S05E04 - Activation

"Activation" is the fourth episode of Season 5 of We Can Fix Pawbert.

Synopsis

Pawbert visits Milton at ZCF for the first time in years and confronts his father about abandonment and isolation. Milton confirms the name Icener and hints at something deeper beneath the city, but Pawbert calls his bluff, walks out on his own terms, and accepts a formal ZSI consultant role.

Plot

In the cold open, a guard tells Milton Lynxley he has a visitor—his son. Milton's composure slips for just a moment before snapping back into place. He adjusts his jumpsuit and whispers a single word to himself: finally. At the ZCF security checkpoint, a tiger corrections officer runs Pawbert through standard procedure and offers a quiet "good luck." In the adjacent observation room, Luther presses his paw against the one-way glass while Nick and Judy sit nearby with a ZSI technician monitoring audio. Luther is tense—he acknowledges that Pawbert survived Milton's psychological attacks during the Clawrence situation, but cornered mammals are dangerous, and Milton has been abandoned by his other children since then. On the monitor, Pawbert enters the visitation room.

Pawbert stops just inside the door, feeling fourteen years old again—standing in his father's study, waiting to be found wanting. Milton watches him through the plexiglass with pale, patient eyes and says his name the way he always has, like a diagnosis. But Pawbert has a pack waiting outside this room, six years of growth, and a life that has nothing to do with the mammal in front of him. He walks to the chair, sits, and addresses his father by his first name. Milton studies the changes—Pawbert's posture is different, straighter, his eyes no longer sliding away—and notes his son works at Reentry Services now, calling it ironic. Pawbert ignores the bait and asks about the polar bear contacts. Milton confirms one name: Icener, from Vladifrostok. Then he demands the price for anything more—full release, a new identity, protection. He hints that the weather walls are just the surface and that something deeper exists, something only he knows about, buried by the Lynxley family a century ago. Pawbert recognizes the pattern: Milton has always made himself seem indispensable by hinting at secrets he may or may not possess.

Pawbert calls Milton's bluff. He confronts his father directly—cataloguing the abandonment, the assassination attempts, the destruction of everything Pawbert could have been. He tells Milton that Cattrick and Kitty escaped during the prison breach and did not even try to take him with them. Milton is alone, and that is what a lifetime of manipulation and cruelty earned him: a cell and silence. For the first time, Milton's composure cracks. Pawbert turns and walks out without looking back.

In the observation room, Luther reaches for him immediately. Pawbert admits he was terrified, and Luther responds that courage is not the absence of fear. Costa, who has been monitoring the feed, connects via screen and confirms the visit yielded useful intelligence: the name Icener, the Vladifrostok origin, and the fact that Milton is playing his own game rather than fully cooperating with the polar bear contacts—meaning the network does not have complete access to whatever Milton knows. Pawbert tells Costa that Milton is bluffing about the deeper secrets, employing his standard tactic of making himself seem essential. Costa agrees but pivots to a different offer: because the network is exploiting old Lynxley infrastructure, Pawbert's knowledge of how the family operated could help ZSI get ahead of them. He offers Pawbert a formal consultant role.

Pawbert accepts with three conditions: consulting only, no weapon and no field operations; he keeps his ZRS job; and if the threat to his pack becomes direct, he walks away with no questions asked. Costa agrees and assigns him to review sealed Lynxley corporate archives. Shaw reports that O'Brian's communications analysis reveals government-grade encryption and a central command structure coordinating the operatives in real time. Costa orders expanded surveillance on all compromised stations and directs the team to reconvene at 0800. As the briefing disperses, Luther tells Pawbert he is proud of him—not for taking the job, but for walking into that room and saying the things he needed to say. Pawbert replies that it took a pack waiting outside the room, and Luther answers simply: same thing.

That evening at Pawthorne Mansion, Luther makes pasta while the pack settles into their kitchen routine. Pawbert, now wearing his green sweater, describes the experience to Nick and Judy: walking through security felt like shrinking, like every step was taking him backward, but once he sat down and watched Milton perform his usual manipulations, he could see them for what they were—theater without substance. The conversation drifts to easier things: Nick's upcoming detective exam, Judy's current case, whether to fix the squeaky back staircase step. The domestic normalcy is the point—this is what fourteen-year-old Pawbert never had, and what Milton will never understand. Judy captures the philosophy: pack shows up, and that is what they do.

In the tag, Milton sits alone in his cell. The book rests unopened beside him. His composure slips not into vulnerability but into calculation. He murmurs to himself that Pawbert does not believe him—not yet—but he will. Milton studies his marked calendar, picks up his book, and begins reading with a small, private smile. The seed has been planted. All he has to do is wait.

Key Moments

• Milton hears that Pawbert is visiting and whispers "finally"—the first crack in his composure
• Luther presses his paw against the observation glass, watching Pawbert enter the visitation room
• Pawbert feels fourteen years old again upon entering, but anchors himself with the knowledge of his pack, his growth, and his life
• Milton confirms the name Icener and demands full release in exchange for more intelligence
• Milton hints at something deeper beneath the city that only he knows about
• Pawbert recognizes Milton's manipulation pattern and calls his bluff
• Pawbert confronts Milton about the assassination attempts, the abuse, and the destruction of his potential
• Pawbert reveals that Cattrick and Kitty did not try to take Milton with them during the prison breach
• Pawbert delivers his final words to Milton: a cell and silence is what he built
• Milton's composure cracks for the first time during the confrontation
• Costa offers Pawbert a formal ZSI consultant role to review old Lynxley infrastructure
• Pawbert sets three conditions: no weapons or field ops, keeps ZRS, can walk if pack is threatened
• O'Brian identifies government-grade encryption and a central command structure behind the network
• Pack dinner at the mansion: Pawbert describes seeing through Milton's manipulation for the first time
• Milton sits alone in his cell, convinced the seed has been planted and Pawbert will return

Key Lines

Characters Introduced

None. All characters appeared in previous episodes.

Locations

• Zootopia Correctional Facility - Security checkpoint; maximum security visitation room; observation room; Milton's cell
• ZSI Headquarters - Crisis Coordination Center; briefing area near central command
• Pawthorne Mansion - Kitchen dinner scene; Pawbert changes into green sweater

Items

• Milton's book — History of pre-unification territorial conflicts; siege warfare chapter; goes unread after Pawbert's visit
• One-way observation glass — Luther, Nick, Judy, and a ZSI technician monitor the visitation from adjacent room
• Green sweater — Pawbert changes into it at home, shedding the day's armor
• Milton's calendar — Days counted, weeks tracked; the patience of a mammal who thinks in years
• Sealed Lynxley corporate archives — Costa grants Pawbert access; the basis for his consultant work

Notes

• This is the first direct confrontation between Pawbert and Milton since the Clawrence intel visits three years earlier, and demonstrates how far Pawbert has grown—he faces his father without being damaged by the encounter.
• Milton's hint about "something deeper" plants the seed for The Root, which becomes central to the final act of the season.