Well this was certainly a chilling episode this week. Just as I feared, the Special Task Force had killed all of the Evolvers they have taken into custody under the pretense they will be granted protection. (Even so, there is still a part of me that hopes they weren’t, but it’s only because it’s too sad…) It’s no wonder Josie is devastated and is hungry for revenge against the Heroine, Gavin, the Special Task Force, and Black Swan. Her parents perished when they wandered into this other worldly place, where she and her brother were the only ones who make it back, and now with her brother gone, she has nobody to return to. She is alone now in a world where she is being pursued and used by Black Swan and treated as a monster by the public security. It’s an understatement why she is in such a state. But even after all of that, she is still not free. Lucien (as Ares) sent her to the place she absolutely did not want to, so if it’s isn’t death, it is likely a place where she will experience even more suffering.
Originally her target was solely Gavin, but since the Heroine showed up first to ensure she could change the future, she became her new target. But it’s thanks to her the Heroine now knows that she is the center piece of Black Swan’s grand scheme (although she probably would have learned about it today anyways, considering Hades actually decided to ‘introduce’ himself).
As Black Swan studied Evolvers, they discovered an entirely unique gene. A being that awakens Evolvers and grant them even greater powers, guiding them to the way of further evolution. That is the “Queen”. And to trigger it, they took advantage of survival instincts where when one one would struggle with all its means to survive even by the smallest margins. It’s basically a high risk, high reward since if the Heroine were to die, that would be the end of it. They pretty much banked on those around her to come to her aid to ensure that she survives and hope it’s enough for her powers to truly awaken.
However it seems her father was in the mix too. They didn’t properly explain in what way he contributed to, but I suppose it’s possible she inherited the gene from her father, unless it turns out the heroine is was genetically modified by him (considering her mother hasn’t been brought up at all).
But the scary the about this event of the Queen’s Awakening is that it also means the time of culling. Those who are unable to adapt to the new era of Human Evolution. It is a terrifying ordeal to see everyone lose control of their powers. I would say Kiro’s was probably the most traumatic of the bunch, considering his powers going out of control causes people to fight each other to their deaths. That isn’t to say Gavin’s and Victor’s aren’t something to be of concern as well. None of them want to hurt anyone, but with the way things are, things are about to get real messy and the worst part about it is that the Special Task Force will now have the so-called “justification” to execute these people in the public’s eyes.
Speaking of which, Gavin really didn’t have much or any time at all to process his discovery. His fear of the dreadful truth of how the Task Force’s true purpose is to execute Evolvers was verified by his fellow colleague Litton, who expressed remorse of hiding it from him. And just after he warned him to be cautious of Commander Leto (who isn’t his father, thank god, last week’s preview consisted a flashback of his mother’s death), Litton was killed, and Gavin was forced to retreat.
The alarming thing about this particular even was how Gavin’s powers were already starting to go a bit out of control. We could see the intensity by the black streaks that were not there before, and they became even more intense when he made the Heroine’s powers inadvertently rippled across the entire city. Of course now it’s even worse since it’s completely out of control.
Finally, we saw Lucien and Hades havie a final talk before everything is kicked into high gear. Now I am not fully certain if I understood/interpreted it correctly, but their conversation made it sound like Lucien (Ares) and Hades each had their own respective ways of going about this project of trigger Human Evolution. That, or Lucien decided to deviate away from it. When Hades said Lucien was once the person he could call a rival, and the person he is now disappoints him, it made me wonder what changed.
Speaking of Lucien, he finally showed us his cold-blooded side, and it sure spooked me. I don’t know where he sent Josie, but yikes... He is not someone you want to mess with. Considering he warned Hades his preference to obliterate thieves, I imagine it could be just as bad or worse if one if one had attempted to kill or bring harm to one or thing he cares about.
Another intriguing development is how it appears he has several different types of abilities. He is able to create dream worlds, create barriers, make people vanish, and we’ll see more of it next week. If that’s actually the case, perhaps that might explain why his body at times seems to be deteriorating.
Next week, since everyone’s powers are going out of control, Lucien who seems to be the only one unaffected by her powers at this time is the only one she can turn to at this time. (Gavin, Victor and Kiro all have their hands full at the moment, not to mention Kiro probably wouldn’t be able to do anything either so as long as the networks remains jammed). But how will it unfold? Will Lucien ultimately betray her for the sake of Black Swan’s goal of evolution, or will he try to throw a wedge in the plans, or will death catch up to him before he can do anything about it?
PS: Gavin, he need to quit his weird habit of spying on his crush through the window. Dude, it’s creepy, cut it out! It’s not like he couldn’t have any visitors! Not to mention, it’s hardly subtle at all to do that outside of a hospital…Jeez….
