The Fourth Season Machine

• • •

by Dorky



Episode U-619: The Way Life Was



Logline: The group return to a world that is all to familiar to Maggie and Remmy, before meeting Mallory and Diana. Maggie soon reveals she was a double whose been sliding with the group, since her husband Quinn Mallory died, along with the slider's Magge in a mine cave in.

Guest Stars: Jerry O'Connell, John Rhys-Davies, and Lane Smith as Richard Gaught

Directed By: Kari Wuhrer

Synopsis: The portal opens in a desert area, the sliders are tossed out, then the vortex closes. As Mallory gets up, he guesses they must of returned to the world where it was 400 years into the future. Maggie soon sees something far away from the group, she realizes it was a small town. The group starts walking towards the area, along with Remmy telling the others they slide in 68 hours. After a long while, the group arrive in to see that the town extends down a mountain. Maggie is more intrigued that the others, she quickly states she's returned home, after all this time. Mallory and Wade are confused, believing Maggie's world blew up by pulsars. Remmy looks back to them, telling them the truth. It seems they (Remmy and Maggie), along with Colin and Quinn slid here. They met Maggie's and Quinn's doubles, who were married, living here as miners. It was also learned that the 2 doubles along with an Arturo double were sliders, and ended up here, when their timer was destroyed. But the day before they were to slide out, an earthquake hit, and their Maggie, along with the other Quinn got caught in a mine cave, and they were gone. Wade asks if they found bodies, but Remmy tells her they couldn't find anyone, since it was too far down with rocks piled up, not likely to have any survivors.

Maggie goes ahead of them, entering a building, she meets with a man called Richard Gaught. He is shocked to see her, so he heads to her, and hugs her, asking when she returned, and Maggie states she returned a half hour ago with new friends. Remmy, Wade and Mallory enter, Maggie turns back to look at the 3, and Richard is glad to see Remmy too, with a handshake. Remmy introduces Wade and Mallory to Richard, explaining he was a friend to help with searching for the others. Maggie asks if Arturo had returned here, since leaving, and Richard told her, Arturo returned 2 months later, to work in the mine, but now, was down the mountain in the city, and would be back within a few hours.

The group head to a local motel, and check in. Maggie decides to head around town, to see if things were the same, while the others sit around in the room. Mallory asks Remmy why Maggie never said anything about this, since it would of been an obvious topic with them being a group sliding. Remmy states that Maggie lost her husband and professor, who ended up leaving, since he couldn't handle what happened, so Maggie felt that it was a good idea to join them, when they lost their Maggie, they just considered that they never slid and just thought to believe she was their real Maggie, until returning here now. Wade finds it odd, thinking an alternate Maggie would of made no difference. Remmy stops her to state that Quinn lost a good friend, and this double felt she could help with the pain.

Maggie soon meets up with Arturo, who has returned in a carriage, along with a big surprise, Quinn and Maggie exiting the carriage. Maggie is shocked and runs to her Quinn, with giving him a hug. The sliders Maggie, who still had dark brown hair, which was shoulder length, is surprised to see her here. The alternate Maggie tells the Maggie that Remmy is here with 2 others.

The 4 head to the motel, to meet up with the sliders. Remmy feels awkward being around Quinn and Arturo again. Maggie was glad to reunite with Remmy, and soon is told of the bad news of what happened, which makes Maggie a little upset. The alternate Quinn tells that he and Maggie managed to survive in the tunnels for a few months, then dug their way out with the shovels they had. Remmy finds it funny that they should of considered waiting, instead of considering the obvious. Maggie states she was shocked to see that her companions left without her, but the alternate Quinn and Arturo made sure she fit into society here. Alternate Maggie pulls the wedding ring from her pocket, and sticks it back on her hand, telling Quinn, she felt in her heart, that he was still alive. The 2 share a kiss, and the sliders Maggie looks at them in a way to upset her. Wade chats with alternate Arturo, asking him if he would ever consider sliding again, then Arturo tells Wade that he knew of what happened to her professor, and felt that going along would be ridiculous, knowing that it wouldn't be the same, then Wade agrees, feeling that she misses her professor too much.

Mallory talks to the real Maggie, asking her if she could except what happened to Quinn, and willing to accept Mallory as the new Quinn. Maggie yells at him, telling him, that Quinn was her world, and knowing that she may never see him again, would be hell. Maggie slaps Mallory, and exits the room, heading into the hallway. Alternate Quinn follows, stopping her from entering the elevator. Maggie begins crying, and Quinn holds her; the other Maggie enters into the hallway, to see whats happening, and knows that her alternate has grown attached to her husband, creating new problems for the group.

