12 Monkeys boss on that heartwarming reunion

Warning: This story contains major spoilers from Monday’s episode of 12 Monkeys. Read at your own risk!

In an episode that can best be described as the love child of Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow, 12 Monkeys attempted to destroy time travel but instead gained new hope.

In the wake of the near meltdown and the double loss of Dr. Eckland (Michael Hogan) and Ramse’s (Kirk Acevedo) son Sam, Jones (Barbara Sukowa) decided time travel had done more harm than good and charged Railly (Amanda Schull) with going back in time to kill past-Jones and prevent all this from happening in the first place. But it was easier said than done as each time Railly killed Jones in 2020, she and Cole were sent on a loop to relive the day over and over again.

The duo came to realize that instead of destroying time travel, they could give Jones some hope by saving her daughter Hannah, leaving the youngster in the care of Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire) all these years. Jones, meet your daughter — and one of the Daughters — Zeit (Brooke Williams). What does this change mean as the Red Forest storm approaches? EW turned to executive producer Terry Matalas to find out:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Does getting her daughter back give Jones a renewed sense of purpose?

TERRY MATALAS: It offers hope. It was a victory that all of our characters needed: the feeling of hope. They’ve lost so much over the last couple of years that to reunite Jones with Hannah is something everybody needed. Having said that, clearly Cassie and Ramse are in a very dark place and in a different place than Cole. For Jones, though, the mission has to continue. She still has to save the world as they’re on a time clock before time is going to collapse in on itself, but for Cassie and Ramse, they have a new focus, which is the Witness.

Where will that new mission take Railly and Ramse?

Well, they’ll have to learn to trust each other, which is not something that’s easy. They’ll have to get to the root of their issues. In episode 9, they’ll have to go to places in the apocalypse we haven’t seen before, and in some ways, they’re off-book. They’re going rogue. This is not the mission right now. The mission is to stop these storms, find the Messengers, and to save the world, and they are driven by rage, and that’s going to become a major problem for all of our characters.

How does Cole feel about that, especially actually seeing Ramse and Railly working together?

Ramse said it best in episode 4, which is James Cole is loyal to a fault, and Cole’s going to have to come to terms with that, that he’s very loyal to his friends. He’s very loyal to Cassie, he’s very loyal to Ramse, but how loyal are they to him?

In this episode, you say Cole and Railly can never be together. Why? Why do you hate happiness?

[Laughs.] I don’t hate happiness, but they don’t have time right now. They’re on a time clock in that it’s going to get pretty dark before it’s over, so they don’t really have the time that they would need to explore their feelings for each other, but that doesn’t mean it will always be that way.

Can you give Cole and Railly fans hope that you will finally address the elephant in the room?

We will address the elephant in the room. Then we’ll go back in time and re-address it, and then we’ll go forward in time and address it again.

12 Monkeys airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.