My sneaking suspicion about The Tomorrow People is that the creators of the show decided early on to hedge their bets, understanding that a second season is never a guarantee for any new show. Or they have a encyclopedia-thick show bible that has story arcs set for a dozen seasons. Those can be the only explanations for why the show is rushing its characters and viewers breathlessly through a variety of plotlines and unveiling secrets that other series would wait at least three seasons to reveal.
In the most recent installment, Jedikiah both finds out that Stephen did not, in fact, de-super power Cara and reveals to his boss, The Founder, that he is in love with a Tomorrow Person; John tells everyone that he is behind the death of Stephen’s father; and Aldous Crick, the former Ultra scientist, is killed by his former company for potentially aiding the rebel alliance.
Yes, that is a Star Wars reference, and one that feels necessary considering the Darth Vader-like activity of The Founder. As he’s interrogating John to try and find the location of the rebel base, The Founder chokes his prisoner out and throws him around the room without even touching him. For a series that doesn’t shy away from showing its sci-fi roots, even this was a little too blatant. I guess by the last episode of the season, we’ll see the Founder get horribly maimed and put on a black costume and helmet to protect his withered form from the elements.
The writers of the episode let that one slip by unchecked likely because they were too busy further stirring the massive whirlwind of plot points and motivations. How to help John escape his inevitable death at the hands of Ultra? Capture Jedikiah’s lady love and offer a prisoner exchange. And what should have been a peaceable hand-off become fraught with emotion as Jedikiah insists on the Tomorrow People taking her with them. If that weren’t enough, he fake-kills her towards the end of the episode as protection.
The eye of this plot storm is Stephen’s attempts to reach his father via limbo, the purgatory that only he can reach by stopping time at the moment of his death. So, he does the obvious thing: has John kill him a la that classic early ‘90s sci-fi/horror classic Flatliners. The scene brought about the only bit of tension available in this week’s show as we waited to see if Cara and the team could bring Stephen back from the brink before permanent brain damage set in.
Of course Stephen does survive, and when he wakes up immediately proclaims that they need to find his father’s body. The intention is, I’m guessing, to reconnect the body with the soul hanging in limbo. And considering his dad has been dead for the better part of a decade—or at least buried somewhere, lying in state and likely decaying—that can only mean one thing, kids: zombie tomorrow person! This could be the one show to try and tie together every last bit of geeky geekiness into one overstuffed package!