SL4: I get it! They are going from one extreme to the other! Showing the contrast between how awful the previous world was and how great this one is!

Cyber_Cat: About as subtly as a pipe wrench to the head, but yes. That's what they're doing.

SL4: Cyber_Cat! How are you doing?

CC: Pretty good. I've never been to one of these things, so Tigs dragged me here.

Tigs: Hi. I figured between the two of us, we could claw up this ep pretty good. :-<

TBH: Kewl. Cop a squat.

CAMERA FINDS L.J., the black guy with the machine gun on the previous world. He's at one of the tables engaged in a game of SPEED CHESS.

TBH: I never thought drugs and chess mixed. But it would make for an amusing spectator sport, wouldn't it?

CLOSE ON THE CHESS BOARD

which has a great many white pieces and very few black ones.
Beside the board, we can see all the lost black pieces plus
some money held down by two unopened packs of CIGARETTES.

HTWD: Well, it could be worse, considering they're in prison. They could be playing to see who spoons on the outside.

OPPONENT (BIG JAKE): Give up.

CC: I'm not buying all these nicknames. No one has ever called this moron "Big Jake." "Big Stoopid" I could buy, but not "Big Jake."

BIG JAKE: You're just stalling. It's checkmate in three more moves.

Tigs: This imbecile couldn't see ONE move ahead in Tic Tac Toe! And yet, we're supposed to believe he can tell checkmate from Chex Mix?

L.J. (bluffing): Maybe, maybe not. You never know.

SL4: Never know?? He's taken everything but your Doorman piece and your Meter Maid piece. Knock the >:-#-ing King over!

OPPONENT (BIG JAKE) Yeah, right.

TBH: Face it! You have to spoon on the outside tonight! I know it sucks, but that's the way it is! You lost!

L.J. strains, perplexed and troubled.

HTWD: Dammit Jim! I'm an actor, not a chess player!

His situation is clearly desperate. Then he gapes in amazement as

THE VORTEX APPEARS

just behind his opponent. The opponent turns around to see
what's going on just as Wade tumbles out -- right into him.
She knocks him from his chair onto the ground. Then
Rembrandt lands on both of them. Michele hits the table,
scattering the board and all the pieces. Quinn follows,
finishing the job as he knocks the table onto its side,
clearing the way for a relatively soft landing for Arturo.

CC: Arturo should have made sure the game was over by landing on Big Jake.

L.J. watches with extreme interest as Arturo quickly checks
over the timer to make sure it's okay and then tucks it
carefully into his duffel bag. Everyone is already getting
up and dusting themselves off when Sid is spit out -- just
before the gate closes -- and slams into Quinn, knocking him
down again.

Tigs: Never, never, NEVER leave the bad guy alive when you have him face down on the floor drooling on himself! Fools!

OTHER WITNESSES

nearby are curious and start to approach, but L.J. casts
them a warning glance and they back off.

SL4: Oh yeah. He's really intimidating. He looks like Snoopy. He couldn't even intimidate Mallory!

Immediately, Sid rolls onto Quinn, sits straddling him.

TBH: Hey! Keep your homoerotic fantasies to yourself, scriptwriter!

SL4: I ask you again: did SpaceTime write this?

He whips out

HTWD: He's straddling Quinn and he's whipping something out???? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

a customized, wicked-looking gun from beneath his bush jacket

TBH: <mimicking Quinn> : Whew! It's just a gun.

and pushes the barrel hard against Quinn's forehead, pinning him down.

SID (to Quinn, savoring it) : Get ready...

CC: How exactly does one "get ready" to receive a bullet in the brain?

Quinn's eyes are wide with fear. The other Sliders are
frozen lest Sid pull the trigger.

Tigs: Thanks for the help, guys!

MICHELE: Sid, no! It was Mike!

SL4: So that narrows it down to the 4 million people named Mike. I'm betting on Mike Nelson, you gotta watch that scoundrel every second!

TBH: Hey!

Sid reacts. Apparently he can almost believe this.

TBH: That's good because I can't believe any of this crap.
He turns, looks at her, starts to rise and come towards her.

SID: You filthy bitch!

HTWD: You know, I'm kinda glad they washed Sid's mouth out with soap before they shot this ep.

MICHELE: All we did was talk!

CC: We said things like "Lower! Lower!" "Yes!" And "You want me to wear WHAT?"

MICHELE (off Sid) : Ask Lefty, if you don't believe me.

Tigs: Lefty was there! He filmed everything and changed the Johnny Mathis tapes!

This seems to give Sid pause. Quinn springs to his feet.

SL4: Just some helpful advice, El Sid, CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR ONCE A YEAR! Whew!

MICHELE: I'd've told you last night, but you're so goddamn jealous...

TBH: Man, she's as foul mouthed as he is! Who wrote this, Andrew Dice Clay?

Tigs: "I'd've" ?????? Cussing is not the only verbal crime she is committing! "F" for you, young lady!

The opponent comes to, very groggy.

OPPONENT (BIG JAKE): What the hell happened?

HTWD: The best way to summarize it is that you got porked.

L.J. (hastily): The game's a draw, bro!

CC: That's what he gets for playing chess for money! Nerds and gambling DO NOT MIX!!

Sid turns to L.J. and looks at him, confused.

Tigs: El Sid is confused??????????? <takes smelling salts to avoid fainting.>

SID: I told you to stay in the truck!

SL4: Explaining Sliding to this ignoramus is going to be like explaining the plot of "Wild Things" to a two year old.

L.J.: Wasn't me, pal.

TBH: I was here getting creamed at chess by Big Stoopid.

SID (menacing) : Don't mess with me, L.J.!

HTWD: If you do I'll straddle your face and make you smell my underwear!

L.J. (relaxed, cool): It's not me that's messed up, friend. You see any trucks here?

CC: <mimicking Sid> : Duh, no. So where did you stash the truck? Why did you clean up everything and bring in all these well fed people with clean clothes? You just did it to mess with me, didn't you??

For the first time, Sid looks around and reacts to the surroundings. He glances at Michele who is equally confused.

Tigs: Why do they keep talking about this brain trust being confused? Just tell us when El Sid and El Michele are NOT confused! You'll save a lot of time.

SID: Where the hell is this?

SL4: This isn't Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

L.J. reacts, more certain than ever that something very
special has happened -- and increasingly interested in
taking control of the situation.

TBH: He can't even beat Big Lobotomy Patient at chess! How can he take control of THIS situation?

L.J.: Webb Court. And there's a Custodian around the corner, so if I was you, I'd hide the piece.

Tigs: Well, if I "was you" I would say "if I WERE you" ... but that's just me.

Reacting more to L.J.'s tone than any understanding of the situation, Sid puts away the gun.

CC: If we had any doubt about seeing El Sid at a Mensa meeting, him trusting this weasel puts them to eternal rest.

SID: I know every inch of San Francisco, and this... (indicates the alley) ... ain't Webb Court.

SL4: Well, you're going to be in Judge Judy's court if you don't start acting right.

ARTURO (hushed, to Sid) : It's not your San Francisco. When we came through the... (thinks of a word Sid can understand)

TBH: Boy, THAT'S a tough job! Hmmmmm. Cat?

HTWD: Food?

CC: Blue?

Tigs: No? Bad?

SL4: I know some words he DOESN'T understand. Like "Shower," "shave," "tacky," and "communication."

Arturo: ...tunnel, it took us to a different San Francisco.

HTWD: If the Professor gets this idea across to this simpleton, he should be crowned teacher of the CENTURY!