Having been disappointed recently with this series, I found the implications of this episode quite captivating. A plague has decimated Earth. A few scientists have developed a method for going back in time. They have concluded that there is a ground zero, an inciting factor, that led to the plague. It is the job of a military man to go back and kill the person who has been identified. She is a lonely, attractive young woman who has harmed no one. She has, in fact, been dealt a hard lot in life. The man, of course, begins to have feelings for her and begins to hate his role. He starts to freelance, trying to find another way to bring about the same result without killing the young woman. The people in the future realize something is wrong. They are bound by a brief time frame and begin to panic. This is tenderly done with some real implications for all of us.
5 Reviews
How far would you go?
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews14 November 2011
Colonel Beckett comes from the near future, a time where mankind is on the brink of annihilation - the cause is a plague, which scientists have now determined the source of. He is sent back to our present, in order to prevent the outbreak... by killing Patient Zero. This goes into the themes of revenge, and the value of human life. Should a few people die to save millions? This does a great job of establishing the lead(and Rooker gives a really compelling performance, as the determined, tortured soldier on a mission), the stakes and the overall situation swiftly and smoothly, leaving room for development of him, as well as Amy(played charmingly by Allen), the woman he is there to take out. We find ourselves getting to like her, and it becomes difficult to accept that she has to go, even considering the gain. The acting in general is quite good. Characters(the focus is on the duo, though) are well-written, credible and likable. The FX are nicely done and minimally(and effectively) used. This is paced impeccably, it moves very fast(effortlessly is a fitting term for it) without it being confusing. Like the best episodes, it has a point(or perhaps rather an interesting question, up to the individual to answer for themselves) but it doesn't hammer it home. There is a little violence and strong, disturbing content in this. I recommend this to all fans of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. 8/10
I'm confused...didn't't anybody else see 12 Monkeys?
donlecouteur-111 September 2016
I enjoyed this episode almost as much as I enjoyed the Terry Gilliam movie 12 Monkeys. But then I got terribly confused when I watched the special feature on the episode and found no one giving even an homage nod to the "original" idea. I believe it is possible for multiple writers in any genre to come up with the same or similar idea completely independently of each other, so I'm not suggesting Pen Densham "stole" the idea for Patient Zero from 12 Monkeys...I just don't understand why everyone pretends the coincidence doesn't exist. This confusion of mine is now compounded by the fact there is a new movie being released soon which bears the same title and seems to be based on the same plot...and once again, no mention in any of the publicity I've seen so far of either this Outer Limits episode or the Terry Gilliam film.
Did I watch a different episode?
bnevs1814 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
OK, so the first time I watched it, I really didn't like it, and was surprised that it got such a good rating...all in all, its a fine episode, its just got holes in its premise the size of the moon. I'm a big Sci-fi fan, so I know you have to suspend some disbelief, so I'm not even going to nitpick on the whole time-paradox thing. A) Beckett wouldn't spare Amy...when 5 billion people die, you don't mess around...i'm far from a badarse, but even I would choose to kill one to save 5B. B) Beckett thought that direct contact between him and the Doc and Amy wouldn't have any risk? When you have 3 pieces to the puzzle, and you don't know the third, you don't mess around. C) At the end, Beckett's bud says that Beckett is PZero, and cant come back to the future, they cant risk contamination...but then he brings him into the portal with him. Sorry, but there were too many holes for this to be one of the best tOL eps.
I get the "drama" it's just not realistic
JurijFedorov22 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A man travels back in time to keep a virus from being created. So he needs to kill 2 people. Instead he likes the woman he is supposed to kill so he just makes sure she doesn't meet up with her doctor. We later find out that this keeps the virus from getting created. Expect for the fact that it is still created into him so he must die.
All of this is a really great idea. Hell, the movie 12 Monkeys is awesome. But here it's just big city melodrama. The episode is set in the 90's. So you don't really explore sci-fi or the future. Instead the killer gets injured and lo and behold the woman takes him inside her apartment to help him out and even allows him to sleep over. Keep in mind this is a big city with criminals everywhere. He was just hit by one in a hit and run! And he tells her that she must not call the cops or bring him to a hospital. So clearly she knows he is not some outstanding citizen. This is a criminal hiding from the cops. This of course doesn't change any plot. She's still acting like this guy is some small injured girl not a mean tattooed man with deep secrets. At night he stands over her bed with a knife ready to kill her. Because... I mean... what the hell did you expect here? The guy told you he is hiding from the cops and no one knows he is in your apartment. Of course there is a chance he'll gut you during the night. A high chance even. Her surviving is pure luck. If they set it in a small town it would at least be somewhat realistic. But either way the whole idea of any of this happening is baffling and ruins the episode for me.
Besides that the plot doesn't really feel fulfilling. Apparently the virus is wiped out, but we basically only saw a lab in the future so we never see how the future changes. 90% of the episode is set in the past/current time. So we have no emotional connection to their story.
It's also a big issue that the plot is never explained clearly. We just find out at the end that the virus is now created inside of him. But it's just a point coming out of the left field. The least they could do is show us how his family survived from the virus in the future because of this sacrifice in leading the future to understand where patient zero is now - in him. Instead they just tell us about it in the dialogue... so lazy and cheap. This is crappy. A better idea would be to have his coworker kill him to marry his now surviving wife. Just some extra spicy drama. With the current plot he kinda does nothing and then dies. If he had done his job and killed the 2 people the virus would not be created either. So the outcome would be the similar. Instead he dies and those 2 stay alive. But he never would imagine he would die if he saved them. We only learn about this at the end with him. So he kinda dies because he is empathetic?
All of this is a really great idea. Hell, the movie 12 Monkeys is awesome. But here it's just big city melodrama. The episode is set in the 90's. So you don't really explore sci-fi or the future. Instead the killer gets injured and lo and behold the woman takes him inside her apartment to help him out and even allows him to sleep over. Keep in mind this is a big city with criminals everywhere. He was just hit by one in a hit and run! And he tells her that she must not call the cops or bring him to a hospital. So clearly she knows he is not some outstanding citizen. This is a criminal hiding from the cops. This of course doesn't change any plot. She's still acting like this guy is some small injured girl not a mean tattooed man with deep secrets. At night he stands over her bed with a knife ready to kill her. Because... I mean... what the hell did you expect here? The guy told you he is hiding from the cops and no one knows he is in your apartment. Of course there is a chance he'll gut you during the night. A high chance even. Her surviving is pure luck. If they set it in a small town it would at least be somewhat realistic. But either way the whole idea of any of this happening is baffling and ruins the episode for me.
Besides that the plot doesn't really feel fulfilling. Apparently the virus is wiped out, but we basically only saw a lab in the future so we never see how the future changes. 90% of the episode is set in the past/current time. So we have no emotional connection to their story.
It's also a big issue that the plot is never explained clearly. We just find out at the end that the virus is now created inside of him. But it's just a point coming out of the left field. The least they could do is show us how his family survived from the virus in the future because of this sacrifice in leading the future to understand where patient zero is now - in him. Instead they just tell us about it in the dialogue... so lazy and cheap. This is crappy. A better idea would be to have his coworker kill him to marry his now surviving wife. Just some extra spicy drama. With the current plot he kinda does nothing and then dies. If he had done his job and killed the 2 people the virus would not be created either. So the outcome would be the similar. Instead he dies and those 2 stay alive. But he never would imagine he would die if he saved them. We only learn about this at the end with him. So he kinda dies because he is empathetic?
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