I'm still processing it a little, but I would honestly consider this one to be the best episode the show has aired. While I was highly confident that John wouldn't die (since he is the best part of this show), there was a moment when I genuinely thought he might die. There were some seriously high stakes throughout this episode, and it made it one hell of a ride.
Just to be complicated, we’ll start at the end. Somehow, it never crossed my mind that Luka might be a Tomorrow Person. The only time it ever did was in the Pilot where Jedikiah hinted at Luka inheriting things from Roger. Now it makes sense… sort of. I still think that while the group may be right, they could also be missing part of the puzzle. Luka was not in the room when Stephen tried to read Peter’s mind. Only Peter and Marla were. So… which of them is the Tomorrow Person? Also, Peter didn’t look at all surprised when the camera blatantly stopped in mid-air. Even if that was Luka that stopped it falling, Peter would still be surprised. I think both he and Marla are ‘homosuperiors’. Although, if Tomorrow People cannot kill humans, can they kill animals? If not, Peter can only be one if he can kill (like John and Killian). Confused?Focussing back on Luka, it makes me wonder quite what the group are going to do. As yet there is no definitive proof that he has powers, but it seems a high possibility. Obviously, there is no way Stephen is going to let Ultra get their hands on Luka. However, I highly doubt that Stephen will want to bring his little brother into the group – considering the constant danger around every corner. It’s certainly going to be an interesting story in the next episode as to how Stephen goes about things.
The camping trip was far from smooth. While I appreciate that Stephen wanted to prove his theory that Peter was like him, I don’t particularly agree with his less than subtle methods. It’s a little difficult to explain pushing your mother’s new boyfriend (when you think your father might soon return) off a cliff. Seriously, if Peter isn’t a Tomorrow Person, he could soon be on Ultra’s radar as a human knowing about the species.On that, we got to see more into John’s past at Ultra, particularly what happened when he went against what Jedikiah told him in ‘Kill Or Be Killed’ – not to tell any human about his powers. In parallel to what Astrid was experiencing in the present day, stand owner Tony suffered at the hands of Ultra for knowing John’s secret. This was the first real moment when John went from seeing Jedikiah as a father-like figure to beginning to see him as someone to be afraid of. 14 years later, the latter is much more accurate. I love seeing more into John’s past, particularly as it’s interesting how contrasted his feelings towards Jedikiah are in the present day to those he felt in the past.
While Stephen was preventing Peter from chopping off his family’s hands and leaving them to starve or freeze to death (the dark place), John decided to look in on Astrid at Stephen’s request. Had he listened to Cara’s suggestion that Stephen was paranoid (a common theme in this episode), Astrid would be dead. While John’s leadership was good, he seems to be making more of the right decisions now than when he was leader. Cara’s leadership qualities leave a lot to be desired, something that she needs to resolve very quickly if she is to ensure the survival of the group she now leads.
As for John and Astrid, I can definitely see a connection there. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if John had sex with Astrid to get back at Stephen for his ‘indiscretion’ with Cara back in ‘Sorry For Your Loss’ (OK, that might be a little extreme). While a lot of fans suggested a potential something between them after ‘Death’s Door’, it was made evident that it is a serious possibility. The emotional scene between the two as John appeared to be dying was fantastic. Even the moment that John realised Astrid reciprocates Stephen’s love for her was great to watch. Would the scene have been as emotional had it been Cara instead of Astrid? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that the relationship between the pair has been on a slippery slope since we first met them three months ago. Is Stephen the cause of that? I’d say he’s a factor, but considering the plethora of secrets kept between the two, particularly the severity of those that John has, Stephen can’t be considered the main reason. I like John and Cara’s relationship, so I am hoping that nothing more comes between them.
As for Astrid… well, she gets to see John a whole lot more. Now that she knows about Stephen, and Ultra knows about her (courtesy of a very angry Spy Kid), Stephen and co. have no choice but to keep her in the subway base. Stephen loves Astrid, and so will do whatever it takes to protect her, even if Astrid hates it. The emotional phone call with her father just put the emotional baseball right there to be smashed out of the park – which Madeleine Mantock did brilliantly. These emotional scenes are fantastic, and I can only hope for more of them.
I’m pretty sure Alexa Vega was more likable when she was in Spy Kids (and only through seeing her on this show have I realised how long ago that was!). I can understand her grudge against Stephen, but since we obviously want Stephen (and in this case Astrid too) to succeed over Ultra, her irritation with Stephen’s genetic connection to Jedikiah is annoying. It was fantastic when Jedikiah put her in her place for enjoying the death of a human. What is it with the Tomorrow People that makes them hate humans? They were humans once… or at least thought they were.Some odds and ends:
- Stephen going to the aforementioned dark place was fantastic. “Have you seen any horror movies?”
- A very nice nod to its (short-term) timeslot predecessor’s spin-off with the reference to the Flash comic.
- Hey Russell, use private browsing every once in a while, yeah?
- “So peaceful, so perfect.” “So dead.” And Stephen had to carry the duck.
- Astrid’s bucket list was nice. John still needs one. If only one of those had been to fire a gun.
- The flashback to Roger meeting John was a nice touch. It’s sad that 9 years later, John attempts to kill him. And a nice point for him to mention Stephen. He always knew that Stephen would follow in his footsteps – even if he didn’t.
- John laughing when Stephen mentioned that he “forced his hand” was fantastic.
- As a nice little extra, this episode marked a series high in the ratings.
