McCall races to save the team after they’re put into extreme danger by her former CIA colleague Michelle Chambers…

It has been a while, but McCall is back, and picks up at the exact point we left her in the Season 3 finale. This guarantees that we are treated to a fast-paced start, with a big rescue the immediate priority. It is every bit the second part of the previous episode, clear from the paired title (Eye for an Eye). McCall’s work family grows closer as she is forced to rely on those connections to keep her own family safe. Friends, absent and newer, have their say as Bishop’s legacy is felt whilst Fisk establishes his place in the Equalizer’s world.

That subtheme complements the main story well as the main antagonist, Michelle Chambers, is someone who has been a part of that family in the past; a matter McCall never forgets in her dealings with her. Michelle is fanatically driven by a previous CIA betrayal, a plight few understand as well as McCall, since that was a contributing factor to why she left the ‘Company’ herself. Constant lies, politics and games played by the agency have plagued McCall since before the series started, and by the start of the fourth season, we know enough about what drives her to see that only a few incremental differences in life wich led Michelle and McCall down different paths. It is the key strength of the episode that McCall can see exactly what is motivating Michelle. They trained and worked together closely, which we are reminded directly more than once.

As the episode unfolds, there is a deeper dimension to the matter, which leads McCall into another situation in which her personal ethical code compels her to on occasion protect those she despises in order to do the right thing. We see the episode highlight the clash of three distinct viewpoints of ‘the greater good’: McCall’s, Michelle’s, and that of the agency.

Vi and Delilah are kept away from the main events quite forcibly this time, but this provides essential reflection time for the pair, as Dee considers following her mother’s footsteps even closer than before and Vi, by contrast, carries an inner grief about such a future.

Verdict: The dynamic works well, though a viewer might do well to not expect too many surprises, nor drastic changes to the show. We are offered a reliable and relatively safe start to the season, whereas there may have been scope for something a little riskier. Despite this, the end of the episode does provide a couple of intriguing questions, and perhaps even a threat for the season as a whole. 7/10

Russell A. Smith