Recap: Jaime is at the OSI lab, undergoing her routine bionic workout/checkup with Rudy. After doing some arm weights, Rudy snarks that she's out of shape and reminds her that she's going to have to keep herself in better health if she wants to minimize the risk of bionic rejection. Jaime shrugs off his bitchy concern and tells him she'd like to take a quick shower before her bionic ear testing gets underway. While heading downstairs to the shower, Jaime activates her bionic ear and hears whistle noises, along with the whimpering of a dog. She disregards the Restricted sign posted on a large steel door, bionically breaks her way into a large workout room, and sees two men attempting to train a large German Shepherd named Max. One of the trainers barks at Jaime to get out 'cause she needs grade 6 clearance to be in this room, and she snaps back that she does have the requisite clearance...and surprisingly doesn't demonstrate her bionic abilities to prove to them both that she's an OSI cyborg spy. When she sees the treadmill and weight machines, she has a flashback of the testing workouts she first underwent (sans bra, incidentally) when she was given bionic limbs after her skydiving accident. Jaime checks Max's collar and finds a tag that reads Maximillion and is startled by the sudden realization that he's a million dollar bionic dog. Rudy explains to Oscar and Jaime that Max had been injured in a lab fire when he was a puppy, and that the only way his life could be saved was to insert bionic wires into his four limbs and his jaw. Seems plausible. He then plays video footage of Max bionically running and leaping and says that when he could run speeds of 90 miles/hour, he was the fastest animal alive. Afterwards, Oscar brings Jaime over to the room where Max is being confined and tells her that in recent years, Max has gotten depressed and spends the day moping around his titanium (aka inescapable) kennel...and that Rudy's concerned he's starting to reject his bionics, a risk that increases with age. It suddenly dawns on Jaime that this is probably why Rudy was so snappish about her health earlier, so she asks Oscar if bionic rejection could happen to her one day...and Oscar just winces and stares into space. [I'll take that as a yes.] Jaime looks less concerned than I'd be at that horrifying prospect and nuzzles Max and coos, "We're in this together." Hours later, Jaime is still sitting beside Max's kennel, replaying the audio of Oscar telling her how concerned Rudy is that Max is starting to reject his bionics. She has a sudden flashback of when her brain went all squirrelly during the second crossover episode and murmurs, "It just can't be", then lays down next to Max. Jaime sneaks into Rudy's office and reads through Max's file, and learns that the poor thing has been confined indoors for the last four years. Jaime confronts Rudy and Oscar and tells them she doesn't believe that Max is rejecting his bionics, 'cause he doesn't appear to be acting particularly squirrelly - plus he'd be exhibiting signs of serious pain. She suggests that he's simply lost the will to live after being cooped up in a kennel for so long. Rudy tells her he's had no choice but to keep Max restrained indoors, 'cause the last time he was allowed outside he bionically ran eighteen miles and it was difficult to coax him back. Max shoots Rudy a hateful stink-eye and starts barking ferociously, and Rudy sheepishly tells Jaime he knows the dog dislikes him 'cause after years of working with him and bonding as man and dog, he coldly abandoned the pooch to focus on other OSI projects. Jaime tut tuts him for being such a soulless dickwad and says that Max is a loving animal who just needs someone to love and care for him, then offers to be that person while she's stationed at OSI headquarters for the next five days. Rudy agrees, but warns her it's probably not going to change his diagnosis. He adds that if Max shows no signs of improvement, he's going to put him down and examine his bionic parts in an autopsy to see what the hell went wrong. Jaime stares back at him in horror. Jaime brings Max a big bowl of food, but when he doesn't seem interested, she tries to entice him by pretending to chow down on his kibble. When that doesn't work either, she lays beside him, strokes his fur, and coos about how much she loves him. She then tries hand feeding him, and he daintily accepts one kibble at a time. Jaime bionically jogs on the treadmill while a listless Max watches. When she finishes, she says, "Your turn", but he just glances at the treadmill disinterestedly. In the next scene, Jaime physically places Max on the treadmill and urges him to run, but he retorts by laying down and refusing to budge. After that, she tries to get him to demonstrate his jumping skills by leaping over an eight foot high pool, but he just barks in disgust at the pole and trots underneath it. LOL. At bed time, Jaime spreads out her sleeping bag and lays down next to Max's kennel. Max is having nightmares 'cause of flashbacks of the lab fire, so Jaime opens the kennel door and gives him a comforting canoodle. He whimperingly objects when she starts to shut the kennel door, then crawls out and cuddles next to her on her sleeping bag. She pets his fur and promises him that tomorrow they're getting out of here. The next morning, Jaime explains to Rudy that part of the reason Max is so depressed is that he hates being confined to his kennel, so she proposes getting him outside so she can show him how much fun bionics can be. Rudy says he's concerned that Max will run away and reveal his bionics to the world, the way Jaime's always doing on her OSI missions. He then mutters that he's late for a meeting and rushes out of his office...and Jaime stares out the window and decides ah fuck it. She goes downstairs to the training room and tells Max's trainer, Crosby, that Rudy asked her to bring Max up to his lab pronto, and he buys her story and lets her take the dog. As she and Max make their way upstairs, Crosby gets on