The fifth episode of The Last Frontier commences with Kira being rescued by a Native in the wilderness, her body chilled and her state unsettling. She is brought to the tribe and given the necessary care, for the moment safe from harm. Meanwhile, Frank and his companions embark on a frantic search for the courier, while Havlock plays his games of taunts over the phone. The group scrambles to trace the call, but Havlock insists on speaking with Frank personally, off-speakerphone, about his "secret." In exchange for his silence, he poses a question: can Frank be trusted? Frank replies with a simple "yes," but his deliberation buys them enough time to trace the call back to a locale called Klondike Lodge in Parks Highway, specifically room 130.
However, Frank's attention is torn when he learns that Kira has been found and Luke is missing. Sarah is frantic to find their son, and our titular character rushes over to see Kira to ascertain what has happened. Kira is awake, and Frank shows her mugshots of the other escaped inmates until he finds the right one. Unfortunately, Luke is stuck with a dangerous man named Romero, a clinically paranoid and criminally insane individual.
Romero knows that Luke won't shoot him in the wilderness, and unfortunately, he takes Luke hostage. Romero manages to steal a salt truck and takes off with Luke, claiming they have "work to do." It would appear that Romero has a deep-seated vendetta against DARPA, where he once worked building surveillance tools for them. That is, until he had a psychotic break and killed several employees.
Romero brings Luke to a substation where they pick up a large metal contraption that causes the substation to have a power outage. Luke and Romero then drive down to a military research laboratory south of their location, their journey fraught with danger and uncertainty.
The police's warning to HAARP about impending danger was met with a lack of concern from the arrogant authorities. They had switched to their reserve battery backup, securely siloed and ready for any eventuality. When the police raided Cabin 130, they found only a dog soaking in the bath and little else. However, Havlock was there, lurking in the crowd, watching Sidney from a distance. He vanished before she could spot him, while the cops inside discovered the Archive.
Sidney was eager to inform Langley about this development, concerned as she was. She believed that Havlock had left the Archive behind for a reason, and suspected it was a Trojan Horse to lure them in. With Thiago's passports (found hidden in the ceiling panels) all being fake and his prints not in the system, it only added to her doubts.
One thing she did realize was that her home was bugged. She spoke to Molly and urged her to stay off the main line. As she hung up, her thoughts were interrupted by Havlock's presence. Without Frank to back her up, Sidney was alone and Havlock made a proposition to her, wanting her to come with him. Given her affection for him, it was certainly tempting, and he even left his handgun behind on the bar.
Meanwhile, in the wilderness, Sarah and Frank clashed over their differing opinions. It turned out that Havlock had given her a SIM card with a recording of the crash on it. Frank was furious that she had kept this evidence from him. Sarah didn't see it that way and believed she was just protecting him.
As Frank navigates the road, his thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the realization that salt is leading in a particular direction. He realizes with a jolt that Luke, using his salt truck, has left a trail for them to follow. However, events at the facility take a turn for the worse. Romero becomes increasingly paranoid as Luke attempts to stop him from causing harm to others, resulting in the machine being smashed to pieces. When Romero pulls out a gun, Luke decides to play along and pretends they're after him, buying himself enough time to stab Romero in the leg and make a quick escape.
Just as Frank and Sarah arrive on the scene, a game of manhunt ensues. The climax comes when Sarah drives her car into Romero, leaving him a twisted and crippled mess on the ground. Despite retrieving their son, the family is fractured, and not the "happy family" they appeared to be in the first episode.
That night, Donnie's memory is honored at the bar, and there's even a silent auction. However, these joyous vibes are shattered when Molly receives a call from Sidney. The FBI has shown up and is grabbing everything. Sidney is furious and calls out to those listening, warning them to keep her family out of this mess.
Inside, Frank is concerned about Havlock's plan and the flight deck recording that seems to be just audio. The Archive doesn't appear to hold state secrets but rather serves as a series of navigational prompts akin to those used in avionics. Frank theorizes that the Courier may not actually work for Havlock but could be on the side of the CIA. The hard drive may not be the actual Archive 6 but malware that brought the plane down initially. The CIA may have intentionally brought down the airliner to kill Havlock.
As Cole pulls Frank aside during a domestic dispute with Sarah (timing couldn't be worse!), they've gone through Romero's videos and realized his plan. The failsafe protocol for HAARP includes a switch that needs to send a signal to the facility when they go into battery backup mode. If that switch isn't there, it'll cause the network to overload with the combined energy of the backup battery and the main power source, causing chaos in the process.
Suddenly, the power goes offline across the town, and things take a turn for the worse.
