Tom Swift

This page is for the 2022 TV character. For the TV series, see Tom Swift.

“I know what my father thought of me. That I'm too "sensitive" to be CEO, but that's only because he thought in order to lead, you had to be boring... and basic and ordinary. Like you, Claire. But I know that having an imagination, a willingness to learn and the balls to try new things will take you much further than kissing the right asses will. So... I'm not giving up my company. I'm coming for the crown.”

— Tom to Claire and Zenzi^[source]

Thomas Alexander Winston "Tom" Swift is a character in The CW television series Nancy Drew, and he the main character of its spin-off series Tom Swift. He is portrayed by Tian Richards. Tom is a billionaire tech inventor.

Character[]

Character description from the official synopsis:^[2]

Black, gay, billionaire inventor who is thrust into a world of sci-fi conspiracy and unexplained phenomena after the shocking disappearance of his father. Tom takes to the road on a quest to unravel the truth, leaving behind the comforts of his usual moneyed lifestyle, all while fighting to stay one step ahead of an Illuminati-scale group hell-bent on stopping him. Tom's missions will require his genius and flair for innovation guided by love, romance, friendship and the mysteries of the universe yet-unsolved.

History[]

Tom is the only son of naval Commander Barton Swift, who became a business mogul and CEO, and socialite Lorraine Swift. Tom is also the adoptive brother and biological cousin of Lino. Barton strived to search space and the world around him, while raising Tom to follow in his footsteps. He demanded excellence from his son. This led Tom to hide his gayness from his father as a way to seek Barton's approval.

At the age of eight, Tom invented an AI companion and tough-love mentor that he named Barclay. In June of 2013, while Lorraine was on a trip, Tom painted his remote control pink with nail polish. Barton disliked the color, but agreed that if Tom liked it, that was what mattered. He gave him "vitamins" to help him become stronger. Tom became violently ill after ingesting them and was hospitalized for an allergic reaction.

His childhood friend Zenzi Fullerton helped him through the awkward teen years, including unfortunate relationships and haircuts. Over the years, Tom attempted to come out to his father multiple times. However, Barton would conveniently forget and continued to set Tom up for heterosexual romances. Tom attended MIT where he graduated with honors. He then became a billionaire tech mogul in his own right and invented hundreds of gadgets to aid him in his endeavors.

In 2019, the Swift family hired Isaac Vega as their bodyguard, though he became Tom's personal bodyguard overtime. The pair didn't initially get along, as Isaac balked at the lavish and wasteful lifestyle that Tom led. Tom tried to seduce Isaac but he refused the advances as it would affect his job. When Tom found his seemingly "stolen" fifty-thousand dollar watch, Isaac quit and informed Tom how much that money would impact his falsely imprisoned friend. Tom invited him to spades for a final event, in which Isaac won Tom's watch. Lino told Isaac that Tom always lost at spades, which meant Tom wanted Isaac to have the money from the watch to help his friend. Zenzi and Tom later asked Isaac to stay, and he did.

Plot summary[]

Adventure with Nancy Drew[]

Tom visits Horseshoe Bay, Maine to hire the famed girl detective Nancy Drew for $2,000 to help him locate a rare meteorite that crashed down in her town 90 years ago. Nancy asks why he wants the meteorite, but Tom is cagey. Bess realizes he is Tom Swift, the billionaire heir to the Swift invention empire. He and his family are genius inventors, with Tom as the younger face of the company. Nancy agrees to help after he tells them that a new comet is heading their way at a rapid pace. Nancy and Tom head to the historical society for information.

Barclay, Tom's AI, unwittingly reveals that Tom is gay and hiding it from his father when he reads aloud a text message he sent. Tom moves right along and Nancy follows his lead, showing him a book she found regarding a group of men touring the meteorite around the country for years in the 1930s. Nancy realizes they bought Icarus Hall, which must be where the meteorite is now. The two head to the hall after Tom changes into a new and equally fashion-forward outfit he deems fit for the adventure. Inside the abandoned building, Tom and Barclay immediately leaves Nancy to investigate alone, even after she tells him to stay with her. Barclay buzzes as Tom gets closer to where he believes the meteorite is located. A ghostly figuring where a robe appears. Tom tries to reach past it to get the meteorite, but it lunges at him. Tom screams and runs out of the hall as the monks chase them.

Outside, Tom frantically tries to come up with any scientific explanation to explain what they just saw, as Nancy calmly repeats that they were ghosts. He says he will science his way out of this. Tom eventually realizes that Nancy is right after he tries many attempts to get passed the ghosts and fails. They strike up a new deal - he will help her with her blackmailing billionaire problem if she helps him with the meteorite. She agrees and, this time, they call in the rest of the Drew Crew to help.

As they are looking up leads, Tom bonds with Nick which catches George's attention. She's sad that her boyfriend seems more open with Tom about certain experiences then with her. At Icarus Hall, Tom creates nanobots that will fool the ghosts into chasing after them, not the human Drew Crew. They follow Barclay to a hidden alcove where they find the meteorite. Unfortunately, Bess goes two-for-two on demonic possession and starts swinging a sword around. The rest of the crew runs and locks her inside, promising to return. Nancy tells Tom the Women in White likely caused Bess' possession. Tom is incredulous about the claim as Nancy pulls out her research.

Nancy picks up on Tom's anxiety, and she asks why he needs this meteorite so badly. He explains that it contains a rare element that could help him build a spaceship to help his father explore the cosmos. Tom loves and admires his father greatly, but he feels he has always been lesser in his father's eyes due to his sexuality. He says he plays along with his father's attempts to set him up with women and doesn't share anything about his love life to keep the peace. Nancy urges that he can still be his authentic self with his sexuality and be an inventor. He turns the conversation back to Nancy, saying she needs armor to deal with the Hudson's.

They realize they need to break the hex to get the meteorite. Nancy, with the help of Tom and Barclay, manages to break the hex, therefore saving Bess as their combined science and supernatural knowledge worked. Tom takes the meteorite to his car and has a heart-to-heart with Nancy. He tells her that to survive the Hudson's, she needs to put Nancy Drew away and let Nancy Hudson take over. He put two-and-two together about her origins, but assures her that her secret is safe with him. Nancy tells him he needs to get rid of his armor if she is going to put hers on. He says he's tried to explain to his father before, and Nancy says he needs more than words. Tom jokes that he needs to find a gorgeous man to kiss and put it on the internet. This gives him the idea to kiss Nick and post in on social media, thus, coming out publicly in a way his father can't ignore. With George's blessing, Nick agrees to the photographed kiss. The picture goes viral and Tom is relived to be out of the closet.

