“Fear doesn’t breed loyalty. Trust does.”

This episode requires a degree of trust to get to the story it is trying to tell. It can often be a risk to frame a cultural villain of the day in a reasonable and appropriate light. However, viewers will  know by now what they are going to get with the show when it comes to tackling thorny issues , as The Equalizer has never shied away from such, and always managed to handle potentially controversial storylines well. This episode is no exception to that.

Returning to the use of foreign intelligence services as a major antagonist, if not the main villain of the piece, on this occasion it is Saudi Arabia in the frame, with the story centring around the family of one of their diplomats, and in particular the son, Ali, on the run from home authorities for apparently being a major anti-state dissident. It is the daughter of the diplomat, Mira, who is McCall’s client this time around, fearing for her brother’s life.

However, we could not expect foreign intelligence to show up and Bishop to be far behind. Here, he is literally working alongside the Saudi agency by request of the Company. It is one of a number of twists and complications, setting us on a path of some wily misdirection from the direction in which the plot initially seems to be going. The situation carries high stakes on Bishop’s side; representing the CIA as he does, he acts as their mouthpiece on their inability to interfere with what appears on the surface to be an internal Saudi matter. McCall reminds him that it affects American citizens too, in particular the love story which is also a central driver of the plot.

We are introduced to the concept of ‘bees’ and ‘flies’, highlighting an information war and the kind of political battle in the digital age which happens to be very much Harry’s area of expertise. It provides him a chance to follow through on his declaration from the previous episode that he wishes to no longer be legally dead, and his knowledge of another ‘bee’ he helped to extract proves to be vital.

The pivotal theme of trust is neatly threaded into every fibre of the episode and all involved in it, starting with McCall’s family and the ‘geology trip’ Delilah is supposedly going on this weekend. As often occurs, McCall’s investigation provides an insightful moment for her navigation of her own personal life. And it follows right into the conceit that the episode offers about managing discussion of the Saudi regime with the audience. Where it greatly succeeds is that although McCall is involved, much of the agency remains with Ali’s family with McCall there to provide nudges where they are needed, notably Bishop and his preference for not getting involved. In fact, every support character gets a real chance to shine over the hour. Dante appears when initially it may have seemed an episode in which he might not have played a part, and yet an opportunity is provided to introduce the new police department bloodhound on McCall’s case. Dante finds himself in the new position of deadening the hunter’s trail to protect McCall, reinforcing his own repositioning as a valuable ally at the same time.

An interesting consequence of the episode’s events is that Bishop meets Melody for somehow the first time since the show’s launch and as a result, learns of McCall’s likely base of operations. Unsurprisingly the circumstances of the two meeting up are suboptimal, yet it all ends well enough for now. The timing of the reveal to Bishop cannot help but remind a viewer of another possible point in which operations may find themselves compromised in the future.

McCall’s role this time around is more to keep things moving than to do the heavy lifting herself and there is a subtle balance of ensuring she does so and yet keeping many of the solutions of the main plot with the family she is attempting to help. This approach applies perfectly to her resolution of her own family issues, as she acts carefully and delicately to reach the required outcome.

Verdict: With trust there is also a certain requirement of patience, and the viewer’s is paid off well enough as the tale unfolds.  8/10

Russell Smith