The Ties That Bind
Teaser
The episode begins with Miranda working in the lab at the university. We see her walk out onto the balcony, presumably to get some fresh air, but a moment later she steps onto the ledge and stares down at the ground from the fourth floor. Fortunately Declan arrives just in time, and snatches her down from the ledge. When he asks her what she was doing up there, she seems confused and can only say that she doesn't know.
Act I
Back inside the lab Declan questions her further, but she becomes defensive and tells him she was only getting some air. He's worried, but doesn't push the conversation. He leaves her with a vial of a mysterious substance to identify for him, and tells her that he'll check on her later. She tells him she'll add it to the other 528 things she has to do that day.
We cut away to the home of Nate, a gentleman in his senior years. He is helping his grandson with his math homework, but gets confused on an easy multiplication fact. The number 528 seems to be stuck in Nate's head as well. His daughter-in-law is concerned about him, thinking he is probably becoming senile, and she goes to speak to Peggy about the problem. After Nate's daughter-in-law describes his recent loss of memory and constant confusion, they both feel he is probably suffering from altzheimers and Peggy asks that Nate make an appointment with her.
In the next scene we meet Paul, a man who seems to be suffering from similar problems. though he is much younger than Nate. He also has the number 528 stuck in his head and exhibits other odd behavior such as changing his hairstyle for no reason and buying roller blades that he has no use for. His wife is upset with the change in his behavior and suggests he seek professional help.
Act II
In the meantime, we see Miranda receiving the grade of "F" on one of her tests, which is so completely out of character for her, she has to admit to Declan that something is seriously wrong. She also has an outburst in class the next day against her will (she yells--sort of a "whoo-hoo" noise) and then cringes in embarrassment. Paul makes the same noise during a board meeting at work, then procedes to dance on the table in front of his boss and a roomful of co-workers. Later that day Miranda and Nate both experience the urge to jump from high places. Declan decides the situation is serious indeed and takes Miranda to Peggy, who orders a round of tests to try and determine if there is a physical cause for Miranda and Nate's problems. Peggy can find nothing organically wrong, however, and releases both Nate and Miranda from the hospital. The next day Miranda, Paul and Nate all have the inexplicable urge to go to Alaska and feel they must be there by May 28th....5-28.
Act III
Once in Alaska the group is not sure where to go next. Miranda suddenly has a new number stuck in her head, 326. She and Declan try to figure out what it means, but can't seem to get anywhere. Declan attempts to find out how the number may be significant to Miranda, and in doing so realizes how little he actually knows about his friend of the past two years. However, when he tries to ask Miranda personal questions about her family and her activities outside of school and work, Miranda bristles at the questioning. The next day she apologizes to him, and together they stumble over their destination--the Miranda River Gorge. When Miranda, Paul, Nate, Peggy and Declan arrive they meet a new man who was also drawn to the bridge over the river. The notice that the bridge has an elevation of 326 feet--hence the 326 they keep fixating on. They learn that they have a common tie...they've all received transplants or blood tranfusions from the same donor, a young boy named Todd who died at age 19. Since they've all been experiencing the urge to jump, they are afraid they've been drawn to the bridge to commit suicide, but upon talking to the mother of the donor, they learn that he had planned to bungee-jump from the bridge over the Miranda river on his twenty-first birthday....which is 5-28.
Act IV
The big day arrives, and along with the urge to bungee jump, the group also has the urge to sing, which results in a really cute scene of Miranda and the three men doing "Midnight Train To Georgia". It seems that the donor was part of an R and B band and that was his favorite song. (That "whoo-hoo" noise we heard Paul and Miranda making earlier is actually part of the song). In the end, they all bungee-jump off the bridge in unison with the song playing in the background.