Reviewed by Mark McCullough.

With a run of several solid episodes in a row, The Tomorrow People is slowly becoming one of my favourite series. Having built strong and relatable characters within the first ‘half’ of the series, it should certainly be interesting to see which direction the character development goes. Last week’s episode blurred the boundaries of right and wrong with a dark new side to John revealed and Jedikiah earning the sympathy of the audience.

We start with a conformation of Stephen’s encounter with his father in Limbo. In a rather short scene, Stephen is told to find his Father’s body and is given the name of Simon Plame. He is also warned as to the motives of the Founder who looks get to replace Jedikiah as the big bad of the series. Stephen struggles to convince his friends that what he seen really happened, with the only person offering full support being John who quite obviously has ulterior motives. The wedge between John and Cara is exposed even further as she claims she doesn’t know who he is any more.

We are introduced to the Citadel, an Ultra prison for the incarceration and experimentation of Homo Superiors . This is chilling concept as it demotes the prisoners to animal status and is akin to something you would see in an animal testing facility. We witness the escape of a prisoner, Errol, from the compound using barbaric methods. This lets the viewer visualise the torment of the prisoners that they would go to such lengths to escape. The Citadel is revealed to have a mythical quality about it, with its location unknown. Russell compares it to the Tomorrow Person equivalent of the Bogey Man.

When John finally decides to tell the entire group about what happened between him and Stephen’s Father, it has major consequences for him. A storyline about the choice between forgiveness and justice, finds justice prevail. A vote for a new leader of the Tomorrow People is taken resulting in the nomination of Cara; this will surely provide further conflict between Cara and John at a later stage. For her first mission in charge, Cara tries the biggest operation yet, to free the prisoners of the Citadel. Change is evident as she excludes Stephen from the plan to ensure Ultra remain in the blind. Cara’s assault on the truck containing Stephen and Errol results in the successful capture of Errol who will lead them to the Citadel. The hijack results in Stephen being shot by an unlikely source.

Cara’s plan is largely unsuccessful, she finds the Citadel but is only able to rescue one of the inmates, and even that comes at a cost. Jedikiah is restored to the ruthless villain status as he is suspicious of Stephen’s injury, suspecting that it was done in an attempt to trick him. By using Stephen’s medication, he is able to prevent communication between Stephen and Cara. He shows his intelligence as he figures out Cara’s plans to break into the Citadel and sends a kill squad to intercept. He holds Cara at gunpoint leading to an unexpected sacrifice. There is also a tense standoff between John and Jedikiah.

It is evident that Cara is struggling in her new role. We see this best when she makes an out of character decision and attempts to do too much. It is symbolic of the adjustment within the Tomorrow People that it is John who digs Cara out of hole.

Other storylines within the episode includes Stephen’s Mother’s new love interest Peter. Peter seems like an unremarkable man up until the dénouement of the episode when Stephen tries to read his mind and obtains a shock result. The story of Stephen’s Father’s body also takes a back seat in the episode with the only advance to the storyline being via word of mouth from Jedikiah, which as we have come to learn is hardly an indication of the truth.

Verdict 9.5/10

Yet another fantastic episode which keeps the strong run of form for the series. All of the main cast offer strong performances in this outing. However with an ever growing cast, it means that sometimes certain characters do not feature. In this episode, the Founder is not used at all; however this affords Jedikiah a chance to shine in which he excels. There also seems to be a larger emphasis on Stephen’s family and given the revelation at the end, I suspect they will have a larger role in the stories yet to come. Characters and character development are again very strong as Stephen stands up to Jedikiah and Cara swaps roles with John.