Holy Stargate, Batman, The Tomorrow People was hella intense tonight! If you thought last week was crazy, “Smoke and Mirrors” probably blew your socks off. We remain confounded by the Jedikiah versus Bathory quandary: who’s merely got a screw loose and who is Satan Incarnate?
Last week, Jedikiah convinced John and Stephen to kill The Founder, an attempt that went sorrowfully wrong, resulting in a dead Cassie. A subdued Bathory then released Stephen and John instead of killing them or neutralizing their powers, and professed to be the good guy, casting massive doubt over Jedikiah’s motives and sanity. Jedikiah took off, leaving Stephen baffled as to who to believe.
In this week’s episode, Bathory calls a truce between species, but just about everyone waffles with suspicion. Jedikiah outs Stephen to baby brother Luca, then lures John to a game of chess and ends up introducing him to popsicle Roger. Cara gets bitten by the green-eyed monster and gets a headfull of Hillary and Stephen’s carnal encounter, an encounter that is the result of Hillary winning a bet. Bathory detains a break-out, but doesn’t neutralize his powers. And, la piece de resistance, Bathory unveils his own personal Stargate-like machine to Stephen and asks him to take a trial run … and he does. What the what? Yeah. Bazinga, baby!
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There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Bathory (Simon Merrells), The Founder, is a major player in “Smoke and Mirrors.” Not only does he usurp Jedikiah’s position as leader at Ultra, but he seems to have won over Hillary’s allegiance and that of every other Ultra member, human or otherwise. He professes an end to the killing and neutralizing of paranormals, seeking instead a world where super human powers are seen as a blessing, a race graced with astonishing gifts.
Throughout the episode, Bathory presents a dichotomous front: at once sympathetic, then seemingly equally odious. Hillary, always desirous of getting ahead, believes Bathory to be the second coming and strives to impress him. Stephen waxes and wanes in his faith in Jedikiah’s nemesis, but Cara and John remain fearfully suspicious.
Monty the Magnificent
The catalyst for this week’s The Tomorrow People episode is a breakout who has been earning a living as a New York street performer selling displays of teleportation as magic ability. Hillary and Stephen, awash in sexual tension, spar over Bathory’s perceived intentions and wager a week of servitude (biotch-itude, actually) to the agent who proves Bathory’s nature.
Ultra eventually catches up with Monty and Bathory makes a show of strapping him down, injecting him with what looks like orange Crush and setting him free. He then explains to Stephen that Monty’s powers remain intact but he’s now been tagged so Ultra can keep track of him.
Jedikiah Plays Dirty Chess
Jedikiah snatches Stephen from an alley and babbles like a lunatic, earning himself a major blow-off from his psionic nephew. In desperation, Jedikiah sequesters baby brother Luca and outs Stephen, who arrives and proves Jedikiah right when he telekinetically disarms the gun Jed holds to Luca’s head. Luca freaks and takes off.
Jed then cleverly lures John to a park where he insists humanity needs him to put an end to Bathory, arguing that Bathory manipulating everyone will eventually kill everyone. Jed says John can atone for his sins — those of killing Cassie and Roger — by helping Jedikiah. Jed then brings John to the bat cave and tells him that Roger froze himself as a means to overpowering the Founder in the future. Jed professes he has the means to reanimate Roger, but it requires Stephen’s participation. A tearful John finally agrees to help Jedikiah get through to Stephen.
Stephen Becomes Hillary’s “Biotch”
Hillary finds the missing baby brother and arrives in Stephen’s bedroom where he is, once again, scantily clad. Not a complaint, mind you, just an observation that this man spends a lot of time getting caught with his pants down (pun intended). Man, those cousins — Robbie and Arrow‘s Stephen Amell — are genetically gifted! Can someone please get me a glass of ice water to pour over my head?
So, Hillary claims victory since Bathory seems to be keeping his word of no more death and torture, and she playfully unzips her skirt. Hot kissing ensues and we all need another glass of ice water. I mean, really hot kissing … with shirt-ripping and high heels up in the air.
Cara and the Green-Eyed Monster
Cara confronts Stephen about the stupidity of hooking up with Hillary. She accuses him of being a hot testosterone-y mess whose objectivity is being impaired by the Ultra hottie in a push-up bra.
Wait a minute. There was a bar scene earlier gratuitously starring two push-up bras; one on Cara, the other on Hillary. Is it sexist to enjoy Stephen’s proclivity for baring it all, but then going all Gloria Steinem by the gravity-defying support garments of the female characters? Hey, this is an equal opportunity world, so I’ll give you the bustiers if you promise to continue the man candy scenes.
Stephen accuses Cara of being jealous, which she fails to deny but assures him that being jealous doesn’t make her wrong about his objectivity.
Right about the time Stephen and Hillary are doing the horizontal mamba up in his attic bedroom, Cara tunes into him and gets a headfull that fuels her jealousy and convinces her Stephen is almost a lost cause.
Through the Stargate and into the Refuge
Stephen meets with Bathory at an empty Ultra and is shown Bathory’s Machine. This is the machine Roger built. It is supposed to stop time, harness and intensify psionic powers and transport the entire race of paranormals to the promise land, which Bathory calls The Refuge.
What does Bathry want from Stephen, you ask? Only that he take the machine — which looks startlingly like a Stargate — for a test run. While Tomorrow People fans all over the nation scream at their large and small screens warning our main character to step away from the light, Stephen agrees. (Drops forehead in hand.) Stephen, teeth gritted and biceps shaking, stops time and visits with Roger who has only enough time to look terrified while telling Stephen there’s something he has to know about that machine and we are all left dangling at the edges of our seats. Whew!
Across town in the bat cave, Jedikiah watches in horror as Roger’s brain waves start jumping and realizes Stephen has stepped into The Machine. “Stupid, stupid boy” are the final words.
Tune into next week The Tomorrow People to see what happens. Same bat time, same bat channel: Monday at 9pm on The CW.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
