"Wired" is the two-part season 2 premiere of The Zeta Project.
Plot
Part 1: The NSA is catching up to Zeta and Ro. Bucky is trying to communicate with them when his transmission is interrupted. Ro and Zeta are rescued by three hackers, Meg, Plug, and Buss. They all seem to be fans of Zeta, and Buss has an obsessive crush on Ro. Meg and Plug convince Zeta to allow them to take him apart and see how he works, and in exchange they will help him find Dr. Selig. Ro is reluctantly taken to Buss's house. Bucky manages to message Ro, warning her that Meg and Plug want to use Zeta for parts. Ro escapes to save Zeta, and Zeta repairs himself while Ro drives one of the hackers' motorcycles. The motorcycle runs out of power, the NSA captures Zeta, but Ro is saved by Buss. She is informed that the NSA plans to erase Zeta's memory.
Part 2: Following from the previous episode, Zeta has been captured by the NSA and taken for reprogramming. Ro tries to find him and tracks him to a government warehouse, where she calls Bucky. He refuses to help out of fear that he is being tracked, so she breaks in herself. Inside, Bennet and the other agents discover a module in Zeta's head that was not on his schematics. They erase Zeta's memories as he struggles to hold on to what he can. Then, they attempt to alter the module. Zeta sees them as hostile targets and breaks free, beginning to destroy the warehouse. Bennet asks Ro to reveal Zeta's position, but she refuses, defending him over the intercom. Zeta hears her speak and is able to access his saved memories. Zeta and Ro escape. Zeta expresses concern over the module in his head and the fact that he has no idea what it does, but it caused him to behave violently. Ro consoles him, telling him that "Everyone has good and bad inside them", and that it makes him more human.
Continuity
- As a result of the events of "Absolute Zero", Dr. Selig has been moved into protection. Bennett is still curious about what Selig was up to and asks Zeta about it.
- The purpose of the module in Zeta's head is revealed in "The Hologram Man"
- Buss refers to a time Zeta made Ro a weapon in a factory in Detroit, something not depicted on the show.
- At Meg's place, a movie poster is hanging featuring Adam Heat (from "Hicksburg").
- During the interrogation, Zeta morphs into people he has morphed into before: the Asian man in Fenton Botanical Gardens in "West Bound", Roland De Fleures in "The Next Gen" and Miss Martel in his premiere episode on Batman Beyond in the episode by the same name, Agent West and the elderly lady on the train in "West Bound". Later, he also morphs into Sheriff Morgan in "Hicksburg", Krick in "Taffy Time", Nelson Arroyo in "His Maker's Name" and Eli Selig in "Absolute Zero".
Background information
Home video releases
Production inconsistences
- When Zeta is being dissected the second time, his leg has been removed. When it comes time for him to escape, it's suddenly back on him.
Trivia
- This is also the only 2-parter episode of the show.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Diedrich Bader | Zeta NSA Agent (uncredited) Drycleaner (uncredited) |
| Julie Nathanson | Rosalie "Ro" Rowan |
| Kurtwood Smith | Agent Bennet |
| Michael Rosenbaum | Agent West Dummy synthoid (uncredited) |
| Dominique Jennings | Agent Rush |
| Blayn Barbosa | Bucky Buenaventura |
| Paul Amendt | Plug |
| Amy Danles | Meg |
| Googy Gress | Buss |
| Jim Wise | Dr. Byrne |
| Vanessa Marshall | VidPhone Operator Female synthoid (uncredited) |
| Larry Cedar | Gate Guard Scientist (uncredited) |