Subtitle: Requiem for Tavon
Things are about to change. This episode felt more intense than the previous episodes of the occupation. It makes sense. They’ve been moving chess pieces into position and building the pressures to ignite a revolution.
The death of Tavon Singley was central to that.
He believes that their paperwork proving Tavon is NOT a Meta should save him and ensure that everything will be alright with the world.
For me, Jefferson’s inability to temper his idealism with reality is dangerous. Ultimately, it was dangerous here.
Despite her concerns, Anissa does as her father asks and tries to sneak Tavon back into the city.
The only problem with this is that Odell has run a facial recognition algorithm, and Anissa is on the list of the women who could be Blackbird. (I’m going to ignore the fact that Blackbird wears a plastic chin guard that would render the facial recognition software ineffective.)
Painkiller/Khalil predicts where she'll reappear and is waiting for her. He almost has her, but Tavon rushes in to save her. He does give her a chance to engage her Thunder abilities which allow her to knock Painkiller out.
Painkiller manages to infect Tavon with his venom. The poison kills him. Though Anissa survives long enough to get the antidote.
Tavon’s fellow students reaction to the news drives them to confront some ASA Thugs...er...Soldiers. These guys are ready to fire upon kids, mostly because they’re outnumbered, afraid, and have guns.
Jefferson steps in front of those thugs and refuses to back down.
(Was I the only person who chuckled at how much taller Jefferson was than the guy trying to intimidate him?)
He takes a beat down that’s caught on camera and used to ignite the fires of rebellion.
The rest of the Pierce family isn’t doing much better than Anissa or Jefferson.
Lynne is making great strides for the Meta’s of Freeland. She’s figured out that crazy Dr. Jace used the Meta virus to leave her clues to how to stabilize the Meta gene.
It’s a pretty devious way for her to collaborate with Lynne.
Tobias Whale, Patient 49, is the key to her research. As usual he had to push her buttons. She made him pay for it by extracting bone marrow without an anesthetic.
Lynne's able to put together a formula to stabilize the Metas. One example of Lynne's emotional deterioration is that she asks Odell to kill Tobias when they’re finished with him.
Is she becoming as twisted as Dr. Jace?
I think the fact that Jefferson wasn’t really hearing what Jennifer was saying to him felt like a nice, subtle way of illustrating a fundamental change in his character.
Lynne and Jefferson have always been a granite foundation for Anissa and Jennifer. Both are damaged right now.
Anissa’s an adult, but Jennifer needs them and because they’re not there, Odell is able to step in as a father figure.
Not a very good father, of course. Odell woos her by giving her what she wants.
This time it’s the opportunity to get revenge on the people who beat her father.
It’s really easy for me to believe her falling under his spell. She’s young, inexperienced, and still a little naïve about some things.
Her absence would confirm his suspicion about Anissa being Blackbird.
But ‘Anissa’ answers the door. She can’t be in two places at once. I think this was one of my favorite scenes.
Henderson spent the episode selling his persona as ASA lackey. We’ve known better for a while, but Rev. Holt and Tanner learned the truth tonight. The fight against the ASA is about to get bigger.
As I said, this episode felt more intense to me. I’ve enjoyed the way the writers have built the pressure on Freeland to the point where the citizens join together to fight back.
I like that the “heroes” of the show, the Pierce Family, aren’t immune to the stresses hitting Freeland right now. I'm excited to see how it will all work out.
What did you guys think about the episode?
