With just three episodes left, Tom Swift has started to set up its endgame as the team races to save Isaac. With allies turning into enemies and buried feelings surfacing, Tom will need all the help he can get to beat The Road Back. Find out what happened in “…And the Book of Isaac”!
My Past Just Crossed My Future
In his coma, Isaac has hallucinations of the past. He’s at a cookout talking to a friend as a hooded intruder rushes the gathering, shouting Barton Swift’s name. Isaac tackles the man and saves Barton, but he’s unable to stop the man from running away. Barton introduces himself, and once Isaac shares his background as a former Army Ranger, Barton offers him the job as the Swift bodyguard.
Isaac meets Lorraine as the family prepares to head to church. Lorraine cheerfully offers for him to accompany them, but Isaac deflects by saying that church isn’t for him. Barton asks Isaac to check on Tom, who is supposedly hard at work on a “special project” but is actually throwing an absolute rager of a party in the observatory. It’s decidedly not Isaac’s scene (Barclay: “Your full time vibe killer has arrived … womp, womp”). Turns out, Tom has run off all of his other bodyguards with his wild ways, but Isaac sets himself apart by shutting down the party immediately.
Isaac: Put some damn clothes on.
Partygoer: It’s fashion!
Isaac: It’s Sunday. You should be praying instead of twerking. What the hell you got on?
Two weeks later, Tom flirts with an oblivious Isaac by asking him to teach him how to fight. Tom finds a watch he thought was stolen inside the couch cushions, prompting Isaac to tear him a new one for his cavalier attitude towards an item that is worth a year’s income for most people. He shares that his friend Keke is stuck in jail because she can’t make bail for a crime she didn’t commit, and that if he had $50,000 lying around, he could help her. “But you’ll never know a pain like that.” Tom attempts to empathize by asking Isaac for his info so he can casually Venmo him the money, but Isaac tells him he doesn’t want charity from Tom. Tom can’t comprehend a world in which money is not the only criteria for friendship and arrogantly says he must have misheard Isaac’s “thank you,” claiming that he has plenty of friends and that none of them get arrested.
Isaac has had it with Tom’s antics and gives him some tough love: “You surround yourself with little boys in underwear who just want to have some free drinks, take a picture with Tom Swift, and maybe steal a few souvenirs.” He quits, with Tom offering him a raise to stay. He refuses, but Tom convinces him to stay for a game of spades with him and Lorraine.
Lorraine playfully banters with Isaac, who worries as she talks more and more about church. He asks if she feels comfortable playing spades with “someone like me,” revealing that his childhood church kicked him out for being trans. Lorraine says she believes in a higher power, but that anyone who uses religion as an excuse for being transphobic are “missing the point of Jesus.” Tom sweeps in with Zenzi, who meets Isaac for the first time. They play spades, and Tom loses.
Isaac is set to leave, having won Tom’s watch in the game. But when he meets Lino and finds out Tom is notoriously bad at spades, Isaac realizes Tom purposely bet the watch so he could use the money to bail out Keke. Tom and Zenzi ask Isaac to stay, and he does.
Mother Like Mine
Lino goes to Lorraine to let her know about what happened to Isaac. She’s still digesting the news that Barton is alive, and she worries about what The Road Back is plotting. Lino didn’t know Isaac was fired and lashes out at Lorraine, but just then the electricity cuts out and traps them in the house — unable to reach Isaac.
Tensions rise, and Lino accuses Lorraine of being weak and not telling him the truth about his mother. She tells him that his mother is not telling him the whole truth but holds back from revealing the scale of her past neglect to protect his memory of her. Lorraine calls him privileged and notes that she is the one who has raised him along with Barton, breaking down at the idea of him slowly dying alone. Lino’s not in the mood for forgiveness, but his anger serves a useful purpose. His powers surface, allowing him to open the panic door as a shocked Lorraine watches.
She asks why he didn’t tell her sooner, and Lino admits he didn’t want to worry her. She says they will figure this out together in their first moment of true connection since the gala.
