“El Sid” is episode three (originally shown as episode five) of season two of Sliders.
The Sliders are running as armed people are turning up. There are only minutes until they Slide, and they hide on a room of a run-down warehouse. There’s a woman hiding from a man there as well, and he enters. The woman, Michelle, comes out when the man, Sid, demands she does, and he starts attacking her. The professor tells Quinn not to get involved. Quinn gets involved and is coming off second best until Rembrandt hits Sid from behind. They run outside and activate the timer; Michelle says that Sid will kill her. Quinn encourages her to jump through and, despite the professor’s warnings, and after they are through Sid follows.
When they arrive in another world, one person, whose duplicate was seen in the previous one, sees them arrive. They have 26 hours. Then Sid comes out behind them, draws a gun and attacks Quinn. The one who watched them arrive tells Sid to let Quinn go or they will all be in trouble. Sid calls the other L.J.; he told him to stay with the truck. L.J. says it wasn’t him; see any trucks around here? The professor explains to Sid that this isn’t his San Francisco; they’ve been to 20 or 30 different ones.
L.J. encourages them to follow him. He has some bracelets and says they’re required. They can have them for free. Sid doesn’t want to wear one. L.J. tells Sid it’s his funeral, and offers to show them around. They have to show their bracelets to custodians, and there’s a brief earthquake afterwards. L.J. offers to take them somewhere in a cab; not the hotel Wade asks for, as that entire section came down in a 6.2 last month. L.J. is interested in going out the way they came in. He can get them a place to stay. Quinn doesn’t think they can afford it. He’s told it’s government housing. There are no keys and no locks; no-one steals anything in San Francisco. L.J. will be back.
Government housing looks incredibly nice – much of the city does, for that matter – and Michelle tells Sid, now making nice with him, they will be rich. Sid wants Quinn to take him back home and threatens him. After Sid is called off and leaves, Quinn heads out to get some air. Michelle follows and thanks him for trying to help.
L.J. returns with Leo, a custodian. There are some forms to fill out and Leo asks where the sixth is. The professor says he’s napping. Leo is registering their bracelets, linking them in pairs, Rembrandt and the professor, Wade and Michelle, Quinn and Sid. Then Leo says he’s got a blinker, heads out on the balcony, sees someone with a blinking bracelet and shoots him dead. Before returning as if nothing had happened.
L.J. explains to Wade that this is the buddy system. If your buddy commits a crime, you get killed. Friends don’t let friends commit crimes in San Francisco. There are also major perks for reporting crimes. And Sid is on the loose somewhere, likely looking for money. Wade and Michelle can’t go and look – they have group therapy, no exceptions, or you’ll end up dead – but the others do.
Quinn is with L.J. and saying the buddy system is insane. L.J. explains that’s the only way to keep order; the big one is due any day and the peninsula will drop into the ocean. Quinn asks why they don’t leave. No choice. This is a prison. San Francisco National Penitentiary. The Sliders have arrived in a world where the entire city is a prison and, given it’s going to be destroyed, one where really bad people are kept. Even worse, the penalties for crime are draconian, and Quinn will be held liable for Sid’s actions. Not great for him.