Tom gives Nancy one last parting gift: a beautiful Balmain dress for the party, calling it her armor. Tom's father calls, having seen the post, and Tom tells him he found the meteorite. It goes well, and Tom drives away with Barclay, ready for his next adventure.^[3]

Search For His Father[]

A few years later, Tom's vision of sending his father to space has come to fruition, with Barton set to take off the next day. Tom flakes on his big announcement speech about the ship, leading to an argument between the men, in which Barton reveals his plans to make Claire Cormier interim CEO of Swift Enterprises during his year-long trip to Saturn. Tom, upset, rebuffs that he found the meteorite that will get Barton to space, but the man is unchanging in his choice. Tom doesn't want to be like Barton or Claire, so his father uninvites him to the launch. That night, Tom watches Barton take off into space on the rocket. Six months later, Tom broadcasts his first communication with Barton since his arrival on Saturn. The ship explodes and seemingly kills Barton, leaving the Swift family to mourn him.

Tom is riddled with guilt as he believes his last-minute changes to the ship caused it to explode. He asks his AI Barclay to run simulations on the ship to determine what caused its explosion. Barclay learns that something struck the ship and caused it to explode, exonerating Tom's guilt. He recruits his best friend Zenzi Fullerton, bodyguard Isaac Vega, and cousin/adoptive brother Lino Swift to help him steal a program that will help him access the satellite data. At the event, he is almost caught until Congressman Nathan Eskol's bodyguard Rowan saves Tom. The pair witnesses two security guards snap a man's neck for seemingly allowing a security breach to happen. They sneak out of the event and return to the Swift mansion, where Tom learns that Rowan knew Barton. As Tom hurries inside he rudely brushes off Zenzi so she rips him apart for missing an important meeting, calling him a spoiled, selfish brat. His dismissal puts the fate of the company and its employees in danger. Tom admits that he can't fix himself so he fixes everything else. His father was embarrassed to have a gay son and that's why Tom can never be the man Barton wanted him to be.

Back in a room, Barclay tells Tom that Barton's ship was shot by something sticky from a satellite and blew up six months later. Barclay couldn't find anything about the satellite, only a symbol of two interlocking red circles on its side. The symbol was on a ring. Tom asks his funeral hookup Justin for help, learning that the logo doesn't exist in any corporate register. The launchpad belongs to a private company whose founder is Congressman Eskol. Justin gives Tom files about Stone Corporation, Eskol's company, which is rumored to be a front for an Illuminati-scale group called The Road Back. Supposedly, The Road Back wants to prevent the technological advancement of humanity.

Tom's distractions make him miss the dedication to his father, earning him a disappointed speech by his mother, Lorraine. That night, Tom uncovers a video from Barton using the data he stole from the college. Barton reveals he survived the explosion by escaping into a pod. He's sending Tom everything he needs to find him, but it's imperative it remain only in Tom's hands. The capsule is headed through the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the capsule splits apart. Despite the the message being in fragments, the integrity of it should survive. He plans to find the capsule pieces to reassemble the pieces and find his father. He sets off with the help of Zenzi and Isaac, blissfully unaware that Nathan Eskol has compromised Barlay and spying on them the entire time.^[4]

The trio tries to find the brain capsule, which is critical to understanding and finding the entire message. Tom learns the fragment crashed on the Darby Estate, a family that he despises, though Zenzi likes them. She convinces him to host a dinner to woo the Darbys over and convince them to let Tom excavate a "mineral" on their property. Tom asks Lorraine for help in planning the dinner, learning that she wants to talk to him about the Tubman social group after. The dinner goes poorly when Chris Darby mocks Tom over a fateful Summer that involved a speedo and a lifeguard. Tom snaps that it didn't happen and tears the Darbys apart, ruining his chances of getting their blessing and disappointing Lorraine in the process.

Zenzi's attempts to repair the fracture by organizing a meeting between Tom and Chris backfires when the men exchange insult. Chris brings up an incident between them in the mines, calling Tom a coward, before leaving. Tom has to explain what happened to Zenzi on that fateful trip. He and Chris go to the mines for a “man test” where Chris tells Tom to stay with his eyes closed for five minutes, promising to come back and they can play video games after. Tom waited for what felt like hours before running out, getting lost, covered in scratches, and a burned-off eyebrow for his entirety of eighth grade. After, Chris told him he did it because Tom was too gay. Tom isn't thrilled about apologizing or going back there.

Zenzi is hurt that Tom didn't tell her the truth, but they shift their focus to getting the fragment with Isaac's help. They break onto the Darby Estate and Tom lowers himself down to the mines through a tunnel entrance. He gets caught on a beam so Zenzi has to save him. The pair begin to argue over the Darby situation until he admits that he didn't want to be embarrassed in front of her. He also knows that his dad paid Zenzi's tuition but didn't say anything because he didn't want her to be embarrassed. They apologize to one another, promise to never speak to the Darbys again, and then retrieve the capsule.

They emerge to a captured Isaac and an annoyed Chris. Tom and Chris argue over Chris being a bully to the nice kid but now Tom isn't nice and Chris is still a dick. Chris lashes out over being compared to Tom his entire life - his family owns rocks while Tom's family owns rocket ships. Barton was proud of Tom and left him a legacy, which is something Chris doesn't have. Tom asks if Barton really said that, which Chris confirms is true. Tom relents that this is their parent's mess, not theirs. Tom apologizes for adding to the fight. He will make Darby Minerals an official Swift vendor so they can share a legacy. The men shake hands. Later, Tom learns that Rowan did compromise Barclay and decides to handle the situation himself.^[5]

His plans to save Barclay take priority just in time for Swift Enterprises Annual Summit, which Tom is forced to co-host alongside Claire Cormier. He concocts a plan with Isaac, Zenzi, and Lino to help him balance everything on the agenda. At the event, Tom reunites with Justin Chase and happily accepts his offer to serve as a business encyclopedia so Tom can woo everyone in attendance. None more important that Susannah Robb, the billionaire heiress and a top investor in Swift Enterprises. Tom struggles to split his attention between Susannah, Claire, the penlight design he's completing for his mother, and saving Barclay from the encroaching spyware. During the AR presentation, Tom, now cloaked from the AR users, stands nine inches from Rowan to clone the phone. Despite his success, he can't bypass the security measures with Rowan's DNA. After shutting down Isaac's plan involving a tactical knife, Tom and Zenzi rush off to complete the penlight presentation that will make cheap champagne taste expensive. His design fails as someone altered his code.

