The Event Episode 1.04 A Matter of Life and Death

Sean Walker and Agent Collier speed out of the Yuma FBI office in a stolen SUV. In the garage, Lonner phones Vicky and tells her to move Leila; Sean's on the run. Moments later, Lonner trails behind Walker and Collier, firing rounds at them. Sean brakes, allowing Collier to shoot Lonner in the shoulder. With Lonner out of the way, Sean disconnects the SUV's GPS. Collier's intent on avenging the lives of her colleagues and finally believes that Sean was indeed caught up in a conspiracy to kill the President. Their first task? Finding Vicky Roberts. They can use Collier's ex-husband's credentials - he works at the Justice Department - in order to access confidential government information.

It's five years earlier. At M.I.T., Sean picks up Leila at her dorm. She convinces a hesitant Sean to join her and her family for Thanksgiving dinner. We're back to the present. Vicky and Carter have moved Leila to a basement. Through a small vent, Leila overhears her captors talking upstairs; they plan to kill her in just two hours! In a Fairfax, Virginia bio-quarantine facility, Flight 514 survivors recall their strange trip. They remember takeoff but nothing else. President Martinez can't believe the passengers have come back to life and Dr. Block can offer no explanation. Vice President Jarvis wonders if this stunt was a way for the sleepers to show off their power. An aide approaches Jarvis to tell him that Sterling is interviewing Michael Buchanan.

Sterling interrogates Michael about the assassination plot. Michael claims he was forced to do it; the bad guys threatened to kill Leila right in front of him! Michael begs Sterling to tell him if Leila and Samantha are okay. Sterling's forced to admit that nobody's been able to track Michael's daughters down. Outside the interrogation room, Sterling encounters an angry Jarvis. Suspecting Sterling of hiding information, Jarvis scolds him for questioning Michael without letting him know first. An unapologetic Sterling says he's leading the investigation - not Jarvis. Furthermore, Sterling would never do anything to harm the President, if only because it would put Jarvis in charge.

In the White House study, Martinez tells his wife Christina that he's unsettled by the way Sophia's people have played with the lives of the passengers. Suddenly, a cell phone rings in their son David's backpack. Martinez picks up the planted phone and hears Thomas' chilling voice. He identifies himself as the man who pulled the plane out of the sky to save Martinez's life. When Martinez asks to meet with him in person, Thomas declines the invitation, and instead tells Martinez that if he doesn't set Sophia and her people free, people will die. And this time, they won't miraculously come back to life. Meanwhile, Sean and Collier discover that Laura Roderick (Vicky's alias) has been paying rent on a property in Texas.

It's five years earlier. Sean and Leila arrive at the Buchanan residence for Thanksgiving dinner. Sean's clearly a bit nervous, especially when Leila's mother asks about his parents. Sean says they split up when he was young. His mom wasn't well, and after the divorce his father began drinking and "fell apart too." We're back to the present. Leila finds a piece of glass from a beer bottle Carter broke earlier. Slowly, she cuts through the nylon rope that binds her. Upstairs Vicky and Carter get a phone call giving them the go-ahead to kill Leila. Outside, Sean and Collier pull up to the wrong house as Vicky makes her way downstairs, about to go in for the kill.

Martinez chastises Sterling for allowing a stranger to plant a cell phone on David. The President is clearly still shaken by Thomas' threat to kill more people unless the detainees are freed. Martinez doesn't understand the sleepers: after all, if they can make a plane disappear, why can't they figure out a way to set free the Inostranka detainees? Clearly, it's time to interrogate Sophia. It's 12 months earlier. Elias and Christina dine with Sophia. Christina shares the story of how she and Elias met; their mothers were Cuban immigrants who came to Miami on the same fishing boat. Today, these first-generation Americans are the President and First Lady. Sophia says she hopes one day her people will be able to tell their immigration stories too without it sounding strange.

Martinez tells Sophia to reveal the name of the mysterious caller who threatened to kill more people. When Sophia resists, Martinez accuses her of orchestrating the assassination plot. She denies any involvement, saying she didn't condone any of it. But Martinez has his doubts; he suspects that at the very least, Sophia's had William killed. As a peace offering, she reveals the caller was Thomas, a charismatic leader who has always been impulsive. Whatever he's asking for, Martinez should give it to him. Martinez says he will not free the detainees. Sophia pleads, "For the safety of your people do what he says." In the bio-quarantine facility, Michael Buchanan and the other passengers slowly begin to realize their noses are bleeding. Has Thomas already started another attack?

Sean and Collier question the woman residing at the house connected to Laura Roderick (Vicky's alias). She claims she has no idea who Vicky is, and unless she sees some FBI credentials from Sean, she doesn't have any reason to continue the conversation. In the living room, Sean meets a little boy named Adam and quickly intuits that he must be Vicky's son. Sean and Collier correctly identify the woman as Vicky's mother and force her to give them Vicky's phone number. Meanwhile, Leila's luck has run out. Vicky is about to shoot her when Leila finally manages to wrench her hands free! Leila grabs Vicky's gun and shoots her before breaking out of the house and running free.

Leila flags down a cop car and escapes. At the station, the skeptical police officers allow her to make a call while they wonder if a psychiatrist is in order. Leila phones Sean but the call goes to voicemail. She tells him she's safe and that she loves him. It's five years earlier. Thanksgiving dinner has just ended and Leila and her mother Val discuss Sean. Val likes the guy but wonders if it will be as easy getting Michael's seal of approval. In the kitchen, Michael approaches Sean with a bottle of scotch to welcome him to the family.

Back at the police station, the cops go to a break room where Vicky and Carter are waiting! The phony cops tell the kidnappers that Leila left Sean a message. Vicky's relieved; now it's only a matter of time before Sean gets the message and falls right into their trap! We flash back to moments before Leila's escape. Vicky watches a surveillance feed of Leila gradually cutting through her restraints. Vicky loads her gun with blanks before heading down to threaten Leila. Vicky, then, was never shot - she was playing possum! Vicky phones a mysterious man, who tells her to kill Sean as soon as he shows up at the police station.