Endgame gives us a glimpse of the past that has been hinted at in prior episodes of the show. We get to see the beginnings of Ultra and How Jedekiah and Stephen’s father actually got along.

The Good:

I’ve mentioned in my reviews of prior episodes that Jedekiah is by far my favorite villain in this show. In almost every episode we get some glimpse of the conflicted emotions that are embodied within Jedekiah. In Endgame, We get to see how it all began.

Yes, We get another flashback but this time we get a picture of a villain that has been around for the entire show and has the feeling that they will be around for a longer as well.

Jedekiah is a teenager who has been bullied and beaten. His brother finds him at a creek with their father’s gun. He states that he didn’t want to feel weak anymore and that is why he took the gun. A fight ensues over the gun and it goes off. Jedekiah is saved be his brother’s powers. This is where his need to stop feeling weak changes from needing a weapon to needing to be paranormal.

The flashbacks throughout the episode show how he works with his brother and then the Founder to understand these powers and how they originate. He even blackmails the Founder to continue his studies of how to transfer powers to regular humans.

With Ultra, you are given this idea that Jedekiah is dedicated to the erradication of those with Paranormal powers. The little bits and pieces we have gotten throughout the show hint that this is not the case and these reservations are born out through the flashbacks here. We get a picture of a person that does want to be weak and has been shown that their is no way for him to be strong as the paranormal. He takes the only course available to someone so driven. Mix in with this need to be strong a warped sense of family and you get a villain that complex, entertaining, and well worth watching.

The Bad:

The secondary plot of Endgame is a mysterious breakout that has some connection to Cara. We quickly learn that this is her sister who is in the city for an important dance recital. The Tomorrow People and Ultra both find her at the same time with the Ultra agents finding her first so that Cara can ride in to the rescue.

What seems like it will be a secondary chase type story line focuses on the feeling of finding family after a long time apart. The purpose of this story is to highlight the twisted nature of Jedekiah’s view on family.

It succeeds in this endeavor but only by mere presence. It comes across as forced and something that was done as an after thought. They rescue Cara’s sister from an Ultra team that normally entail tighter scrutiny on the part of Ultra. Instead, we get an Ultra that doesn’t care at all that they have been assaulted and allow her to go back on stage where she was rescued in the first place.

On top of this, We wrap up this story line with her being given a suppressor and being told not to use her powers as Stephen would be wiping her from Ultra’s mainframe. This happens despite the special operation failing and the house of cards that is the Tomorrow People being in a position to come tumbling down.

It was just so frustration! If they had at least given some attention what was going on in the foreground then this secondary plot could have been fun in stead of frustrating.

The Ugly:

There are too many gun in this episode. They provide and easy out when it comes to violence but complicate things when the person holding them can actually kill. Every time John has a gun in his hand we get to watch him agonize over whether to pull the trigger and then watch as something horrible happens.

It comes across as contrived each time because a gun simplifies the situation. With the pull of the trigger a problem is gone. We get some crazy justifications for not doing just that so that we get villains that stick around that shouldn’t when they are placed at the other end of a gun.

Each time you give John a gun it also raises one salient question. Why? He has Teleportation and telekinesis. He never needs to have a gun. He can teleport in and take a gun from any random guard and use it. Baring that, He could teleport in and break necks with telekinesis. He has no real need for a gun.

A gun comes across as a cop out.

Overall, I still enjoyed the episode. Watching as the founder points out that Jedekiah is just jealous of all of them and wants to be just like them was nice. Seeing Jedekiah on the run after his endgame falls apart was refreshing. I look forward to seeing how it all plays out in the nest episode.