The Red Hawks get a lot more dangerous, and a surprising new threat enters the picture during this week’s Star-Crossed.
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The Attack
This week’s episode starts with a bang. Or rather, a boom. When Zoe, the Trag operative revealed in last week’s episode, comes upon two men planning a bombing in the Atrian market, she instead makes it so they’re blown up right then and there instead.
According to blueprints that were uncovered, the attack was planned by the Red Hawks. Emery hears the news through her headphones while on her morning jog, and is then approached by the newest threat on the show, Matt Bandell, a reporter for a tabloid, The Smatter Chatter.
The Secret of Cyper
And why is Bandell a threat? Because he caught the conversation between Julia and Emery about cyper on camera, and he’s planning to do a story on the healing properties of cyper. So, he creepily tracked Emery down for a quote. Even though she claims the whole thing is a hoax, she needs something more to get him to back down.
So she promises to get him something better than the cyper story, an “exclusive,” in her words, juicier than his planned story. Bandell agrees that if she can offer him something better, he won’t run the cyper story. So the secret is safe for just that much longer.
Another Secret is Out
Drake and Roman argue some more about war vs. integration, standing by vs. action, etc. The usual, you get it.
But the stakes are raised when Zoe reveals to Drake that Grayson’s parents are the leaders of the Red Hawks. She knows this, because when she blew up the guys planning their attack earlier on in the episode, she made them talk before their untimely demise.
Zoe also tells Drake that there’s something planned for this big upcoming charity ball hosted by Grayson’s parents, so they both need to attend. Of course, all this talking catches the attention of her jealous friend Taylor, who questions what’s going on between them. Zoe denies everything, but I get the feeling Taylor is a lot smarter than her “friend” believes.
When Emery and Grayson talk about the attack, Grayson claims his parents don’t condone violence to further their cause. He also invites her to the aforementioned charity ball, and though she’s reluctant at first to attend, she later agrees. (And when she agrees, Roman is watching nearby. Moodily, for the record.)
Hatrians
When Emery tells Julia about her visit with Bandell, her friend freaks out a little bit, afraid of the scrutiny she’ll face if people know how she was healed by cyper. But Emery reassures her that she just needs to give the guy a better story, and Julia suggests revealing the leaders of the Red Hawks, as it would be quite the scoop.
Emery is unsure about giving away that info, since she knows what revealing such information would do to Grayson. But Julia reminds her that the Red Hawks are no longer just a hate group — they’re a full-on terrorist organization. She uses the term Hatrians, which I don’t think has been done on the show yet.
Drake Tells Roman
Drake catches Roman watching Emery and realizes that his friend is pining for the human girl. So he tells him about Grayson’s parents, and implies that maybe Emery is a Red Hawk as well.
Just then, Zoe walks up and chats with Drake about the ball, and when she leaves, Roman insists on going as Drake’s “plus one” in order to watch him. He doesn’t trust his friend now that he’s a Trag, and with good reason.
The Ball
When Roman and Drake show up at the ball, they’re immediately used as a photo op by a senator, which Drake is reasonably annoyed by. Roman tries to get out of him just who he’s working with at the party, but then Emery walks in, and he’s mesmerized by her image. Meh. I’m still not really feeling their relationship.
At the ball, Zoe and Drake meet up and discuss their plan: to kidnap Grayson, and leave a message for ransom. To get their son back, Grayson’s parents and the other humans will have to agree to release a few Atrian prisoners, including Drake’s mother and Zoe’s father. Only problem? They have to figure out how to get Grayson out of the party without raising suspicions.
Meanwhile, Grayson’s mother, Mrs. Montrose, brings Emery to another part of her swanky mansion to chat. She makes a few comments about sharing values and sticking with your own kind, but before Emery can beg to differ, Mrs. Montrose is called away.
So when Emery and Grayson talk a little later, Emery insists that Grayson has to take a stand against his parents. He appears torn, but she leaves to talk to Julia before he can really get a word in edgewise.
Julia’s Plan
Julia gets some sort of device from Lukas (who doesn’t appear in this episode), that will corrupt the video Bandell has of her and Emery’s conversation. But she also stresses again that maybe Emery should get the guy another story so he’ll back off on the cyper angle just in case.
Emery figures out that Bandell listening in on the Red Hawk meeting happening later that night would be a great way to distract the guy, but they don’t know where it’s taking place. She convinces Julia to chat Eric up in order to figure out where it’s happening, even though poor Julia doesn’t even really know the guy. The girl’s got a lot of faith in her friend.
Luckily, when Julia does make some clunky attempts at flirting with the guy, he reveals that the meeting is happening on the south side at a bar. Good thing that worked out, otherwise I’m not sure how the girls would have figured that out.