Justin's suggestion gives Tom an idea to use orange zest to fix the PH balance using the penlight. It works so he tasks Zenzi with scanning the peels. Tom confronts Claire about her little sabotage though she's not caving into admitting her part in the plot. Barclay's firewall is at 5% so Tom has Claire take the presentation for closing ceremonies, despite the high stakes. He tells Rowan to meet him at the Swift manor observatory. The men argue in the observatory. The Road Back is more powerful than Tom knows and he'll get Rowan killed if he keeps pushing. Tom demands the truth and shoves Rowan twice to instigate a fight. Tom nearly goes over the balcony and promises to leave Rowan alone if he answers one question - can Tom trust him. Rowan says no so Tom falls backward, triggering Rowan to stop Tom from falling, thus, making Tom trust him. Rowan gives him a final warning - he's saved his life twice but will take it next. Tom thinks Rowan is on the wrong side. If the Road Back hates technology he will make it so they can't do anything without seeing the Swift Enterprises logo. Rowan scoffs as the Road Back wants to go back to a time when people like them were in charge. A gadget might win a battle but Tom needs to focus on winning the war or everyone he loves will end up dead. Tom kisses Rowan and when the man leaves, Tom removes the bioadaptive cream he placed on his lips to capture Rowan's DNA. He barely stops the spyware in time to save Barclay.

Unfortunately, Tom's attempts to juggle everything falls short of perfection as Susannah refuses to invest more money in Swift Enterprises. Her loyalty is with Tom and not Claire. Lorraine expresses her disappointment to Tom along with her distrust. She admits to thinking he's glad that Barton is gone. Tom isn't happy his father is gone and nearly tells her the truth before recalling Rowan's warning. He instead expresses the guilt he feels over modifying the ship that he watched explode. He breaks down in Lorraine's arms. That night, Tom celebrates saving Barclay but having a rendezvous with Justin in a private room.^[6]

With renewed time to focus on Barton's capsule pieces, Tom, Zenzi, Isaac, and a stowaway Lino travel to Oklahoma where the next piece is located. Tom also learns that Lino quit the fencing team as he's "just over it". He wants to help save Uncle Barton instead. Zenzi returns to New York to work on finding out more on Eskol, and Tom makes Isaac go with her to keep her safe. In the meantime, Tom and Lino meet The Chocolate Cowboys, a group of former rodeo members who own the ranch where the piece crashed. The owner, Clayton, is smitten with the idea of Tom Swift being at his ranch and invites him to stay for lunch. They get to know one another until Tom remarks it's time to go. Lino believes he knows where the capsule piece is as he watched Clayton's reaction whenever a clearing was mentioned. The brothers find the piece but are caught by the Chocolate Cowboys, who believe the weeping trees sap has healing properties. The money they can make selling the "tears", which is actually sap rejuvenated from the vibrations of the capsule piece, will make their town a destination again. They force Tom and Lino off their property under threat of harm. Tom reprimands Lino for his impulsive nature and inability to listen, so he snaps back at Tom by calling him Uncle Barton.

With the tree now heavily guarded by five cowboys, Tom makes a quick invention of a nap gun to knock out the guards. While he succeeds in stealing the piece, Lino is kidnapped by the cowboys and held hostage with a ransom demand of the piece for Lino's life. Tom calls Isaac and Zenzi back to the ranch where they abruptly burst into the family home to rescue Lino, who isn't in nearly as much danger as Tom thought. Lino tells Tom to listen to Clayton's story. He's been fighting land dispossession and developers for years. If he loses the piece he will lose his chance to build a legacy for his daughter and family. Tom goes through with the trade but yells at Lino more once they're outside, though Lino stands up for himself as it isn't his fault that Tom traded the piece. He reveals the piece he gave Clayton was a 3D printed double and not the real thing. Lino is angry that Tom would lie.

On their trip back to New York, Tom and Lino have a heart to heart, courtesy of Isaac's words of wisdom. Tom admits that Lino was invaluable to the mission. He should have let Lino be brilliant in his own way instead of being mad at him for not being like Tom. Lino quit the fencing team because his teammates call him a cheating freak, a phrase that isn't entirely wrong now that he has heightened abilities like his mom did. He's worried he'll be dangerous like her and be sent away. Tom will never let that happen. Lino can't be sure as he did turn his back on Calvin, who he envies for having a connection to their past. Tom decides to turn around and broker a better deal with Calvin and the Chocolate Cowboys. He'll fund a wellness spa and retreat where the sap will be sold in the gift shop. The sap will produce thanks to Tom's power packs that give off a vibration. Back on the plane, Barclay relays that the piece should operate normally once joined with the other pieces. Zenzi shares the list she found in Eskol's book. They realize the initials are names and numbers are coordinates. It starts to B.S., Barton Swift, and each initial correlates to the death of a brilliant inventor. The Road Back isn't targeting tech, but rather, the people behind it - and Barton was just the beginning.^[7]

The search for the third capsule piece ends before it can begin, as Lorraine revokes Tom's plane privileges. Both her and Claire believe Tom's been reckless and untrustworthy. Lorraine believes he's lost sight of his responsibilities, citing a new health and wellness clinic he bought in Oklahoma. The company is in a financial crisis and needs instant results, not long-game profits. Lorraine suspends Tom from his position at Swift Enterprises. He requests an entry-level position to earn back his title. Lorraine and Claire agree to let him try. He starts the next day under the judgmental eye of Quinn, fails to get Zenzi to start his comma splicing, and then learns that the third capsule piece is in the building. Through SE's security system, Tom watches Claire open his package. He tries to get it back by claiming it's just a piece of ancient Swift Enterprises tech he ordered, but Claire refuses to give it to him as it's a piece of unknown tech. She lies that it came addressed to the company.

