The Survivors 2.1 - Tensions

The Survivors : Tensions
Genre : Sci-Fi / Mystery / Drama
Showrunner: Tomas Alfredson
Writer : Mo Buck

Based on the French Canadian series

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Cara Buono, Logan Lerman, Odeya Rush, Owen Vaccaro, M. Emmet Walsh, Michael Mando, Clancy Brown, Graham Phillips, Jodelle Ferland and John De Lancie

Plot: Mary (Cara Buono) has her eyes wide open in the middle of the night, unable to fall asleep as she turns around and around in the bed. She gets up as lightning strikes yet again and goes to the living room, where she sits on the couch and prays with her rosary for it to be all over and for Gerald and Charles to come back home. She finds out that Sarah (Odeya Rush) can’t sleep too when she sees her night light on and Judy (Jodelle Ferland) can’t sleep too. They are talking and throwing around baby names for Judy’s child, even if they don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet. Mary enters their room and she asks them if they are worried about Gerald and Charles, because it sure seems like they aren’t, since they have time to laugh and giggle. Sarah asks her mother why she always has to see the worst in everything and she says she’s just realistic. Mary decides to go sleep with her son, Marco (Owen Vaccaro), who’s peacefully asleep. She curls up on the single bed and closes her eyes as she hopes to find some sleep this time.

When she opens her eyes again, it’s the morning and the sun is shining bright. She goes over t her room and finds out that Gerald and Charles aren’t home yet. She goes back in the kitchen and is surprised to see that everybody else is up. Horace (M. Emmet Walsh) asks for his breakfast now, he’s hungry. She says she doesn’t want to do anything today, not until Gerald and Charles are back. Horace says that for all he knows, Gerald and Charles might have gotten to each other, he’s not really his son after all. Mary asks him to stop with the nonsense and he says the only way he’ll stop talking would be for him to have breakfast. Mary admits that she’s hungry and she starts cooking breakfast. As Judy and Sarah play cards in the living room with Marco, they notice the mailman putting something in their letter box. Marco runs outside to get it and he thanks the mailman. He finds a letter with something written on it: Judy. It’s written with an old pen and it intrigues everyone in the house. Horace says the last time he saw people so afraid of something so small was when he was deployed and his friends thought they had a bomb in their hands. They finally open the envelope after a lot of deliberation and they find a DVD inside. They have no idea what it is and they try to find something that would fit the hole in the DVD, but they come up short. Judy says she’ll keep it until they find something, but they should go to the store… she’s cut short by Mary who says nobody is allowed outside the house until Gerald is back, end of discussion. Marco says he’ll find something to do with the disk, he’s sure he will. Horace encourages him. Meanwhile, Mary prays Gerald is still alive, somewhere.

Gerald (Brendan Fraser), Charles (Logan Lerman) and Steven (Graham Phillips) appear at the top of Mount Royal in the middle of the night. Steven can’t believe he was able to time travel and he’s all excited about it. Charles doesn’t share the same feeling, wondering how all of this is possible. Gerald, on the other end, doesn’t share the same feelings. He asks them to come over where they can have a nice view of the city. It’s not 1964. They aren’t even in the sixties. Something is happening in town, because all the lights are on and they can hear people chanting, or screaming, they are unsure. They get in Gerald’s car to find out when, exactly, they landed.

As they get closer and closer to the city, they start trying to guess what year they’re in based on people’s clothes and the cars. Gerald says he has never seen such ugly clothes or color combinations in his life. Steven, who knows what happened between 1964 and the 2010’s, starts realising what year they’re really in when he sees billboards and people chanting in the streets. They landed on the night of the 1980 Quebec sovereignty referendum. Steven orders Gerald to stop the car and he tells them that they’re in the 80’s. Gerald looses his cool and he asks how it’s possible. Steven says the lightning strikes must have messed up his calculations, but Gerald doesn’t care about the technicality, he wants to know if he’ll be able to fix this. He says he would need time. He says their goal to go back in time to see Father Logan so he can fix everything won’t work, now that they are in the future. Charles says it’s worth a shot trying. He can still help them in the 2010’s if they plant the idea in his mind now. Gerald restarts the car, but he must realise that it will be impossible for him to drive around the city with everyone in the streets supporting either the yes camp or the no camp. Steven says he could stay in the car and try to work something with the time travelling device while they find Father Logan. They park the car in an alley and Charles and Gerald leave on foot, making their way through the crowded streets.

