One of the most compelling time-travel tropes is the idea of parents meeting their children before those children are born. It's the sort of brain-twisting thing we love about Back to the Future, and that notion also fueled much of the appeal of the River Song storyline in Doctor Who in 2011, as well as aspects of the film Looper. But, arguably, the idea of a future-tense child creating their own birth was best explored in the TV version of 12 Monkeys. And 10 years ago in the Season 2 finale, “Memory of Tomorrow,” which aired on July 18, 2016, 12 Monkeys gave fans a gut-punch of a twist in the season finale in a storyline that still holds up today.
Here’s why “Memory of Tomorrow” was so incredible, how it raised the stakes of the show, and paved the way for what became the show’s best run of episodes in Season 3.
