Near the end, I see that Cole leaves a message instructing the people in the future that it was NOT the army of the 12 monkeys who were responsible for releasing the virus.
However, Railly was the first person to realise it was Dr Peters, She then tells cole this, who immediately goes after peters but is shot dead before getting to him.
between the moment of realising it was Dr Peters, and being shot dead, Cole does not relay this information to his superiors in the future, or to anyone infac, he dies before he can tell anyone.
Therefore, HOW could the future scientist know who it was who did release the virus? how would she know it was Peters and know to get the seat next to him to obtain the sample if the only people who knew his identity were cole and railly?
sorry if this is a stupid question, but this has had me puzzled.
They just eventually worked it out!
Cole's last message made them realise the whole 12 monkeys idea was a wild goose chase. We don't know how many other future-dudes were in the airport to witness Railly's revelation...
An unknown, arbitrary large number of guys being sent back would of completed the research in enough depth to know the exact seat Peters was booked on so that the "insurance" scientist could have a seat next to him and gather the sample.
Booking a seat on the plane, was probably the safest and surest way to ensure a sample could be gathered.
Although it does get a little absurd, why not fill the entire airport with 200 people from the future and just stop Peters...
Or go back further in time and do a terminator on his mother ;-)