They eventually enter a quieter street and they wonder what is happening for everyone to be so hostile. They walk in a dark alley where they are pinned to the wall by some thugs. They ask them if they voted yes or no and they said they didn’t vote. They called them liars and judging by Gerald’s serious look, they believe he voted no. They ask him if he knows what happens when they catch someone who voted no and Gerald doesn’t know. They pull out a knife and threaten Charles and Gerald. Gerald says it has been a misunderstanding and they both swear they didn’t vote. They say they know they are loyalists and they try to attack Gerald with the knife. Gerald counters and sends a thug to the ground. In the chaos, Charles is able to break free and he runs away and hides behind a dumpster, while Gerald knocks the two remaining thugs down. Charles then comes out of hiding and Gerald jokes that he now has proof Charles isn’t his son, because his son would never back down from a fight. They both get out of the alley and swear to stay in the streets until they can find Father Logan.

Not far away from here, Chartwell (Clancy Brown), his long white hair in the wind, points at Gerald’s car with his right hand man, Victor (Michael Mando) by his side. They go near the car and they surprise Steven. Victor takes a gun out of his jacket and when he’s about to shoot, two drunk guys enter the alley, aborting their plan. Steven uses the occasion to run away and hide in a dumpster near the car. Chartwell and Victor can’t find him, so they shoot the tires and leave, saying they need to find Logan before they do.

The new season doesn't get off on the best footing starting the season premiere with some of the least interesting characters. It does pick up a bit once we get back to the dilemma that Gerald and Charles find themselves in. If the show is going to be a hit, their storyline is going to have to do the heavy-lifting

At its core, The Survivors is a series with some flaws, but at its heart is an intriguing mystery that can captivate an audience when it's at the center. This season premiere doesn't do much, but I think they can right the ship.

The fish-out-of-the-water storyline surrounding the family has run its course by now, but it keeps being hammered despite not being well-received. The season premiere was badly edited for that thing alone, despite a strong ending.

Hitman 3.1 - Ferris Wheel

Hitman: Ferris Wheel

Genre: Action

Director: Francis Lawrence

Writer: Dwight Gallo

Based on the video game series

Cast: Ed Skrein, Charlotte Riley, Joseph Mazzello, John Pankow, Johnny Ray Gill and David Harewood

Plot: In Baltimore, Maryland, at the Southland Amusement Park, the park's Ferris wheel becomes detached from its base and begins rolling through the park. The destruction kills 36 park guests. The owner of the park, Joseph Clarence (John Pankow), is forced to close down the park after the accident.

Agent 47 (Ed Skrein) is on a private jet, sitting across from Diana Burnwood (Charlotte Riley). She is explaining that his next contract now that he's back onboard with ICA is to eliminate Joseph Clarence. 47 comments that he seems like a lower-level target than what he's used to. Diana says that the contract was taken out by the parents of one of the people killed in the Ferris wheel accident at Southland.

Clarence is in his office at the amusement park drinking when the door is kicked in. Gangster and drug lord Scoop (Johnny Ray Gill) enters the office flanked by some of his men. Scoop offers Clarence a deal: let Scoop and his men use the closed park to produce and distribute their product, and they'll kick back some cash to him. Clarence looks at all of the bills from his lawyers on his desk and agrees to the deal.

Reporter Rick Henderson (Joseph Mazello) for First Edition sits in the newspaper's office across from the editor Harold Langston (David Harewood). The editor tells Rick that a very rare and intriguing offer has been made to the newspaper: an extensive one-on-one interview with the former head of the FBI and the CIA, Leland Alexander. Rick says that sounds interesting, and Langston offers the gig to him. Rick is surprised that Langston would pick him for such a high-profile article, but Langston tells him that he didn't. Leland Alexander personally selected Rick for the interview.

47 pulls up to the front gates of the Southland Amusement Park in an inconspicuous rental car. He takes a look around, before finally scaling the chained front gate and hopping down to the other side. 47 starts walking through the park offices. Once he gets outside Clarence's office, he hears voices down the hall. He ducks into the office and into a closet.

Clarence and Scoop walk into the office arguing. Clarence is demanding the money they agreed one, but Scoop pulls out a gun and aims it at Clarence. Scoop tells him that he's just decided to take the amusement park rather than rent it. Clarence threatens to call the cops, but Scoop pistol whips him. 47 opens the closet door and shoots Scoop with a silenced pistol. Clarence thanks 47 profusely. 47 tells Clarence not to thank him, then shoots Clarence in the head.

The second season lacked the action set pieces that made the game famous and aside from the last scene, this episode was too, devoid of any action, which isn't a good look for an action series.

While this episode was a little bland compared to what we've seen in the past, Hitman remains a solid series, thanks to the strong work of star Ed Skrein and Francis Lawrence behind the camera.

This episode feels like a misstep along the way, as it lacks the sense of urgency or the tension a series like Hitman requires. I still believe Hitman can be an entertaining and solid series, but this episode didn't do it for me.