Jax can barely sleep. He can’t focus in school. He can’t keep food down. His parents take him to the doctor, and he bends the doctor into saying he has a 24-hour flu. Jax keeps getting worse. Tommy props him up during school. He just needs to make it past the election. At school, he is hit with a wave of blowback and falls down the stairs. He blacks out.

Jax wakes up in the hospital hooked to an IV. At least he can get nutrients. He turns on the TV and sees that exit polls indicate a Douglas landslide. Jax feels responsible. He realizes he needs to talk to Axel Braintree, the one person who sees through Dr. Mako. He escapes from the ER and runs to the laundromat. One of the other Sandmen lends him a phone, and Braintree rushes over.

Jax tells Braintree everything, including how the blowback is hurting him. Jax brings Braintree home to try and reverse the suggestions of his parents. Braintree hypnotizes Ashton while Jax hypnotizes his mom. Braintree comes out of the link and tells Jax that Mako’s suggestion is too deep and interwoven in his father’s sense of self.