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10) Winter Night Phantom

 Dan Dastun is haunted by a recurring dream in which he encounters a woman on a pier. The woman is shot as she turns to face him, and fireworks burst in the sky above. He takes her in his arms, and with tears in her eyes, she says, "Vous êtes si gentil," and dies. He does not recognize these words, or what language they come from. Meanwhile, at a downtown church, people sing hymns led by a local retired dignitary. A tiny robot enters through the floor and expodes, blowing the interior of the church to bits. There's a terrorist loose, and whoever it is, they seem to be targeting retired city officials. Dastun is called in to investigate, and as he surveys the wreckage, he gets a fleeting glimpse of a woman who resembles the one in his dream. As if that weren't alarming enough, a forensic tech discovers unfamiliar leters carved on part of the destroyed bomb. "Fin." Another word that Dastun doesn't recognize, but it still sounds familiar... Later, Dastun is called in front of a Paradigm Group committee. As he leaves his office for the meeting, he bumps into Roger Smith. He brushes Roger off, but first asks him if he knows what the phrase "Vous êtes si gentil" means. Roger hasn't heard it. At Paradigm HQ, Dastun tells the committee that he suspects the perp is a foreigner, a very unusual notion to have. They think it's preposterous. One of the committee sternly tells him, "The rest of the world has been utterly wiped out." "Paradigm city is all that remains of our civilization," adds another. They dismiss him. Alex Rosewater surveys all of this, and then talks to Patricia Lovejoy, his secretary (or Angel, if you prefer). She asks him if everything is okay with the investigation, because of Dastun's contact with Roger. Rosewater assures her that things are still going according to plan-- he isn't worried about the citizens discovering the existence of foreigners. Dastun keeps flashing back to the scene on the dock. It's disorienting for him. The commissioner puts him on paid leave. Dastun grudgingly accepts, and, clad in civilian clothes for the first time in the series, goes to Amadeus to try and relax. Across town, the bomber strikes again. Dastun goes to the movies to try and remember where the haunting scene came from. As he leaves the theatre, he sees the girl who resembles his vision again, and gives chase. But she runs off, leaving only a balloon behind. At the end of his rope, Dastun goes to visit Roger almost without realizing that his feet are carrying him there. Roger, for a change, is sympathetic, and listens intently as Dastun describes the scene to him. He thinks it's from a movie he saw as a small child, before the Event-- his feeling of involvement is probably just him projecting himself into the movie's scene. Dastun returns to duty a few days later. This would be very unusual under norman circumstances, but presumably Rosewater himself asked to have him back on the case. In the meantime, Roger goes to ask Big Ear for information, and talks to some other locals. Oliver Garland, a senior advisor to the justice department, is set to give a speech at an amusement park. Dastun and Roger know that the killer will strike here, and meet beforehand. Roger has some information for Dastun-- the woman was an actress named Sybil Rowen. She starred in one movie, Winter Night Phantom. No prints of it exist anymore, because the govnernment ordered them to be burned 30 years ago. At the same time, the city founders (under then-chairman Gordon Rosewater) expelled anyone who was suspected of sedition or anti-government sentiments. Rowen was against the government, and to prevent her from becoming a glamorous symbol of anti-Paradigm sentiment, she was tossed in prison for the rest of her life. But Roger also had heard that Rowen was from another country. As Roger and Dastun split up, pandemonium ensues. A giant version of the tiny robot from earlier comes out of the harbor and attacks, and Dastun suddenly makes a connection with his own mysteryious Sybil Rowen look-a-like; he ends up chasing her speeding balloon truck away, towards the harborfront. Meanwhile, Rosewater watches the robot advance on the amusement park, and comments that the crude act of vengance is appropriate for a "pathetic foreigner". For just an instant, Angel's eyes flash angrily at his remark. Dastun's chase ends at a rickety pier-- just like in the movie. And a girl, who just like Sybil Rowen. Just like in the movie. He's thunderstruck. Meanwhile, the robot prepares to attack, and is stopped by the Big O. But Roger's in a delicate situation. The robot is packed with explosives, and seems to be just trying to reach the crowd of civilians so it can explode. He gamely tries to hold it back. Dastun approaches the girl. He asks who she is, and she replies that she is a phantom. "I am the one who can grant eternal sleep to an accursed past." She holds the robot's control device (with bomb detonator) up threateningly. Dastun levels his gun at the woman. He refuses to yield to her, saying that despite her agenda, she's still killing innocents. She raises the detonator... and he fires. The control mechanism is destroyed. This is convenient for Roger; the Big O manages to lift the robot up, and tosses it high into the air, completely destroying it with its eye lasers. Meanwhile, the girl on the pier drops to the ground, critically wounded from Dastun's gunshot. He picks up the dying girl in his arms-- just like from the movie. He's confused and distraught, but she tries to reassure him. "We both did our duty," she says, and adds that she's felt like this would happen to her... for as long as she could remember. Dastun starts crying. She touches him briefly, sheds tears of her own, and before dying, says: "Vous êtes si gentil." Many years ago, a small boy who looks just like Dan Dastun watches the end of Winter Night Phantom unfold. As he watches, engrossed, Sybil Rowen says "Vous êtes si gentil." The subtitles translate it as "You're so sweet." The boy cradles a young girl in his arms... a girl with a balloon. The film ends with the word, "Fin."