This is the point at which Cole first begins to doubt his sanity. He is immediately arrested, then hospitalized in a mental hospital on the diagnosis of Dr. Kathryn Railly. The audience finally learns Cole's airport dream wasn't a dream at all: We see young Cole witness his own murder. While Jeffrey might be classified as mentally ill, his rantings make a lot of sense, especially as he is particularly concerned with germs. Not only that, but one smart enough to pull together the earth’s remaining scientists in order to build a time machine in order to utilize the information he has to try and rectify the timeline. Looking through the crowd, Railly finds a young Cole, a small boy, who is unknowingly watching his own death.

Can we assume from this that Young Cole hasn’t experienced this trauma yet?

Not only will she recognize him, she’ll be more sympathetic and will want to help Cole.

Now that Cole thinks he can't be tracked, he decides to stay in 1996. But this time, he tells Railly he believes that she is right. When he wasn’t recognized in any way prior. Finally in the right time, Cole kidnaps Dr. Railly and forces her to drive him to Philadelphia where he is planning to confront the Army of the 12 Monkeys.

I know you don’t watch many shows for time purposes, but the series is actually amazing. As Cole and Kathryn prepare to board, José shows up and tells Cole they got the message about the 12 Monkeys not being the virus source. Commercials! But they learn that the 12 Monkeys actually aren’t involved in the plot at all. But in a really big way towards the end of Timeline5.

This message that gave the scientists a lead that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is in Philadelphia. Never went back to it, not because I didn’t like it, but it just slipped off my radar. Completely confused, naked, and babbling nonsense, he is taken to prison, then on to Dr. Railly’s mental ward. When he is interviewed by the doctors, he tries to explain that a virus outbreak has already happened. But Cole is DEAD you ninny! Unlike other time travel movies where multiple visits to the past change that very past and its resultant future (we're looking at you, Avengers: Endgame), 12 Monkeys' past remains static.

Vertigo features an elaborate plot that hinges on a doppelgänger who helps cover up a murder. And no, we aren’t going to discuss this fact. Cole and Kathryn go looking for Dr. Peters. Was Jones going to do something to Dr. Peters during the flight to ensure he can't release the virus anywhere else? Yes, I just suggested that throughout the film, there were TWO James Cole’s that were active throughout the film. It turns out Judy Barton (also played by Novak) was a lookalike hired by Madeline's husband to fake her suicide, since he had already murdered his wife. Scientists teleport Cole backwards to 1990.

On the way, Cole hears a story on the radio about a little boy trapped in a well and mentions remembering the story from when he was a kid. Timeline3 continues on into the future though, with us able to witness Cole’s impacts on the original reality. BECAUSE IT HASN’T HAPPENED YET.

We cannot change our fates…we are determined to die a plagued life of pain and suffering – and there is nothing anyone can do. I’m glad that we are on the same page there. The inclusion of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo when Cole and Railly disguise themselves for their escape is an important detail. They know that changing the past is not possible because it has happened and it will always continue to have happened (a predestination approach to time travel).

You might say that we’re the next… endangered species”. I actually watched season 1 as soon as it first came out. But instead, Railly convinces him that the future he knows is a delusional episode 100% made up in his own mind. Because Railly believes Cole now, she calls the number Cole remembered from the 1990 visit, and leaves the message Cole heard when he first returned to 2035.

(You sure are yelling at each other a lot, why don’t you just take it down a notch there mister?) Start here: The Authoritative 12 Monkeys Timeline Explanation. He doesn’t know who the dude or the blonde woman are. Her timeline (Timeline2) continues on, and just heads blissfully into the end of the world, with the deaths of 5 billion people without even a hiccup.