Tom meets with Zenzi and Isaac to steal the piece from the CEO vault he built. Zenzi doesn't want to attend the cotillion as she has a bad past with the girls, especially Regina Jackson, but Tom convinces her otherwise. Tom hurries back to SE where he talks with Quinn. Quinn was supposed to be hired as a concept artist but had to “pay their dues” as an assistant to Claire four years ago. Per Tom's request, Quinn shows their AR monovision liquid polymer idea. Tom asks why Quinn doesn't like him. Tom has a huge impact on the company with his actions having consequences that he doesn't realize. Later, Tom, Zenzi, and Isaac prepare for their rouse. Isaac and Zenzi will wear a device that makes them look and sound like Tom, so he can attend the party with his mom and get the capsule piece back. At the Cotillion, Tom helps Lorraine the best he can and ensures Lino is ready for his big dance. He finds Zenzi who is emotional from a fight with Regina. She wants him to think about her for once as she prioritizes every one of his emotions. He wants the quickest way to solve the unremarkable drama. She snaps at being called unremarkable as he needs her for everything. He invented things that change the world. She counters that thousands of scholarship students could do that with his resources. He's not remarkable, he's just rich.

Without Zenzi to help, Isaac is the only one wearing the Insta-Tom which he soon gets wet, ruining the tech. Tom begins his heist by using the nano cream to mimic the last fingerprint pattern, and uses the Insta-Tom to disguise himself as Claire, but runs into a security code that wasn't there before. He panics as he doesn't have his tools or a way to contact Zenzi who has him blocked everywhere. As he searches for another way in, a security guard busts him and summons Claire, who demands answers. He thinks it's the black box with Barton's last words. He tells her how to activate it but she refuses to let him examine it first. She returns after a few moments with a lie that the data was corrupted and disintegrated in her hands. He accuses her of breaking it but she suggests her return to the ball or she'll tell Lorraine about the incident. Tom returns just in time for the mother-son dance. In a twist, Lino's biological mother Violet Warren presents him, not Lorraine. During the waltz, Violet begins to break down as she clutches Lino tightly and then charges at Lorraine. Isaac restrains her as she shouts over keeping the light safe and someone trying to torture her. Tom, taking inspiration from Lino's words about imagining a garden, puts an AR monocle on Violet that transmits a peaceful virtual garden. He comforts her while Lorraine asks Lino how Violet got there.

Lorraine and Tom watch from the balcony as Violet is escorted by the ambulance out of the party. She explains that Violet had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in high school, but refused treatment. She tried to protect Lino by keeping them apart. Tom was wonderful as his invention and brilliance saved the day. She was harsh with the suspension, but he acknowledges he's been careless with his actions. She's proud of his maturity and reinstates his job title as they need him. He asks to promote Quinn then escorts Lorraine for another entrance moment. He finds Zenzi to apologize and they forgive one another. As he leaves the party, Tom checks in with Barclay about the capsule data. Tom had used the AR polymer spray to project Barton's message onto Claire's glasses. When activated the capsule it transmitted the data to Tom. He celebrates his win with a bottle of champagne. He dances to his car where two men grab him, remove his watch, and throw him in the back of a van.^[8]

Tom wakes up in a warehouse with a table in front of him. He reads the note - invent the power your freedom requires. He asks what happens if he doesn't and his wrist device beeps, triggering electricity to spark through the room in waves from the walls. He realizes the answer to his question is death. He has to make a working cell phone battery out of impossible parts. He asks if they want money and they respond by lowering the timer on his watch. He doesn't have access to his tech but can use theirs. The camera is in front of him so he uses it to charge the battery. The doors and he runs outside where he sees a man waiting for him. The man, named Garret, shows Tom a live feed of a woman strapped to a medical table. Her life is now in Tom's hands - he can choose to leave but she will die. If he stays to complete his trials he can save her life. They play an audio recording of a woman screaming for help. The game has now begun.

Tom stands at an obstacle course where he must obtain the flag without getting a drop of paint on his clothes or going outside the perimeter. Tom tries to pass the course but gets hit with paint and must retreat to change his clothes. He still has his power-down ring which can weaken the electronics of his kidnappers. However, he knows cheating will result in both their deaths. He uses the clean clothes to trigger the paint while he's at a safe distance. He wins the challenge and celebrates until a needle hits his chest, knocking him out. Zenzi, Isaac, and Rowan arrive at the warehouse. They find an unconscious Tom in a room. Zenzi injects him with a nearby epi-pen to counteract his tranquilizer.

Tom wakes up as Isaac asks how she knew the injection was safe. She got a five in AP Chem and knew the compound for epinephrine. As Tom hugs his squad, Isaac apologizes to Tom for not being there, but he's here now and that's what matters. He asks if Rowan is there to kill him or kiss him. Rowan remarks that he isn't dead yet, so Tom promises to pucker up later. Tom then reveals that his captors, whoever they are, are holding a woman in a room with limited oxygen. Tom shakes off the tranqs easily, citing he and Zenzi's Vegas trip. Zenzi suggests he go to Utah to find the capsule piece but he refuses. He has a countdown of how much time she has left and needs to save her. They use the flickering coordinates on Tom's countdown watch to find her hostage space. In the van, Tom uses his GO-BAGG to change then puts on Prying Eyes which will identify anyone he looks at. He activates Barclay as they arrive at their location. The squad rushes into the bunker until they come across an OBYN procedure room. A voice over the P.A. tells them to comply with a weapons check. Tom has to save her before she suffocates and barges into the adjoining room. The door snaps shut and seals Tom off from everyone else. Dr. Garret's voice warns that he has 10 seconds to choose which room is filled with oxygen and which is filled with nitrogen - his friends or the woman's.

Tom chooses to save the woman and earns intercom privileges. He warns his friends that the room is filling with poison. The five-minute countdown is for them, not the woman. As they search the room for tools, Rowan tries to cover the air vent but is blasted down by an electromagnetic pulse. One of the walls is weaker and connected to the woman's room. Tom talks them through inventing a drill with a swivel chair, a speculum, a T-shaped screw, and medical-grade tape. As they drill, Rowan collapses and stops breathing. Isaac performs chest compressions while Zenzi takes oxygen from the drilled hole. Rowan is successfully resuscitated and the squad is safe. Three people enter and tranquilize the trio while Tom watches in horror. He shouts out in protest - Barclay adds that the Utah capsule has gone dark. They've lost it. He sits in shock as people arrive and cover his head with a bag.

Tom wakes up alone in Swift Manor with only Garrett in front of him. He explains that after Tulsa, they tried to protect themselves. From Garvey and his pan-Africanists to the Leaders of the Black Freedom Movement, the SCLC, SNCC, to the Panthers, they tried. In doing so, they went through trials of their own. They picked themselves up and built something new. They weren't as public as others, but they funded movements, mutual aid, bail, and scholarships. Tom walks through a hallway of projected images of Black protests and movements throughout history. Garrett continues; they learned hard lessons but everything they did led to Tom. Tom looks to Garret who, according to the Prying Eyes, is dead. Garrett assures him that they are getting his friend's help. Garrett flickers electronically to reveal Lorraine, who needs his help right now.

