Death in the shadow of the bomb as season 2 begins.
This would be Trinity, the real-life site of the first man-made atomic blast.
But things arent going well.
Credit: Greg Peters/WGN America
On the soundtrack: Frank Sinatra crooning This Is the Beginning of the End with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
Wonder why they chose that.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Daniel London) reveals that the government is auditing the project.
The United States has spent millions of dollars and now wants results.
Charlie is in charge of the new implosion initiative but isnt sure hes up for the job.
He confesses to Oppenheimer that he thinks hes unqualified.
Where is Frank Winter?
Implosion is Franks baby.
Youre going to have to deliver it, Oppenheimer says.
NEXT PAGE: Get down on your knees.
They tell her he has been transferred and shes going to be, too.
Theyre coming back with boxes and plan to evict her.
Meanwhile, Charlies wife visits his mistress to ask for advice finding someone who can end a pregnancy.
She tells Helen she had an affair.
(Spoiler alert: It was a woman.)
But she lets her know where to find a doctor anyway.
I dont regret it, Helen says.
This troubles him because hes a mole, working on behalf of the Soviets.
But…deep breath.
Turns out theyre just moving his belongings.
The whole hill is being reshuffled as priorities shift on the project.
Will you kill the door kindly?
Then: Get down on your knees.
He instructs Crosley to ask Jesus for forgiveness.
His sin: Weakness, Darrow says.
And you want to run off…because some girl didnt ask you to the prom?
He drops the transfer in the trash.
Her remote investigation is at an end.
Sorry, maam, the private says.
If you took her away, Id never see her again.
Back at Charlies office, one of the men hes looking for finds him: Schiffs X-4 spy hunter.
I am the reason you are sitting behind that desk instead of …
Where?
Where is Frank Winter?
You pack him off to wherever it was you were going to send me, to torture him?
Hes gone, Schiffs character says.
And hes never coming back.
Charlie takes this to mean Frank is dead.
At this point, we have no idea.
(Except, come on, we havent seen the last of John Benjamin Hickey on this show.)
My name is Avram Fischer, the mystery man says, leaving Charlie his telephone number.
Where are my manners congratulations!
For surviving or adapting?
For the baby, Fischer says.
Mazel tov, to you.
Back home, Abby believes Helen told him.
But he says, I had to hear it from the angel of death.
Charlie convinces her the pregnancy is a chance to fix things.
He asks her not to leave him.
Theres a lunatic in Europe making orphans out of a thousand Jewish kids a day.
You want two more to grow up without a father?
Abby lights a cigarette.
We can do better, Charlie says.
The child inside her doesnt know what his parents have done wrong.
I can do better.
Its the first of two inspiring speeches Charlie will give in this episode.
It feels like a girl, Abby says.
I cant spill secrets I wasnt entrusted with in the first place, she says.
If you just let me go back to Princeton, youll never hear from me again.
The colonel responds by quietly walking over to a table and pressing play on a reel-to-reel.
Its a recording of Frank telling her about the bomb that can wipe whole cities off the map.
Your husband is at another site proving his loyalty to his country, Darrow says.
you could help him by proving you could be a discreet, productive member of this community.
Liza agrees, with a catch.
I may know what it is youre building here.
But my daughter does not.
No time for love, Private Dunlavey.
When Charlies turn comes to stand before his team of scientists, he begins by airing his conscience.
Frank Winter is the brain behind this new, final push toward completing The Gadget.
Oppenheimer watches from the balcony with concern.
The implosion model exists because of Frank Winter.
He was the crank in the wilderness rubbing two sticks together when no one else believed.
He fed the spark, he fended off the wolves.
He corrected his error.
You should be listening to Frank right now… Helen turns away, disgusted, but the other scientists are rapt.
Were going to build a working Gadget and drop it on Berlin, he says.
A working test in a year?
Some scientists think its a bluff.
Meeks talks his way off The Hill to deliver details of the new project to his handlers.
Fischer the spy hunter watches him go and follows.
The game is up; the spy has been snared.
You are in a world of trouble from sea to shining sea.
I am your only friend.
Meeks barely gets time to say, What?
before his Russian handler loops a garrote through the window and chokes Fischer to death.
The episode ends with another flash forward: Meeks in the rain, the night of the test.
He volunteers to climb the tower a double-check the detonators on The Gadget.
It should be someone you trust, Meeks tells Charlie.
Meanwhile, Col. Darrow visits the site.
If anyone sees Dr. Frank Winter on the premises, arrest him.
If he resists, you have the authority to use all necessary force.
The final shot: the Russian spy climbing the tower to gain private access to the worlds greatest weapon.
