S02.E07: When Worlds Collide

[AnimeMania]

MCCALL, HARRY AND MEL HELP BISHOP WHEN A TERRORIST FROM HIS PAST UNCOVERS THE IDENTITY OF HIS ADULT SON, WHOM BISHOP HAS KEPT SECRET TO SAFEGUARD HIM, ON “THE EQUALIZER,” SUNDAY, NOV. 28

Bishop comes to McCall, Harry and Mel for help when a terrorist from his past uncovers the identity of his adult son, a young man Bishop has kept secret for decades to safeguard him from his intelligence work. Also, Aunt Vi becomes nostalgic about a past romantic relationship when she receives a surprise visitor.

Premiere Date: Sunday, Nov. 28 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

GUEST CAST:
Wesam Keesh (Zade)
Anthony Azizi (Hassan Talib)
Richard Haddad (Hadid Bashir)
Jasmine Johnson (Kathy)
Shez Sardar (Yusuf)
Maggie Parto (Rahima)
Tamer Abedrabbo (Farid)
Cayleb Long (Agent Maddox)
Stephanie Chloé Hepner (TSA Agent)
John Toon (NYPD Officer)
Anais Almonte (Fed)

[paigow]

Jr. Big???!!!

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, paigow said:

Jr. Big???!!!

As long as Carrie isn't his mama. Egads!

[wanderingstar]

I figured it wouldn't be plain sailing for Harry and Mel. Curious to see how their story plays out.

Bishop's kid totally knows Bishop is his dad.

[AnimeMania]

A fairly simple and straight-forward story, only made complicated if you care about the characters.

[paigow]

The Batcave had no intruder detection or alarm if it gets cut???? A copy of the hard drive is still out there... 

[possibilities]

I like Aunt Vi's story.

[statsgirl]

Yeah, the kid totally figured out that Bishop is his father and Biahop is the one scared to say it. Good cast8ng because the actor really soes look likw he could he Noth's kid.

Vi's reaction to the visitor made no sense to me. You'd think that she was ashamed of the relationship .

The ending had the feel of a  midseason cliff-hanger. How is Harry going to get out of these ropes before the train comes barrelling down rbe track and hits him?

[Trini]

I liked that this was a different kind of case for Robyn & co.

If Bishop really was planning to get caught, you'd think he'd be more prepared to get out of restraints. I don't remember why he didn't have the CIA helping him - did they state a reason? After they found Zade's location, that seemed like the perfect time to call in reinforcements.

Shallow: Not the same as a cool designer sweater, but I did like Robyn's sparkly sweatshirt(?). Her hair looked great too. I love that Queen Latifah makes all this equalizing look good! (Which may or may not be realistic, but it's the same as all these other procedurals.)

Harry, no! Dang - I guess the base of operations had to be breached at some point. I guess (hope) that next episode Bishop is going to have to return the favor and help out Harry.

I don't think we got enough of Aunt Vi's story to really say anything about it.

[janeta]

I think Vi was just blindsided by the woman (daughter?) showing up.  The immediate instinct is to deny everything, gaining time to think about it.

[paigow]

6 hours ago, Trini said:

I don't remember why he didn't have the CIA helping him - did they state a reason?

Asking the CIA for help would mean giving them control... Bishop needed McCall to MURDER this guy... The CIA wanted him alive [at least for a while]....

[possibilities]

I didn't take Vi's reaction as shame. I took it as her being overwhelmed. It's weird to contact her the way they did. If they knew where she lived, they could write her a letter or call her on the phone. She didn't know what the daughter wanted, whether she knew Vi was her mom's ex, what kind of mess Vi might be wading into if she accidentally outed the ex/mom, or if she'd be expected to make up a cover story on the fly, or what was going on. Vi has been open about her past not being exclusively with men, so I didn't take it to be shame. More like... caution.

I for sure would be cautious if approached by the offspring of an ex who was now with a man. Is that something I really want to tangle with? 

[milkyaqua]

I had a feeling Harry was going to get caught.  I do wonder how he'll get out and whether or not Bishop can even help him (he better really try unless he wants to feel Mel's wrath).

Zade definitely knows that Bishop's his father.

As for Aunt Vi's storyline, I didn't take is as her being ashamed either.  It seemed to be a surprise to her and yes, if some stranger came to my door asking questions, I doubt I'd welcome them with open arms.  There were other ways to approach her.  I'll be curious to see how this story takes shape and leave it to Delilah to tell her mom about it.  She does have a way of inserting herself into her mom and aunt's business.