Lorraine is pleased with Tom and his squad. She assures him that his friends are getting medical attention as they speak. The company he keeps will matter now more than ever, which is why she pushed Justin toward him. She's happy he already has worthy confidantes. Tom notes that she was testing them too. He knows the Tubman group for its cotillions, but there's a sub-group within it that is kept a secret. Since Tulsa, a select group of Black Americans, including Tom's grandfather, worked to amass concentrated and undetected wealth. They aimed to form a society untainted by white supremacy. They are thinking of a safe space in outer space - a planet of their own.

27 years ago, while Barton was at a conference, Lorraine was six months pregnant with Tom's older sister, Alexandra, who triggered premature labor. She called 911 but was in so much pain. The recording plays and it's the same one Garrett played before - it was Lorraine all along. When she finally saw a doctor she trusted him completely - he was named Dr. Garrett. He dismissed her symptoms of gestational diabetes that should have been diagnosed; symptoms she told him about. Alexandra never opened her eyes and died of hypoxia - running out of air in a confined space. She didn't know how many other Black women had similar stories about their doctors, or how this system hurts all of them. Barton dreamt of a new home for Black people, called the Mountaintop Station. She wants Tom to build it with Swift Enterprises funding. She was impressed with how he handled Violet, looked out for Quinn, and owned up to his mistakes. Their timetable is accelerated as people are looking into them. She wants to have a private talk with Isaac, but he can tell his other friends about Tubman Group now. He's reaching his full potential, but there can't be secrets between them anymore. Tom reveals that his dad is alive and he needs her help to save him.^[9]

Their mission is deterred when Isaac is poisoned by a mysterious and fast-acting agent that is slowly killing his brain. Tom, believing Rowan is responsible, confronts him at Swift Enterprises. Rowan denies the act, though Eskol's recent conversations make him believe that Tom was the real target, not Isaac. Swift labs are mysteriously out of the inventory he needs to cure Isaac, but Tom has another plan. He steals Zenzi away from her meeting with Eskol to help him evacuate the building with Operation "Hot in Herre", which raises the temperature of the building.

His attempts to return the temperature to normal are unsuccessful, as Barclay can't fix the thermostat. Rowan reminds a frustrated Tom that he can invent anything. The genius starts working on a mix that will slow the poison using what he has available. He picks a car and shoes but the gridlock will slow them down too much. Tom sends a drone to take the medicine to Isaac, before checking on Zenzi, who is in the back of an ambulance after nearly dying. Susannah arrives and tells Tom to let Claire be the boring one, before walking off. Zenzi shares her surprise with Tom and they hug, as both are safe.

They rush back to Swift Manor, where Lorraine and Lino have administered the antidote. Isaac slowly wakes up on the table and sees Tom by his bedside, nearly kissing him, until Zenzi bursts in. Lorraine apologizes for firing him and invites him to stay. There's nowhere he'd rather be, anyway. In private, Zenzi asks Tom about his moment with Isaac, but Tom brushes it off. He reveals that the antidote worked better than he expected because Rowan's blood was added to it, which confuses him. Barclay has to power down because of a command overdrive, surprising Tom as no one overrides him. Isaac remembers seeing Rowan when he saved Barton all those years ago, as the poison made him relive some of his memories with the Swift family. Zenzi has a lead on who poisoned Isaac, as Eskol gave her a book and she took a picture of the markings. They spell out the word cotillion. The group deduces that The Road Back tried to poison Tom at the cotillion, but got Isaac instead because he wore the face modifier. They check surveillance footage and it's the same man who snapped the security guards neck at the university - the man works for Eskol. They're going to find him and get payback.^[10]

The squad shifts their focus back to collecting the last capsule pieces. Tom bumps his head during the latest mission and Zenzi fills him in; they took a wrong turn, got caught in chalk powder fun run, were chased by the cops, wound up in a corn field, where he tripped and bumped his head. His car is destroyed, his shoes dirty, but the capsule piece is secure. Back at Swift Manor, Tom tells Zenzi that he has three days until Earth is in apogee and he can send an unmanned drone into space. The only person that has the answers they need is Rowan. Barclay, who is still offline, only reacts to the name Rowan. Rowan arrives just then, wanting to speak with Tom alone. They meet downstairs and Tom lobs questions at him. Rowan explains why his blood helped Isaac, and offers to fix Barclay if Tom helps him save a scientist named Andrita Lehman from The Road Back. He offers something that could get him killed to prove he can be trusted - the head of The Road Back is Susannah Robb. Tom extends his hand and they shake on their new deal.

The foursome fly to Andrita's house, where Tom avoids talking to Isaac about their tension. They enter Andrita's home to find the woman perfectly fine, expect for the golf club, messy home, and sleeping baby in the next room. Rowan explains why they're at her house, but she doesn't know who he is. Tom and Isaac convince her they're serious, just as Tom's motion sensors are tripped. The man approaching is one of The Road Back's best assassins. Andrita decides to split up by Tom and the others taking her baby to give them a head start. Tom takes baby Kahlil to Swift Manor, where he quickly bonds with the child. He also sees a kinder side to Rowan, who soothes the baby with a Kenyan lullaby. The FBI arrives at the front door, demanding to talk with Tom. He hides Rowan and Kahlil in another room as he, Zenzi, and Isaac try to handle the FBI. Once alone with an agent, Tom catches him in a lie and figures out that he's a fake agent. He incapacitates the agent, but Signet is already onto their plan. Tom blasts the agents with a sonar device, but Zenzi is caught in the crossfire. Tom has an idea to get Zenzi and keep them all safe. He sneaks Rowan into a secret hallway with the baby, promising that he'll come for Zenzi.

He reprograms his speeder to shoot "massage oil" all over the floors and instructs Isaac to wear a special traction compound on his shoes. That way, when Zenzi slides across the floor, Isaac can save her while the agent pursuing her gets locked in the elevator. The squad is forced into a stand-off with Signet, who threatens to hurt Kahlil if he doesn't get Andrita. Tom only has one question; if he wishes he could fly. Tom tackles him and the man falls to the ground, but Kahlil levitates using the NASA blanket and Andrita's invention. Rowan leaves to get Andrita while Tom prepares the jet. Isaac takes care of the man in the elevator. Tom approaches Zenzi and she urges him to talk with Isaac. He doesn't have people like Isaac in his life, so he worries about hurting him. He can't probability his way through conversation. They can handle a grown-man conversation.