Over at an office in town, the following day, Richard is sitting at his desk, talking to someone on the phone. Richard is shocked to see Quinn and Maggie the alternate here, but he tells the person not to worry, that he will take care of them even if he has to kill them himself. Quinn and Maggie enter the office, leading Richard to hang the phone up and telling the 2 it was business. Quinn states that he has plans to return to the mine that caved in, nearly killing him and another Maggie, and go back to work. Richard finds it stupid, since its likely for it to happen again, and it could lead to their deaths. Maggie feels that at least this time, she would be with her Quinn, instead of her double. Richard tells them that if they refuse to stop working, they should work in another mine, so they agree, and exit. Richard picks the phone up, dials a number, the person comes on after a few rings, and Richard tells him his plan will easily work now, since they are accepting to go back into another cave.

Back at the motel, Remmy sits around with his Maggie; they chat about what happened over the coarse of this year, and with saving earth prime. Maggie feels that she may consider staying here, but Remmy tells her that the Quinn we met on this world, will want to be with his wife, and that he probably won't want another Maggie. Maggie tells Remmy that maybe the Maggie alternate, will continue sliding with them, since she may feel that her bond with her Quinn would be gone. Mallory and Wade enter, returning from the enclosed bar on the roof. Wade asks what Remmy and Maggie were doing, and Remmy states they were chatting, getting use to things now. Mallory suggests they head to a cave with Quinn and the other Maggie, to see what type of work they do, but Maggie protests, since it could lead to their deaths. Wade states that it may have been likely that an earthquake occured back when they first landed here and at the time, the land masses were shifting into a a different position, where now it stays in place. Maggie agrees to what Wade states, but figures it always likely that an earthquake can occur, since when they first arrived, nothing was happening until the day of the slide.

That night, as the sun began to set, outside one of the caves, Quinn exits with a few other workers; he arrives to the sliders and his wife. He tells them the mining should be outlawed, since it was hard work, and they almost had a cave-in. Maggie puts on a hard hat, kisses Quinn, and tells him she would arrive back at the house when she and Arturo get done with work in the morning. Arturo soon arrives, he asks Maggie if she was ready to go in, and she was, so the 2 turn on their hand lamps, and enter the cave with the group watching them. Quinn looks back at the sliders, telling them he can't wait to leave this town. Maggie asks Quinn if they could privately talk about something, so Remmy tells her, he along with Mallory and Wade would be heading back to the diner up the mountains. Quinn and Maggie take a seat on the back end of a wagon. Quinn places his hat beside him, and Maggie looks at him, telling him they needed to discuss what happened between them.

Quinn feels that it was lucky they survived, and when his Maggie left, he had someone that resembled his wife and it was to hard to take into consideration that his Maggie may never return. Maggie soon spills her feelings that she had fallen in love with him, and wanting to know if he wants to go to back to his wife, or considers a life with her. Quinn tells Maggie that he enjoyed the few weeks they were lovers, but with his wife back, he feels that it would be right to go back to her. Maggie jumps down from the wagon, Quinn does the same; as Quinn starts walking away, Maggie stops him, and she kisses him, Quinn doesn't pull away, and the 2 make out.

Richard shows up shortly after in a separate wagon. Another man shows up by him, he asks Richard if the stuff was in the back, and Richard tells him it was. The man states that even though Quinn Mallory was around, here somewhere, they still could get his wife and that professor. Richard opens the back of the wagon up, and hands the man a box full of dynamite, then tells him to wait until 9 p.m. then head into the cave, and start placing them around inside, and he would activate the timing devices for detonation with a device from the outside.

Remmy, Wade and Mallory return to the room, Mallory heads to the couch, leaps on, and streches out. Wade takes a seat next to him in a green chair, while Remmy heads to the bathroom. Mallory asks Wade when she thought Maggie was planning on doing. Wade reminds him there were 2 Maggies, but Wade knew which one he was talking about. Wade feels that Maggie may continue sliding with them, but the other Maggie has become attached to them, she may give up her life here for sliding. At Quinn's house, Quinn and Maggie are making out in bed, and they can't seem to stop. Maggie pulls the sheets over them, as they move around, making noises.

Back at the mining site, Maggie and Arturo are digging, Maggie feels its a bit hot in here, so she plans to head outside for a break. Arturo tells her not to waste time, since they had plenty of work to do. Maggie starts walking upward to the elevator, Maggie then continues walking outside, and as she begins to exit, a large explosion occurs, pushing Maggie into the air, knocking her against a large sized rock, and cutting her head. Maggie can barely get up, she yells out that this can't be happening, and needs help. No one is around that she can see, but a few seconds later, Richard appears, Maggie is relieved that he managed to leave this mine before it exploded, but Richard pulls a gun on her, and forces her into a wagon, where the man from before watches her, as Richard drives the wagon off into the darkness.

