Believe - 1.04 Defection - Review - Love Is Blind

This episode definitely had a bit more of a silly story of the week in this episode compared to previous episodes, but I did find how they used that story to push the struggle of Tate and Bo and/or Bo's own flaws or problems to the surface of the series, which juxtaposes Tate's own story (assuming that Nina is really dead), a good use of it.

This is the first time where audiences can really see how Bo can be a problem, because her the lack of understanding of her own abilities pushes her to be angry, potentially self destructive, and over determined to prove herself in a way that feels all out threatening, let alone she still seems out of touch with whom Tate really is, which makes everything beautifully more complicated.

"Real love is gritty, it comes and it goes and it works out like maybe 30% off the time...And even then it's a lot of work, it's gut wrenching, pride swallowing work." -William Tate

It was also nice to see the narrative about fate (something fantastical) and realism (fundamental truths) continue through Bo's and Tate's own struggle with each other, as Bo had to for a moment consider Tate's argument that love may be a rare thing and not like a Hollywood movie, but with Bo insisting that this time it's meant to be, in which case we see after learning the truth from what had been kept hidden from her all of these years that she was with the wrong guy after all and Bo was still right, even though what Tate originally said is highly reflective of their own relationship.

I also enjoyed how the episode continued to give us flashbacks and was surprised to discover that Bo and Winter was with Skouras as recently as six months ago. It was a nice contrast to have Skouras push and challenge Bo, while we see Bo push and challenge Tate, whom given the circumstance really came through in trying to understand her emotional extremity by pseudo apologizing and going along with her which allowed Bo's emotions deflect to a more fun argumentative and passive dynamic that we have seen before. As Winter says, I think Tate is good for her.

I was also struck by the way Bo observed the other children playing soccer while at recess when at school. It definitely hit a chord of realization of how different a life Bo must of had and how finding these long lost souls and bringing them together is her only way to socialize and communicate with other people in the world.

FBI Agent Elizabeth Farrell also continued to play an interesting contrast to Skouras and was glad we started to cut to the chase with her actually seeing what Bo is capable of doing, but given we don't know too much about Farrell, it's hard to say if this incident and the discovery that Bo is with her biological father, warmed her up to their situation or if she will see Skouras' viewpoint more clearly? I would like to think given the episode title that we're leaning towards her own defection of Skouras and how the Government works....

The scene where Bo finds the letter in the courtyard reminded me of a cross between Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and the well know children's story, The Secret Garden, but I do not know if either was an intentional allusion or not.

I'm hopeful that if we're lucky enough to see the whole first season that we can flesh out some of these other characters like Ferrell, Martin, Chaning, and Zoe, while also making ground on already established characters and using one shots more and more effectively.

Thinking that each story of the week may reflect the bigger arcs of the season, it's easy look at the first three episodes to compare Bo's, Tate's, and Nina's story in relation to Bo and her detachment from her parents until recently, but this love story too may be hinting at another bigger love story and if I had to guess, I might say that Agent Farrell is meant to be Tate's long term love interest, unless Nina isn't really dead and/or can be brought back to lifr. But Farrell and Tate could present an interesting dynamic from a person who had to grow up at a young age (teenage pregnancy) joined the FBI and comes off as a cold, but determined skeptic in comparison to the somewhat adolescent criminal and also jaded Tate, who's just learning the responsibility of becoming a parent. Of course there is Channing too.

An online video interview with Jamie Chung gives insight that she's a character that is fascinated by the way systems work, but coming to know Bo made her realize that understanding how something works isn't as important as protecting an innocent and extraordinary person like Bo and so Bo is where Channing draws her moral line, which we know Skouras doesn't have at all at this point. Channing and Tate definitely got off on the wrong foot, but she's the only one who's pushing Winter to try and do the right things and to her credit, the audience doesn't yet know if Winter's beliefs and gut feelings are themselves not without consequence and/or if like with Bo and other kinetic and/or extremely empathetic people, if Winter too is more than he has let on? I could easily see Channing becoming closer to Tate through her belief in Bo, especially if she chooses to go rouge.

Bad Robot Factor:
Each week after my review I will bring this section relating to many things Bad Robot in relationship to the episode, as I feel certain Bad Robot often makes a point to reference themselves with similar characters, subject matter, riffs, easter eggs, aesthetics, contrasting situations, & occasionally shared pop cultural references. So this section is to explore the possibility of those things, which may provide some and insight speculation and at the very least food for thought and/or trivia. I also think it's just fun to be able to reminisce!

There's really not too much to add this week to this section. All I can say is that even though it has a lot elements from mostly Fringe with a dash of Alias and Lost, it continues to be executed in manner highly reminiscent to Person of Interest, which I think is a good thing in terms of longer termed story telling and in terms of being able to reach a broader audience, despite that so far it hasn't due to Resurrection, The Walking Dead, and next week will have to contend with the return of A Game of Thrones. (Note: Picture from Person of Interest episode "Til Death")


Who's Side Are You On Anyways?

Additionally I think defection is also highly thematic to Bad Robot works where often times we see members or a member of one group eventually change course to become apart of another. It's something viewers definitely saw a lot of in LOST and continue to see in Revolution and Person of Interest. Philosophically it's a great way to present political and/or person belief debates with sometimes adding a thrilling quality to a work.

So what did you think of Defection? Do you think it's going to get much harder for Bo and Tate? Do you think Agent Farrell was moved at all by Bo's abilities? Do you think we will see more and more people defect from various groups before the season ends? Let us know in the comments below!

About the Author - Darthlocke4

Laura Becker (Darthlocke 4) is a long time commentator, TV addict, and aspiring writer participating with other fans on SpoilerTV. She writes reviews and analytic type articles. Some of her other interests include philosophy, cultural anthropology, reading, drawing, and working with animals, as she grew up and continues to work on her family's horse farm.