The hunt for Farralon's enclave continues for Jeremiah, while Kurdy has some unfinished business when a reopened wound triggers repressed memories of his parents' deaths to resurface.

Jeremiah and Kurdy return to Thunder Mountain with Jimmy's blood sample. Markus authorises them to search for Farralon's enclave on the Willamette River. He tells them that Simon's notes included GPS coordinates on the Willamette River, and gives them GPS navigation equipment. Jeremiah finds Farralon, who implies that it was he who told Simon the disease might be returning in some form. He tells Jeremiah that he knows of many infected people, but that no one has died of the disease yet (Jimmy being killed by the attempted vaccine). Jeremiah warns him against spreading undue panic until he's sure the disease is as lethal as it was fifteen years ago.

The Thunder Mountain gang - Markus, Lee Chen, Elizabeth, Erin and Meaghan - all appear in this episode. Markus, Lee and Elizabeth appeared in "The Long Road"; Erin, Meaghan, and Markus again, appeared in "Man of Iron, Woman Under Glass".

We get an interesting development of Kurdy's ethical stance here - although prepared to kill if necessary, he takes issue with what he sees as Jeremiah's sense of lethal revenge. This sheds light on the moment in the previous episode when he stopped Jake from shooting the thief, even though his stated reason was that it would have been a waste of a bullet.

Before the Big Death, Kurdy's family lived at Apartment 8, 32987 Riverside Place, Portland, Oregon 97209. Their names were Nathaniel and Demerius Malloy. "Kurdy" appears to be his full first name, according to the census database. Nathaniel shot Demerius, before turning the gun on himself. Piecing together his memories, Kurdy realises his mother had contracted the Big Death and begged his father to put an end to her suffering.

Loads, including a rare moment of reflection from Kurdy: "Not one more body on that pile that don't have to be there."

Jeremiah's chilling description of the person who shot his brother: "Someone I owe."

Jeremiah (when buying bait): "It's not everyday a pretty girl gives me worms."

Jeremiah to Farralon: "Your guys don't look like they could spell GPS."

Kurdy: "It's like, everywhere I look, love and dying are wrapped up together. You think it was always like that?"

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. Developed by the US Department of Defense, it is a means of knowing exactly where something is on the surface of the earth. It works by triangulating signals from at least 4 of 24 satellites orbiting outside the atmosphere of the Earth (about 11000 miles up), and turning this information into World Geodetic System 1984 coordinates. Prior to May 2000, civilian use was considerably less accurate than military use; there was a deliberate decision taken to introduce a random degration in quality in case hostile powers obtained GPS equipment. However, in response to the huge increase in commercial use of GPS, non-military devices are now accurate to the nearest 10-20 metres. It's interesting to note that, in order to ensure such accuracy, the Department of Defence monitors the orbits of these satellites, and informs them of any minor deviations, rather than try to correct them; these deviations are then communicated by the satellites to GPS navigation / tracking equipment. Which begs the question, is there a team at Thunder Mountain performing this vital task? If not, who is? Of course, even without such corrections, GPS might still be accurate enough for Jeremiah's purposes.

Some links for GPS:

• GPS Tutorial - this uses Macromedia Shockwave to illustrate the system.
• GPS World - An online magazine devoted to the current state of the technology.
• GPS Overview - A detailed tutorial, appropriately enough from Colorado University.
• Another interesting tutorial.

The "Excerpts written by Sam Egan" credit likely refers to the brief flashback scenes from the previous episode.

Jeremiah recognises the design on the jacket of one of the skinheads as the same as on one worn by the person who shot his brother.

By their initial conversation with Lee, we can infer that Jeremiah and Kurdy didn't bring the refugees from McLaren base to Thunder Mountain in "…And the Ground, Sown with Salt".

A classical interpretation of Kurdy's tarot reading reveals considerably more significance than is first apparent: The Tower, part of the Major Arcana, can mean a crisis, release of energy and sudden revelation; the Reversed Ace of Wands, rather than signalling the opposite of creativity, rather means the thwarting of it - frustration, lack of confidence or courage; and Death: despite Chloe's reaction, Death, also part of the Major Arcana, is not intrinsically a negative card; it signifies transition, closure, and being carried along by something powerful and inescapable.

The logo on some of Farralon's equipment is a stylised "V". Did he get the equipment from Valhalla Sector? Is he working for Valhalla Sector? Is there going to be an episode that doesn't have a tantalising hint about Valhalla Sector?

I find it a little odd that Markus tells Jeremiah and Kurdy to head "back north" to get from Thunder Mountain in Colorado to the Willamette River in Oregon.

Isn't it convenient that Farralon's enclave turns out to be so close to where Kurdy was brought up, just when his memories resurface?

A big improvement for Egan - a diverse episode, by turns brooding and intense, with answers to questions both large and small, that benefits from sensitive acting and a moving score.