1x09 Back Breaker

(1,106-word review) A prominent theme here was that of introspection, which was conveyed/reiterated – or iterated in the sense of also "telling" and informing us of it, in addition to it being there to notice and connect the dots if you pay attention enough to dig a little deep into your imagination and come up with various observations – by Father Delgado's class lecture about heroes, the arcs they follow, and the negative pivotal moment towards its end that knocks them down – an event of loss: losing everything, then regressing to "Step 1," a place at the beginning of their journey, or even further back, and ending up worse for wear and worse off than at the start of their arc. The lesson is the potential of the hero rising back up against all odds and overcoming the constrictions within one's self, now armed with more pronounced strength of will and character, immense and powerful, than they managed to achieve in the "first round," following the personal battle against the enemy of obstacles, trails, and tribulations.

As usual for this show, there was more seasoning of a symbolic and parallelistic nature to an element of the storytelling. I noticed first Father Delgado's lecture in connection with that; it was easily distinguishable. Most notably, however, Tyrone's shot-in-the-dark assumption about him, boiling down to asserting that he has no one and that he became a man of God within the sacred confines of what that entails, all from a desired place of avoidance – wanting to avoid and prevent feeling anything, highlighted a possible parallel due to cutting to a different scene – one that happened to be Tandy and Liam in the church.

That assertion, and its plausible, perfect correlation with her mindset, has two evident purposes/interpretations – (1.) for us to add an extra layer to our understanding and assessment of her character, and (2.) that Tyrone made it with her in mind and not directed solely at Delgado. The second interpretation could indicate that he cares so much about her to the point where her struggles and the things she's dealing with are contributing to his side of internal conflict, further perpetuated by the supernatural connection with her through their respective powers, even though he adamantly brought up his aversion to being inside her head: involved in her problems – as if he's trying to convince himself of the opposite and convince himself that he doesn't care to that level, refusing to acknowledge that it concerns him in both meanings of the word.

The main focus was showcasing the fallout of the "conclusions" of each story arc towards the end of the previous episode, the emotional/mental turmoil circling inside Tyrone and Tandy, and the ways they are coping – the "regression" of our two "heroes" through attempting to make that a reality, only there's no such thing. Human change and evolution are unceasing, for better or worse; it's permanent and flowing. You can't go back to prior versions of yourself or turn back time itself to cheat the system of life and change. You can try to accomplish that, though it'll be through the means of concocting and self-inflicting the illusion that reliving who you were in the past and doing the same things will somehow undo all the events and experiences that contributed to who you are currently and shaped the person you are in reality. It's a self-made trap, and the way out – the way to move forward instead of doing anything in your power to remain stuck is through the realization of that truth, the subsequent acceptance of it, and turning your experiences into something positive and uplifting, especially concerning "lifting" yourself back up.

It was rough seeing Tyrone in this angry-at-the-world – but general possession of anger – state of mind. However, Tandy's side of that stood out slightly more, as it was, for the most part, incredibly frustrating – seeing her in that state of mind, particularly her method of attempting to move forward. It was most frustrating. Her actions, given their relation to what she has and her capabilities for a way to cope, are understandable – if she never got powers, she would've gone about it the same way she's familiar with going about life; she also did that in this instance of displaying the type of person she's been hiding behind and masquerading as to a degree most of her life.

Stealing hopes, especially Mina's and the half-successful attempt to steal Liam's hopes, no matter the "logic" behind it, is a step into dangerous waters because it's one of those things where a character crosses a certain threshold into potentially being seen and digested differently by a significant portion of the viewers, possibly even permanently: not necessarily to the extent of irredeemable but certainly a stretched out period of intimately disliking the character in question, not to mention it's a somewhat irritating thing to watch. There's no justification. At least she's self-aware, expressing it about 30 minutes in, followed by the eventual semi-redemption moment with her decision to go and apologize to Liam – at least that aspect wasn't drawn out.

As the penultimate episode, it didn't have as much plot progression as you'd expect; the content was still engaging and exciting. But there was the scene at the beginning of Chantelle finding her way to the Roxxon pipe, the scene with Mina witnessing the ancient energy bursting out of the other pipe, infecting those two guys – the same thing that happened on the oil rig, and I vaguely remember that spreads from person to person throughout New Orleans in the finale, post-apocalyptic-esque – topped with the challenging situations Tyrone and Tandy found themselves in during the last few minutes. Those situations, notably his situation, and that ending set up quite the season finale of a cascade of events and progression; a lot of effort here went into laying the groundwork for it.

From another perspective, there didn't necessarily need to be, even though the next one is the finale. This show has felt primarily focused on the characters – being character-driven rather than story-driven, not to mention the story arcs seem "straightforward." They're not intricately written and deeply layered to where it's necessary to put them front-and-center for 99.9% of the season with most of the screen time to avoid having no choice but rushing to the finish line. There has been a slight feeling of a sudden awareness on the part of the writers that the end of the season is right around the corner regarding the previous two or so, particularly this one; they've felt "different," but not in a negative, "Oh, this is detrimentally rushed" way.