An ancient enemy fully establishes himself in the city.
What They Say:
The Born – Setrakian and Fet use Fitzwilliam’s info to attack the Master; Dutch receives a surprise guest; Eph returns to NYC frustrated by energized to go after the one person responsible for killing his friends.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Eph’s adventures in New York City was definitely a lot of fun the last time around with what it offered even if it took some silly turns along the way to do what it wanted to do. While that got a lot of attention, including the nod that Eph’s now fully a murderer for what he did to his former boss, the intriguing part was the introduction of the new hunter that showed up, Quinlan, to talk to the elders about the Master. He brought a different kind of intensity and casualness to events that certainly made him fun to watch, especially when he made it clear he was the one that taught Vaun and the others. With him going on about the need to eliminate the Master as a threat that should have been dealt with some time ago it just added a kind of backstory to it that worked as you knew he’s been involved in all of this for a long time.
And that’s given to us from the start here as we see him back centuries upon centuries ago as a gladiator that used a little creativeness in order to be able to fight in the gladiatorial arena during the day. With a Roman senator that became his patron of sorts, it’s made clear that he’s actually a half-breed and that makes him far more dangerous in a way. Being of both worlds, not fully committed to either, his curiosity as to what the Roman wants certainly gets him in the door. This backstory adds some really neat ideas to it with just how far back all of this goes and some of the greater plans that can flow through it. Those that live for ages like this take on a very different view of the world and having that to play with, even lightly, is something that’s definitely appealing.
While we get some decent background there we also get things moving in the present. Amusingly, we get some relationship drama that has me feeling exactly like Setrakian in that this is neither the time nor the place. With Fet and Dutch getting really close, he wants her to get her stuff from her place and move it in with him. That’s not a commitment per se but an intent to get more serious. What’s surprising is that when they do end up going to her place they discover that Nikki survived the escape from the convenience store and eventually holed up here. That leaves a lot of complications for the three of them as Nikki’s freaked out a bit, Fet’s getting protective and Dutch is trying to make everyone happy. That brings tension from all three sides and while Fet goes off about it while he’s out with Setrakian, Setrakian wants none of it and to just focus on what they’ve found.
Having them come across the school bus and what ended up being the created of the spider-kids is certainly creepy, especially since our ancient hunter is stalking them from the outside since the ancients revealed that Setrakian is the one that they aligned with to deal with the Master from the human side during the day. This lets him watch for a bit to get a feel for them, but the more enticing element is seeing Quinlan engaging with them – and the spider-kids that are there as well. His simple and ruthless approach is spot on and pretty grisly. But it’s exactly the kind of efficiency that you’d expect from someone like him after centuries of existing like this. It’s not high-end style overall, but it’s solid and steps up the game nicely here. There’s some fun tension that comes from Fet’s view of Quinlan but as he realizes Setrakian’s been holding back on him with information he realizes he’s not working with all the facts.
This encounter works really well overall as it brings the trio into the presence of the Master in his new form. For Quinlan, it certainly impresses him in regards to Setrakian since not only is he the first human to wound the master but he also brought him to the Master’s nest. Just the time we get between Quinlan and the Master with Eichhorst watching on while Fet goes to wire the whole building to come crashing down works really well because it again establishes the scale of the story between these two ancients. Admittedly, Quinlan doesn’t get to impress too much here as the Master basically goads him easily by talking smacking about his mother, but since there is such a lengthy history between the two it’s easy to imagine that it’s really born of something quite intense that’s been folded over and built bigger over the centuries. Quinlan provides for a different kind of random factor out in the streets that they have to cope with now that can shift between ally and foe – or just plain disinterested.
In Summary:
The addition of Quinlan to the show is an important one as he’s more of a central character in the original work that helps to alter the balance of things. This episode does a good job of introducing him to the audience and making him interesting and adding some overall new context to events. The whole subplot with Fet, Nikki and Dutch is just poor, but it almost adds for some comedy gold along the way. The other subplots get little attention, such as Eph’s return and continued drinking and dealing with his son and some continued odd time between Eldritch and Coco. She really feels like she might be playing a larger game here but at the same time she makes so many naive errors that it’s hard to tell. She’s such an odd seductress. Overall, I like the episode a lot simply for what Quinlan brings to it.
Grade: B+
