It’s been six years, six long years since John Young should and, from his point of view, killed Roger Price, the first leader of the Tomorrow People and his mentor. But Roger’s not dead; he’s alive and finally awake to the joy of everyone around him. Stephen, his wife Marla and the two dozen tomorrow people living life in the underground Lair. Ashamed and feeling the guilt for his actions, John watches as Roger approaches him and tells John “You only did what you were supposed to do.” He admits the terrible burden he and Jedikiah put on the de facto leader of the Tomorrow People but the peaceful reunion is cut short when Stephen informs his father on the Founder’s plans and the mysterious Machine. Before Roger can start making plans on what to do next, Marla interrupts the crew and all but orders Roger to come home and see Luca, spend time with the family he abandoned ten years ago. But Cara and the other Tomorrow People don’t get this and they try standing in the way of Roger’s want to get back to his family. Cara tries playing boss, denying Roger clearance to go topside and there’s only one way to settle it; combat. Roger doesn’t want to fight Cara so John steps in as her proxy. The fight’s not too eventful with Roger taking home the prize—though one has to wonder if John’s desire for absolution played a hand into his defeat.

Roger returns home and Luca’s thrown off by his father’s reappearance. Add to that the fact that his mother and brother are “mutants” is nearly too much for him but Roger steps in and lets it be known where he stands. “I am overwhelmed for the love and gratitude for the three of you,” he begins as Hillary and Astrid sit by during the private moment,” You’re my world. You’re my reason for being. And I am humbled to be back in this home. So raise our glasses.  Here’s to family…” After dinner, Stephen and Roger go outside to talk a bit about Roger’s next move—a “tactical retreat”—while, after getting the best friend threat from Astrid, Hillary watches the exchange but doesn’t give the go-ahead to her team waiting to capture Roger for the Founder.

Led by Natalie, the tomorrow people rebel against Cara and the others

At the Lair, both Cara and John are having issues with their charges. The tomorrow people behave like ungrateful brats, feeling Roger has abandoned them in lieu of spending a single night with his family. But the pair have no one to blame but themselves with Charlie summing it up best. “They only believed in Roger because you did,” she tells John before telling the former leader that he’s her hero, not Roger Price.

Roger finds his brother Jed drinking his sorrows from a glass. The latter feels a similar guilt shared by John though for different reasons. Not only was he unable to bring Roger back sooner but the power he accrued during Roger’s absence was intoxicating. When he tells Roger how the Founder has beta-tested the Machine on Stephen, they return to his place and use ALICE—his AI computer—to hack into ULTRA and recover the field data on the Machine project. They escape seconds before ULTRA agents arrive on the scene and return to the Lair. What they see is more than disturbing; Stephen sees the results of the footage himself. Using his time-stopping abilities, the Machine transforms normal humans into non-living entities that are able to be destroyed by paranormals. Finally we can see just how horrible the Founder’s agenda truly is.

Speaking of Bathory, he gives Hillary the 3rd degree, openly wondering if her feelings towards Stephen are coloring her abilities to bring Roger in. She tells the Founder that Roger knows about the Machine and the Founder also understands Roger won’t be going into hiding now, but he’ll be coming right after them. When Stephen returns to ULTRA, he observes footage of the Machine being transported to a hidden Black Site, one Hillary gives him the location to but we all know it’s a trap. Stephen and Roger infiltrate the site with Stephen shutting off the d-chips. What neither was prepared for is John’s desire to atone for ‘killing’ Roger. He tranqs Roger after telling him to “be the leader I promised you’d be” and makes his way to Machine and directly into the trap. Stephen’s able to get his father out after being warned of the trap by Hillary. “You’ve no idea what you’ve done,” he tells her, his anger and betrayal apparent on his face.

Stephen confronts Hillary after finding out her betrayal

It’s amazing how ignorant so many of the Tomorrow People are. Led by the brash Natalie—who cares not a bit on what will happen to normal humans once the Machine’s operational—they go topside to make their own peace with ULTRA. Russell tags along, to make sure nothing untoward happens and, in the end, they’re all injected with the tracer serum, though methinks it’s much more than that.

Strapped to the table, the Founder goes on a Magneto-like spiel, grilling John on Roger’s location but he refuses to give in. Tired of being denied, the Founder injects John with the serum to remove his powers as Hillary watches form outside the room in horror. Knowing what she’s done can’t truly be forgiven, Hillary comes to Astrid and tells her she’s royally screwed the pooch. She reiterates her love for Stephen and gives Astrid a number to call in one hour. “It’s the only way to help them,” she says before walking off.

While the Founder gives John the message he wants the now ex-Tomorrow person to deliver, Stephen brings his mom and Luca to the Lair. Roger and Stephen knows they have to go to war but they won’t be alone. Jed throws his hat in the ring and the Price/Jameson family are united as one.

Hillary passes her goodbye to Stephen and visits the Founder. He preaches his sermon to her and when he tells her that the fate of humans the “brought about themselves” she knows she’s doing the right thing. She’s packed with lots of explosives and the phone rings to set it off. Her last image is of a shocked Stephen storming into the room before she, the room and the Founder are consumed in an explosion of fire and destruction.

Tomorrow’s News

  • Though it goes about it with its own slant, there’s no denying the similarities between ‘The Tomorrow People’ and ‘X-Men’. Both tell the tale of super powered individuals who have to live in the shadows lest the rest of humanity hunt them down as abominations. Though the worries may seem extreme, there’s no denying the fact that, as a species, humans often do the most ridiculous and ignorant things when confronted by things we don’t understand or agree with. While the Founder should indeed be concerned with the well-being of his own species, it cannot be at the expense of the others.
  • Speaking of expense, it’s becoming more difficult to be on the side of the tomorrow people when they couldn’t care less (at least by their own words)about the lives of billions of others. And Cara continues trying too hard as leader. There’s a fine line between being strong and being a dictator and she’s unfortunately traversed on the side of the latter in recent episodes. It’s one thing to lay down the law but another to come across as someone who cannot abide those that do not agree with you.
  • Hillary Cole made it difficult to like her in the beginning but, over time, she started growing on me. Though she committed the cardinal sin that fosters character downfalls (“I did it for you”) she seemingly made amends by blowing the Founder off this planet. We’ll miss you, Hillary.

**and we all know the Founder’s far from being dead**