Biohacking Obsession
This episode opens with Archer Bryant waking at 4 a.m. beginning his day with his usual routine. Routine is the way to go, choices cause problems. Perfect always wins. He appears to be obsessed with his health. His doctor comes to his house and they review his lab numbers and they show he’s got the body of a teenager except for the ALP’s still too high. That is what Archer focuses immediately on, not the fact he has the body of a teenager, and the cellular age of 32.4 years. He also has a machine that provides his numbers directly to the doctor. Archer asks how to combat that, and his doctor says sometimes you can’t due to the liver and genetics.
The doorbell rings and Archer answers it. There is a young guy, Tyler, there who asks if he could get some ice for a bee sting he got when clearing some brush with the ground’s crew. Archer lets him in and asks him questions about his family, where he’s from. Tyler’s not finding this odd, and gives the information freely, until Archer asks him what his blood type is. Next thing you know, they are living together, and Tyler helps Archer improve his bio numbers. Tyler’s numbers are perfect.
Months later, Tyler tells Archer he needs to quit, and wants to move on. He is 22 years old and wants to try new things. Archer tries to change his mind. He says if he continues with their program Tyler could be the first man to live forever. Tyler doesn’t want to live forever the way they are currently living. He’s leaving.
Bio Monitoring Missed Something
Archer switches their health monitoring rings. Later, that night, he holds his breath until the readings show he’s having a heart attack just as the software begins updating. He enters Tyler’s room and injects him with something, then switches the rings again. Archer’s ring’s software is updated with no problem. Tyler’s ring registers an error during the software update. Archer returns to bed as sirens from an ambulance approaches.
Rivers’ Got Dumped
A year later, At the NYPD, Captain Wagner enters the office. He stops Detective Rivers in the hall, and asks about his daughter, Julia. She hasn’t been keeping their lunch dates, and has cancelled their last three dates. Wagner thinks his daughter is avoiding him. Detective Rivers tells Captain Wagner they broke up, and Julia’s probably avoiding him. Wagner gives him some words of consolation, but is happy to learn Julia finally broke up with him. Rivers is still having a hard time dealing with the breakup.
The Case of a Murdered Organ Donor
Elsbeth talks to a guy, Cord, who’s there complaining of cellular memory issues. She asks Wagner if he’s ever heard of that. It’s a phenomenon where the organ transplant recipient takes on the characteristics of their donor. Like food cravings, phobias and in some cases memory. Wagner finds that really far out. He says anything’s possible. Cord tells Elsbeth about his heart transplant a year ago. He thinks his donor was murdered, and has been having violent, horrible nightmares. Wagner finds this strange. Elsbeth says the donor died young, and Cord thinks it might be a case of organ trafficking. Elsbeth decided to take his case, and attended an organ transplant gathering of recipients who benefited from Tyler Hollis’ organs. They all received some needed organs from Tyler’s body. The lady leading the group says she found Cord’s theory unbelievable, but she has been having nightmares, too. Hers are about vampires, and not the kissing kind. Cord believes he owes it to Tyler to find out what really happened to him.
Elsbeth is out on a date with Alec Bloom. He thought she didn’t want to see him again, after she never contacted him for some time. Elsbeth wanted to ask Alec about the guy in her son Teddy’s article who helped him when he was younger. She says that the benefactor suffered from dementia. He wouldn’t recognize Alec anywhere. Alec says he’s a people pleaser and it gets him in trouble sometimes. He does confirm there was a “Pete” that helped him when he was younger.
Biohacking Investigation
Officer Nikki Norwood found information on Tyler Hollis’ death. He died of a stroke and it was listed as natural causes. He worked for a longevity expert. It’s a group of people who believe they could extend their lives by bio hacking.
Elsbeth goes to see Archer Bryant, an expert in studying human longevity. Elsbeth asked him that if Tyler was following the same training protocols as him, wasn’t it strange he died so young. Archer tells her how the ring contacted the emergency personnel. It monitors 30 biometrics and registered Tyler having a stroke. Elsbeth’s fascinated by what the ring can do.