the phone to confirm the request with Rudy. Jaime locks Rudy's office, then takes Max out on the balcony and points at the flowery meadow below. She tells him she's going to spend the day bionically frolicking in the meadow and hopes he joins her...then leaps off of the balcony, leaving Max to stare down at her and bark anxiously. While that's happening, Rudy and Crosby burst into his office - just as Max takes a running leap off of the balcony and bionically races off with Jaime. Rudy angrily orders Crosby to call security so they can track the two down asap, then opens a cabinet and pulls out a tranquilizer gun. Jaime and Max are happily frolicking through the meadow, and we get a feel-good song in the background. She throws a thick stick for Max to fetch, and he dutifully catches it, then breaks it in half with his bionic jaw. She chuckles, pets him, and gushes about how proud of him she is...and then we get another loooooong, superfluous segment of the two continuing to leap and frolic about. Max suddenly stops frolicking and gets a sad look on his face, and Jaime looks puzzled at the sudden change in his mood and asks him whassup. A few seconds later, she spots a jeep heading towards them carrying Rudy with Max's two trainers. Jaime tells an incensed Rudy she knows he's angry, but insists that just moments ago Max had been enjoying running through the meadow. Rudy admonishes her for jeopardizing a top secret OSI project, then looks over at Max, who's laying on the ground looking despondent again. Jaime urges him to get up and demonstrate how joyfully he was just frolicking, but he ignores her and continues to stare dully into space. When Crosby lights up a cigar, Max glares fearfully at the flame on the lighter, has a flashback of the lab fire he was trapped in during his puppyhood, and starts barking ferociously. An alarmed Rudy promptly shoots him with his tranquilizer gun, then tells Jaime that tomorrow he's putting Max down. Jaime shrieks, "You can't!" and begs him to give Max another chance, but he dickishly refuses to listen and orders the trainers to load Max onto the jeep. Jaime wails, "If I start to reject my bionics, are you going to put me down?!!" and Rudy mulls that over, no doubt thinking, "Well, d'yuh." Before dawn, Jaime breaks into Max's room and tells him they're getting outa here. She breaks the lock on his kennel, leashes him up, and bitterly tells him she hopes that neither of them ever sees the inside of this shitty room again. The next morning, Oscar and Rudy get word from security that Jaime left OSI headquarters at 4am, likely with Max hidden in the trunk of her car. Oscar credits Jaime with having good instincts and asks Rudy if it's possible she's right about Max not rejecting his bionics and just being depressed about his indoor life. Rudy gets defensive and asks him if he's questioning his [often questionable] judgement, and Oscar's like, "Whoa" and says he's merely giving him a chance to modify his position, then asks if he has even the slightest doubt he was mistaken about Max's diagnosis. Rudy admits that's there's an extremely slight chance he could be wrong, and Oscar says they owe it to Jaime to give her some quality time to work with Max. They correctly assume that she took him home with her to Ojai. Jaime arrives in downtown Ojai with Max and runs into her friend Judy. Judy catches her up on things, points at her young daughter Sarah - who, for some reason, she left inside her Volkswagen bug unattended - then remarks on how big Max is. As Judy ambles off to run errands, Jaime heads over to the pay phone to warn Mama and Papa Austin that she now has a large pet...and they wryly tell her they already know all about it from Oscar and Rudy. Sarah, meanwhile, is climbing over her seat in the Volkswagen, giggling and cooing at Max...and in the process hits the gear shift with her foot. As the car starts to coast down a hill, Max barks anxiously at the looming tragedy, then bionically bursts through the window and chases after the car. A random bystander who noticed Max burst through the car window, says to Jaime, "Hey, isn't that your dog?", and Jaime's like, "Ack!" and starts bionically chasing him. Max reaches the Volkswagen, grabs the bumper with his bionic jaw, and heroically brings the car to a stop. Judy, who has just realized what happened as a result of her negligent parenting, rushes over and hugs Sarah...and Jaime nuzzles Max and tells him she's very proud of his good deed. Back at her apartment, Jaime tells Papa Austin all about how Max saved little Sarah and that it's lucky that no one noticed - aside from the bystander who had to inform Jaime that her dog had just bionically burst through her car window - and insists that Max is fully domesticated and cares about people. A few seconds later, Oscar and Rudy arrive at the ranch, and Jaime asks Papa Austin to stay inside with Max 'cause he never reacts well to being in Rudy's presence. Oscar and Rudy tell Jaime that they've agreed to give Max another chance, and Jaime's all, "Hurray!" and tells them that Max saved a small child today. While that's happening, Papa Austin is building a fire in Jaime's fireplace...and Max stares at the flames, has yet another flashback of the lab fire, and starts barking ferociously. While that's happening, Oscar tells Jaime that Max had better come through this time...cue Max, who suddenly crashes through the second story carriage house window and bionically runs off. Oscar scrunches his face with dismay and tells Jaime he has no choice but to call the state police, and Jaime's like, "Nooooo!!" and takes off after Max. Jaime finds Max and hitches a ride far away from Ojai on the back of a pickup truck. She cuddles beside Max as we hear her narrate the goodbye message she left for Oscar, telling him that if it's really true Max is rejecting his bionics, she wants to be there for him and help him get through the grisly ordeal. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
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