Tom approaches Isaac on the jet to talk about the moment they had the other day when they almost kissed. They both care about each other and Tom loves Isaac, just not like that. Isaac is upset at how weird things have been between them. Tom's life is Isaac's first priority from the moment he wakes up to the moment he sleeps. He doesn't want Tom's life to be at risk because they get involved. Tom is grateful for that, but it would have been one hell of a kiss, as it felt real in the moment. Unless, Isaac was thinking of someone else, who he should go tell. They hug tightly before Isaac leaves. Andrita and Rowan arrive, so Tom gives her the science behind levitation. He's crafted new identities for both of them so they can live in peace until things are safe. He was thinking Kenya as a safe place. They have things of beauty and dope lullabies. The gesture impacts Rowan.

With Andrita and Kahlil safe, Rowan reboots Barclay at Swift Manor. They discuss Rowan's lie of being related to Andrita. He needed a favor but didn't have anything to offer in return. Tom asks for a little faith as there's more to him than he thinks. He's feeling vulnerable and admits Rowan has a way of opening him up as it never happens. Rowan feels a pain in his shoulder so Tom takes off his shirt to apply it to his cuts, as it's made with a clotting agent to heal wounds. He shushes the man who has a lot of wounds. Rowan warns that there's chatter of Susannah planning something big and deadly. They have to figure out what it is and stop him. Unbeknownst to them, Tom's desk is bugged.^[11]

The trio can't take their hostages to the police as anyone could be working for The Road Back, but also don't have time to wait for Rowan to return from taking Andrita into hiding. They have a 38-hour countdown until Earth is in apogee, which is their best chance to save Barton. Barclay has found where one of their hostages phones pinged, which is in Utah, and were the last capsule piece was active. If The Road Back was there, that means Susannah has his capsule piece.

Tom watches Barton's last message, asking Barclay what the odds are that his last words were how much he loved Tom, but Barclay can't run that protocol. Tom promises the hologram of his father that he will find him. He finds Isaac and Zenzi, as he has an idea to access Susannah's memories using Swiftsight. He wants to use it on her during their dinner party. He tests it on Zenzi, which inadvertently reveals Nathan's rendezvous at her house the night before - which Isaac knows about. Knowing the tech works, Tom invites Justin Chase to dinner, as they work well together.

The dinner begins with small talk, before Tom brings up Swiftsight, though Justin quickly as it's still in the prototype phase. The men end up disagreeing over the readiness of the product, so they talk privately in another room. He makes a backup plan with Zenzi and Isaac just in case Justin doesn't come through, but he ultimately decides to lie for Tom. Susannah and Tom head down to his lab to test out Swiftsight. She knows he wants to talk about the metal object she found in Utah, and that one of the three men he has hostage in his basement gave him the name of her operation. She chooses to execute two men that she suspects of talking. Now, they can have an honest conversation about what they both want.

When he suddenly aborted two flights to Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, she got curious. She discovered The Road Back satellites had discovered an unidentified fallen object in the same location, made out of Swift Enterprises' unique copper alloy. She needs it as leverage for him to join The Road Back. Her motives, at its fundamental level, is simplifying technology to help humanity grow. Every tech advantage comes with a negative cost. She wants him to be an ethical inventor. They disagree over the way she's gone about her mission, but she agrees to use Swiftsight to show how technology negatively affected her life.

As a child, she was given gummies that were supposed to make her smarter. She chokes during the memory, so Tom asks where she took the metal object, learning it's in a secure bunker in Tribeca. Susannah passes out after using Swiftsight, so he relays the information to team before finding Justin, who is hurt. Justin was under the impression they were boyfriends and is upset how poorly he's being treated. Tom never said they were boyfriends, so it's not fair to be upset. They promise to talk about it later.

Tom returns to Susannah, wanting more answers about the gummies and his father. The gummies have a negative effect on her overall health. She lets him have the object as she has bigger plans for him. It includes the things his father didn't want him to see. Barton modified the gummies into what he dubbed "Attraction Correcting Gummies". Barton hypothesized that he could change anything once inside the brain - even Tom. Tom denies it but she brings up his "vitamins" making him feel ill even though it didn't work. Any idiot knows an individual can't be turned straight, a fact Barton found that out eventually, but was willing to risk Tom's life in the process. If he joins The Road Back, he can stop anyone from experience the pain their parents put them through. Tom, while emotional, declines the invitation. The Road Back wants him for his mind, and he has 24 hours to decide, threatening consequences if he doesn't say yes.

Zenzi checks on Tom, who is reflecting on his childhood and when he went to the hospital at 13 for an unexplained "allergic reaction". He uses Swiftsight to access the memory, and sees Barton giving him gummies to make him feel stronger. Moments later, the boy becomes violently ill. Zenzi wakes him up and Tom angrily says he's fine, storming off. He grabs a bat and advances on the capsule pieces. Zenzi stops him just in time. She begs him to put the bat down, so he does. Tom emotionally says that Barton used his brain to get to Saturn. But whatever he achieved was never going to be good enough, and he knew Barton was ashamed of him. But for Barton to risk his son's life, to experiment on him, that causes Tom to break down in sobs. Zenzi holds him as he sobs. Tom lifts his head, saying that man can rot in space. He's not getting more of Tom's tears, as he's done. Zenzi sobs as she watches Tom go.^[12]

Tom watches Barton's last message, asking Barclay what the odds are that his last words were how much he loved Tom, but Barclay can't run that protocol. Tom promises the hologram of his father that he will find him. Meanwhile, Zenzi brings food to Isaac to give their hostages. She wants to talk about last night, when he found Eskol with her. Timing is everything, but so are the choices they make. She might have made a different choice had he expressed his feelings sooner. Tom proclaims that he has an idea to access Susannah's memories, Swiftsight, which can now access specific recent and forgotten memories. They just have to get it on Susannah; by inviting her to dinner. Tom tests the device on Zenzi instead of the hostages, as it only works on willing participants. He promises to choose a boring memory to show; the last time she exfoliated. She acts out the memory, which reveals that Nathan knocked on her door. Isaac stops the memory, but it was long enough to know Swiftsight works. Zenzi answers a call from Nathan, who wants to see her tonight. She's having dinner with Tom and Susannah Robb. He worries about the meeting, so he offers to be there. Meanwhile, Tom calls Justin to invite him to the dinner as they make a great team, but Justin is reluctant to help him again. Tom eventually convinces him attend. That night, the guests arrive for a night to remember.

