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"Lost and Found" is the sixth episode of Season 2 of The Zeta Project. After a fight with Krick, Zeta's memory cards are shattered and he relives his last day in government service, while Ro relates what her life was like before meeting Zeta.
Plot
An angry Krick chases Zee and Ro near Ryedale. Krick still carries a grudge over their first encounter, and plans to kill Zeta. His car is considerably faster than the hoverbike used by Zee and Ro, and he slowly gains on them. Wildly firing at them, Krick hits the foundations of a water tower instead. It collapses. Zeta turns the hoverbike to save a boy from being crushed, but immediately after, something messes up his eyesight. It only lasts seconds until he completely powers down, and reverts to his robotic form. Ro manages to gain control of the bike, and evades Krick by turning in an alley. She comes to a standstill on a bridge. Krick, having also wrecked his ride, goes after them on foot. Out of options, Ro pushes Zeta on the roof of a passing train and jumps on the last car.
Elsewhere, Bucky receives a phone call from Ro. She calls him from a closed down amusement park. He nags her over earlier abuse, but realizes from Ro's voice that Zee's in real trouble this time. Bucky agrees to come. Relieved, Ro goes to check on Zeta, but finds no response.
Zeta's memory core is so badly damaged he relives an old experience: his assignment to infiltrate Eugene Dolan's files to ascertain his connection with Brother's Day.
- Zeta sees Dolan enter a cab in front of his office. As soon as the cab is out of sight, Zeta assumes the accountant's form, and enters his office. He makes an excuse for his presence to the secretary, and directly goes through the files. He finds the suspicious transactions he was sent to investigate, but it's a dead end: the financial benefactor of terrorist organization Brother's Day is listed as "anonymous". He contacts his superior to inform him on the progress. The agent tells Zeta to look further: maybe the files are on his home computer. Zeta is to infiltrate the Dolan family.
- Dolan's wife, Adrian and his daughter are having fun over dinner, and Adrian comments how glad she is her husband decided to cancel his business trip—as he's such good company. Zeta pretends to be too busy "thinking about work" to be a kind family man. But the continuous happiness of the two women starts to melt the synthoid's heart. Becca asks for a bike lesson after dinner—she has trouble staying straight without training wheels. Zeta agrees, and teaches her how to stay balanced. Becca fully trusts what she thinks is her daddy, and succeeds. Adrian is pleased too, but worried about Eugene. He wants to do some extra work tonight.
- But as it turns out, the name of the donor is not on Dolan's home computer either. He informs his superior again, but at the same time, a call comes in over the vidphone. The agent cuts his image, but looks on as Zeta answers the call. Zeta answers the call, and identifies the caller as Titus Sweete. Sweete wants to make another deposit on behalf of Brother's Day, the next morning. After ending the call, Zeta's superior is certain they've struck a gold mine with Dolan, as Sweete is a high level soldier in Brother's Day. Zeta is ordered to play along to get the backer's name. The agent then asks Zeta how Dolan's family is, and is surprised to hear that they're "lovely".
At the Seaside Park, Bucky tries to get Zeta running again. He has figured out the problem: Zeta's file allocation table is scrambled. It must have been going on for months. Ro immediately guesses the cause of the breakdown: Bennet trying to erase Zeta's mind months earlier. Bucky wants to repair him, but is unsure whether he can do it.
Krick traces the train car back to a rail yard, but finds the train empty. He violently questions one of the employees, who tells him the only place they could have gotten off between the bridge in Ryedale and the rail yard was the old Seaside Park. Krick tries his luck there.
Ro knows Krick won't give up easily. Bucky does not look forward to getting caught, and suggests leaving Zeta behind. Ro refused; Zeta was the best thing that ever happened to her. She tells Bucky of her life before Zee.
- At the Spring City Girl's Home, Ro chases away a girl who wants to sit next to her at the mess hall. When she sees the Home's bullies picking on a new girl, she steps up. She offers the girl her own lunch, and picks a fight with the lead bully. She shoves the contents of her tray in the girl's face. The girl immediately breaks down in tears, claiming Ro broke her nose. Her cronies attack Ro, but Miss Berkely breaks them up. Taking the fall for the new girl, Ro gets latrine duty.
- That evening in the home's toilets, Ro slams the window's lock with a bucket. After she hot-wires the security system, the bars move away. She makes a run for it, and after evading a security guard, hops the fence. She runs straight into Slam. He offers her a place to stay, in return for passing a few tests.
As Ro finishes her life story, Krick loudly and violently enters the park. Krick finds Bucky's hoverbike, and gives Ro and Bucky a proposition: give up Zeta and he will let them go, but it he has to come looking for them, they will be hurt. Hearing no response, he goes through all possible hiding places. Ro urges Bucky to speed up the repairs on Zeta. Desperately trying to fix Zeta, Bucky sees some activity in him.
