The Devil You Know (Episode 117)

In a darkened laboratory, two military operatives examined the body of Thomas Blanchard (Jim Codringham), a career thief who was beaten brain dead in his jail cell. The body, suspended naked in a large tube, was preserved in a bluish fluid. Colonel Purcell (Doug Lennox) debated with his colleague, ex-CIA agent Morris Carter (Blu Mankuma), whether Blanchard was appropriate for their "purposes." Carter noted that Blanchard fit their required profile. To execute the operatives' plan, Blanchard was stretched out on an operating table, and long needles inserted into his head. The supposedly brain dead patient opened his eyes, and Carter welcomed him back. William Boone (Kevin Kilner), Captain Lili Marquette (Lisa Howard) and FBI agent Ron Sandoval (Von Flores) rendezvoused at the headquarters of Doors International where they met with Anne Portnoy (Laura Press), who took over the company when its founder, Jonathan Doors (David Hemblem), went underground to run the Resistance movement against the Taelons. Portnoy was joined by the Taelon leaders Da'an (Leni Parker) and Zo'or (Anita La Selva). Portnoy showed the group a new piece of Taelon-engineered weaponry, an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device, used in information warfare. After an impromptu demonstration, Boone and Lili realized the new weapon was capable of wreaking untold havoc on Earth. Because it fired a beam which could destroy computer systems, the EMP could cause airline crashes, disable launched missiles or crumble the stock exchange. In the midst of the shock of seeing this new weapon, Lili received a phone call from her mother, Rachel Purcell (Patricia Gage), who informed Lili her father had died. Lili, who had been estranged from her father since her younger brother's suicide, took the news stoically. Boone met with Doors and Augur (Richard Chevolleau) to warn them about the new weapon. Together they plotted to steal the EMP to prevent the Taelons or their allies from using it against Earth. Before the Resistance could make its move, the reanimated Blanchard broke into Doors International and stole the EMP.

Sandoval headed up a search team to find the missing weapon, while Boone played along in his role as Implant. This time Boone was operating for the Resistance without Lili's help because Da'an had taken her off the case, ordering her to take time off to grieve over her father's death. Before anyone got a lead on the thieves, Blanchard appeared at Augur's lair offering to sell him the EMP. Augur set up a phony sale to Jonathan Doors, whom he set up as the highest bidder. At her father's funeral, Lili and her mother tried to heal old wounds. Augur discovered the identity of the EMP seller, but Blanchard's background as a petty thief did not seem to fit the profile of a major arms dealer. Even though she had been pulled off of the case, Lili took matters into her own hands by sneaking into Blanchard's hideout, where he was waiting with Carter and another gunman. The men discovered Lili and took her hostage. Blanchard found a moment alone with Lili, and revealed to her that he was really Colonel Purcell, her father. When he explained that his mind had been transplanted into the body of a former convict, Lili refused to believe him. Da'an revealed to Boone that the whole EMP theft was a set-up to lead the Taelons to Jonathan Doors. Boone realized the Taelons might kill Doors before he could get away to warn him of the plot. Carter and Blanchard left their hideout to make the EMP transaction at Resistance headquarters. Alone with a gunman, Lili managed to overpower him and escape. Knowing that the entire Resistance could be destroyed, Lili raced to the meeting with Doors. Boone and Sandoval were close to the secured site, but Boone could not reveal the secret lair to Sandoval without giving himself away; Lili was on her own. Underground in the Resistance headquarters, Blanchard ambushed Doors, and a shootout ensued between the two men. Doors took a bullet in the leg, but Blanchard received a fatal shot to the chest. As he died in Lili's arms, Blanchard finally reconciled with his daughter. She couldn't help wondering, though, how much of the man she came to know and respect was her father's mind, and how much of it was the influence of Thomas Blanchard's body.