The Event - "I Know Who You Are"

Director Sterling waits for Agent Lee to wake up

The plot thickens a little bit more in last night's new episode of The Event, "I Know Who You Are." Though all the secrets of the plot have yet to be revealed, we do meet the man behind the presidential assassination attempt and the frame-up of Sean. He is a mysterious old man known only as Dempsey. 

When the last episode ended, authorities were closing in on Thomas and Sophia who had entered an industrial building, but had not exited. Naturally, it was a trap set by Thomas who imploded the building as soon as he and Sophia were out. Though Simon (Agent Lee) thought his cover had been blown, he stayed behind to help as many of the agents get out alive as possible, and got injured in the process. 

Meanwhile, an angry President Martinez, chastises Director Sterling for his inability to stay ahead of Thomas. Sterling admits that there is a mole on his field team, but he is unable to figure out who it is. The idea of being betrayed by someone very close is one that Sterling is familiar with. In one of the episode's flashbacks, we go back 14 years to see exactly why this betrayal is hitting him so hard.

Sterling holds his dying girlfriend who was actually a spy

In the flashback, Sterling is summoned to his father's office (a higher ranking intelligence official at the time) and told that his girlfriend or wife (I don't think they clarified this) is a Russian spy. Despite the irrefutable proof, Sterling is reluctant to believe it. His father tells him that he has two choices: live in denial and have his career ruined, or kill the woman and save his career. Neither option is very appealing.

What followed was a pretty sad scene where Sterling confronts the woman with the truth. Though she denies it at first, she essentially acknowledges the truth when she flees their home in a hurry. This fleeing followed the pathetically lovestruck Sterling telling her that he doesn't care that she is a spy, and that their love is all he needs. When she flees, she is caught by Sterling's father who kills her. To help his son, the elder Sterling gives him the gun and tells him to take credit for the kill to advance his standing in the intelligence community. Obviously it worked as he is now the Director of National Intelligence.

Meanwhile, Sean and Leila are still at her Dad's place with the reporter and they are digging into the files on Inostranka. Leila becomes convinced that the only way to find her sister is to find who is behind the failed attack on the president. They discover a paper with a number of girls' names and a strange code. The reporter, Madeline, has a friend with a very high powered computer system which could be used to crack the code, so they head there. Madeline's "friend," Peter, is very upset that she brought them there, yet he reluctantly agrees to help.

Peter reluctantly agrees to help Sean and Leila crack the code

Before they really get started, armed assassins storm Peter's apartment, forcing everyone to flee. In the chaos that followed, Madeline and Peter took off, leaving Sean and Leila on their own. They did find out something, however. The names on that list are names of missing girls about the same age as Leila's missing sister. The codes were IDs for various shell companies located in Los Angeles. Around the same time, we see Samantha (Leila's sister) in the back of a car with a mysterious woman holding a syringe. Samantha is transported to a bizarre facility where she is placed in a playroom with a number of other girls her age. Except when the girls reveal their faces, they somehow look like senior citizens. Weird.

Once Thomas and Sophia are in the clear, Sophia lets Thomas have it for the taking of innocent life. Though Thomas tried to defend his actions, Sophia is having none of it. She asserts her authority as the leader of the aliens, and then reveals that Thomas is her son. Interesting. I didn't see that coming.

With Simon all but caught, and Sterling certain that he is either a mole or a sleeper, Thomas sneaks into the hospital and switches Simon's blood with human blood. When the test results return, Simon is cleared, and his cover remains. Agent Murphy, the one who "caught" Simon in the first place, is framed as the mole. Sucks to be him, I guess. The scene ends comically as Thomas winds up on an elevator with Sterling (who has never seen Thomas' face) and the two chat about the stresses of the day. Sterling even bums a cigarette from him before they part ways. Oh, if he only knew...

Vicky and the mysterious Dempsey

As the episode ends, we aren't much closer to finding Samantha or discovering why exactly Dempsey is doing what he is doing. But Leila and Sean are still alive, Simon's cover is safe, and Sophia is still free. Director Sterling, anticipating the worst, reports to the president about the status of the mole. Sterling takes full responsibility for the breach and apologizes, expecting to be fired. Instead, the president offers him a beer and the two relax in the Oval Office. My initial suspicion that Sterling was somehow involved in the assassination attempt of the president are now pretty much gone. He doesn't have the stones for something like that.

Next week's episode promises more reveals, and based on the trailer, will show flashbacks to recent events from a different person's point of view. Can't wait.