The group sits for dinner as Justin and Tom share the first time they met. Tom brings up Swiftsight, though Justin quickly intervenes as it's still in the prototype phase. The men end up disagreeing over the readiness of the product, so they talk in another room. Justin worries that if Susannah tries it and it fails, word will get around and no one will invest in the program. Tom privately talks to Zenzi and Isaac about needing a backup plan if Justin messes up the Susannah pole. When Tom returns to the dinner table, Justin states that his information was outdated and Swiftsight was cleared for demonstration two days ago. He hands his phone to Tom which has a sliding message: "I'M LYING FOR YOU" and then a faked product report. Tom shows Susannah the report, so she agrees to test it out. Tom thanks Justin with a kiss. Susannah enters Tom's lab, but knows that he wants the metal object she found in Utah. Isaac offers the operatives freedom in exchange for information on The Road Mind, so they provide the name Operation Moseley. Tom tries to leverage the name for the capsule device, but she remains unphased. She knows he has three of her men in the basement - they're all microchipped. She chooses to execute two men that she suspects of talking. Now, they can have an honest conversation about what they both want.

Susannah levels with Tom; when he suddenly aborted two flights to Snow Canyon State Park, Utah, she got curious. She discovered The Road Back satellites had discovered an unidentified fallen object in the same location, made out of Swift Enterprises' unique copper alloy. She needed it as leverage for him to join The Road Back. Her motives, at its fundamental level, is simplifying technology to help humanity grow. Every tech advantage comes with a negative cost. She wants him to be an ethical inventor. They disagree over the way she's gone about her mission. She agrees to use Swiftsight to show how technology negatively affected her life. She goes back to August 17, 2012.

Susannah is 12 years old, and at home, with her nervous parents who are proud of her new gummies that will makes her smarter. She starts gagging so he retreats her into a memory from four days ago in Utah, when she finds the object. He pulls her out of the memory when he has what he needs. He tells the team about the secure bunker in Tribeca, meeting them in the hallway as Susannah sleeps. Tom finds Justin to lie that she might invest, but doesn't have time to talk as he needs to leave. Justin presses him for the truth by calling him a user. They're practically boyfriends but Tom treats him so poorly. They never said they were boyfriends as it's not fair, especially when Justin didn't tell him he wanted more before. They have to talk about it, though Tom has to go right now.

Back Tom's lab, Susannah tells him about her "hyper-intelligent gummies" which will make her liver fail by 40 and muscles rapidly deplete. She lets him have the object as she has bigger plans for them. It includes the things his father didn't want him to see. Barton modified the gummies into what he dubbed "Attraction Correcting Gummies". Her parents published their findings in a journal, and Barton's hypothesis was that he could change anything once inside the brain - even Tom. He denies it but she brings up his "vitamins" making him feel ill even though it didn't work. Any idiot knows an individual can't be turned straight, a fact Barton found that out eventually, but was willing to risk Tom's life in the process. If he joins The Road Back, he can stop anyone from experience the pain their parents put them through. Tom, while emotional, declines the invitation. He wonders what The Road Back gains from having a Black billionaire on their team. There's always been Black people that know unchecked progress is a danger to everyone, like Ernest Withers. Tom knows he spied on MLK. Tom is Black but not OJ, so her houseboy won't be him. The Road Back wants him for his mind. He has 24 hours to decide, threatening consequences if he doesn't say yes.

Later that night, Zenzi checks on Tom, who is drinking alone by the furnace. Zenzi is angry that he let their hostage go, but his need for answers outweighs her emotions. He needs one minute under Swiftsight to go back to June 2013. He flashes back to using pink nail polish to paint his remote control car. Barton dislikes him using pink, but he likes it, which is all that matters. He pulls out a bottle of new vitamins for Tom to take as they will make him feel stronger. Not much longer, Tom became violently ill from an allergic reaction to the vitamins. Zenzi yanks the piece off Tom and tries to soothe him, but he angrily lashes out that he's fine, before storming off.

Tom angrily approaches the capsule pieces with a bat, ready to smash it. Zenzi stops him just in time. She begs him to put the bat down, so he does. Tom emotionally says that Barton used his brain to get to Saturn. But whatever he achieved was never going to be good enough, and he knew Barton was ashamed of him. But for Barton to risk his son's life, to experiment on him, that causes Tom to break down in sobs. Zenzi holds him as he sobs. Tom lifts his head, saying that man can rot in space. He's not getting more of Tom's tears, as he's done.^[13]

Tom works out rigorously as he repeats a mantra to himself while trying to forget Barton's many acts of homophobia. Lorraine enters the room and questions his mantra, so Barclay quickly goes silent to give them privacy. She asks about his progress on the drone to save his father, as they only have six hours left. She can tell he's upset and asks him to talk with her, but he says no. Zenzi interrupts as she has the second to last capsule piece, only needing one more before they're ready. Lorraine leaves as Zenzi fills Tom in on what he's missed. They have an event to attend that evening, the "Swift Black Engineering Futures" conference, before going to Susannah to get the last piece. Tom irritably remarks that Barton might have a gummy for that.

Tom calls Justin to apologize for going off on him and treating him like he's not good enough. Justin forgives him, but figured Tom was sorry when he texted him to give Swiftsight to Susannah. Tom didn't text that and even pulls up their texts back and forth to prove it, which confuses Justin. Tom realizes that Susannah sent it to use as consequences against Tom for saying no to her. He has to go to the conference after all, as it's time to be a bad bitch.

Tom arrives at SE as his various employees test out different inventions to their investors. Fan girls ambush him for a picture, gushing over how great he and Barton are. He takes the picture then heads off, as Signet appears behind him. Tom joins Zenzi and Isaac in his office to tell him what happened with Swiftsight and Justin. He worries that she has something planned to hurt everyone in attendance. They put on their comms to figure something out. The squad takes all the Swiftsight boxes, but hear Lino screaming from the office, not wanting to be burned. Tom rushes in and pulls Swiftsight off Lino, as Quinn panics over not knowing what happened. Tom repeats that his mom said she was the light and needed to be purified. It kept showing him the same messed up thing over and over - of her burning his hand in a fire. Swiftsight has been altered to show people their worst memories on a loop. Isaac recognizes the behavior as PTSD, so Tom runs an EMDR sequence to help Lino cope with the gruesome memory. He then fixes the invention, with Zenzi asking about the last capsule piece. He leaves to call Susannah who presses her desperate sales pitch. He hangs up on her and, soon after, people begin to scream at the party, dropping to the ground. Tom realizes she got to something else at the party.

