Original Airdate: October 13, 2001
Continuing from where we left off, Brennan has been abducted by Mr. Thorne, and is being subjected to torture, embedded with a subdermal governor - he can use his powers, but only when Thorne and Eckhart allow him to. Otherwise, he receives a painful shock, courtesy of Thorne. Emma, meanwhile, is taught by Shalimar how to focus by doing yoga-esque stretches. Adam sets up another safe-house for the new mutants (such as Alice, Ruby and Vince) as additional precaution since he now knows Breedlove is dead and Eckhart is running Genomex.
Ruby, however, is also abducted by Thorne, and is compelled to reveal the location of both his book store and safe-house along with the new location, which he does (lest he is tortured). While all of the mutants are gathered at the new safe-house, and are being handed out new identities by Jesse, Genomex agents, including Thorne and Brennan, attack. While Jesse is unable to prevent the agents from taking the mutants, he is able to phase through the floor when Brennan delays attacking him, possibly intentionally.
After relaying a story in which Emma located her parents when she was five years old by envisioning them, Mutant X attempts to use her abilities to locate the kidnapped mutants, and determine the location where they are being held. At first, Emma struggles, but using the exercises Shalimar taught her, she is able to focus and locates Brennan and the others.
Eckhart is displeased with both Brennan and Thorne, as he desperately wants to capture Emma (in part due to her extraordinarily useful powers), and when punishing the both of them, it's revealed that Thorne too has implanted a subdermal governor, though he later tells Brennan he volunteered, and is not being forced by Eckhart.
Emma shows up at Genomex, and allows herself to get captured and placed with the abducted mutants, while Jesse disguises himself as a Genomex guard and Shalimar and Adam battle their way to the control room, which allows Adam to both deactivate the subdermal governors and insert a virus into the system. Shalimar leads two additional guards away from the control room to keep Adam safe, which causes Eckhart and Adam to run into each other, their mutual disdain for each other obvious. Adam is able to disappear safely, though, when Eckhart finds out about the virus, distracting him.
Meanwhile, Jesse locates the mutants and lets them know they can now use their powers without fear of getting hurt. Brennan releases the lot of them, and goes after Thorne for revenge (as Thorne had few qualms torturing him earlier) - it's rather lackluster, though, as Thorne simply bolts once he determines that Brennan has full use of his powers. Shalimar and he head back to meet up with the rest of Mutant X to leave Genomex.
Both Emma and Brennan are then inducted into Mutant X, and are given their rings which signify they are now members (along with displaying their DNA, for some reason not expanded on). We end with a group shot of the five, showing the team is now complete.
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| From left to right: Shalimar, Brennan, Adam, Emma and Jesse |
This episode at times felt rather quick-paced, though it's probably mostly due to the extended fighting scenes that didn't necessarily forward the plot (though it did showcase how this show can fairly be compared to The Matrix). That's not to say that this didn't tidy up the events of the last episode well, though - actually, I thought they did pretty good.
While I would hope that it's not as easy to gain entrance into Genomex by disguising oneself as a guard, most of the action in Genomex was acceptable (albeit as previously stated, some of Shalimar's fighting scenes didn't seem overly necessary). Brennan, being controlled by Thorne and Eckhart, shows his true colors by defying them at every turn, evident when he intentionally attacks Jesse slower than he should have, allowing him to escape.
The meeting between Eckhart and Adam was deeply appreciated, as their different way of perceiving Genomex, along with their bickering jabs toward each other, shows a decent chemistry between the two, and I am curious as to both the origins of their conflict (as Adam stated last episode he used to work for Genomex) along with how the conflict will be expanded and concluded on.
Speaking specifically of Adam, we find out that Adam is the individual who located and, in Shalimar's own words, "saved" her when her abilities were first causing her to feel like a freak. The chemistry between the two also seem obvious, though as Shalimar (best to my understanding) is in a relationship with Jesse, it's not quite clear what's going through her mind. Quite possibly, what looks like flirting on her part to me may simply just be the way Shalimar is.
Lastly, on characters, we didn't see a whole lot of Jesse this episode, or hear much from him, but we do find out what we may have suspected - he is quite forgiving and more so, had a good heart. Jesse believes that Brennan had no intention to hurt him during the raid from the get-go, and defends him from both Adam and Shalimar. He is, to the core, a good and gentle soul, and I hope his character doesn't experience any shift away from that as the show goes on.
As for the bad, well, some of it has been mentioned, mainly the fight scenes, combined with that awful early 2000's techno music (which is quite grating). Some of the cuts seemed a bit off, and some of those scenes were pretty short. The episode felt quicker, but I suppose the pilot would feel a bit more "busy" than later episodes.
Actually, all-in-all, I was happy with this episode. We saw confrontation between Eckhart and Adam quicker than I expected, and it went pretty well, especially with Adam coming out on top and throwing Eckhart for a loop. Thorne, though he run away at the end, intrigues me still, and I do hope he pops up again (it's not clear in this episode if he is simply running away from Brennan or running away from Genomex as a whole). His character is slightly more complex than I originally pegged him for, so I'd not be averse to additional appearances.
Simply put, this was a good conclusion to the conundrum set up at the end of the last episode, and if episodes continue in this way, I think the first season at least could prove to be promising.
Rating: Above Average
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