By Max Bosshart
Unlikely alliances and revelations abound in the fourth episode of The Tomorrow People, Kill or Be Killed. The episode paints the picture of John's origin and introduces the enemy of the week in Killian McCrane.
Unlikely alliances and revelations abound in the fourth episode of The Tomorrow People, Kill or Be Killed. The episode paints the picture of John's origin and introduces the enemy of the week in Killian McCrane.
The episode opens up fifteen years before the show with John running from the police in a stolen car. The car gets stopped but he teleports back home. We find out that he is a foster child in the abusive home of a drunk. He has been using his powers to steal food for the other children in the home. It's a scene that showcases John's nurturing nature and his desire to help the lost since, well, before the Tomorrow People.
John's little stunt put him on the radar of Ultra and Jedikiah shows up at the foster home, paying the foster dad to take John off of his hands. We're shown scenes of John training, which introduces us to the episode's foe, Killian McCrane.
We learn that McCrane took part in Ultra testing to counteract the Homo Superior's inability to kill. He was the only member of the Annex Project to survive and successfully overcome the Prime Barrier. Afterwards McCrane escaped with devastating results and John was tasked with catching him while he was still an agent.
John's little stunt put him on the radar of Ultra and Jedikiah shows up at the foster home, paying the foster dad to take John off of his hands. We're shown scenes of John training, which introduces us to the episode's foe, Killian McCrane.
We learn that McCrane took part in Ultra testing to counteract the Homo Superior's inability to kill. He was the only member of the Annex Project to survive and successfully overcome the Prime Barrier. Afterwards McCrane escaped with devastating results and John was tasked with catching him while he was still an agent.
This revelation that Ultra had found a way to break through the Prime Barrier comes into play later in the episode, but it makes for an interesting plot device for the episode and will have long standing effects on the series. The creation of the Prime Barrier within the context of the story was unique and clever and it seems like a cheap trick to present characters that don't have that barrier. Its nice to see characters that have to find alternative ways of dealing with a situation that don't involve shooting a lot of bullets. To take this away takes away a bit of the flavor of the show.
In the present day McCrane has come back, as we find out, looking for John and wondering why John has stopped hunting for him. To find out why McCrane breaks into Ultra and attempts to take Jedikiah's life with a bomb to distract everyone as he hacks into their computer system. In the scene Stephen saves Jedikiah's life. This action effects a small amount withing the show, giving Stephen a better standing with Ultra, while having the action questioned by the Tomorrow People. Though the effects will probably remain within the confines of the episode.
There are a couple of confrontations with McCrane, all of which amount to nothing and for the most part leave a bit to be desired. The first to fights are short and could have been handled with a little more flare on the part of the director. What they do serve is to create an unlikely alliance between Jedikiah and John.
In the present day McCrane has come back, as we find out, looking for John and wondering why John has stopped hunting for him. To find out why McCrane breaks into Ultra and attempts to take Jedikiah's life with a bomb to distract everyone as he hacks into their computer system. In the scene Stephen saves Jedikiah's life. This action effects a small amount withing the show, giving Stephen a better standing with Ultra, while having the action questioned by the Tomorrow People. Though the effects will probably remain within the confines of the episode.
There are a couple of confrontations with McCrane, all of which amount to nothing and for the most part leave a bit to be desired. The first to fights are short and could have been handled with a little more flare on the part of the director. What they do serve is to create an unlikely alliance between Jedikiah and John.
Jedikiah utilizes Ultra's resources to find McCrane and alert John to his whereabouts, promising a ten minute headstart to stopping McCrane. Though, predictably Jedikiah goes back on his word and sends a kill team in to stop both McCrane and John. John teleports himself and McCrane into the middle of nowhere to fight. Before the teleportation the fight was the best of the episode, and a fun looking one compared to all of them in the season so far, afterwards though, the fight was one sided and back to being mediocre like the rest.
Its here where the audience gets the biggest revelation of the night, though in watching the episode it becomes fairly obvious halfway through that it will happen. McCrane is giving the villain speech that because he can kill and John can't that he has the upperhand. The speeches that every villain seems to have and while this is going on John shoots McCrane. So we find out that McCrane was not the only person to break through the Prime Barrier. Though with the showcasing of John as being the Tomorrow Person with the best grasp of his abilities, his ability to kill makes him seem a bit overpowered. Plus there creates the chance that John will go rogue and become another enemy in the mix.
The episode was very much centered on John, and not in the way the last episode told the story of Cara. It surrounded John, having all the other characters take a back seat. Granted other things happened in between John scenes, they just seemed irrelevant. It was a good episode nonetheless.
Its here where the audience gets the biggest revelation of the night, though in watching the episode it becomes fairly obvious halfway through that it will happen. McCrane is giving the villain speech that because he can kill and John can't that he has the upperhand. The speeches that every villain seems to have and while this is going on John shoots McCrane. So we find out that McCrane was not the only person to break through the Prime Barrier. Though with the showcasing of John as being the Tomorrow Person with the best grasp of his abilities, his ability to kill makes him seem a bit overpowered. Plus there creates the chance that John will go rogue and become another enemy in the mix.
The episode was very much centered on John, and not in the way the last episode told the story of Cara. It surrounded John, having all the other characters take a back seat. Granted other things happened in between John scenes, they just seemed irrelevant. It was a good episode nonetheless.
RSS Feed
