1.4 Kill or Be Killed It goes without saying that because John was so easily taken in by Jed and Ultra, and was apparently very loyal to them while he worked for them, there must be some other issues at play. Would you believe it if I told you that John was a troubled kid? And that, rather than being the son of a single mother with an absentee father like Stephen, he’s actually an orphan who was taken in and raised by an abusive, alcoholic foster parent who only kept the kids around for the financial rewards? It’s true! Aside from the mediocrity of the two-thirds of the episode (written by Nicholas Wootton and Alex Katsnelson), The Tomorrow People is kind of showing signs of life. Not many, but there are at least some. Once again, Stephen is the guy telling John and Cara what they need to be doing and why they should be doing it, in spite of the fact that John is the leader and Stephen has been a Tomorrow Person for about a week. As the case last week, he’s the guy trying to be the voice of do-goodery while John and Cara are more like the voice of reason and Russell is the comic relief who really needs more screen time because he’s the most charismatic one of the bunch. Well, aside from the villains, that is. A second strong point this week is the show’s villain of the week. Two weeks ago, the breakout was a bit bland, but this week’s bad guy—the sadly named Killian McClane as played by Jason Dohring—was much more interesting. One of the Tomorrow People and a former Ultra agent like John, McClane serves as a good counterpoint to John because unlike him, he’s incredibly proactive, and by proactive I mean that he’s able to kill people whenever he wants using all three of the T’s to his advantage, plus also a lot of bombs. That’s right, for the first time in… well, the run of the show, we have a bad guy who is a legitimate, direct threat to human (and TP) life. That’s the kind of teeth that The Tomorrow People has needed since the beginning episode, as it showed two Tomorrows who used their powers in creative ways during some much-improved fight scenes. They were a little more creative, a little more intense, and shot with a little more dynamic style by director Guy Bee (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle XY). The main good guys still aren’t very eye-catching or charismatic, and the show still feels pretty flat for the bulk of its run, but it’s at least starting to find some decent footing when psychic push comes to shove. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Girl, Interrupted, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan expected the twist at the end of this week’s episode, but it was still pretty well done just the same. One of these days, The Tomorrow People might end up being okay. Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
