In the present day, Cutler is making a speech about the coming of the old ones and it is interrupted by Hal, who is clearly surprised to see him.
The older Eve tells Annie that she died and went back through her own history to make contact with her, but Annie is not buying it, she is also highly uncomfortable with the adult Eve calling her mom. When Annie demands to know what this is all about, Eve tells her that she has to show her, her present and Annie's future.
Back at the warehouse, Cutler hugs Hal, clearly glad to see him and Hal of course becomes stiff as a board. Even if Hal weren't OCD, hugging vamps just don't seem right. Hal wants to know about the body of the coroner which was found in the exact same place where the two used to bury their corpses. Hal also wants to know why the coroner filed a report saying that human flesh was found in the stomach of the box tunnel killer, but Cutler wants to know why they are talking about this after not seeing each other for 55 years, and calls for two glasses and a decanter.
Cutler introduces him to the fellow vamps as his maker and tells them that Hal is a monster. When Hal hesitates, Cutler asks him what is wrong. Hal just barely manages to fight the compulsion and leaves promising to return. At home he jumps on the exercise bike. Tom walks in holding Eve asking about Annie and where he plans on taking Alex on a date. Hal says they are meeting at a bar and then going for supper. Tom hands over the baby and Hal agrees to watch her for an hour.
We get another flashback to Cutler digging a grave for a body. Hal tells him, "you're becoming the drunk who never buys a round. All we require is everything."
It turns out that Tom left the baby to go see Cutler. Cutler says that the old ones are going to be there tomorrow and he wants Tom to transform and kill them all. Tom says no because all of his life he felt like a weapon, "something blunt and simple." He reads off of cue cards to express his desire to be human. Cutler screams that the old ones a different and that there are people who need to see him do this. When Tom still refuses, Cutler changes tactics and invites him out to diner.
In the future, Annie learns that mostly everyone is dead. Eve says that days after the old ones arrived in town, they killed the Prime Minister on national television. Fearing for Eve's safety, they ran but vampires started killing people. Eve tells her that she didn't stop the downfall of humanity because of Annie.
Cutler returns to the vamp gathering place to find Cutler looking desolate. Cutler says that he dropped the coroner where he did because it was an homage and he is still pissed that Hal left him behind. Cutler says that Hal can go straight back to the top and all he wants "is a mention, a statue and maybe Brazil". Cutler pours another glass of blood and offers it to Hal for old times. Hal asks if he drinks it, if Cutler will tell him what is going on.
We get another flashback to Cutler's shaking hand reaching for a glass of blood and being stopped by Hal. It seems that Hal wants Cutler to kill his wife in order to end his connections to humans. When he refuses, Hal leaves saying, "I had such high hopes for you." In the present Hal drinks the blood.
In purgatory, Annie asks why Eve is looking at her like that and Eve responds that she hasn't seen her since she was 18 and that she missed her. When Annie asks what happened to her, Eve says that it doesn't matter and then opens another door.
Hal shows up at the bar to meet Alex who immediately starts rambling. He starts telling her that he likes her mouth and neck and she is truly getting creeped out. When she tells him to be nice, he says that he is not nice and he stars at her trembling. In frustration, Alex walks out.
Annie asks about Tom and Eve tells her that he died right where they were standing in a dog fight. Annie learns that after everything fell apart and she lost friend after friend, she just "drifted apart, like smoke on a breeze."
When Hal gets back to the flat, Tom is getting ready to go out. He asks how Hal's date went and tells him that Annie has not turned up yet. Before he leaves, Tom tells Hal that the old ones will be in town tomorrow. Tom's shirt is absolutely horrendous and evidences his working class background.
In purgatory, Annie sits down and refuses to go any further and she and Eve quickly get into a typical mother/daughter argument.
At the restaurant, Cutler gives Tom a tie to wear on order of management, and Tom is forced to admit that he has never worn a tie, and that he doesn't know how to tie one. Cutler wants to know if Tom's change of heart has to do with Allison, but Tom says that he is going to fix himself up and get all proper, but Cutler is quick to plant doubt about this. Cutler gets more evil every episode.
Back at the house, Hal is sleeping but his eyes go black when he hears Eve cry. In the future, Eve shows Hal's image painted on a sign with the words, "Show no Mercy". The scene is a mashup of slightly changed Nazi regalia. At the house, Hal enters Eve's room as Eve tells Annie that he becomes one of their strongest leaders. Eve admits to bringing Hal to the house and that she changed history by doing so, in the hope that he would kill her.