Revelations
Grayson finds Roman wandering the house during the party, and Roman suggests that Grayson needs to tell Emery the truth about his parents. Grayson tells him to get out of his house, but they get into an altercation anyway. Grayson suggests that what they’re really fighting about is the fact that Grayson has what Roman wants — Emery.
When Emery walks in, Roman demands that Grayson tell her the truth. But when he tells her instead, she reveals that she already knows. Betrayed, Roman stomps off. When she follows him, he is upset that she didn’t tell him about Grayson’s parents, and feels that maybe she doesn’t care about his people at all.
Confession
Of course, Emery is affronted by that, and claims that all she’s been doing is fighting for Roman’s people. She tells him that at least with Grayson she knows where she stands, whereas with their relationship, all Roman ever seems to do is push her away.
That leads to a heartfelt confession by Roman that he is only trying to protect her, and despite her saying she doesn’t need protecting, he disagrees. He says that he can’t make her wait for some day in the future when it will be safe for them to be together, that he would give her “everything … just not now.”
The Plan in Motion
Meanwhile, back at the ball, Zoe drugs Grayson with a shot, and she and Drake plan to drag him away from the festivities. Taylor notices that something is up, so Drake tries to distract her. After being mad at him for all of about two seconds, she suggests that they find a room, but he blows her off, since he’s got a super important Trag mission and all.
Roman sees Zoe and Drake abducting Grayson from a window, and doesn’t really do anything about it until after they’ve driven off in a car. Then he sees the coin they’ve left and watches the message and understands why they’ve taken the other student.
In the car, Zoe tells Drake to “take care” of Roman if he blows their cover, but Drake tells her Roman is his friend and he wouldn’t do that. Zoe reminds him that as Trags, they don’t have friends, only their cause. Harsh.
The Meeting
Emery warns Eric not to attend the Red Hawk meeting, then gives Bandell the information she has on it. She and Bandell go to the bar and listen in on what’s happening inside with all sorts of surveillance equipment he has in the back of a van. Because that’s not creepy at all.
Emery makes the video feed go out in the van so Bandell will have to go look at equipment outside of their little spy area, and while he’s gone, she manages to use the file corrupter thingy in her purse to ruin the video Bandell had of the conversation she and Julia had. Mission accomplished.
Then they watch the proceedings in the bar, and none other than Margaret Montrose steps on stage to speak, there in her role of Grand Matriarch of the Red Hawks. Bandell gets Mrs. Montrose’s threats to destroy the Atrians with “twice the force” on video, which is bad news for the Councilman’s wife.
Showdown
Roman follows Drake, Zoe and Grayson to a field or something, having run all the way there from the looks of him. Zoe tries to hit him with her car, and it flips and just about goes into the water nearby.
Drake and Roman put Grayson on the ground and Roman tries to revive him, and I guess they think Zoe’s knocked out or something. Drake tells Roman to go before he’s discovered with him, and then of course Zoe is right there, holding a gun and pointing it at Drake.
After a commercial break, Zoe has both boys on their knees, gun pointed at them. She kicks Drake and tells him he let her down, and tells them that they both have to die since they know too much.
Drake manages to subdue Zoe and says they should kill her, but Roman disagrees. They help her up, and she does the whole “You’ll regret this!” villain thing and leaves.
Grayson Takes a Stand
Grayson’s mom is arrested after Bandell’s story and the video go public, and though his father tells him they need to present a “united front” on her behalf at a press conference, he later tells Emery that he decided to take a stand and wouldn’t do it.
He goes to Emery’s house after she has a girl chat with Julia about her conversation with Roman, during which she decides she’d rather have “someday with Roman than now with Grayson or anyone else.” Aw?
But I’m guessing Grayson showing up looking for comfort will confuse her feelings even more. And Roman will probably think she’s pretty sure about her feelings, after he goes to her house and sees her comforting the other boy through her window. Whoops! Bad timing, dude.
Side Notes
Oh, at the end of the episode, Bandell and one of the Marshall High teachers hook up after he tried flirting with her at the ball. He lets slip that he heard a conversation between two students about cyper, and she asks who the students were. We don’t hear him tell her, but I’m sure he did. But we don’t know what her motives are, so she could be another new threat later.
Zoe also hitchhikes after her confrontation with Roman and Drake, and as an attractive teenage girl all alone, she of course gets picked up by a guy. She pulls something rather dangerous-looking from her purse, but we don’t get to see what she does with it. I’m going to assume it’s nothing good.
Do you think the teacher is a threat? Will Bandell pop up again in the future? And was Grayson sincere about his choice not to stand with his parents, or is he still fooling Emery? You’ll have to continue watching Star-Crossed to find out!
Star-Crossed airs every Monday night at 8pm on The CW.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
