Hot Zone Premiere!
The Premise
It’s 1989 and the Ebola virus has arrived in DC and there’s only a hand full of people that are capable of stopping it before it rips through and kills millions.
And the scariest part? It would’ve never been found if it weren’t for Colonel Nancy Jaax (played by Julianna Margulies) a veterinary pathologist in the U.S. Marine Corp.
How it happened
Her co-worker Peter Jarhling (played by Topher Grace) had asked a monkey lab name Hazleton to send them samples if they found any showing signs of SHF, a monkey virus.
But they got a lot more than they bargained for and Nancy knew it right away, but Peter (who seems to be a complete ass) just assumes she somehow messed up the sample.
Taking matters Into her own hands
With her lab assistants, Peter and a guy named Ben Gellis (played by Paul James), thinking she’s paranoid – She enlists the help of Sgt. Kyle Ormon… An officer studying to become a pathologist like her.
Taking him to level 4: The Hot Zone
It’s not all fun and games getting to the lab that holds all the various ‘killer’ diseases held by the military. There are a lot of levels to get through before just putting on a fancy HAZMAT suit.
It was actually very cool that they showed all the precautions they take and not just “throw it on and go.”
Once there, she tests the filovirus she thinks it is and the Marburg virus. But it tests negative for both of them, so she pulls out Ebola Zaire.
But just as she’s about to test it, Ormon let’s her know she has a tear.
And unlike in most shows about viruses – she actually hurries to do protocol.
Not sick…
Though she tests negative for the virus and is let go. She is banned from level 4 by Col. Vernon Tucker (played by Robert Wisdom) for going in with a cut already on her hand.
Not a happy husband
Worried about his wife, her husband Lt. Colonel Jerry Jaaz (played by Noah Emmerich) tries to talk her out of pursuing it. He tries to use the children to make her feel guilty – Which is a total jerk move.
But he does finally gives in.
Getting another sample
Since her samples got ruined by the cleaning in the lab, she goes to Hazelton and is greeted by the lab caretaker Frank Mays (played by Nick Searcy). She asks a number of questions and asks for a sample.
At first he refuses, but she talks him into it and meets her offsite with two dead monkeys.
Following her
As he just brought them in trash bags, she had him follow him in case they thawed and started dripping blood. Good thing she did that because they did start to drain.
When they find out (in the middle of a highway no less) she pulls a hose under his hood so his car looks broken down and runs to the nearest store for garbage bags and bleach.
She’s a good runner because it didn’t take her too long to get there.
When she got back, the clock ticking with an officer pulling up to investigate, they put the dead monkeys in the new trash bags and bleached the blood off the streets just before the officer arrives.
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