Tom walks into Eve's room and find her asleep on Hal. Tom drags him out of the room because he realizes that Tom is drunk on blood and he vows to tell Annie when she comes back. Hal says that Annie is not coming back, but Tom says that she wouldn't just leave them like that. Hal says that Annie and Allison left because they can pretend to be human, but sooner or later they go back to being the monsters they truly are. Tom goes downstairs and calls Cutler and tells him that he is in.
In his room, Hal is going through some serious withdrawal symptoms. In the past, Cutler walks into a bar and finds Hal waiting for him and in the future, Hal walks into a bar to see Cutler waiting for him. In the past Hal tells Cutler that perhaps killing isn't his strong suit and that he will provide him with legal advice. In the present, Cutler asks Hal how long he has gone without blood and Hal admits that it has been 55 years. When he offers Hal blood once again, Hal struggles for a moment and quickly downs it. With the flashback between present and past what we are seeing is a complete role reversal.
It seems that Cutler believes that they have to take a subtle approach to taking over humanity. He plans to offer the werewolves and suggest that werewolves are the ones to truly be feared. He plans to pack the bar with young people and then get Tom into a cage and let him transform in front of all of those people and their camera phones. The vampires will then appear to save humans from werewolves. He believes that if they frighten humanity that they will line up to be conquered. Cutler promises to help Hal through his desire to show mercy.
In the past, Hal takes Cutler into a dark room where his wife has been drained of her blood. It seems that the glass he gave him to drink was his wife's blood. Cutler takes Hal into a basement and Alex has been drained of all of her blood. This essentially makes them even. Cutler tells him that the werewolf being set up is Tom and Hal begs him not to do this. He even goes down on his knees and asks him to stop it. When Hal tells him to remember what he was, Cutler says that he took everything from him. Hal says that he won't let it happen and that he will kill him if he has to. Cutler locks him in the room with Alex's corpse and then Alex's ghost appears to him.
In purgatory, Eve tells Annie that she got the final piece of the scripture and it said that in order to fulfill her destiny, the war child must die. Eve says that she sent Hal, firm in the belief that he would kill her as soon as he found out who she was, and then when that didn't work, she sent Kirby. Annie says that she cannot kill her because she doesn't have a burned arm, and so Eve shows her a burn of the letter H on her arm and says that she orchestrated this.
Alex lets Hal have it pissed that he drank her blood. Annie asks how she knows that she is supposed to die. Eve says that a ghost cannot be in the same place as her living body and that is why she cannot kill herself. As Annie moves towards the door, Eve says, "remember a moment will come when you will have to choose between letting me live and letting me die and if you want to stop this from happening, you have to let me die."
Annie appears as Tom puts Eve in the crib. Annie tells him that the old ones will be there soon and to stop them they have to do terrible things. Cutler rings the doorbell and has a police escort. When he hears Eve crying, Tom tells him that it's George and Nina's baby. Cutler hesitates and says that he is going to stick with the plan.
In the room, Hal asks Alex to teleport and open the door. She is resistant to the idea though. Upstairs, Cutler walks Tom into a room, telling him the fake plans for the night. Cutler assures Tom that no one will forget what he does tonight, and that he will be a famous history maker. Locked in the room, Tom sniffs and realises that there are no vampires. He bangs on the door trying to tell Cutler that there has been a mistake but the change overwhelms him.
Alex lets Hal out of the room but when Hal tries to leave, Alex asks what is going to happen to her now. She is realizing for the first time that she is really dead. Hal runs upstairs and tries to scare everyone off, but Cutler has them release Tom who has fully changed. The humans are only able to get out, because Alex opens the door from the outside. This leaves Hal trapped in the club with Tom, who leaps at him.
In the morning we see that the old ones have arrived. This is sort of an anticlimactic ending because we know that Tom is not going to kill Hal. Writers need to stop putting characters in jeopardy that they don't intend to kill as cliffhangers. I really liked this episode because the pieces are finally coming together and now we not only know Cutler's plans but why. I loved the flashback scenes and how they played with the concept of power.
I was not happy with the woman as victim trope that went strongly through this episode. First we had Cutler's wife, then Alex and in the end, Eve told Annie that she has to die. That is a lot of violence for one episode and it was all directed at women. The only saving grace was when Alex walked out when Hal became creepy. I was relieved that they didn't make this into another instance where she accepted his creepy behaviour as part of his odd charm.
