“To Catch a Slider” is episode fifteen of season five of Sliders.
The Sliders are on a pleasant world and Diana says that they are getting closer to Rembrandt’s. She and Maggie are trying on shoes when the other two check the timer. It’s acting strange and then goes down to 20 seconds before they slide, even though there was supposed to be another day. They get the other two and Diana doesn’t know what’s happening. Mallory hopes it doesn’t dump them in the sea like in the previous episode, “Heavy Metal”. The vortex opens and they slide in. Then slide out, another opens and they slide in again. And get struck.
Finally out again and they have a little over two days. Rembrandt has never had a slide like the last. Diana says the timer is having problems locking onto the dimensional vibration of the world they land on. She’s going to take it apart, but she might need a lab to fix it. Mallory says this world is like the last. Even the same shoe shop. Diana tells him it’s close, but different.
Mallory can’t believe Quinn had no backup. Rembrandt explains that this isn’t the original timer anyway, and how they picked it up in “Slide Like an Egyptian”. It worked until now. Maggie thinks even a lab might not have the things they need to reconstruct something Egyptian. Diana says they need to get to the hotel; they have two days to work on this. Before they go in, Maggie admires some jewellery on display.
The hotel is busy and the man on reception says there’s a film festival. Tarantino has cleared out and they can have his suite once the wreckage has been removed. Put any valuables in the digital safe in the room. He explains how it works when Diana asks; the safe’s combination is changed by the computer whenever there’s a new guest. A woman comes in; Monique Mansfield, according to the receptionist. She comes over and admires Mallory. As the Sliders head to their room, a man is admiring Diana.
Diana thinks being Egyptian will be no trouble when it comes to repairing the timer; the big things remain the same. Then she opens it and says she hasn’t a clue. Diana asks Rembrandt to remember anything the professor and Quinn said about it. Scarabs. They even ran into a giant mutant one. Diana says scarabs are also jewels. They vibrate at a high frequency, almost as if they’re alive. That’s what the element finder is made of and it looks worn out. Maggie says it looks like the living jewels on display in the store downstairs. And Mallory remembers Monique was wearing one.
At the jewellery store, they’re told that the living gems were discovered a few years ago in an isolated valley in the shadow of the Andes. Then Liz Taylor bought one. Some think the gems have magical properties, and in reality may have something. The gems are rated in hertz, not karats. Diana examines a gem and says they look expensive. They’re told there’s a sale on. Only $9K per hertz. And Diana needs a nine hertz one. She takes a brochure as they leave, and the Sliders decide they have to steal one.
Maggie, Diana and Mallory are planning a heist. Rembrandt isn’t joining in and reminds them this isn’t a film. Strange as it is, this is their lives. They’d be committing a bunch of crimes and the jail time would be longer than the 29 years between slides. What do any of them know about knocking over a jewellery store? Mallory starts to speak, but is hushed. Diana says they still need one. Perhaps they can steal one from someone. Mallory reminds Rembrandt that Rembrandt taught Mallory how to rip off his alternates using ATM cards. There’s a call for Mallory at that point. Monique Mansfield. She wants to get to know him. Diana says they have a serious problem. But Maggie thinks this is good. Mallory can steal Monique’s necklace with the living gem on it. Rembrandt agrees that just might work.
Diana heads to the bar to read up on the living gems and the man who looked her earlier comes over. Grant Curtis. He asks to join her. It also turns out that he sells living gems. So, with Mallory with Monique, they now have two options. However, the title is a shout out to To Catch a Thief, and it seems the Sliders aren’t the only ones trying to steal a living gem.