Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Alison Schapker
Directed by David Straiton
After a somewhat disappointing digression into a story that seemed to do little to progress the final season arc, the writers bounced back with a stunning episode that will change the direction and intensity of the season in a major way.
It was a foregone conclusion that the road to victory over the Observers would be more difficult that what we’ve seen thus far. Despite the dangers the team has faced, there has been little doubt that they would survive to see the end of the war. And given the mysteries that still surround Etta and her abduction as a child, there was reason to think that she would have a lot more time to work through her relationship with her parents.
This episode ripped that assumption right off the table with a brutal efficiency, setting up Widmark as an even more villainous adversary than he already was. It’s not until one recognizes that Etta doesn’t necessarily need to survive for the realities of her abduction to have an effect on the mission that her death makes sense.
It also gives layered meaning to the episode title. Throughout the episode, the bullet in question is the one that Etta wears around her neck, the one that the audience recognized as the bullet from “Brave New World: Part II” almost immediately. But the end of the episode suggests a very different context for the title: the bullet that kills Etta could very well be the one that pushes Team Bishop to the lengths necessary to see their plan to completion.
I also appreciate that the fetch quest portion of the story was designed as a red herring, really just useful in the sense that the team is now aware that there is a way to beat the Observers, and what some of the elements are. Things may still reduce down to a series of missions to retrieve items and information, but it’s a lot less rote that a stack of tapes.
It also occurs to me that Etta’s purpose in the show was to tie the Bishops to the resistance until the writers were ready to move forward with the Broyles reveal. Of course, that would have worked much better if Broyles had been around in this time period for more than just “Letters of Transit”. While the audience was likely wondering about Broyles and his activities up to this point, his true allegiance wasn’t much of a mystery to be resolved.
Watching Peter and Olivia struggle with the death of their daughter is going to make this a stronger season, as difficult as the prospect may be. It’s clear that one cannot assume that the rest of the team will survive to see the end. I’ll miss Etta as a character on the show, but since this has always been a story about Olivia and the Bishops, it makes sense that they would shift back into the center of the storm.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4
Final Score: 9/10