Manhattan “Spooky Action at a Distance” 

There is so much tension on The Hill right now. The place is already so compartmentalized that it’s difficult for anyone to really know anything, which is what the army wants. Despite that, Frank and Charlie have formed an alliance of sorts. Frank’s still trying to get detonators for testing, Charlie’s trying to be smart and sneaky about getting the scientists from Thin Man to work on calculations for the Implosion team, Abby’s friendship with Elodie continues evolving and Liza makes a disturbing discovery at her new job.

Frank is Tested

The brass on The Hill know about Frank’s affair with Paloma and see it as a way to test Frank’s loyalty. When Paloma’s cousin Javier comes to Frank with a request, Frank can see it for what it is (or, at least, what the powers that be want him to see it for) — blackmail. He goes to Peter Stormare‘s Lazar for advice, which is a bit unexpected but maybe Frank thinks they’ve built up some sort of relationship over the past few days. Frank’s still in desperate need of detonators and Lazar has them. But the army keeps a close eye on those and will notice if any go missing. So while Lazar can’t help Frank with that problem, he is able to give him some advice about his Javier problem. Javier gets the truck, which he asked for, but Frank doesn’t tell him any secrets about what he and the government are up to on their land. So, I guess Frank has passed this test for now.

Helen is Charlie’s Second in Command at Thin Man

She isn’t consulted about this “promotion,” but it’s really all about getting someone from Frank’s team in the door over at Akley’s operation. Frank and Charlie don’t think any of the Thin Man scientists are smart enough to realize that in re-doing the math for Thin Man, they’ll actually be working for the Implosion team. Helen figures it out pretty quickly, but she’s pissed she wasn’t informed or even asked. Now she’s complicit in this plan as well.

Liza’s New Job

She requests to work at the hospital with Dr. Adelman, which is a bit of a surprise given her background. But, work is work. One night she’s snooping around, when she comes across a Zeus — an instrument for measuring radiation exposure. It’s definitely weird, considering there’s no reason the radiation levels of the babies should be tested. But when she’s the last one in the office, she turns it on and waves it over the newborns. There is one baby whose readings are exceptionally high. It’s no surprise (to us now), that there’s a high level of radiation on The Hill, but I wonder how Liza will get this information to Adelman without revealing how she got it.

Magic Mushrooms Help Get the Job Done (Kind of)

The Implosion team is a bit down in the mouth about losing Helen so they decide to do something about it. Fritz, Paul and Jim takes some magic mushrooms and seem to have a breakthrough with their calculations. The problem? When they look at their work the next day it doesn’t entirely make sense. Maybe if they get high again they’ll make some progress.

Elodie and Tom Lancefield

We already know something’s going on with Elodie and Abby. They kissed after coming home from their night of dancing. And Elodie – and increasingly Abby – are interested in exploring things further. Things get a bit awkward when Tom comes home and interrupts them. Things get tense and a bit scary when Tom practically forces himself on Abby. He warns her that he’s got an eye on Charlie and can’t wait for him to screw up at work. To make matters worse, Charlie brushes it off when Abby tells him about the encounter. We can see he’s upset, but I guess he has to hold his tongue. He can’t really cause any more trouble at work if he wants to keep his and Frank’s alliance a secret. It’s just unfortunate that his relationship with his wife deteriorates even more because of it.

Manhattan airs Sundays at 10/9c on WGN America.