'Treadstone' Episode 4 'The Kentucky Contract' sees Doug McKenna learn the truth about his wife
Spoilers ahead for episode 4 of 'Treadstone'...
'Treadstone' episode 4 flits between Doug McKenna (Brian J. Smith) and Stephen Haynes (Patrick Fugit), as two of the many CIA assets who are part of Operation Treadstone deal with the consequences of being activated again. We last saw Doug's wife Samantha (Tess Haubrich) shoot an intruder in their home before he could perform the "clean up protocol" because Doug was not responding to the program. The episode titled 'The Kentucky Contract' also sees CIA agent Matt Edwards (Omar Metwally) decide to find the truth behind operation Treadstone.
Ashland, Florida
The episode started with Doug as he watched his wife Samantha kill the man who had come to his home to possibly kill him. This strange man mentioned something about a "clean up protocol", and just as he tries to pull out his gun, Sam emerges from the shadows with a gun of her own. He addresses Sam as if he knew her, which confuses Doug. Before he could understand what was happening, Sam shoots the intruder dead. When Doug tries to understand how Sam knew the intruder, she feigns ignorance but something is definitely off here and Doug can see it too. It is clear that there is more to Sam than meets the eye. Doug comes to the same conclusion after Sam and he bury the dead agent.
When the two return home, Doug notices a briefcase and he opens it to find a blueprint and a photo similar to the one that he had found in his hands in the Arctic when he woke up with blood on his hands. It is clear that Sam understands what is going on, so when he presses her for an explanation, she finally confesses the truth. She explains to him that he was a CIA asset whose real life was erased from his memories before he was given a cover life. She tells him that Doug was trained to perform his duty without questioning his superiors and so were many others as a part of Operation Treadstone. However, unlike SoYun (Han Hyo-joo) or Nira Patel (Shruti Haasan), Doug doesn't seem to be reacting to these target packages. He isn't pushed to perform his duty, but instead, he does everything the CIA had trained him not to do.
At this point, Sam explains to him that if he were to not perform this mission then there would be more agents who would be sent to either reprogram him or remove him from the equation. She also tells him that even if they were to skip town and leave everything behind, they wouldn't last a week with these guys on their trail. He decides to do what is best for himself and Sam at the moment and gets ready to kill a target at the end of the episode. He doesn't question why...
Washington, DC
Agent Matt Edwards has Stephen Haynes in custody and with the help of Dr. Martin Wells (Finbar Lynch), he hopes to find the person who is waking up the agents embedded across the globe. Haynes is hypnotized by the doctor and when he is under the influence, he begins to remember his life before he was trained to be an asset on Operation Treadstone. He realizes that he is a father to a daughter and he also begins to act out of control as he remembers the subdermal treatment that he received as a part of the program. This is something that we have seen John Bentley go through in 1973, and it was torturous for him. It seems like Haynes goes through the same in his head as he tries to break free. He succeeds, pushes the doctor aside and attacks Edwards. He also takes Edwards weapons and escapes from the facility.
When Edwards comes to again, he realizes that Dr. Wells bled to death after being pushed. He places a call to Ellen Becker (Michelle Forbes), his senior associate who is handling the operation in DC and tells her that the FBI will not be able to handle an asset such as Haynes. He also gives her information about everything that Haynes revealed when he was hypnotized. He also tells her that he is going to contain this by himself, that he is going to track down Haynes himself. It sounds like Edwards is going to hunt Haynes down, but in the end he decides to work with Haynes to find out who really is behind Operation Treadstone.
The next episode of 'Treadstone' will air on USA Network at 10 pm ET on Tuesday.