“That Great Big Hill of Hope” is episode thirteen of season one of Zoo and the season finale.
In the previous episode, “Wild Things”, Chloe had, even though her presentation to some scientists had not been met with anything but disbelief (if not outright contempt), attracted the attention of a woman called Amelia Sage. She already knew about the changes with the animals, and had formed a team to deal with it. Although not successfully.
In Harare, Mitch had successfully created a cure but in the process they had lost the Mother Cell. With Sage’s help, Mitch and the others were rescued and were flying back to the U.S. (although without the Mother Cell or doses of the cure, quite how they can make more seems problematical, although they do still have the leopard cub). On the flight back to America, Jamie and Mitch had started getting together (not a surprise) when the plane started running into problems and the pilot reported unusual migratory patterns. Then the cabin lost pressure.
This episode opens in the water in the Atlantic Ocean next to a crashed plane. A motor boat approaches and a man pulls Jamie out of the water. There’s a large piece of metal sticking out of her leg. The man takes Jamie to a house and pulls the metal piece from her leg. This hurts (and can be a really stupid thing to do). Jamie and her rescuer lack a common language. Wherever she is it looks to be dark and snowing – she would appear to have been out of it for some time. The man also locks her in the room. Jamie attempts to escape, but the house is in a fenced compound and outside are some rather aggressive animals. It looks like the man was keeping her locked up for her own safety.
Next there are some videos by Jackson. Forty seven people died in the crash, along with the cure. These cover several months, at the end of which Jackson says that the new team does not need him anymore. Jackson was watching the videos himself.
Mitch is in a bar, drinking and talking to a woman, a reporter. According to the woman, Reiden Global has made a deal with the government. They provide the Mother Cell in exchange for immunity. Mitch and the others have had to sign an NDA to keep their mouths shut in exchange for exemption from prosecution. Abe has also survived, but none of the others know that Jamie has survived. Abe is working with a group that protects some people from the aggressive animals. In Washington. It’s getting dangerous out there. There are zoo animals roaming the streets and domestic cats and dogs working together, hunting humans. Other animals are in quarantine.
They need another one of the Zambian leopards, and a team has finally tracked them distributing After nearly three months. The team tranq a leopard, but birds – a lot of birds – swoop in to attack. Some of the team manages to get away with the leopard. Even with the cure, if they can mass produce it, a method of successfully dispersing it still needs developing. Jackson thinks he can develop one. The alternative is to wipe out all the animals. Which plan has a lot of things that could go wrong with it.
Another cliff-hanger ending with the story continuing in season two and “The Day of the Beast”.