The Rift story
A World War II fighter plane crashes outside of Dayton, Ohio. Passerby Mary Ann rescues the pilot, Lt. Theodore Cole, and learns that he had been shot down over Burma. Mary Ann and her stepson Elijah protect Cole as he is pursued by federal agents who believe that his presence is a bad omen. Note: This episode was adapted from the 2017 graphic novel of the same name. Directed by: Mark Mylod. Story by: Don Handfield and Richard Rayner.
15 total · 2 choice · 8 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| time travel | choice | The story is set in a fictional United States where mysterious time rifts appear and deliver people from the past, seemingly for the purpose of doing something fateful. Lt. Cole had been transported forwards in part to say goodbye to his wife, and in part to deliver a message to Mary Ann from her late husband, or something along those lines. |
| what if I found myself in the future | choice | Lt. Cole had been in an aerial battle in Burma during World War II when his plane unexpectedly moved itself to 21st century Dayton, Ohio. |
| being on the run from the law | major | For reasons that were not entirely clear, Lt. Cole instantly decided to hightail it from the police that guarded him at the hospital. |
| coping with life issues | major | Elijah viewed his stepmother, Mary Ann, leaving him to live with his aunt in Burlington as an act of abandonment. The story concluded with Mary Ann and Elijah happily driving off together to California. |
| fear of abandonment | major | Elijah viewed his stepmother, Mary Ann, leaving him to live with his aunt in Burlington as an act of abandonment. The story concluded with Mary Ann and Elijah happily driving off together to California. |
| government secrecy | major | The story concerns a special group of secret government agents whose job is to deal with time rifts that sometimes appear and spit out people from the past. Somehow the government was covering up that time rifts appeared from time to time, sometimes devastating everything within a 10 mile radius. |
| husband and wife | major | It transpired that Lt. Cole had been transported forwards in time in order to tell his, now aged, wife that he was sorry for leaving her and that he loved her. |
| law enforcement | major | The story concerns a special group of secret government agents whose job is to deal with time rifts that sometimes appear and spit out people from the past. |
| stepmother and stepson | major | Mary Ann was saddled with her stepson Elijah after the boy's father who had died in the war in Afghanistan. |
| the calculus of human life | major | The story concerns the following dilemma: would it be just to send Lt. Cole back to a certain death in order to avert a likely catastrophe that would devastate a 10 mile radius. |