Somebody’s watching.

McCall is pitted against a stalker, who is briefly introduced to us by way of a horror-style flash past at the beginning of the episode. The opening scene is also a short entry, which sets the tone nicely.

In this case, the subject of the stalker’s attention does not know she is being hunted, itself a fresh premise to the series, as it is down to a network of self-styled ‘armchair detectives’ following anonymous internet video links to get in touch with McCall themselves. The two faces of the request, Abe and Rachel, have followed every video, with Rachel revealing a personal stake in the matter; she herself has been a survivor of a stalker in the past.

The episode takes the route of a thriller, which means even for the frequent twists and turns the show usually offers, there are smart elements of misdirection in from the start. The opening client scene sets up one of the most important, by offering the first suspect as one Brandon Mackey, who the internet detectives believe to be murderous. They do not say why, beyond believing him to be the content creator, including insinuation of a particularly disturbing pet death at the hands of the stalker.

The false lead is strong enough to start Team Equalizer along the path of assumptions as far as he’s concerned. True to the show, it is never as straightforward as that, though in this case, Mackey not only turns out to be wide of the mark, but a victim himself. The consequences of false suspicion directed his way by the network have ruined him in a number of ways, but what they have not done is turned him into a vengeful killer, as low as he has been brought.

With the pace of the episode, just enough time is left for the audience to consider his plight before the investigation continues. It feels much like the usual false first lead in some ways, but at the same time, it feels as if we are left with something more to ponder with him and his treatment by the group.

The stakes are quickly raised as the investigation becomes time sensitive when the stalker announced by video that the hunted woman will be killed later in the day. As the urgency increases, so do the plot twists, as the watch group proves to be far from entirely altruistic, more false leads and the eventual reveal being a genuine surprise thanks to the consistency of the viewer traps laid from the start. There is a great attention to detail which keeps us guessing until the finale.

The true star of the show this week however is McCall’s family subplot. If it took a back seat in the previous week, then this time around is very much the reverse of that. Aunt Vi’s department store experience steals the show, as Lorraine Toussaint superbly portrays the crushing weight of a lifetime of microaggressions against her. The experience is explored by way of a ‘Karen’ incident in a clothes store, with the monstrous Lori crying wolf, happy to see Vi arrested over an item of apparel.

The subplot is handled with serious emotional resonance as Vi delivers a harrowing monologue about the “million little cuts” she has endured of racism, power dynamics between the voice of a middle-class white woman, a middle-class Black woman and who the police chose to listen to first.

The incident itself almost certainly has a direct trace to real-life video footage of a shop floor incident from 2020 in the US, even if the outcome is very different here. It also manages to tie in with the episode’s main storyline, although a significant variance is that Vi’s experience manages to open a different conversation, with regards to the racial element. Not only is it opened, but it is also bridged over more than one generation due to the presence of Delilah. The anger radiates its heat to the audience through Toussaint’s delivery and Laya DeLeon Hayes’s beautifully timed support. The visceral hurt, rage and sadness as Vi finds herself broken by the incident lays out a better understanding of her experience to Delilah, who up to this point sees her heroism far more than her suffering. It is a speech of such power as to warrant repeat viewing in itself.

Equally, it would be impossible to ignore the role Delilah plays here. It is her quick thinking to provide irrefutable evidence which prevents the arrest, and her who has the final word in the episode. As it turns out, Delilah shows herself to be every bit her mother’s daughter, having more than a bit of Equalizer in her too.

Verdict: This episode leaves us with plenty to consider afterwards. The consequences of well-intentioned yet harmful actions from the clients; the consequences of needless malice, the question of “whiteness synonymous with truth”, and some well-crafted chicanery in relation to the revealed villain of the piece. The main plot strand was strong enough this week, but Vi and Delilah’s involvement will remain long in the memory, and certainly enhances a very good episode into a great one. It is a support subplot worthy of accolades, or at the very least, wider discussion. 9/10

Russell A Smith