By the following morning, Remmy, Wade and Mallory arrive to the mine site, they are shocked of what happened, and soon see Arturo's body come up from down below, and carried away on a strecher, but then there was a problem locating people, since there was rock everywhere. Remmy and Wade are a little disturbed, but then wonder about Maggie. Mallory asks one of the workers where Quinn was at, but the worker hadn't seen him. Mallory also doesn't see Maggie, but offers to take a horse, and locate Quinn and their Maggie. Remmy tells Mallory that he knows where Quinn lives, so he would go instead, while the 2 remained behind to help in some way. Remmy arrives at a small shack, with farm equipment around the area, and a large barn and corn field. Remmy pounds on the door, but no one answers, he tries opening the door, and is lucky that it opens. He heads to into the house, and heads to the bedroom, to find Quinn on top of Maggie sleeping. Remmy yells at them to get up. The 2 are shocked to see Remmy, but he states that the mine blew up last night, and Maggie can't be found. Quinn gets upset, he quickly gets dressed, as does Maggie.

At a log cabin, Richard has Maggie tied to a chair by the fire place. He is drinking coffee, with the other guy, both sitting on the couch. Maggie doesn't understand why Richard did that, by trying to kill them. Richard reveals that ever since they arrived here a few years ago, he hasn't had a chance to make the kind of money he wants to survive, since they wanted to stop labor laws. Maggie finds that its a horrible way to die in the mines, and that's why Quinn, her and the professor did something. Richard states that he plans to keep her hidden for a few months, then head to Canada to start over. Maggie refuses, stating she needs to get back to the others so she can slide out. Richard looks at her, and soon figures out that Maggie was giving up her Quinn, so her double could have him. Maggie states that she could tells they were in love, and she would rather slide than be in a weak marriage. Remmy, Quinn and Maggie return to the site, finding people being treated for injuries and dead bodies tossed in a pile. Wade and Mallory join up with them, telling them that Maggie hasn't been found, and that maybe she was around somewhere. Quinn asks where Richard was at, but no one knew of his location, so Quinn decides to head to the cabin, a few miles from here. Remmy and Mallory decide to go, while Wade and Maggie remain behind.

Richard soon looks out the window, to see 3 figures coming in his direction. Richard feels stupid, since Quinn knew where he lived, and knew that Quinn wondered where he was at, since the mine was obvious discovered. The other man asks if he should go out, and hide behind something then start firing; Richard agrees, telling him they all would go out to greet the others.

When arriving at the house, Quinn gets off his horse, and heads to the door, knocking and yelling for Richard. Richard comes out from behind the side of the cabin, with his gun pointed at Maggie's head. Quinn asks what was happening, and Richard tells Quinn of what his plan was to get rid of them, and with Maggie getting in the way, this was a chance to get back at them for arriving here.

Remmy and Mallory soon join Quinn, then the other man exits into the open, holding a shot gun towards them. Quinn tells Richard to let Maggie go, but Richard decides that he wants to kill Quinn instead, so they would have to make a trade off. Maggie is pushed by the gun into her head, to move, to join Mallory and Remmy. Quinn soon is taken hostage, and Richard tells Remmy, Mallory and Maggie that if they try to help, his comrade would kill them. Richard and Quinn disappear back behind the cabin, while the man slowly backs up, keeping his gun pointed at the 3. A gun shot is heard, Maggie quickly tears up, and about to run to Quinn, but she is held back by Remmy and Mallory. Quinn is soon seen in back of the other man, who is then shot in the back and he falls to the ground, bleeding to death. Quinn rushes to Maggie, where they hold each other, and the 2 guys relieved to see Quinn alive. Mallory asks Quinn what he did to not get shot; Quinn takes a picture out from his back pocket, showing Richard in a skimpy red dress with make-up on, and Richard shot himself, knowing he couldn't survive in society, when Quinn could easily publish the picture. The group laughs, then they return to the mine site, where Wade and Maggie are there waiting and assisting medics to bandage injured workers.

By the next afternoon, the group mourns the loss of the professor, and Quinn feels that his mentor died a meaningless death. The group leave the cemetary, which is surrounded by a white picket fence. Maggie chats with Quinn and the sliders Maggie, telling them how she felt, but Quinn finds it stupid that they had a good marriage, until they landed here. Maggie finds that she has been gone for almost 2 years, and she feels that her double has bonded closer as ever to Quinn. Mallory, Wade and Remmy join the 3, and they learn which Maggie will be sliding with them, but Remmy feels bad that he won't be continuing on with the Maggie he started with to continue the journey. The group shares a moment, with saying their good-byes, then they take off, back into the desert for the slide. Remmy opens the portal, Wade is first in, Mallory follows, Remmy stops to look at Maggie, and ask if she was okay, and Maggie shakes her head without saying anything. Remmy leaps in, then before Maggie leaps in, she pulls the wedding ring off her finger, and puts it in her pocket, with a tear coming down her face. Maggie looks back one last time of her world, then quickly slides out, as the portal begins closing.

Executive Producer: Jerry O'Connell




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