The team needs to track down a hacker in control of middle-eastern missiles and discover if s/he works for Israel or Syria before war breaks out.

Finding the hacker turns out to be the easy part, and Helen starts to come into her own while remaining Helen. The episode goes downhill from there as she basically plays Mom, or tries to, to the teenaged boy hacker. This echoes the issues Helen and Harry are having with their own teenager at home. The hacker, of course, radiates disdain at their cluelessness as they try to get through to him. Their efforts are cut short when they also need to protect him from the commandos trying to catch him.

It’s never truly explained, or even hinted at, why the team doesn’t simply have super master hacker extraordinaire Albert talk to the kid in his own language. They do have a nice scene later as (naturally) it turns out the kid idolizes him and yes, Albert really is that good.

Alas, that glaring oversight is only one way that stupidity takes over in lieu of humor. The kid is supposed to be smart and resourceful. Makes sense; no problem at all. One would think the five agents are also supposed to be smart and resourceful. Not to mention, five of them should be able to handle one punk teenager. Did I mention there were five of them (agents)?

The whole angst-ridden teen trope (both the hacker and their daughter) adds nothing to the episode. At the beginning, Helen seems to be gaining confidence and becoming more assertive. Then she reverts/resorts to being maternal.

‘Maternal’ can be great, incredibly awesome, fantastic. It is, however, contrary to myth, not a trait every woman possesses. Nor is it applicable in every situation. Thus far the whole home front angle of the show is not working so well. Despite that, the series is showing glimmers of finding its footing. The likeable, appealing cast just needs better scripts.

Verdict: A bunch of clichés. Not overly terrible, overall, but most definitely not overly well executed either. 6/10

Rigel Ailur

http://www.BluetrixBooks.com