“Pilot, Part 2” is episode two of season one of Sliders.
In the previous episode, “Pilot”, Quinn, Wade, Professor Arturo, and Rembrandt ‘Crying Man’ Brown, whose car was accidentally sucked up into the wormhole after Quinn increased power, escaped from a tornado in a frozen wasteland through Quinn altering the timer on his device. The alternate Quinn started to tell Quinn something about the timer, but didn’t get chance. There’s a definitely possibility he should have led with that.
Arturo, Wade and Rembrandt exit the wormhole but the portal is shrinking and Quinn hasn’t emerged. Wade is hoping he’s safe and he plummets out at the last minute. Quinn wonders if Wade is crying because she hit her head. She wonders if maybe she should have it examined.
Rembrandt still wants to get to do his performance. And wants Quinn to explain what happened to his car to the insurance company. Wade reminds him he has an anthem to sing. Rembrandt heads off and catches a cab. Wade wants to call home. Quin tells the professor it’s dull to be home; Arturo reminds him of the tornado. The controls on the device are shorted out; Quinn wondered why they arrived in the park, not his basement. Arturo sees a statue and asks Quinn if it’s always been there. Abe? Sure. No; Lenin. No, that hasn’t.
Wade is trying to make a phone call through something called PT&T. The operator starts asking for her permit number, then tells her she’s in violation of the California penal code and to remain and the location to be arrested. Wade hangs up. PT&T is People’s Telephone & Telegraph. With a hammer and sickle.
Rembrandt is in the taxi and wants to listen to the baseball game. The anthem starts and the driver salutes. Rembrandt wonders if they’re playing a Canadian team. People in other cars are saluting too.
Quinn and Arturo have discovered the formerly homeless ranter about the inevitable triumph of Communism is now running for senate and promising the American imperialistic underground is being crushed. Wade arrives; she has something to tell them. They know. They aren’t home.
Rembrandt’s cab driver wants money for a toll. Rembrandt gives him a note. The driver gets out of the cab when it stops at a checkpoint and shows the dollar to the woman in the booth. Men with guns surround the cab. The others are wandering through the streets, watching Soviet soldiers accost people. Wade wants to know when they will leave. When the timer recharges. Which might be soon. Might be never. He tells the professor he could fix it with the right tools and luck.
Rembrandt is now being interrogated about the American underground in a room where many others are. Rembrandt wonders if that’s a band. Or a club. He’s told that a man called Rembrandt Brown was killed in the Detroit uprising 12 years ago. So, what’s his real name. Rembrandt can explain. He does. It’s the truth, but hardly sounds it. He admits he handed money to the taxi driver. The interrogate tells Rembrandt if he comes clean, the interrogator will fight for him. And Rembrandt recognises him as an ambulance chasing lawyer on his own world.
An officer speaks to the interrogator as Rembrandt is laughing over this. The officer thinks they’ve been infiltrated. Rembrandt is skilled and dangerous; he needs disposing of as quickly as possible. The interrogator knows people. He will send Rembrandt to The People’s Court, for trial and sentencing.
The others see an old woman being bundled into a car and a couple executed on the street. They need to find Rembrandt. But first, the professor wants food. He hands over a dollar bill to the man selling it. The same mistake Rembrandt makes., This time, it goes better; the vendor warns him to be more careful and gives him a red note. Wade sees people and says it’s the phone company after her. The vendor tells them to come with him. He can’t believe it’s Wade Wilson; the Soviets announced her capture three days ago. He takes them underground into a hidden bunker and welcomes them to the revolution. One man (Roger Cross) is really pleased to see her. And kisses her. With the Sliders going to some worlds not dissimilar to their own, they often have doubles in those worlds. Which makes for mistaken identities a lot. They still need to find Rembrandt and get out of this Communist-dominated world.