The Tomorrow People: 116 “Superhero” Review
Reviewed by Mark McCullough.
Last week’s outing was perhaps more of a filler-episode, not offering huge amount to the plot-line which has arced the entire show. Despite that we still received a cliff-hanger where Stephen got one of his father’s old experiments to work. What this means, I’m not quite sure, but I am hoping to find out in this week’s outing.
This time out, the narrative adopts a super hero style. We are introduced to a break-out who fights crime leaving a rose as her calling card. She gets herself on the radar of both Ultra and the Tomorrow People as the former want to kill her and the latter feel she would be a useful ally. It is revealed that Russell has a history with the breakout believed to be Talia. Russell and Stephen work to track down this “Scarlett Avenger” before Ultra can get to her. When they find her, they are shocked to learn that it is not Talia, but a girl called Mallory. The Scarlett Avengers are revealed to be a group of people carrying out Talia’s work (inspired by Russell) across the country.
Stephen and Russell get involved as Mallory attempts to protect a federal judge from an attack by a gang on him and his family. John and Cara intercept them when they discover what is going on and it is not long until Ultra joins the party too. This leads to Hillary finding some incriminating evidence and how she uses it gives some excellent insight into her character. This is expanded upon later as the consequences of her action affect her relationship with Stephen.
The federal judge narrative continues as the same men who attacked his house now ambush his courtroom with guns and hold those within hostage. I have to say whilst entertaining, this was farcical in more ways than one. How the men got away so easily from the house defies belief and then even more so how they managed to get their weapons into the courtroom. Again a similar resolution to the previous stand-off occurs. Following this Talia appears to meet with Russell and their story gets a satisfactory conclusion and justifies Russell’s actions within the narrative.
The cliff-hanger is addressed quite early in the episode as Stephen learns the device is tuned to his father’s DNA, and is actively searching for his body. This confirms his suspicions that Jedikiah was lying about having Roger’s body cremated. Stephen suggests probing Jedikiah’s mind to find its true location, but Cara refuses claiming the risk is too large.
Upon overhearing the conversation, Morgan (Jedikiah’s girlfriend) volunteers to read his mind for them, citing her reason she could succeed as her close relationship with Jedikiah. John tells her that there is no chance that Cara will agree and that if she is caught by Jedikiah, she will not be allowed to return to the Tomorrow People.
The plan takes an unexpected twist when John tells Cara what is happening only to learn that Morgan is pregnant with Jedikiah’s baby. After Morgan fails in reading Jedikiah’s mind, he attacks her meaning John has to intervene to save her life. In the exchange, Jedikiah learns of her pregnancy and that he is going to be a father.
With the help of his friends, Stephen is able to place the clues together; this leads him to where he has been trying to go all series. Unfortunately in the cliff-hanger ending his actions have been second guessed and it is certainly safe to say that the show will never be the same again.
Verdict 8.5/10
I’d have loved to score the episode a little higher, but the lack of common sense around the gangster subplot was actually quite jarring and impacted on the episode as a whole. Besides that I still really enjoyed this outing which significantly developed some of the characters making Russell and Hillary more likeable. The play on the popular superheroes theme worked quite well here and the concept of responsibility was an interesting one. Those of you who have been following the reviews will know that I think there is more to the character of Jedikiah. Could the responsibility of a child be the push that his character needs? Bring on next week!