We learned a little about Max's post Project Manticore life in this episode. As expected, once she escaped she tried to blend in. She lived with a foster family with another girl who was being abused. Her training was like brainwashing, she did as she was taught despite what she felt. After the pulse occurred, she ran from this foster family and regretted leaving the girl behind who was being abused. She left without helping the girl, because she was taught to "engage an adversary only if it is consistent with the overall strategic objective." What a thought for a kid, huh? Luckily Max has out grown her early childhood brainwashing. She helped Maria even though there was no "overall strategic objective". Max helped for the sake of helping. Thus proving to Logan that there was beating heart underneath all that bioengineered, military-issue armor plating.

I enjoyed this episode a lot, I especially liked Original Cindy, she is fast becoming my favorite character. In this episode, Max's friends, Original Cindy and Kendra, mistake her dependence on the food supplement tryptophan as a drug addiction and flushed her supply down the toilet. Max, who needs the food supplement to survive, proceeds to try to steal tryptophan from a hospital where she is caught. I am assuming that her being caught by 3 guards is a result of her need for tryptophan, because normally Max would have easily taken care of those guards.

While in jail, we see first hand the corruption that Logan is fighting. The jail itself is disturbing. Men and women held in the same cellblock, along with children. The guards are easily bribed as evidenced by the man Max meets in jail, Break. He seems to have a relationship with a guard where the guard makes his stay more pleasant and in return he supplies the guard with stiletto heals, an interesting arrangement to say the least. Break helps Max attempt an escape and does so by performing Verdi in the yard thereby distracting the guards. The guy was still singing after getting hit several times, I think this is just the type of guy Max needs on her side on a regular basis.

Meanwhile Logan and Cindy are planning a way to help Max out. Logan uses his connections to get the tryptophan from the police and then place Cindy into the jail so she can get the tryptophan to Max. Cindy has definitely 'got Max's back', not just any friend would go to jail to help out a friend. Original Cindy's scene when she is taken to the jail is hilarious. The girl has quite a mouth on her and I am really beginning to appreciate the slang that she and the other characters on Dark Angel use. The slang kind of sets the tone for the world Max lives in.

Max, after her failed escape attempt, is taken to the warden's house where she meets Maria, a young girl who is being abused by the Warden. The fact that Maria is in jail at all is disturbing, but for her to remain there after her mother died is just sick. I guess children services do not exist in post-pulse America. The Warden seems to know who/what Max is, which I find kind of interesting. I wonder how he knows, maybe someone like Max has visited his jail in the past or maybe he was involved in the project somehow. Maybe this will be revealed at a later time, maybe not.

Cindy, with the help of Break, finds Max and gives her the pills. Max makes a quick recovery and brutalizes the Warden then uses him to get herself, Maria, and Cindy out of the prison minutes before Lydecker finds her. The girl is lucky. She proceeds to get them all to safety. Cindy has to realize after that there is something special about Max, but she dismisses Max's admission that she is a 'genetically revved-up female' as a joke. It is a bit far-fetched, but eventually her friends are going to have find out it's true.

Max's independence is amazing. She could have easily gone to Logan when she needed money or the pills, but I guess she is used to doing things on her own. Logan does help out in the end by threatening Walter, the cop who the squatters in Max's building pay off so they can live there, thus enabling Kendra and Max to stay at their place.

One thing that stood out for me in this episode is when both Original Cindy and Logan's trainer asked Logan if he had a thing for Max. Logan kind of blew off the comment from Original Cindy, but when his trainer said something, you could tell that maybe it is true but Logan is not ready to admit it. Another little tidbit I especially liked was when Max was hurting the Warden and Original Cindy saw it, Cindy asked, "What's in those pills?" and Max replies "Spinach." I guess post-pulse America still has Popeye.