In this episode we see some backstory for the Struckers, but also a much, much darker side to Kate Strucker (momma) As the episode goes on she goes from strength to strength of depths we wouldn’t have thought possible, to be fair, it worked. But Christ she’s losing all sense of self, for someone who trained as a nurse, making an oath to ‘do no harm’ feeding drugs to a junkie and then further injecting him to the point where he collapses and has a heart attack. We see her losing her head, her logic, her entire sense of morality and ethics in this episode as she continues down a dangerous path of spiraling.
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During the process of getting their initial intel, John Clarice and Marcos go hunting for an old associate, it’s safe to say things get off to a rocky start….. but this also gives us information on exactly how impenetrable John really is, he gets hit close range several times with a shotgun and shakes it off with a few scratches and not even a single stitch.
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Poppa Cop (Jace) meets the purifiers, meets one of them for coffee before he’s aware of what the man really is. From the term ‘Purifiers’ we can assume a similar thread to the KKK, to the Nazi Purifiers who wanted to extinguish an entire race. He initially resists but after seeing the stunt the mutants pulled and the mass apology and confession of the staff of the facility he picks up the phone and makes the call to them…. One bad decision after another with this guy.
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A confrontation between John and Lorna finally occurs, or, nearly occurs between the two originals. Before they can get within fifty feet of one another she releases all of the maximum-security mutants who were held in the basement in order to distract John and Clarice while she slips away.
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We see the mutant who’s being kidnapped and coerced’s power emerge from him, and his ability to freeform hack into anything he wants, helping them with live footage of the institution that the attack/mass breakout is occurring in.
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We can recognize that this attack on the hospital was a ‘kill two birds with one stone job’ as they simultaneously got the entire staff of the hospital to admit on live television that they had been abusing and mistreating, torturing mutants. Prompting Mutant Rights movements to be strengthened, whilst sympathy and humanization becomes a possibility for the public’s view on mutants as opposed to the propaganda that had been previously spread. We’re told that the hashtag #MutantRights has been trending since the broadcast.
Turning over to the dark side seems to be the theme of this episode as we see a dual confrontation between Andy and Lauren, which ends in the pair using their powers against each other, the resulting blast throws Marcos and Lauren back metres, Marcos immediately starts moving but Lauren appears unresponsive. We witness the appearance of an Andy completely devoid of care for his sisters wellfare, even though we witness a brief moment of hesitation when he looks back at the car (presumably to Reeva) before attacking his sister.
To get their information to be able to attempt to apprehend Lorna and Andy in person, Clarice, John and Marcos track down the brother of a hacker, who has similar mutant powers himself, related to technology and therefore an invaluable asset. While we see Kate Strucker losing her sense and ethical morality as she effectively tortures this man, by injecting him with something that makes him go into immediate withdrawal, before successfully manipulating him with an offer of a high if he complies with her commands. Interestingly, we also see the reactions form the rest of the crowd to the knowledge that they themselves are using a form of torture in order to get what they want/need. Reed, quite rightly, calls Kate on her behaviour after the incident.
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The other bird in this pairing is that the prisoner from the lowest levels of the asylum/prison was the intended target to acquire, we get several snippets of the person wearing a blanket covering most of them, our very last image is one of intrigue and the definition of a modern cliff-hanger… so…. close. We have to assume that this mutant (a) is intensely powerful if they were being kept at the deepest level of the building and where the security was strongest, but also (b) that they will be instrumental to this ‘uprising’ that Reeva is planning.
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