They quickly realized, after some digging, that General Davies, who oversaw the Noah Objective, did so with the knowledge that the gas they planned to release to kill the animals would also kill millions of people, too.

In their attempt to stop the gas from being released, Chloe ended up getting caught in the gas as Dariela was forced to seal the doors before Chloe or the gas could get through and kill everyone else. Everyone was upset for a while afterward and blamed Dariela for Chloe’s death. Jackson in particular, having just begun to delve into his relationship with Chloe, took it extremely hard, especially in the face of his own uncertain fate.

In the space she left, the team was introduced to the woman behind their swanky plane and the latest bout of funding, and she just so happened to be Mitch’s stepmother, because that isn’t weird at all.

Jamie and Logan, after running into the men who hired him, made it to Caraquet and met some overly friendly people who provided them with food, showers, and clothes. Unfortunately the oasis they had found turned out to be not-so-great, when a young woman there revealed to them how order was kept.

Apparently the community there had decided to offer a sacrifice, chosen by vote, every few nights to the animals outside the gates in order to satiate them. After Jamie and Logan made a fuss, Jamie was voted out, as was the young girl who tried to tip them off.

They ended up outside of the wall, but went out swinging as they blew a hole in the fence and subjected everyone to the wild animals outside. Jamie got Logan and the young girl out by getting them on a bus, then pushed the lead woman who had started the ritual sacrifice out of the bus and allowed her to be eaten by polar bears.

As that ended, the team showed up and Jamie ran into Mitch’s arms. They were rescued, after the terror of the wilderness, and after Jamie lost a toe. Did I forget to mention that? They chopped it off in the woods. It was great.

With everyone reunited, they went back to focusing on the cure. Chloe had said something about the “courier” before she died, and when Jackson questioned Mitch’s stepmom about it, she showed him newspapers from 1895 documenting the very same animal behaviors they were seeing. Electric ants, animals going insane, jellyfish causing hurricanes, all of it led them a little closer to the cure.

Since jellyfish were next, they were able to locate a type of jellyfish that essentially lives forever, and went toe to toe with an anti-venom dealer in order to get their hands on their rare jellyfish. As I imagine it often goes with anti-venom dealers, it didn’t go well, but the team got their jellyfish and Mitch made a discovery.

He realized that there was a single gene – a “ghost gene” – responsible for making animals susceptible to the mutation. Apparently some guy back in 1895 went around x-raying people and animals with a hokey x-ray machine that ended up leading to the ghost gene. That gene was passed down from generation to generation, until something activated it.

If they could figure out the gene, they would be able to deliver the cure directly to it and save the animals. In light of this, Jackson went a bit crazy as a result of his mutation and ended up grabbing a shovel to go dig a hole in the middle of nowhere to “bury Chloe” while reciting a mnemonic that just so happened to be the first part of the genetic code for the gene.

Mitch ended up giving Jackson a substance that would put him in a hypnotic state where he could be guided to try and remember the rest of the code. He uncovered a lot of daddy issues instead and realized his father had injected him with the gene out of spite after Jackson, as a child, set all of his dad’s research on fire.

That’s right, Jackson destroyed the cure and his father decided to inject him with a gene that could kill him. Father and son of the year, everyone. He did eventually remember the gene, though, thankfully, underneath all the angst.

While Mitch and Jackson had fun, Dariela, Abe, and Logan (who was cleared to help the team out after some initial suspicion) went to a town to try and track down more information but found a bunch of people in need of rescuing. Dariela offered to stay behind to lead the people out of town and to safety, while Abe and Logan were left to take the bones they had found which were related to the cure to the plane.

However, with help from a local priest, they learned that Reiden Global had already been on the scene and that Jackson’s dad was not only alive but, surprise! He was working with them, albeit slightly against his will, and second surprise! The audience learned that Logan was working for General Davies, while the rest of the team remained in the dark.

So, as the season tips into the last few episodes, here’s where he stand:

• Jamie: Safe, but traumatized, and has feelings for Logan who she doesn’t know is working for General Davies with the intent to capture Jackson and return him to his father.
• Mitch: Still mostly drunk. Still brilliant. Still pining over Jamie and, oh yeah, I forgot to mention he is the boss now because his step-mom (who hit on him?) put him in charge as the point person so she could get back to her very important work.
• Jackson: Mutating because his dad injected him with the ghost gene, because this family is really great.
• Abe: He’s fine. He’s probably the most fine person on the team.
• Chloe: Dead. RIP.
• Dariela: Somewhere in Europe rescuing a small town with the help of a local priest.
• Logan: Spy for General Davies. All around bad dude. Everyone thinks he is in love with Jamie.
• Moe the jellyfish: Still alive, still swimming.

Here’s to the last six episodes and whatever chaos they bring!