Afraid of Everyone
We open on Isaac unconscious on a table while Zenzi and Tom search for an antidote to the poison currently killing him. Barclay shares that his last location was at Rowan’s apartment and that Rowan knew about the capsule piece. The Swift family doctor advises not to move Isaac, or they could cause a stroke. In the worst case of timing ever, Quinn calls to let Tom know that Eskol and Rowan have arrived. Tom wants to dive right into saving Isaac, but Zenzi points out they need to keep up appearances. She will take on Eskol while Tom goes to the lab to find the antidote for the poison.
The duo meet with Eskol, who brought Susannah Robb with him. While Tom takes Rowan on a side quest to get information from him, Zenzi and Susannah talk business. Tom threatens Rowan, who informs Tom that he wasn’t the one who poisoned Isaac. But he did get some intel from Eskol: Tom was the true target of the poisoning. The two chemicals they need to save Isaac have mysteriously disappeared from the lab. They’ll need to use the employees’ personal medications.
Zenzi keeps ducking away to take calls about Isaac, which Eskol notices. He attributes it to the disastrous way their date ended. He lies about his whereabouts for the past few days as Tom swoops in, pretending there’s a heating emergency to get everyone to evacuate (“Barclay, commence operation Hot in Here”). Barclay sets off the alarms while singing “Hot in Here” (bet you never thought you’d hear national treasure LeVar Burton singing Nelly), and everyone leaves the building. Everyone, that is, except Quinn, who claims they like the heat.
Once Zenzi kicks them out, she tries to get Barclay to turn the heat off. But the doors lock around her as the room fills with smoke. Someone is targeting her, too. She passes out from the heat, but Eskol notices and rushes to help. Smashing the glass, he gets her outside to safety. He’s smooth, checking in on her and even hitting her with a cheesy pickup line. He gives her a copy of the essay collection The Fire This Time, circling his favorite essay titled “Cracking the Code.” He leaves as she notices that he has underlined certain letters in the essay.
Rowan and Tom search for substitute chemicals while Tom takes his shirt off (you know, because of the heat! No other reason!). Rowan calms Tom enough to help him make the correct formula for an antidote to help Isaac (shout out to the writers for mentioning Tom’s PrEP). Tom sends the antidote off with Barclay in drone form, but Rowan stops it from taking off when Tom goes to check on Zenzi. Rowan shouldn’t be able to stop the drone, but he has an override code. He adds a drop of his own blood to the drug cocktail before allowing Barclay to fly to Isaac — but why?
Barclay arrives with the antidote for Isaac, and Lorraine administers it. Isaac wakes up to Tom by his side. They move in close before Zenzi rushes in, interrupting the moment. Lorraine admits she was wrong to fire Isaac and tells him that he’s a part of their family. Isaac agrees, saying there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
Tom analyzes the antidote. The drug shouldn’t have worked that well, and he realizes Rowan’s blood was the secret ingredient. Barclay shuts down due to Rowan’s meddling, and Isaac has a powerful flash of memory. The hooded man trying to take down Barton at that picnic all those years ago was Rowan. Zenzi shares that the highlighted letters in Eskol’s book spell “cotillion,” and the trio realizes that when Isaac was masquerading as Tom, that was when The Road Back tried to poison him. They realize the waiter who used the poison works for Eskol as Tom vows to get revenge.
Eskol meets with the man, and it is revealed that they had one more collaborator: Susannah Robb. Their visit today was to give her an excuse to hack into the Swift Enterprises database, and she wants to keep Tom alive for now based on the tech he’s developing. Susannah was the one who tried to kill Zenzi, knowing that she was a distraction for Eskol. She also reveals that she kidnapped the Swift family doctor and makes him an offer: take care of the doctor, and she’ll make sure Zenzi is safe. Eskol kills the man while Susannah secretly films the whole thing.
Tom Swift airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. You can find the rest of our coverage of the series here!
