Bridging the Gap: Issue #16

“Mind the Gap” is back after a two-month break, and kicking off a whole new arc. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little rusty in terms of annotating skills, but then, this delightfully mysterious series boggles my mind at the best of times. Let’s see what we can sort out.

ETA 12/28/13: I told you I was getting rusty! Jim McCann pointed out two mistakes I made. For one, it’s not Hammond we’re seeing on the security footage, but Morgue Guy from the last page of issue 15 (they’ve got a passing physical resemblance). For two, the “Hoodies” texts that Eddie looks over are actually his texts as he infers what’s going on from his parents’ conversation. I’ve altered the discussion below to include these points.

Catching Up

The first few pages of the issue give us a nice review of the series so far – and happy day, nothing laid out here contradicts anything I’ve been speculating about in this column so far. I did miss out on one point last issue, though – the fact that both Min and Eddie were surprised by the disappearance of Elle’s body, which seems to imply that a non-Jairus, non-Hoodie party must have taken her.

So far as the timeline goes, we’re resuming the story approximately two days after Elle’s death – a short time to go from deathbed to funeral, as Detective Wallace notes.

Edward’s Stroke

We saw Edward collapse at the news of Elle’s death last issue, and here it’s revealed that he had a minor stroke. It might not be all that important to the plot, but this forced slow-down seems to be giving him the chance to learn a little more about Jairus and look at it critically.

Here his objection toward Eddie being involved (even peripherally) in Jairus is being highlighted, and more than ever we’re seeing a lot of tension and acrimony between him and Min. I don’t know about you guys, but my money’s on this guy joining forces with the Hoodies once he’s fully recovered. Sure, he’s allied with his father’s company by default, but his heart is quite literally against what Elle is being subjected to. At any rate, it’ll be interesting to see this guy’s next move.

Min Is A Piece of Work

Here we’ve got Min getting on Detective Wallace’s case about arresting Dane and apparently letting Lonnie escape, which is a pretty astounding piece of acting on her part, given that Min was the one who framed Dane and had Lonnie killed. What’s important to highlight here is that playing the offended party is to Min’s strategic advantage – she wants the police to worry that investigating further will backfire, given the power and prestige of the Peterssen family. She’s probably right, too – if Detective Wallace really wants to get to the bottom of this, it’s going to mean allying with the Hoodies and pursuing a more devious course.

Last Contact

Hammond tells Constance that his handing off the Jairus briefcase should be the “last contact” that Constance – and I’m assuming the rest of the team at the Peterssen lodge – has with the hospital. This makes sense if Jairus is to be kept secret and the hospital is to be kept clear of any apparent involvement, but Constance still seems to think that there are other things Hammond could stand to bring from the hospital to the lodge. I have no idea what she could be referring to, though, or why she’s checking in with Hammond in the first place. Did these two have some kind of plan that didn’t work out, or was dissolved? It’s kind of a befuddling moment.

A Troubling Text

Back at the Peterssen household, both Min and Edward seem to have received a disturbing text or picture from whoever stole Elle’s body. Edward’s already worried about Eddie’s involvement in Jairus, and seems even more upset about what the message implies. Min dismisses all this as “histrionics”; whatever the message is, she’s willing to believe that the operation can handle it. Min then reveals that she’s the one who’s having all the Hoodies followed, on the (for now, incorrect) assumption that they will lead her to Elle.

Meanwhile, the texts that Eddie’s sending here show the picture he’s putting together based on Min and Edward’s conversation: that Jairus didn’t take Elle, and that the Hoodies are being followed. But then again, it is possible that Min wants him to infer all this so that he’s thrown off the real plan, whatever that may be.

At the Peterssen lodge, Erik watches security camera footage of Eddie leaving the Peterssen mansion with his overnight bag. Erik then checks his phone, presumably looking at the same message that Min and Edward did, and gets upset – enough that Constance gets a little rattled upon seeing him. Erik’s clearly taking this threat seriously, but he doesn’t seem to have a plan in place like Min does.

An Important Brick

Thanks to Miles’s leet hacking skillzorz, Team Hoodie has access to the security camera footage of the morgue, and we get a look at said footage once Frankie delivers it to Dr. Geller and Detective Wallace. In it, we see a female employee and Morgue Guy from issue #15 leaving the morgue; the woman goes down the hall, and Morgue Guy exits through a door adjacent to the morgue. The interesting element here is that he puts a brick in the door to hold it open. He’s (apparently) going for a smoke break, so it would be reasonable to assume he’s headed outside.

This isn’t terribly unusual at first glance; in big buildings (especially hospitals) there are often doors leading outdoors that have to be propped open if you want to get back in, because they lock automatically when closed. But beyond the door this guy props open, we get a view of what looks like more hallway – there isn’t an exit sign or anything to indicate that Morgue Guy’s going outside directly. So why the brick? If this is just a security door he’s heading past, wouldn’t he have keys or a pass to unlock it?

If he’s propping the door open in order to act in collusion with another party (Jairus or non-Jairus), that makes things a little more interesting. In any case, this open door is awfully convenient for Ms. Last Page Reveal, our “Daughter of Jairus” who comes to retrieve Elle’s body. It looks like she kicks the brick out of the doorframe here, possibly locking Morgue Guy out and clearing him of suspicion.

Daughter of Jairus

Elle surprises us all by waking up, having survived the episode in her usual, mysterious way or else been revived by some unknown factor. Meanwhile, the person who cut the security camera wire is revealed to be an (as yet unnamed) test subject for Jairus, somebody who has apparently been in the same position as Elle.

This is a surprising development, and – potentially – a major game changer. And while we’ve had no reason to believe up until now that there was anybody other than Elle who had been subjected to the same studies, there’s been nothing to contradict it, either. Bearing in mind that whatever’s affecting Elle seems to be biological and inheritable, it only makes sense that she wouldn’t be the only person in the world suffering from it.

The fact that we haven’t seen or heard from this subject in particular, even though we’ve been learning about Jairus for a couple of issues now, is a little strange. Obviously this girl sympathizes with Elle’s position, so it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that she’s been acting against Jairus before this. But if that’s the case, why didn’t she contact Elle earlier? This seems like kind of an odd moment to get involved. But then, who knows – maybe this girl (and other Daughters?) have been operating behind the scenes this whole time.

At any rate, you’ve got to wonder who sent Ms. Daughter of Jairus this text. Is this Morgue Guy, or a member of Jairus?

Recap

We’ve learned:

-that Elle is not the only subject being studied by Jairus;
-that this “Daughter of Jairus” sneaked Elle’s body out of the hospital, and
Continued below

It’s not much, but it’s a solid start to the arc – and mystery aside, it’s definitely nice to see Elle alive again.

Theories? Comments? Ruminations? Be sure to leave them below!

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