Episode 40 -
For once, Chief is monitoring the team from the Command Center (Cody's over at a scooter race).
Blades is using his toy's Energize hook tool.
The scooter race is a Lad Pioneers event.
A garbage truck knocked Cody off his path in the race and his scooter's malfunctioning.
Chase saved him. Turns out the truck was automated and wasn't supposed to intersect with the race. So, combined with an earlier fire sprinkler malfunction, and a car swerving off the road, there seems to be a series of glitches in the town's automated utilities.
Mayor Luskey blames the central computer for these incidents, calling it outdated and such. He's wanting to replace it with a new model that has just arrived.
The new model is so new that Griffin Rock will be the first town to ever test it. I guess it's another development of the government.
The new central computer will be able to control not just some, but ALL of the technology on the island. Knowing this town, that does not sound comforting, Luskey.
It is called "The Vigilant Computer", or "Vigil" for short. And it talks.
The Burns siblings are a bit skeptical about the Vigilant, but Chief is fine with it if it means keeping everyone safe, since their calls have been getting more and more dangerous lately.
Cody drives Rolling Thunder to the lab to watch Vigil's activation.
Doc had Vigil's mainframe set up in the lab's secure basement. Frankie mentions the security system that all the lower levels have. A Chekov's Gun, perhaps?
The mainframe was put into a vault in case intruders get past the sonic cannons. Frankie mentions Morocco as an example of such an intruder.
Since the Vigilant is an experimental prototype, Doc wants to test it before putting it online, but the Mayor is impatient and boots it up all the way.
Vigil knows everyone who's in the room with it as it has access to everyone's personal files. It also tracks everyone's mobile phone signals to know each person's position.
Vigil really does have control over everything. After Don ran yet another red light, Vigil brought Don's car to a halt just as Chief and Chase began their pursuit.
Vigil took possession of a window washing bot to catch the runaway hover stroller of Elsie, Mrs. Rubio's baby girl.
Vigil has come to realize that it is somehow unable to take control of the Burns's rescue vehicles, and is therefore keeping them out of the junkyard to prevent from putting their lives at risk (there's a fire in the junkyard that has spread to nearby propane tanks).
Jerry is near the tanks, unconscious. However, Vigil detects Jerry as being at his home and doesn't believe the others when they can see the man on the ground right before their eyes. So he's keeping everyone out of the junkyard.
So, what's the team's response to this? They go in, of course! Vigil obviously hasn't been prepped for deal with Autobots before.
Dani and Blades got Jerry while the others took care of the fire and propane tanks. No thanks to Vigil.
Vigil didn't detect Jerry because Jerry had left his phone at home. Vigil had not accounted for this oversight either. Vigil says that it will inform the mayor to make it a mandatory for all people to carry communication devices on their person 24/7, which Chief states is unrealistic.
Cody beseeches Vigil to work with them in keeping the town safe, rather than against them. But Vigil disagrees since it cannot control their rescue vehicles. To Vigil, in a vigilant town, there can be only one voice: Vigil. Therefore, the Burns family must submit themselves to Vigil or else.
Back at the firehouse, everyone discards all of their communication devices upstairs and heads into the bunker to discuss the situation with Vigil.
After giving Doc a call to "fix" Vigil, Doc tries to do so, but Vigil is already onto him and deems him and Frankie a security threat. Vigil possesses Dither and threatens to electrocute the Greenes if they do vacate this level in ten seconds.
And now Doc and Frankie are trapped in the freight elevator.
Wait a sec. The Burnses are all wearing their communications devices again. Shouldn't they still not want Vigil to listen in on them?
Boulder: "I guess those mowers are meant to keep us from leaving."
Chief: "Vigil, explain yourself!"
Vigil: "The Rescue Team remains outside of my control, and therefore is deemed a security threat."
Kade: "Whatdja just blow a fuse?!"
Dani: "You
cannot keep us here!"
Graham: "This isn't safety, this is tyranny!"
Vigil: "I am forced to implement more severe restrictions in order to reach a 100% safety rating."
Ha. They gotta roll to the rescue via the underground tunnels, which Blades complains about their narrowness.
Vigil has confined everyone to their homes to keep them all safe, and Huxley is secretly reporting on the scene outside of his home. but since his camera is a communications device, Vigil will undoubtedly notice him all too soon.
Yep. Though, it was a security bot that spotted Huxley rather than his own camera.
The Team drove to an underground level beneath the lab's basement, which Graham states is the second subterranean level of the lab (the team is currently below the third level).
"Power Up and Energize!" Heatwave's using his toy's dual water guns, which Kade referred to as a "fire extinguisher". But Heatwave has some kind of surprise with it: A smokescreen, which he uses to unveil laser tripwires on the third level.
They get past the lasers by climbing over them, holding onto the overhead pipe system.
They've reached Doc and Frankie in the elevator, but it time to go face Vigil. Here we go.
Nice! They tricked the sonic cannons into blasting the vault door open.
With the master switch overridden by Vigil to prevent sabotage, the Bots resort to the most basic solution of all: VIOLENCE! They start and whacking and pounding and smashing and slamming at Vigil's console and structure, but Vigil reacts violently its own way by eletrocuting the Bots as a warning. If they don't leave in ten seconds, Vigil will fill the whole room with an electrical surge.
However, Cody finds a flaw in Vigil's singleminded logic: There are humans inside the Bots, and if Vigil harms them, that mean he will fail to keep them safe. This causes Vigil to malfunction, realizing that his directives are conflicting in this case, as he is programmed to protect both humans and himself, but cannot do so in this case without harming one or the other (Protect Vigil = harm humans, Protect humans = harm Vigil). His logic board overloads and is shut down completely.
Heh, Heatwave's making sure that Vigil's down for good by punching at the console some more.
And the Burnses go hover scooter racing through downtown.
The mayor has insisted that the central computer be re-installed and updated, while Vigil is tossed into the Beam Box and sent to the Island of Misfit Tech... why does that not sound comforting?
GASP! Vigil reactivates on the island... and dons a Decepticon insig--PSYCHE! The Con symbol seen in this video was edited into it by the uploader. There was no Con symbol in the actual episode. Wonder how many fell for this gag.
Lacey Chabert voiced Mrs. Rubio
Bill Mumy voiced Vigil
As an expected homage to HAL 9000 of
2001: A Space Odyssey, this episode delivered. Vigil worked as a new antagonist who isn't villainous but a well-intended extremist. Just goes to show that there can neither be an extreme of 100% safety nor an extreme of no safety at all. It kinda reminds me of Beast Machines in that no one extreme can dominate the other, but a balance of harmony must be reached. As Vigil worked to maintain full security, he completely underminded what he initially set out to do, ultimately bringing about what Megatron has thus far failed to: "Peace Through Tyranny." Even though Vigil was bested, he's not down for the count, and now has access to a whole island of lethal, chaotic technology for him to take control of. I don't know what, if anything, is to come of this, but between this cliffhanger, Morocco getting what he wanted from the Isolda, Madeline Pynch working to enhance her machinations against the Rescue Bots, and Optimus's forboding message last time we saw him, this season could be building up to something big.
-blowing plot twist at the end.
whoops. Missed that. Okay. Now I can squeal happily away. 
