The messengers check some new footage about the 7th
Messenger – he collapsed (as they all did) on a plane and when he woke up he
threw lightning everywhere. Since he was on a plane (and a man of colour called
Zahir Zakaria) he was assumed to be a terrorist and locked up in an undisclosed
location
Raul has a convenient contact who knows where that
location is. Of course there’s also a debate as to whether or not they should
let an alleged terrorist out of prison. This allows Joshua to tell them all how
important it is. Blatant fake conflict to make Josh leader again
Time for another vision – a gravestone of a Christopher
Daton who died in 1945 and a nuclear explosion. And a woman with her face on
upside down? Uckies uckies…. Joshua decides that this is the antichrist (well
she’ll be easily recognised).
Which means they now have two missions – random vision in
a graveyard with possible antichrist as well as jailbreaking. Erin and Raul
also have a moment as Erin worries that some of them would die in the conflict
(many of the last set of Messengers died) – she wants Raul to promise to look
after Amy if she dies and urges Raul to tell Nadia that he’s her real dad while
he has the chance
So he goes to tell her and finds her making out with
Peter. Raul instantly forbids this for Nadia’s safety but Nadia cores a direct
hit in return pointing out it wasn’t Peter who got her dad killed. Ouch.
Koa has tattooed a symbol her father used to draw to help
try and remember who she is in the face of her memory loss.
Joshua goes to the grave stone and meets Eliza, the
ex-Messenger there, who reveals that Christopher Dayton was one of them, their
healer (and I call extra shenanigans that Eliza was around to be a Messenger in
1945! What was she, 10? That is not a woman in her 80s!). The bomb blast he saw
was the Trinity nuclear test, the 5th seal back in their fight 70
years ago (shenanigans! What, do Messengers get prolonged longevity?). She
agrees with him that he had a vision of the anti-christ which is not a standard
apocalypse thing, apparently.
So his vision called him to go to this place and
basically have Eliza say “yes Joshua you’re right? And also I have the formula
for the ultimate oil of Olay.” Well that was useful!
She tells them that the anti-christ is a terribad thing and they now have to stop both the horseman and the devil. They get right on that by her leaving her book full of Messengers secrets just lying around for the devil to pick up. Good job their Eliza. It also includes Amy’s psychic pictures which the devil finds most interesting
To the rest of the gang – they infiltrate the detention
centre with the help of Koa’s shapeshifting with Vera using her spirit waking to
find Zahir who angrily yells at the guards to keep away from him – and seems to
see Vera. She returns to her body to warn them that Zahir is “unhinged” and the
guards are afraid of him.
They barge their way in, Koa pretending to lead in an imprisoned Raul – but it all goes a little wrong when Koa completely forgets where they are and what they’re doing in the middle of it, resuming hr real form and speaking Chinese. They get captured.
Vera checks in on Zahir again – who can see her and her
wings. She quickly tries to explain she’s an angel of the apocalypse which is a
pretty hard sell. While doing this Peter thinks this is really a good time to
ask Erin about whether he should stay away from Nadia. Timing, kid!
Zahir tells them what happened when the wave hit and all
his electrical powers – and War is the one behind his detention, easily done
because most people believe that he’s a terrorist since he’s a Muslim (and an
outspoken journalist).
Raul is tied up and being beaten by ominous guy when
Peter arrives breaking down the door (he, Erin and Vera questioned another
unconscious guard), giving Raul chance to escape. They collect Koa (using her
new tattoo to reassure her that they know her) and go to Zahir. They escape –
Zahir’s power is a nifty way of breaking an electrified fence (and Peter easily
rolls it up). They escape – but Peter is shot in the process.
Despite the risk, Erin uses her healing power. They wait
to see if Erin will collapse… but she seems fine. Koa tells them she remembers
her father’s face – now the Messengers are reunited their powers have no cost
(well, those powers that had cost).
To Nadia babysitting Amy. Amy seems a little off (only
interested in drawing) and the devil comes to visit (but it’s totally Nadia’s
relationship with Peter that will put her in danger…). He pretends to be a
policeman and she pretends to be alone, demanding to know who drew Nadia’s
pictures. She rightly guessed the policeman is the devil and messages Joshua
This interrupts his fretting that the devil now owns his
soul - reassured by Eliza – who also tells him to kill the anti-christ. Joshua
goes to confront the devil who tries to hold the whole resurrection thing
against him. Alas, this is when Amy appears to tell them about the huge spooky
drawing she’s painted on a wall. A drawing of the Lake of Fire. Looks like
little Amy is the antichrist.
They reach their base with Zahir acting as a battery to
confirm his power – he can drain power or transfer power to things. Joshua
decides to be mute and a bit lost about this because evil devil child and all
that. He certainly doesn’t know what to say to Erin. Erin and Raul deal with
the fact their kids were alone with the devil and he returns Erin’s request –
if he dies he wants her to look after Nadia. Erin also takes the chance to tell
him to but out of the whole Nadia/Peter thing. He does learn to knock on Nadia’s
door this time and he apologises. And tells her he’s her dad; Nadia takes it
well, since she suspected but she also has some excellent truth for him. He
doesn’t get to just start acting like her dad, she’s not a child and he needs
to respect that
They all relax and Vera happens to have a picture of her
lost son’s family including Michael’s new father, Jeff who Joshua recognises as
the man who tried to get him to return to his dad’s church. Lots of
connections.
They fill in Zahir on everything and he reveals he was
the reporter in Mali who reported on what Mark Ploughman (Famine)’s rain does.
He hired mercenaries to silence those who spoke to him and Zahir is definitely on
side now to stop Famine.
Eliza gets a visit from the devil complete with her book –
who tells her thanks to her book he now found the anti-christ. He needs her help translating her coded
messages to see how to preserve the antichrist. She walks away, refusing to
help and flags down a car to get a lift – only to be attacked by the people
inside.
Over to Pestilence who is having a pick-nic and pulls out
a laptop with lots of flight paths listed. This is somewhat ominous.
Can we hit this whole ridiculous “should we let an
alleged terrorist” out of prison nonsense? They saw the video. They saw what
happened – it wasn’t like any of them had any greater understanding of their
powers when they first awoke. Peter even killed someone when he first came into
his strength – yet they’re debating whether it’s safe to let the 7th
messenger out? Especially when, without him they’re all weakened and the four
horsemen can end the world?
This whole weakness thing is also something that badly
needed addressing –because other than Koa and Erin, none of them seem to
actually have weaknesses. Like so much of this show this was terribly
underdeveloped. Them coming together could have been an epic level up of their
powers as old restrictions fell away – but it never happened, it was rushed,
undeveloped and didn’t go anywhere. Which is, basically this show in a nutshell
Speaking of – with so many of these threads undeveloped, I don’t think Amy the Antichrist was needed either. That’s the kind of thing you pull out in season 2 (though I realise a second season at this point is unlikely).
We really needed to take time out in the whole mission to
have Raul control Nadia’s sex life? Does associating with a Messenger out her
at risk? No, because she’s already the daughter/niece of a Messenger and
already lives with them – the idea that her lips touching another Messenger
suddenly makes her a gazillion times more vulnerable is ludicrous. I am glad he
learned enough to apologise (to a degree). And I do very much love Nadia making
it clear that belatedly discovered fatherness does not mean he wasn’t out of
line or he has a right to treat her like a child. That was a good message.
