Adelle, in between sticking her entire face into a fishbowl-sized glass of whatever brown distilled liquor she favors, has informed Topher of what he needs to do to Sierra. Given what we've learned about Topher's attachment to Sierra (which makes him picking her for his "birthday present" more poignant) it's no surprise that he argues the point, but when he opines that Claire never would have done this, that only prompts Adelle rather nastily to take out some of her frustrations on him by pointing out how much she hated him. Deflated, Topher sits down and asks how she can expect him to do this, and after a long pause, she says he has to. "The cold reality is that everyone here has been chosen because their morals have been compromised in some way. Everyone except you." She gets a small smile on her face as she approaches him and caresses his face: "You, Topher, were chosen because you have no morals. You have always thought of people as playthings. This is not a judgment; you always take very good care of your toys. But you're simply going to have to let this one go." When she said this, I thought Adelle knew exactly what she was doing, that she was surreptitiously spurring Topher to her desired end while, knowing that her actions and even words are probably being closely monitored at the moment, maintaining plausible deniability about whatever is to come. However, her later phone call to Boyd belies that idea, which I find a little disappointing. I guess she really does not want to find out about that retirement plan. Anyway, Topher looks at her like he's begging her to take it back or at least soften the assessment, but nothing further is forthcoming. Which: Ouch.

Sierra and Victor are sitting and holding hands in the atrium as Topher approaches, looking and sounding shattered, and tells her it's time for her treatment. She happily gets up, but when she asks Victor if he'd like to come with her and he readily accepts, Topher kiboshes the idea. Victor apologizes and says he'll wait for Sierra right there, which I'm sure is only going to further break whatever's recently formed of Topher's heart. Another great performance by Fran Kranz this episode, by the way.