“Gulag” is episode four of season three of First Wave.
Joshua – and it seems to be Joshua, not Cain – is being arrested, but he manages to escape and drives off in the car. He enters a building, watched by a CCTV camera, and opens a door. The room beyond does not match the rest of the building. A computer terminal is counting down; 40 seconds until neutrino sequence detonation. A Gua behind Joshua tells him to step away from the console. The Gua has orders to protect his post. Joshua tells him the war is over; there is no post to protect. They’re going to kill us all. The Gua injures Joshua and the countdown reaches zero. Earth explodes. Generally, a bad sign.
In a building, Cade appears in thin air and drops to the ground. There’s a quatrain about a traitor in a hidden world, waiting for the man twice-blessed. Cade finds a leaflet promoting the Fugitive Gua Task Force. Eddie has learned how to penetrate the hidden worlds, or quantum pockets, and Cade believes Joshua is there.
An injured man knocks on a building and Joshua lets him in. The Gua, Cole, didn’t think he’d make it. The high command has launched a neutrino bomb. Joshua says it’s over; the high command has disavowed their failure.
Everything in the world suggests to Cade that the aliens have been defeated, but he knows that not true. The key to defeating Mabus may lie in finding Joshua. Cole, meanwhile, has given Joshua some stuff he needs to stop the bomb’s detonation. In 19 minutes. Then dies. Cade enters at this point and tells Joshua he’s in a quantum pocket. There’s an exit point in 24 minutes. Joshua says the planet will be destroyed in 19 minutes, and he doesn’t believe Cade because he doesn’t trust humans.
Outside, a member of the FGTF tries arresting Joshua, but Cade pulls a gun on him. Joshua says they have to stop the launch and the task force member tries pulling a backup piece but gets shot by Cade. More are arriving and Cade tells Joshua he has to help; he has information Cade needs about Mabus. Joshua wants to know how Cade knows that name and says they need a vehicle. 13 minutes left. Cade is a thief; he should hotwire a car. And how does Cade know he isn’t the one in a quantum pocket? Would he believe Joshua? No. He understands Joshua’s point then? Cade agrees to come with and they escape in a car. Joshua’s escape is on the news.
They make it to the building again, a regional command post for the western sector before the war according to Joshua. They need to close the wormhole before the neutrino bomb makes it through. Joshua indicates where the launch console should be. The monitor for the CCTV, after they pass it, shows the scene just before the destruction of the Earth at the beginning, not what’s happening now. Inside the room, the Gua is there again. This time, there’s another, and she shoots Joshua then Cade. Earth is destroyed.
And Cole arrives at where Joshua is hiding again, followed by Cade. Cade explains and has a memory of Joshua saying he doesn’t trust humans. Outside, Joshua is arrested again and, this time, Cade recalls the cop going for his second gun and stops him without needing to kill him. Joshua asks Cade how he knew he had a gun. Cade isn’t sure. Once again, they head to the command centre and Cade gets vague flashbacks. However, they fail again.
Going through the loop again, both start to remember things from before and work out they are stuck in a loop. Though they have no idea how many times they’ve run through it. The news story on the radio and the CCTV are doing bits related to the previous loop. Joshua has some memories of his trial, though they tried to erase his memories. There’s also a problem; the exit point is in 24 minutes but the loop is only 19 minutes. They have to stop the neutrino bomb to be able to get out. Even worse, Cain is now inside the loop.