One of the engineers recognizes that the infrared canon gave them all Havana syndrome, though Lino doesn't think so as the canon used on him didn't make him sick. They look through the popcorn cones for a poison and find cyanide in the flavor packets. They make a plan to engineer an antidote, though one of the engineers has a seizure. Isaac and Zenzi realize that people who are touching the doors are getting sick - the doors they touched too. Tom makes the antidote and administers it to one of his employees. He rushes over to Isaac and Zenzi, who are getting sicker. Barclay can't identify the concentrate on the door, leaving Tom wildly searching for an answer to save everyone.

Tom tries to tell everyone about The Road Back hurting everyone, but they blame him instead. He fires back as their adversaries are trying to destroy the seeds of trust that are their foundation. They have to rely on one another. He needs to use Swiftsight to find the answers they need. The room breaks into groups to work together. The biochem group identifies the compound as VX gas, giving Tom the meds he needs to save Isaac and Zenzi when combined with the nanocream. The civil engineers need extreme heat to get out of the room. Tom picks up a machine that vibrates off heat, using it to blast the doors open with extreme heat.

Once everyone clear out, Lorraine hugs Tom, expressing her pride for him. She tells Tom that Claire is a problem they can discuss tomorrow. She asks about apogee, but he doesn't want to save the man who tired to destroy him; he references the little gummy bears. She prayed he'd never find out about those. Trying to change Tom was the biggest regret of Barton's life, but Tom doesn't believe that. Lorraine believes that he was evolving since Barton left him Swift Enterprises. There is a world of people telling Tom how his father felt about him, while ignoring how Barton actually treated him. Parental love should not be conditional. He shouldn't have to prove he's worthy to forgive Barton's shortcomings, as it's not enough; Barton doesn't deserve it. Tom should be like his mother than and show some mercy. Grave is being given things they don't deserve, and mercy is spared the things they do. Tom isn't perfect either and might need grace someday too. She loves them both unconditionally, but is begging for mercy and grace for Barton. He's her husband and his father, but is only human. She asks him to spare Barton before it's too late.

Tom speeds down the street as he chases Susannah on a bike, as the capsule piece is in her backpack. She leads him to the Swift Enterprises server farm. He confronts her in the parking lot as she gives him one last chance to join her or she'll destroy him. The Road Back's offering him power. The Road Back is everywhere; every city, every country, every part of government. If he joins them, they can control the world's fate. He smirks, as she just said that in front of his five million followers. He used the polymer spray on the lenses while in the car.

He tells her to say hi, wishing her luck on the whole global conspiracy thing. She stomps on his glasses then lashes out over him facing consequences. She knows what the server farm is; it's Barclay. She tosses her backpack against the door, remarking that it's a shame about the backups, as Tom had already deleted the backups. The explosion is small and unsurprisingly, with Susannah speeding off on her bike. Moments later, the entire building goes up in a ball of flames. The servers melt to the ground.

Tom staggers through the building as Barclay struggles to talk as his circuitry is destroyed. Barclay tells him that he needs to transfer to ten terabytes of data of the capsule date to his watch cloud, or his dad's coordinates will be lost. Doing so will destroy any temp files that Barclay does have. There's not enough room for the two of them; he has to choose one. The corrupted data from Barton's final message restores itself. The last part of his message asks for forgiveness. As he stands in the ship Tom built him, begging to be rescued, he knows he was a fool. Tom, exactly as he is, is the only person who can save him. Barclay urges him to restore the backup date. Tom cries as his father doesn't deserve it, though his mom was right. He apologizes to Barclay as he breaks down in sobs, telling him to replace the temp file with the capsule data. Barclay does as he's told, disappearing into a cloud of golden sparkles. He tells Tom that it's okay and that Tom will be okay. Tom stands up, wipes his tears, and leaves the warehouse with the final capsule piece.

Zenzi and Isaac assemble with everything they need to rescue Barton, as Tom realizes that he's talking to himself now, not Barclay, which will take getting used too. At least, they won't hear from Susannah for a long time, if ever. Tom meets up with Zenzi and Isaac. He tells them that Barclay is no longer with them. They initiate the launch sequence of their rocket, which blasts off into space. Zenzi tells Tom she might have some backups on her cloud, from side-ho mode. Tom smiles, as even though Barclay wouldn't be all there, it's possible. Isaac gives Tom a tablet that has grainy footage of Barton trying to contact Tom. He rushes back to Swift Manor for the satellite devices.

Tom heads to the observatory in his lab to connect the final capsule pieces. A projection of Barton appears, as Tom tells him about the rescue drone he's sent. Barton thanks him and apologizes for ever doubting him. He apologizes for the way he's treated him. Tom realizes he has changed and forgives him. He starts to say how proud he is, but is cut off. Tom whirls around to see Rowan, who has ended the connection. He severed the link because Barton told him to. That's why he planted a jamming device. This is hard to hear, but Tom has to believe him. After Barton gets in the rescue drone, he's going to encounter a wormhole. His ship is failing and he'll later realize that if hadn't gone through the wormhole he will certainly have died. The wormhole will bring him back to Earth, but not until the year 2096. He had to sever the link, or else Barton would have gone through the wormhole and he would be gone forever. Tom just saved his father's life, and congratulates him on that. Tom asks how Barton told him to do it, asking how he knows his father. Rowan met him when he crashed-landed on Earth in 2096. Rowan is from the future. Barton sent him back to save him, and to save Tom. Tom looks at him, stunned into complete silence.^[14]

Quotes[]

Tom: "Nancy, I appreciate you, but I went to MIT and you went to a thrift store to buy that hat, okay?"

—

Gallery[]

Nancy Drew promotional stills[]

Tom Swift promotional stills[]

Trivia[]

Like the character Nancy Drew, the character Tom Swift was created by Edward Stratemeyer and was also the lead in his own book series from Stratemeyer Syndicate. Unlike the Nancy Drew stories, which are mysteries, the Tom Swift stories are adventures about science, invention, and technology.
The Nancy Drew episode The Celestial Visitor served as a backdoor pilot for the Tom Swift spinoff series.