Touch Season 1 Episode 4 “Kite Strings”

30 01 2013

(I got behind in the spring on these recaps. With Touch returning Friday, February 8, I thought I’d catch up).

Martin (Kiefer Sutherland) receives a letter from the chief medical examiner presumably about his wife’s remains at the World Trade Center. He looks over at the red kite, picks it up and leaves.

The newspaper says that the TriState Lotto winner was costing them $140,625 a week having not claimed the prize. He won $190 million. (I should be an editor–if you look closely enough you’ll see that the newspaper article repeats twice).


Flash to the First Congregational Church of Lynchburg where Randall Meade (Titus Welliver) reads the marquee, “You have questions? He has answers.”

Jake (David Mazouz) is narrating in the background that we are always waiting for messages. He poses that if we have not received a message, it might be because we haven’t listened hard enough.

At the center, Martin tells Clea (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) said that they have not yet identified his wife’s remains (Fact: 40% of the victims in the WTC have never been identified). Martin regrets not being there for Sarah and Jake because he thought he had all the time in the world. He wants to take Jake to the cemetery and Clea approves. Jake runs to Bobby Aresa (Kiko Ellsworth) at Sarah’s grave with his kite in hand. Bobby was a bike messenger and knew Sarah from the WTC and they became friends. Sarah Bohm was born on 4/3/1970. (I don’t know if that is significant but thought I would write it down). Jake looks down at his dropped red book with combinations of 9-5 with varying decimal points.


Martin looks as the clock on his cell phone changes to 9:50. Jake releases the kite. Jake is wearing a red shirt, too. Jake and Martin follow the kite. Eventually they come to an intersection where we see “checks cashed 9.5%“. Jake crosses the street.



All the way around the globe in Iraq, we see Tarik (Wesam Keesh) and Abdul (Shak Ghacha) who we have met in previous episodes. Band practice is at 9:50 p.m. The US soldiers hire them to play at the base. Abdul excitedly lets First Lt. Laura Davis (Sprague Grayden) know when her convoy follows.


Back in Lynchburg, Randall Meade observes a very unconfident preacher. He tells the congregation to open to Luke 9 chapter 5. “And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” In historical context, the passage is about when armed with the power and authority that Jesus himself had been displaying, the 12 disciples are now sent out to continue the work that Jesus had been performing throughout Gallean ministry. Randall tells Pastor Steve (Josiah Early) that “he has answers” is a bunch of crap.

There is an ad on a subway sign that says Citrus O has only 270 calories and is 99.5 degrees in the shade.


Another sign says, “Construction on Ninth Street; expect a half-hour delay.”


Jake walks into the apartment building to door “65” that turns into “95” after a ball hits the door at the precise moment he is there. It’s Bobby from the cemetery. Martin asks him if 9.5 or 9-1/2 means anything to him.


Jake walks into the apartment. Bobby’s daughter’s name is Sarah.


In Iraq, the two military vehicles get hit by IEDs and the soldiers are under fire. An injured Laura pulls a squadmate out of the vehicle and gets away from the scene.


Jake seems attracted to the red roses on the table as Bobby shares his memory of Sarah with Martin. He knew that the WTC would come down as he felt the instructions to go back into the offices was wrong. He has been feeling guilty for not going after Sarah.


Pastor Steve shares how the church has stayed in the family and the plans his father had for expansion. He tells Randall that he had plans to go up to New York and follow his girlfriend (which turns out to be Laura). Randall shares his story about what happened with Sarah. He also shares about his background in construction work growing up. Steve asks him if he could look at something in the basement. As they walk down the stairs, they fall in and get locked in.

Tarik’s band, Deep Lightning, is using an amp, a RichterVox Model 95-A, but they want to make sure they don’t exceed the safety level of volts.


In the background is a poster of Andrew James who is a famous bass player. (Yes, I notice this stuff).


They ask King Roadie (Joshua Leonard) who types in 50 volts. King Roadie apparently keeps his old instruction sets in a red suitcase.


The soldiers are asked to give their sit-rep 9-5. They still cannot locate the two injured soldiers.

Jake goes into a room in Bobby’s apartment, locks the door and climbs out to the fire escape. He goes after the red kite. King Roadie’s girlfriend is startled by Jake at the window (Jake had changed the satellite signal where the red kite was caught). The girlfriend falls back, a pen drops on the keyboard and 50 volts gets changed to 950 volts.


Jake reaches for the kite. Martin realizes that Jake wants Bobby to help him get it. Bobby catches Jake before he falls. Martin tells him that in saving Jake, his debt he felt to Sarah was repaid.


Over in Iraq, 950 volts makes for quite a light display and it lights up a particular transformer where the two soldiers are. Their coordinates were 3-0-9-5. (Look in the right corner of my screen. There are 9:59 minutes left of the show–LOL).


Bobby remembered how 9-5 was significant in his life with Sarah. It was the last session with Sarah. Sarah was tutoring him to help him get his GED so he could better provide for his family.

Pastor Steve talks to Laura who is not sure if she will make it, but wanted him to know that something he said to her helped save her squadmate. He tells Laura he has been given a sign to move on with his life. He plans to go to Germany to be with her. Randall thinks his question has been answered, too.


Back at the apartment, Martin looks in Sarah’s appointment book where he sees B.A. (Bobby Aresa) in her 9/5/2001 appointments. He also finds a receipt to Thomas Brothers Jewelry. He goes there. They held onto the wedding ring that belonged to Sarah. She was having it engraved with 1 + 1 = 3.




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