McCall, Mel and Harry all come under attack, as Aunt Vi tries to talk down a desperate man…

The season finale casts a spotlight on the wrongs taking place in the United States and beyond, despite McCall’s life work being to ensure a fighting chance is offered to victims of injustices the system cannot resolve. The episode targets both cause and effect, at every level of society, specifically in the USA

The intensity is high from the start, with bullets flying in the opening scene. However, we are made to go back several hours from that point to make sense of it. The experienced tradecraft of McCall and Melody are the only reason that they and Harry are not abducted immediately. The savvy trio identify they are being hunted, wasting no time in their efforts to uncover why, and instead become the hunters. This path quickly leads them back to the CIA – or more specifically, to Fisk, who once more emerges from the shadows like a bad penny, and again fails to give them vital information.

However, the key to the matter lies in another ghost of McCall’s past which continues to haunt her, a typically deadly CIA mission, one which came with a heavy, messy price. A mission in one of several regions where the agency chose to interfere, yet left before completing their work, leads to a moment in which McCall notes that the agency are more interested in meddling with global affairs than they ever were in making the world a better place. This ideology fundamentally clashes with McCall’s own, and figuring this out was the chief reason she left in the first place. The scene is measured precisely, as we are not only reminded of her personal ethics clashing with the previous way of life she kept, but real-life instances beyond this scenario involving Venezuela are directly named. Iraq and Afghanistan are specifically highlighted, with the aftermath of the latter relatively recent and still leaving a bitter taste. Without naming explicitly the return of the Taliban and the element of the ‘War on Terror’ campaign which saw the regime ousted in the first place with no long-term plan, the effects of this sits as one of several sins committed by United States foreign policy. This speaks to a perception which others around the world have of them externally, particularly how they deserted those they claimed they were setting out to help to remove their brutal and evil regimes.

Delilah and Vi’s story this week tells the other side of that same tale; a mirror of the main storyline that provides focus on how the institution has failed America’s own people just as much, examining how those same policymakers have managed to inflict pain and suffering on their own doorstep. A brief shopping trip with Aunt Vi sees McCall’s vigilance training pay off as Delilah identifies a dangerous situation before it unfolds. More than this, it is clear she also heeded one of the most important lessons her mother taught her – in some situations, flight is far better than fight.

On this occasion, both options are denied to them, they are forced to resort to different skills in order to survive the day. Vi reminds us that she is a prize negotiator, her success this time rooted in the revelation of some personal information – the backstory as to why she lives with Robyn. The living arrangement came from a desperate moment, only a very fine line from the reason the gunman is holding up the store in the first place. That empathy she manages to strike half saves his life when the instrument of the institution which failed them both, the police force, were ready to gun him down as an armed threat. Yet it is Dee who does the other half, once more implementing her mother’s teachings and making a vital observation at speed and under extreme pressure. This all comes together as the martial training is used precisely to neutralise a threat, including to himself.

During the course of their intervention, Vi leaves the gunman more than enough to think about with regards to having hope and a second chance. The situation would suggest that it is more than the country has ever done for him.

There is a particular detail to eye communication in this episode, especially at the store. If Vi’s confession is something Dee already knew, the emotion she conveys keeps the sympathy as raw as it had ever been. Likewise, it is clear that Drake listens to almost every word Vi says to him, something especially evident near the episode end.

Speaking of the episode end, we are left on a deadly cliffhanger, in which McCall’s ghosts have become very real. The setup to the reveal of her adversaries is easy enough to guess for veterans of action and spy shows, but works perfectly for this. Meanwhile, Dante carries most of the comedy relief in the episode, despite being in frequent peril himself, and following along due to his currently active suspension. Again, it has been seen before, but he spends a period of the episode under the influence of a truth serum, which sees him blurting out candid feelings for McCall at inappropriate moments, and mostly whilst she is listening. It is less comedic by the end due to said cliffhanger, but this is an occasion viewers should be extremely grateful that Season 4 is confirmed. Expect the usual fast start to that as this matter continues exactly where it leaves off.

Verdict: Yet once again it is not the action of the episode which is the real winner – it is its courage to make the commentary it needs to completely. This is the very heart and essence of The Equalizer laid bare, and goes a long way to reminding us why we need McCall and family around. 9/10

Russell A. Smith