- Zeta — still disguised as Eugene Dolan — meets with Titus Sweete and his assistant Lowe in his office. He tries to get the donor's name from them, which gets Lowe curious. He questions the supposed new company policy, and reaches for his gun. Sweete calms him down, and kindly requests that they leave it at anonymous. Knowing this lead has run dead too, Zeta agrees. On their way out, Lowe again voices his lack of trust in the accountant — he's getting nosy. Sweete calms him down again. Dolan is an innocent accountant, who couldn't know anything—to him, Brother's Day is just a charity. Overhearing the conversation, Zeta decides to end his infiltration, as any further inquiry could potentially harm Dolan and his family. As he is about to leave the building, he runs into the real Dolan, who returned from his business trip a few days early. His secrecy compromised, Zeta pushes him into the elevator and threatens to kill him. Terrified, Dolan exclaims he has a family. Upon hearing this, Zeta remembers Adrian, Dolan, and the happiness he experienced with them. He stays his hand, and tells Dolan to go home. He asks him to play along: to his family, he was never gone. Still terrified, Dolan asks the synthoid who he is. Zeta doesn't answer; instead, he tells him of Becca's first bike ride, and how she needs her "daddy".
And at that moments, Zeta's file allocation table is restored to normal. Ro thanks Bucky, who quickly tells her it was actually Zeta himself who restored the table. Shortly after Zeta waking up, Krick finds the hideout. Zeta tells Bucky and Ro to get out; he'll take on the bounty hunter. Zeta activates the park's power, and lures Krick away with holograms. He destroys the holographic generator and chases Zeta. after a brief fight, they land in a rollercoaster train.
Ro asks Bucky for a plan, but he can't think of any. Zeta jumps from one cart to another, and disables the link, leaving Krick behind. Krick's violent shooting destroys a looping, and his cart careens off the track. Zeta saves him from certain death, but Krick has not given up. His firing destroys the cart, and though Zeta can save himself, Krick plummets in the lake below. Ro and Bucky take away Zeta before Krick can get out of the water.
At the local Ground Wire, Ro learns that Krick was apprehended by police. Bucky pleads for approval, but receives little from Ro. Bucky had not done anything to fix Zeta—Zeta himself had done that. Ro asks Zeta how exactly he did it. Zee reveals it was the memory of the love and care of the Dolan family. Since it was the corner stone of his identity, all other memories fell into place.
Continuity
- As revealed in "Quality Time", Zeta's flashback takes place on August 4 and 5, 2041.
- The Dolan family was first mentioned (though not by name) in "Zeta".
- Ro's flashback takes place just before her first appearance in "The Accomplice". There, the "first test" mentioned by Slam involved shoplifting, for which she was caught.
- Krick still carries a grudge after the events of "Taffy Time".
- Ro refers to Bucky ditching them in "Wired, Part I".
- Bennet's attempt to erase Zeta's memory was shown in "Wired, Part II".
- Ro still wears the leather jacket she bought in "Ro's Gift".
Background information
Production inconsistencies
- The design of Zee and Ro's hoverbike changes during the chase. In shots from the front, the boosters are cone-shaped, while in shots from the back, it has distinct downward fins.
- When Ro talks to Bucky on the VidPhone, Bucky's screen is on his right hand side. However, once Ro gets serious, he is turned to his left to face the camera.
- When Ro cleans the toilets, the size and shape of the puddle changes between the wide- and close-up shots.
Trivia
- This episode was written by Randy Rogel, the award winning writer of "Robin's Reckoning". It also stars two of the regular "Harveys" from Batman: The Animated Series: Robert Costanzo and Richard Moll (Bullock and Dent, respectively).
- One of voice director Andrea Romano's few credited parts.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Diedrich Bader | Zeta / Zee |
| Julie Nathanson | Rosalie "Ro" Rowan |
| Blayn Barbosa | Bucky Buenaventura Ryedale kid (uncredited) |
| Landry Allbright | Kale |
| Ian James Corlett | Lowe Girl's Home security guard (uncredited) |
| Robert Costanzo | Titus Sweete |
| Diane Delano | Miss Berkely |
| Erica Hubbard | Lead Bully |
| Lili Ishida | Becca Dolan |
| Richard McGonagle | Agent Rail Yard employee (uncredited) |
| Richard Moll | Rodin Krick |
| Debbie Taylor | Secretary |
| Steven Weber | Eugene Dolan |
| Marc Worden | Slam |
| Andrea Romano | Adrian Dolan |
Quotes
Lead Bully: She busted my nose! |
Bucky: Uh-oh. |
Ro: How did you fix yourself? What was going on in there during your little siesta? |
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