Episode Recap: Nurture

The Witness is drawing a lot of things. He’s like Jennifer Goines that way. He’s Primary, he’s freaked out, he sees visions and he draws them - all stories from his past, present and future. It’d be charming if he also wasn’t going to grow up to kill 7 billion people. So, Jones wants the team to be ready…one of the team is going to have to kill The Witness as a child. And by the looks of the drawings, it's going to be his dad - Cole.  The Witness also has a few people looking after him: Magdalena, that severe looking red-haired lady, and The Teacher, a younger dude who makes sure he learns all his lessons.

Jones prepares the team to travel back for what she hopes will be their final mission – to kill The Witness by jamming all the splinter suits with an Electromagnetic Pulse Device, and providing a window where none of the bad guys can escape. But something is up with Cassie and Cole and Deacon stops by to chat with Jones. He raises a few suspicions that these two are carrying on a secret: Cole didn't save Ramse, and Cassie seems to be acting funny. Jones dismisses The Witness but has to admit – it’s weird.

Since they can't splinter with the Electromagnetic Pulse Device, Jennifer and Cole splinter back to 1953 to Raritan Laboratory to steal an early prototype of one. Cassie, meanwhile, has convinced Jones to send her somewhere else - as a favor. If the mission is a success, this could be the last time they have access to the splinter machine and so she's going to talk to a psychiatrist about  The Word of The Witness. And that psychiatrist turns out to be…her mother.

Back in 1953, Magdalena is furious with the teacher of The Witness. He's been holding out on her, hiding images drawn by The Witness. And she's hopping mad – his job isn’t to protect him, it’s to educate him. Across town, after Cole confesses to Jennifer that he killed Ramse, she tries to convince him he's not a killer and can make a different choice and doesn't have to kill his son. Cole seems determined, and once they’ve stolen the device, the plan is a go!

The Witness, meanwhile, is growing weary of having to kill people. And that’s pretty much what Cassie wants to find out from her mother in 1990.  Cassie's mother, a psychiatrist, tells her that based on the document, The Witness is incredibly uncertain of himself and that he's a madman. But also he's a genius. Also, he seems to hate the Army of the 12 Monkeys. Cassie thanks her mother for her time and they share a weird moment that changes their timeline so that they could have one last moment together before her mother dies of an embolism.

Jones, meanwhile, wants to get to the bottom of these secrets, and so she takes a quick trip through time (to the moment where Ramse confessed to Cole he's the Witness' dad) and discovers that Cassie and Cole are the parents of The Witness. Furious and betrayed, Jones hold Cassie in the lab until the team kills The Witness and changes history. Cassie is pretty quick and grabs the splinter suit and gets away – to join Cole and team in 1953. And that’s where things are going nuts. There’s a lot of gunfire between our heroes and the Army of 12 Monkeys, Hannah is stabbed, and a quick break in the action where Jennifer and The Witness have a quick chat out of time. They can both see a bunch of symbols they don't understand, and share an awesome moment together. She saves his life and tells him and his Teacher.

Magdalena and Cassie fight it out in the courtyard and Cassie manages to set Magdalena on fire with the immolation feature on Magdalena’s splinter vest. Which is a pretty badass move, mother to mother. And then, The Witness finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun held by his father. But Cole can't do it. Jennifer was right, he can make another choice. He’s almost too late, as Deacon pops up and nearly shoots The Witness. But then Deacon is stopped in his tracks by Cassie, who SHOOTS DEACON! The two parents run to their son, but…Cassie and Cole are too late. The Witness and his teacher splinter away before Cassie and Cole can reach them.

Cassie and Cole tell Jennifer and the team that they're sorry they couldn't complete the mission, but it's their family and their problem to fix - they shouldn't be followed. They put on the splinter suits and are off. The fact that Hannah was injured, and all the lies - have made Cassie and Cole a powerful enemy - Jones is now out for blood and Deacon's ready to help her.