A frontal attack on Thunder Mountain puts the Western Alliance on high alert. Meanwhile, Smith shows Jeremiah and Kurdy something astonishing.

Mister Smith takes Jeremiah and Kurdy to see a large secluded house. It turns out that it is being run as a hospice for children, by a group of women who survived the Big Death. Kurdy recognises one of the young girls from the Clarefield tavern ( "Things Left Unsaid"). The children appear to be extremely intellectually gifted. Kurdy arranges for the house to be defended should Daniel's group find it.

A truck leaving Thunder Mountain with supplies is fired upon with a rocket and destroyed, and a helicopter is taken down with a heat-seeking missile. This is designed to keep the Western Alliance grounded and locked up inside the mountain. Kurdy says that in Sims' position, he would then strike at the troops stationed in Milhaven.

Sims contacts the Mountain, offering Markus a chance to surrender. Markus tells Sims that Daniel doesn't exist and that he can get proof.

Searching through Libby's possessions, Jeremiah finds a radio.

Frank asks Jeremiah if he can shadow him, to report back from the centre of the conflict between Daniel and the Western Alliance. Jeremiah agrees.

Rose, the little girl Kurdy recognises, went to the hospice "last winter".

Lee ran Thunder Mountain security for ten years.

Kurdy tells Mister Smith to tell Jeremiah the truth about Libby's death or he will. Mister Smith does so.

"If a beautiful woman tells you you're handsome, does it matter if it's true or not? You stand a little straighter, feel a little taller in your shoes. Won't turn away from the mirror quite as quickly as you used to." - Sims

San Juan de la Cruz (Saint John of the Cross) was a sixteenth century Spanish friar, regarded as one of Spain's greatest mystics. The passage Sims quotes is from Dichos de Luz y Amor (Sayings of Light and Love), which can be read in translation here.

Kurdy erects a US flag in Milhaven, as a symbol of the new civilisation they are striving to build.

Daniel's strategy of forcing Thunder Mountain to lock themselves down via a frontal assault while agents infiltrate them is uncomfortably similar to Lee's method for bringing down Valhalla Sector.

Another parallel - at the end of the last season we met a group of men who survived the Big Death, now we meet a group of women who did. The men had formed a religious order, and judging by their clothing, it's possible the women have too.

Sims says he has ten thousand soldiers, though he might be bluffing.

Lee finds a dozen instances of sabotage in 24 hours. Looks like it was a good idea to put him back on security.

Smith hesitates when he has an opportunity to shoot Sims, and Sims hesitates when he has an opportunity to shoot Smith. Perhaps one strange attractor cannot kill the other?

Rose, we are reminded, may well have been an experimental subject of Valhalla Sector ("decontamination procedures don't work. We have to burn the bodies."). Although the women don't appear to believe that the Big Death directly caused the children's intellectual gifts, it's possible that a mutated form - such as the vaccine Valhalla Sector were developing - did. Obviously it affects different children in different ways (remember Man of Iron?); either that or the children need the quiet and nurturing environment of the hospice for their mental powers to grow successfully.

Why does it take acts of sabotage to suggest there are Daniel agents inside Thunder Mountain? The very fact that Sims is able to get in touch with Markus directly suggests the communications operation has been compromised.

Given that the radio works as soon as he finds it, why does Jeremiah wait until the next day to tell anyone about it? Sure, he's pissed off at what Smith told him, but Daniel's forces could attack at any moment; even in code the transmissions could be useful.

Plenty going on here, and good work from everybody. The best stuff comes in the first half, with Frank's narration, the surprising introduction of a whole new thread, and some nice effects work in the destruction of the two vehicles.