The Deception
Original Air Date: November 9, 1984
Written By: Garner Simmons
Directed By: Victor Lobl
Produced By: Dean O'Brien
Guest Appearances: Nick Katt as Sean Donovan.
While attempting to make her way back home, Robin meets a young motorcyclist, Kyle Bates, and they witness a jet fighter pilot eject from his damaged plane and parachute to Earth. Kyle investigates and arrives just in time for the dying pilot to reveal that he has an important pouch which must be delivered to the "fireman" at the Club Creole. Kyle takes the pouch and drives off, just barely escaping his dirt bike-riding Visitor pursuers. Kyle takes Robin to his home where she will be safe for the time-being.
On the Mother Ship, Diana receives news of the failed attempt to capture the courier's pouch. By monitoring communications between Los Angeles and the World Liberation Front, the Visitors know that the WLF intends to move Elizabeth within the next couple weeks to New York where the Red Dust is still active. The pouch is supposed to contain the exact details of the move.
Diana has Sean Donovan in custody and is using a mind-control drug on him. She offers him a position in the Young Guard which he accepts enthusiastically. Using him as bait, the Visitors ambush Donovan and take him into custody. He wakes from his unconsciousness to find that he lives with Julie and Sean, and it's been a year since the war ended and the Visitors left. It was Elizabeth's trip to New York that allowed the "neutron oscillator" weapon to be developed and win the war. Of course, it's all an elaborate ruse by Diana; Donovan is actually at the Visitor Embassy where holographic generators and drugs make him believe the alternate reality. In the fabricated "future," Sean plays himself while Diana wears a special amulet that makes her appear as Julie. She intends to make Donovan reveal the details of Elizabeth's rendezvous with the WLF. However, a newspaper photo of Elizabeth as a child — not as a young adult — alerts Donovan to the scam and he is able to escape.
Ham Tyler enlists the help of Kyle to deliver himself, Julie, and Elizabeth to China Flats where transportation will be waiting to take the Star Child to New York. Kyle has already met Elizabeth — though he did not get her name — at the Club Creole and was instantly taken with her. En route to the rendezvous point, Julie introduces Kyle to Elizabeth Dunne, the name Elizabeth will be using to travel to New York. As a result, Kyle does not realize Elizabeth is related to Robin Maxwell.
On dirt bikes Kyle, Elizabeth, Ham, and Julie arrive at the rendezvous point where a chopper is waiting. Kyle realizes an ambush awaits them, and runs interference while the other three run to the helicopter. However, Diana is already aboard and explains that "this flight has been cancelled." She remembers Ham and realizes that Elizabeth is now grown up, but she doesn't recognize Julie who is still wearing her bike helmet. Just then Donovan arrives in a stolen Visitor limousine and takes Ham and Julie to safety while Kyle takes Elizabeth. They all rejoin at the Club Creole and Elizabeth decides to stay in L.A. Kyle agrees to be around, but stops short of actually committing to the Resistance.
Notes
- Because "Breakout" did not air in the original run of the series, this episode marks the first time that Donovan and Tyler meet Kyle Bates. However, when the series is viewed in its correct order, it's apparent that Ham Tyler has a bit of short-term memory lapse because he doesn't remember meeting Kyle in the internment camp.
- It has been reported that the same Freedom Network update from Breakout is used at the beginning of this episode.