Sam and Gene arrest a man named Kim Trent on suspicion of armed robbery. Unfortunately, they don’t have enough evidence to hold him, and Gene suggests planting money on Trent in order to secure a conviction.
He shows Sam a stash of drugs and jewellery he keeps just for that purpose, and Sam is naturally horrified. To the disapproval of Gene, he has Trent released.
While Sam and Chris are reviewing the case, a report comes in of an armed robbery at a jeweller’s store. They arrive at the scene to find that a bystander has been shot. It turns out that it’s June, one of the police station’s cleaners.
Upon returning to the station, Sam once again hears voices discussing his being in a coma. He then heads to the pub, and while he’s talking to Nelson, the lights flicker.
Nelson complains that the cuts are getting worse, but that’s nothing compared to South Africa’s recent problems. Annie comes in and warns Sam that Gene’s on his way and isn’t in a good mood, and she and Sam slip out the back.
As if the voices weren’t bad enough for Sam, things get even freakier when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find the girl from the test card standing next to his bed. After she speaks to him, he yells at her to get out and he wakes up again, only to find that she’s back in the TV test card.
Sam visits June in the hospital, and Gene arrives shortly afterwards. The two get into a punching bout, which appears to end in a draw.
They return to the station, apparently having reconciled for the time being, and Gene tells the other detectives to call in any possible witnesses. One woman says that one of the robbers tripped as he left the shop, and Sam realises that there may be a fingerprints at the scene.
They return there, and Sam discovers a pipe which the robber probably touched when he tried to break his fall. He tells Chris to get the fingerprints off the pipe.
As the forensics lab is busy, Chris decides to saw off the pipe so it can be taken back to the station. Unfortunately, in doing so he puts his own fingerprints on it.
A street cleaner pushes his cart past, and Sam notices that one of the bins is dented. Sam realises that the robbers must have hit it with their car, and he convinces the cleaner, Leonard, to help them.
They arrest Trent again and make him take part in an identity parade. Before Leonard is called in, Sam tells him that there will be special glass between him and the men taking part in the parade, so they won’t be able to see him.
This turns out not to be the case, as the parade is taking place in the canteen, with no barrier whatsoever. I know this is supposed to be another indication of how policing has changed, but wouldn’t Sam have been there long enough to know that there aren’t any two-way mirrors in the station? Understandably, Leonard doesn’t identify Trent.
Sam offers to provide protection for Leonard, and assigns Annie to watch over him inside his flat, while Chris and Ray watch outside from a car. Sam remains in the station radio room to monitor things.
Annie reports that she’s heard a noise and is going to investigate. While outside, she tells Sam that she can’t see the car Chris and Ray are supposed to be in. There’s the sound of breaking glass and a scream from Annie.
Sam looks at the maps in the radio room and discovers that things have changed a lot in thirty-three years, and that he needs Gene’s help. He heads down to the pub, where he finds not only Gene playing darts, but Chris and Ray as well.
After a chase and a fight, they manage to find Annie and Leonard unharmed, and they catch Trent and his associates. A new identity parade is arranged, this one with bright light shining on the paradees (is that a word?) faces, so that the identifier can’t be seen. Despite this, when Leonard identifies Trent, he steps forward so that Trent knows who he is.
Sam enters Gene’s office. On his way in, the lights flicker again, and a passing policeman comments on the power cuts.
Sam asks Gene if it is possible to be sent back to where he came from. Gene takes this to mean Hyde, although we all know that Sam is really speaking about 2006.
Gene tells Sam that he can’t do so, because Sam requested to be transferred there. I’m not quite sure how that works, as surely Sam could ask to be transferred back. But I guess the point of the scene is to establish that Gene isn’t able to send Sam back.
Sam returns to the hospital to visit June, who is still unconscious but off the critical list. He smells urine and goes to look for someone, but all the lights go out and the doors to June’s room slam shut, trapping him in there.
Sam hears more voices. This time they say that the life support has shut down as a result of Sam’s catheter leaking and the urine getting into the electrics. This obviously provides an alternative explanation for the electricity problems in 1973.
As Sam bangs on the door, yelling to be let out, the voices say that he’s in distress. One of them tells him to hold on, and we then see the images that we saw immediately after being hit by the car – a pair of black shoes with large shiny buckles, a snapped twig, an arm in a black sleeve, and a glimpse of something red. Sam collapses, and the lights come back on.
Sam visits the pub, where Gene is playing cards with some of the other detectives. He asks Sam if he wants in on the game, and when Sam sits down, Gene asks him if he’s sure he’s in. Sam replies that he is, and it doesn’t take a genius to realise that they’re not really talking about the card game.