Next week’s is the last for a few weeks. And it looks like a very good one. Here’s the promo:
I loved this episode and I really feel the show is starting to up its game, but am I the only one who feels the writers were on weed or something when they wrote the scene of Stephen pushing Peter off the cliff? This makes Stephen look like an unstable, dangerous lunatic. He had entirely circumstantial evidence of Peter being a TP, and even less (if any) evidence of Peter wishing them harm. That's enough to take the risk of killing someone to confirm your suspicions? I don't buy that Stephen knew for sure he'd be able to save Peter if he was wrong, either. As I noted in my comment on the episode, the fall itself could've killed or seriously injured Peter, leaving Stephen unable to correct his horrible mistake.
ReplyDeleteI know hindsight is 20/20, and Peter (apparently) turning out not to be a TP makes it obvious that Stephen's course of action was insane. Still, even when looking at things from Stephen's PoV, he decided to potentially murder someone over mere suspicion that this person was a threat, which makes his character look absolutely horrible. This is supposed to be the "hero" of the series?
I didn't agree with his methods at all. It was extreme and as you say, he could have died. But I think the crucial thing to look at is that he did save him. He could, by all rights, have left him in the water to die. But he didn't. Although he did push him off, he did save him so you can't look at him as a horrible character. Had he let Peter die, then he would have been.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention, his suspicion was only that the boyfriend was a Tomorrow Person - why did that have to automatically equate evil and/or Ultra in Stephen's mind? I get he'd be concerned that the guy was an Ultra plant, but still. Wouldn't it have been wiser/smarter even if he did suspect him to just continue to observe and investigate? This was kind of the top of the list of excessive and immature/impulsive things Stephen has done since the beginning of the series that just make me wonder about the kid.
ReplyDeleteWell, if he'd let Peter die he would've been a downright evil psychopath. But what he did is still more than a wrong method - he took the risk that he wouldn't be able to save Peter, and what would've happened then? As far as I can tell, it wasn't certain that if Peter didn't use powers to save himself, thus proving he didn't have any, Stephen would've been able to save him. Stephen doesn't have healing powers so if Peter sustained a serious injury, that could've resulted in his death. Fortunately, all it took was dropping a tree to give Peter something to hold on so he could pull himself out of the water... but Stephen still put his life at a MAJOR risk. That's where he crossed the line from doing stupid, reckless, and even morally questionable things to looking like a downright bad person to me. He could've thought of a way to "out" Peter without risking his life in the process.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. His method was wrong entirely. As I've said, I don't support how he did it (but I do support the point) (and to be fair, I was subconciously hoping he'd push him off the cliff) but he knows what he did was wrong. It's not as if he's out celebrating the fact that he almost killed someone. It was reckless, but he's learnt his lesson. And impulses make people do stupid things.
ReplyDeleteLoved the review. And i also loveddd this episode. I too see the connection between John and Astrid, but i still want John and Cara to work out their problems. I really enjoyed the flashback with John (when he picked up the Flash comic i laughed so hard, nice CW) and Jedikiah, it really showed how much Jed felt for him, and it definitely explained, WHY Jed went all badass on Hilary (god i loved that scene).
ReplyDeleteWith Luka. That was my thought exactly, he wasn't in the room when Stephen was in the kitchen with his mom and Pete. And i doubt he was doing it from the staircase. I still think it's Stephen's mother. Idk we shall see. As for John laughing when Stephen said he forced his hand, his reaction was classic, hell he had me laughing, haha.
I'm sooo glad the ratings went up!!! I was hoping for that!!
Maybe stupid but Stephen pushed him of the ridge which in potential could kill him. Yet he was able to push him without consequences of being not able to kill
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point. Completely forgot about that when I was writing this. Definitely a strange thing. The limits of being able to kill obviously don't extend to indirect killing, i.e. pushing someone off a cifff whereby they drown or something.
ReplyDeleteStephen had no intention of killing Peter. He was convinced that Peter had powers and could/would save himself. Since Stephen did not want, try, or intend to kill Peter by pushing him off the cliff, that action did not cause him any pain. At least that is the way I viewed it.
ReplyDeleteThis "TP being unable to kill" plot point just doesn't make sense. In 1x07, Stephen goes after the serial rapidt TP, who throws him into the water and says, "I can't kill you, but let's see if this current can."
ReplyDeleteYep, that's a good point. Screw the Anex project, Tomorrow People can already kill people.
ReplyDeleteOf course he didn't intend to kill Peter. But once he pushed him off that cliff, he had no way of knowing what would happen.
ReplyDeleteLate reply here - anyway, I think what Stephen did is the sort of action that people tend to judge by the actual result, not the result the actor intended to achieve or could've predicted. As such, it seems to me that if Peter had teleported out of the water, people would cheer for Stephen's great instincts and his clever plan to expose Peter as a TP, regardless of the fact that he didn't have enough info at the time to be sure, and WAS risking killing Peter from his perspective. On the flip side, if Peter fell into the water and Stephen failed to save him, there would be rage at how the main "good guy" character is responsible for a death with his idiotic reckless behavior, how can we root for someone like that, etc.
ReplyDeleteFrom a moral standpoint, Stephen has to be judged according to what he knew before pushing Peter off the cliff - the evidence supporting the idea that Peter was a TP in general and dangerous to them in particular vs. the risk in pushing him off. As I see it, he had little evidence, at least of Peter being an evil Ultra plant/whatever (the suspicion of his being a TP was more founded, but still only a suspicion). Whereas the risk was enormous - if he was wrong, Peter would very possibly die. One doesn't usually survive falling into a body of water from a great height, or at least avoid serious injuries, and there was no guarantee Stephen would be able to intervene with his own powers and rescue Peter if his suspicions were disproved. So it's hard for me to go easy on Stephen just because of the de facto result - his managing to prevent Peter's death because of dumb luck more than anything.
Thanks :)
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