Simon and Eugene discuss whether time is a sentient trickster, the ramifications for gambling laws when time travel is possible, and we reminisce about the era of fax machines when mobile phones were as common as jacuzzis.

Episode Synopsis

Jeff Slade, still in the doghouse with Holly Turner, has brought flowers to apologize.  Danny, the building super, stops him before he makes a minor faux pas.  He knows that Turner doesn’t like that particular type of flower and suggests an alternative.  He just happens to have some red roses that were delivered for a tenant currently out of the country.  Rather than let them go to waste, he gives them to Slade for Turner.

Danny is the magic man because, very soon, Slade is more or less back in Turner’s good graces.  He’s still banned from using the time machine, of course, but he’s at least regained lap access, and like the tale of the camel and the tent, he’s got a plan to get his nose in further.

Slade wants to solve Turner’s money problems by using the time machine to return in time and give Turner tonight’s lottery numbers.  Turner says, “You didn’t give me the numbers today, so this already hasn’t worked.”  Against her better judgment, she lets Slade try, sending him and the lottery numbers back in time.

Slade’s working hypothesis is that he cannot buy the lottery tickets, nor can he return to the present with the ticket. Instead, he must give the information to someone currently existing in the past timeline, and they can buy the ticket.  As Slade has spent the entire day in a police training session, he was not in the office, did not interact with anyone, and has a free hand to move about without fear of encountering himself.

First stop, Turner’s office, but she’s not there. He starts to leave a note on her whiteboard, but Grissom comes in, see’s Slade, and, since he’s in the office, puts him on an important case, not even giving him time to finish his note.

It’s a big case. A notorious yet unprosecuted criminal mastermind has set his sights on a £3,000,000 gold shipment, and Grissom wants to use it as bait to arrest him.  Slade, Morris, and Nicky are put on surveillance duty across the street from the gold repository.

Nicky has got just the thing Slade needs, one of those fancy new mobile phones, so he borrows it to call Turner, but the battery is dead.  Slade leaves the stakeout to use a nearby phone box, but a woman gets there first before he can make the call.  When he gets fed up and confiscates the phone for “police business,” the alarm at the gold repository goes off before he can connect with Turner, who has arrived at the office and already absent-mindedly erased the partial note Slade left her.

Slade just can’t catch a break; it’s like something is working against him.

The criminal gang has come in from below ground and has made off with the 750 lbs (by weight) of gold on foot.  Slade chases them through the underground tunnels but loses them when they reach the street.  He spots a woman carrying a similar bag to the one used by the gang, so on a long shot, he takes her license plate number down, but let’s face it, that’s a ridiculously long shot.

Back at the repository, the manager is unhappy with the police and especially angered that Grissom used his gold as bait.  Heads will roll – specifically, Grissom’s – and she’s none too happy with Slade, either. He left his post during the stakeout, unmitigated by the fact that they could not have seen or prevented the crime from their stakeout point, nor that Slade was actually closer to the crime and was able to give pursuit because of it.

Slade tries calling Turner from the repository, but the explosions have severed the phone lines, so Slade writes a note and sends it with a courier to hand-deliver to Turner.  Turner is out, however, and the note is left taped to her door.

Nicky has replaced his mobile phone batteries, so Slade tries calling Turner again, this time on her car phone, unfortunately, she passes into a tunnel and loses reception just as they are about to connect.

Slade and Nicky visit the young woman he saw carrying a bag.  It’s just a bag, and it hasn’t got gold in it, but Slade takes it as evidence, anyway.  He also uses their fax machine to send Turner a note, but Turner’s fax machine is out of paper.  

Turner is giving a lecture, so Slade tries going there to give her the lottery numbers, but while he’s trying to locate her in the building, the fire alarm is triggered, and everyone evacuates the building.  Thwarted again.  Slade tries heading to Turner’s office.  She’s still not there, but he finds the note taped to the door and moves it to the desk.

Minutes later, as Turner returns, an evidence tray is placed atop the letter, blocking it from her view.

It’s just a few hours now until Grissom will be forced to resign over this bungled operation, and Slade and the boys are staking out the suspected criminal mastermind, hoping he’ll lead them to the gold.  Their subject has given them the slip, and with a flash of serendipitous inspiration, Slade figures out where the gold is.  

They rush back to the repository, where the gold has been disguised as the masonry bricks that were taken down when the thieves broke in.  They capture the thieves in the act of removing the bricks under the guise of builders cleaning up the mess.

Slade has very little time left and needs to get Grissom off the hook.  He tries one last time to call Holly, but she is in the shower, so in a final act of desperation, he gives Nicky the lottery numbers and asks him to buy him a ticket.

Grissom’s career is saved, Slade makes it back to the time machine without drama, and upon returning to the police station, Slade and Turner are informed that Slade’s ticket is a winner!

…but he’s only won £186 because the unique combination of numbers and Slade’s sloppy handwriting has caused Nicky to read the numbers upside down, resulting in only a four-number match instead of a six-number jackpot.  The winnings will almost pay for the part that broke when they used the machine this time.