Starters

Callie goes to Institution 37 and pretends to donate clothes. She gives a girl she meets inside a cashmere sweater and learns it’s Sara, who isn’t outside with the other kids doing labor because of her heart condition. Sara tells Callie she’s excited because Prime is coming to choose beautiful kids to give them better lives. Callie is worried and thinks about hitting Sara to ruin her face and her chances of getting taken by Prime. Mrs. Beatty, a security leader at the institution, comes in and snatches the clothes, including Sara’s new sweater. Mrs. Beatty leads Callie to meet with the head of the institution who can help her arrange a proper donation, but Helena urges her to go. Callie walks out with the confidence of privilege and realizes just how horrible it is for the kids who are trapped there.

Madison calls Callie because she wants her to pick up the things she left at her place, and Callie goes to Madison’s. Madison wanted to show her that Blake is on TV with Senator Harrison’s announcement at the White House about the new Special Circumstances Youth Employment Act, which will allow select teenagers to work for a list of special companies. Callie wonders if Blake hates her for everything, but she sees he has clipped the whale charm from her shoe onto his tie. She has hope that he still cares about her.

After the announcement, Madison gets a notification from Prime on her TV. Callie encourages her to watch it. It’s an exclusive message for Titanium Premium Prime subscribers only. The Old Man in a strange 3-D mask of pixels with a modulated and unsettling voice announces the new permanency program, which will allow Enders to inhabit Starters forever. Callie reacts strongly, and after talking through it, Madison agrees that it’s horrible.

Helena and Callie talk in Callie’s head about how horrible the permanency program is. Helena starts saying things that don’t make sense. She tells Callie to run and goes silent. Callie knows Helena is dead. Callie speeds away from an SUV pursuing her. She goes to Helena’s mansion to get her gun. She uses Helena’s navigation history to see if there are any clues. She recognizes a name in the system, Redmond, as someone Eugenia, the maid, told her called for her earlier. She goes to the address, a warehouse, and finds Redmond, a nerdy old scientist. He’s upset that Helena is dead because they’ve known each other for a long time. Redmond helps Callie turn off the tracking temporarily with a metal plate covered by her hair, but he can’t take the chip out altogether because it’s wired like a bomb to protect the property of Prime Destinations. Redmond tells Callie about a box Helena left for her that unlocks with her fingerprint if a time comes where she needs access to her chip’s modification information.

Blake calls Callie and wants to meet her for food. She finally tells him everything. He listens, but he says it’s a lot to process. He will let her talk to his grandfather the next day at the ranch to try to get him to change his mind. Callie sleeps in her car and gets a message from Lauren. She meets with Lauren (who is still in Reece’s body), and she tells Lauren the truth, that she’s not Helena. Lauren is so shaken up by the deception and news of Helena’s death that she tells Callie she doesn’t trust her and leaves. Callie leaves too, and across the street, she sees Michael.