Six of 10 parts into this series, this is when the show started to drag for me. With the mystery of what’s behind the conspiracy pretty much laid out at this point, and Debbie having made it safely out of the compound, we seem to be in an in-between state of the high tension from earlier in the series and the inevitable confrontation, as the warring sides converge in the final few episodes.
To be honest, I had trouble making it through the whole episode, but I’m glad I did, because there was a surprise at the end. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, be warned – it’s a pretty major spoiler, which I will be discussing below.
The Recap …
A good part of the focus was on the break-up of Peter and Det. Cohen. While the two have been working side by side up to this point to break the case, they split on different paths this week, with Cohen tracking down and arresting a suspect in the murder of Emma Wilson, and Peter following the mystery behind the symbol he found in Emma’s journal, and then again on the tunnel wall.
After two watches, I’m still a little fuzzy on how Cohen got his suspect. There was a fob found at the death scene of Yussef Khalid (they’ve figured out it’s a suicide), and I’m assuming that was traced to the suspect, who Peter has fingered as a patsy. Peter, a little too enthusiastically, tries to warn off the suspect, whom he believes is being set up, and get him to confide in him. He attempts this by tricking Cohen into leaving the interrogation room and blocking the door. That move gets him finally thrown off the case by Lynn and sent packing back to the US.
Meanwhile, Avram begins to question the company he’s keeping, as the bald man who took the place of the conspirator that was supposed to accompany Avram on the next leg of his journey performs a creepy ritual while he has Avram in an ice bath. Avram sneaks out during the night to call Rabbi Lev and is told by Lev that the man is dangerous and is probably from the Sons of Light sect, which we had previously learned was a religious group trying to keep the stones hidden to prevent the second coming.
Lev tells Avram to kill the bald man, but Avram hesitates and the man takes his knife. However, he doesn’t kill Avram when he has the chance.
Somehow, though, Billingham has found them and arrives as Debbie and Josh hide outside the motel. I'm hoping we don't find out that Josh had called him. Charlie is captured, but Debbie and Josh escape and make it as far as a local FBI office, but there are spies in even the local FBI. Debbie, while waiting to talk to an agent, receives a threatening call from Billingham, telling her to walk away from the FBI or Charlie will die. She does.
Thoughts
I'm also finding it a little hard to believe that this conspiracy has spies everywhere. When Debbie first escaped and we learned that the local law enforcement officer was corrupted, that seemed reasonable because the compound is probably well established and powerful in the area. That the ambassador is also taking part in the conspiracy seems more unlikely, but I can accept that there are going to be a few surprise moles. Now we learn that even the local FBI office has a spy. I'm struggling to understand why so many people would risk everything to end the world as they know it. Maybe learning more about their motivations would help.
On the positive side, there was the reappearance of Emma. While it’s not totally a surprise – I guessed that she might be alive after watching the pilot because there were so many hints that she was targeting Peter for some reason – I’m glad to see her back because this should open the story in a new direction.
What does her reappearance mean? On the one hand she looks frightened and beaten up. On the other, the fact that she was presumed dead and seemed to be purposely copying Peter’s daughter hints that she’s been setting him up for some role. The question is, what? If he was targeted, why? Does the suicide of his daughter have anything to do with it? Are there other players around him or elsewhere in the story involved?
So what do you think of it so far? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Thanks for taking the time to write this review/recap, Chris!! :)
ReplyDeleteI think the show has gotten better at trying to balance it's genres. I kind of expect there to be things that are "too convenient", because I think Peter is "fated" to play some kind of a major role in the prophecy or 'war' that seems to be brewing and that he isn't just being lead by Emma, but something more innate and intuitive. He's having a spiritual awakening...
It will be interesting to see just how supernatural or fringe the show is willing to go, but I think they have done a nice job at slowly building towards that...
i wanted to really enjoy this series but am finding it harder to see how it got greenlit - and thus said, it would have been better for it be be a 6 episode run instead of a mind numbing 10 episodes. Still hoping the last couple of episodes will vindicate my watching it all. Though they have kept the events grounded in earthly reality ( with the exception of Peter's visions) , I am expecting a bit of the supernatural to appear towards the finish. I too was not at all surprised to see "Emma" turn up and wonder if she is going to turn out to have been a sort of angelic guide for Peter to find his path. Houston, we have a flawed hero, at best. Earlier could have thrown a shoe at him when he left the hospital without visiting his injured and traumatized girlfriend who had just been attacked by a mob and seen her friend and driver mortally wounded just because he had another blasted vision. This creepy stuff with the image and memory of his dead daughter seems to indicate he was in some untoward way responsible for her suicide. I fully expect him to sacrifice himself in the end for the resolution and for his own atonement. Thanks for the recap and review - it is good to see how someone feels about what the show is doing.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting take. I've been expecting more realistic connections between the events because I've been reading this as a "miracle" orchestrated by human machinations, such as their high priests being born out of a petri dishes (or at least that's what I'm assuming). In the case of Peter, I agree he seems like he's being set up to have a major role. I would see it as a twist if it turns out to be fate, and not human manipulation, behind his role. Maybe it's my cynicism showing though. ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope they do take a turn toward the supernatural, more than they've done to this point. That would be a twist for me. It's going to be interesting to see how Emma is portrayed in coming episodes.
ReplyDeleteWell I def think there is human manipulation element behind the conspiracy, but it also seems like there are two forces at work outside of Peter/Israeli Police/FBI, keeping it's crime reality grounded for now, but at the same time I can easily seeing this venture the ways of Robert Langdon (some truth behind the conspiracy) or Indiana Jones (actual supernatural power), especially because of the way Peter is experiencing things and because I think if nothing at all happens with the breastplate/stones, it would be incredibly underwhelming...
ReplyDeleteEven in something like Alias, it's the idea that Rambaldi's 15th century works/prophecy couldn't come to full fruition until early 2000 technology existed...
I could get behind a Langdon evolution more than something more overtly supernatural. I need the tone to be set from the beginning of the series, and I feel, in this case, the supernatural has been more implied than actual. But we'll see. I usually don't know whether I like something until I see it.
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