She explores what’s happening in Archer’s kitchen, and he offers her a smoothie with flavonoids. She turns him down. She recognizes one of the pills, calcinolate, one given to transplant recipients. Archer admits he had a partial liver transplant, from his son Atlas. This interests Elsbeth because it’s the second time she’s heard that drug name. Archer says his son changed everything for them. Elsbeth’s investigation of Atlas reveals something totally different from Archer’s recount. Atlas is not happy with his father’s mid-life crisis health obsession. He said his quack doctor just fed into his obsession. He even gave some of his blood.
Elsbeth and Officer Nikki present their preliminary findings on the biohacking case to Captain Wagner. He says he needs facts and concrete evidence not gut findings. They find that Archer made a six figure profit a year ago, and Officer Nikki says it wasn’t on his health products. Tyler also bought an AirStream trailer before he died. Captain Wagner says they still need more evidence.
Julia and Captain Wagner meet for lunch. She tells him she broke up with Rivers because of him. Julia says Detective Rivers is desperate for his attention. She says it was wrong for her to date one of his officers.
Elsbeth and Detective Rivers go talk to Tyler’s girlfriend, Ana, in the AirStream she and Tyler bought. She tells them Tyler always says the stress of his job. She said Tyler was going to quit and they were going to travel. She takes her findings to Captain Wagner. Wagner asks Rivers for his thoughts. Elsbeth says there are ways to cause someone’s death with drugs. Wagner suggests she work with the medical examiner to get a list of drugs, and that could be the evidence she needs. She will do just that after her doctor’s appointment with Dr. Kim, Archer’s doctor. She places one of the longevity monitoring rings on and her stats reveal she’s a medical miracle. Archer comes in and is in awe. Elsbeth asks Archer if organs carry nightmares. They want to study Elsbeth’s youthfulness and her family’s history of this phenomenon.
Teddy gets removed from his Alec Bloom investigation and story by his editor. Marissa, Alec Bloom’s political campaign manager called and let him know she was not happy about the article. His editor says there is also a conflict with his mother dating Alec Bloom.
Case Conclusion Reached
Elsbeth joins Archer’s longevity group and talks to his assistant Sven. They both have questions about the clause in their contracts. It states if they die in Archer’s employ, all their body parts go to Archer’s nonprofit. Archer cancel’s Elsbeth as a longevity study participant and he also fires Sven. Elsbeth creates havoc, and continues to irritate Archer using her investigative skills and powers of observation. She even caused him to begin having nightmares.
How does Elsbeth, Detective Rivers and Officer Nikki solve this case? The victim is dead and all his body organs were donated.
Do they know what caused Tyler’s death?Do they have enough evidence to make their case?
What keeps Elsbeth youthful?
Later, Cord comes to thank Elsbeth for all she’s done. He meets Ana, Tyler’s girlfriend. She thanks him for pursuing the truth.
How does Elsbeth surprise Teddy? Looking forward to seeing more of Teddy and his investigative journalistic skills unveiled.
Elsbeth came back with an extraordinary case about a murder victim murdered a year ago. The really mind-boggling part is the victim’s organs were harvested and donated for profit. What a shocking and informative episode. Who knew biohacking was also a kind of science that could be used to such a terrible extreme. It was so wonderful to have Elsbeth back with Detective Rivers and Officer Nikki. Elsbeth also had her trademark colorful attire and bags. Great to have Captain Wagner back and his excellent skills at piecing everything together for a prosecutable case. We also got to see his personal side and his family. Liked how he encouraged Detective Rivers and brought out something more in him as well. Hamish Linklater played the obsessed biohacker so well, and made it believable. The writing, acting and all the Elsbeth Team that made this a remarkable show was missed. I enjoyed this episode and gave it 5 Stars out of 5.