[kwnyc]

Not only does Zade know Bishop is his father, but did anyone else think he was extraordinarily skilled when they escaped? Handling an automatic weapon easily, doing badass kicks and punches? I think that's more than Mama's home cooking. I think he's already been recruited by an intelligence agency (PhD candidate at Columbia?)

I also wonder if the raid on the Batcave is a setup of some kind that will result in Harry's finally getting back into the world. I mean, it would deprive us of the chance to watch Robyn break him & Mel out, but with this show, I always expect a switcheroo.

Not to mention...as long as Harry is in NYC, the cops and DA can get involved, and they owe Robyn a favor or two.

I want to see Aunt Vi's old lover.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, kwnyc said:

I want to see Aunt Vi's old lover.

Was the sketch vague enough that stunt casting her would truly be surprising?

[Johannah]

5 hours ago, kwnyc said:

...

I also wonder if the raid on the Batcave is a setup of some kind that will result in Harry's finally getting back into the world. I mean, it would deprive us of the chance to watch Robyn break him & Mel out, but with this show, I always expect a switcheroo.

...

I thought the same thing.  Getting arrested is step one of Bishop's plan to get Harry exonerated.  "You arrested him because he broke into the CIA's mainframe to catch a terrorist.  See?  He's a patriot, not a traitor."

Complicated way to do it, but I think they can spin it somehow.

[blackwing]

I liked seeing Bishop have a main role in a story.  I wonder why he didn't tell his son the truth, even if the son already knew.  Would like to see this brought up again.  I do feel like it seems the direction of the show is changing this season.  Instead of being an Equalizer and helping people who nobody else helps, more and more this season we have Robyn working with the police and helping her friend.  Some would say this makes this show just like any other police procedural, but I still like it.  I am liking the increased role of Delilah and Vi this season and the way their storylines have been handled.

23 hours ago, possibilities said:

I didn't take Vi's reaction as shame. I took it as her being overwhelmed. It's weird to contact her the way they did. If they knew where she lived, they could write her a letter or call her on the phone. She didn't know what the daughter wanted, whether she knew Vi was her mom's ex, what kind of mess Vi might be wading into if she accidentally outed the ex/mom, or if she'd be expected to make up a cover story on the fly, or what was going on. Vi has been open about her past not being exclusively with men, so I didn't take it to be shame. More like... caution.

I for sure would be cautious if approached by the offspring of an ex who was now with a man. Is that something I really want to tangle with? 

I actually was prepared to hear that the woman was dead.  So it was nice to see (even if we didn't actually see it) that the woman was alive and well and was meeting Vi in a park.

[MicheleinPhilly]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I actually was prepared to hear that the woman was dead.  So it was nice to see (even if we didn't actually see it) that the woman was alive and well and was meeting Vi in a park.

I'm hoping this is a thread that they revisit in future episodes. I love Aunt Vi (and would like an Aunt Vi in my life) and Lorraine Toussaint is a fantastic actress. I'd love to spend more time in her world. 

Edited November 30, 2021 by MicheleinPhilly
I was so concerned about misspelling her last name, I didn't spell her first name properly.

[tennisgurl]

I really liked this one, different then the usual stories, and it was cool learning more about Bishop. His son definitely figured out that Bishop is his father, you could see his expression change when he saw Bishop looking sadly at a picture of his mom, even if Bishop hasn't confirmed it. And considering how well he handled himself, I could easily see him coming back again, maybe following in his dads footsteps in intelligence. Kudos to the casting people, the actor playing Zade definitely looked like he could be Chris Noth's son.

I think that Aunt Vi was just thrown seeing the daughter of her old girlfriend, and might have been worried about telling her old lovers daughter something that her mom might like kept private, that things could get messy. I expected to find out that her former lover had died, so I was pleasantly surprised that she is still alive and newly single. Way to go Vi! 

Talk about ending on a cliffhanger. This seems bad, but it could be a really good thing for Harry in the long run if he wants to come back from the dead. Now that he's been arrested the law will definitely acknowledge him being legally alive, and now maybe Bishop can pull some strings to get him his life back with a slap on the wrist, play the "just helped stop a dangerous terrorist" card, or Robyn can call in her various favors with the NYPD or the feds. This could be the thing that helps him get a life outside the bunker back. 

[ribboninthesky1]

Harry's arrest felt like a performance.  We don't see any faces of those arresting him, and I assumed that was on purpose.  Either his arrest was Bishop's (and Robyn's?) machinations for his freedom, or there's some other malevolent force. Or...maybe it's the simplest explanation and the Feds got to him.  Guess we'll find out next episode. 

I hope Vi's old love becomes a present love!     

[paigow]

1 hour ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

I hope Vi's old love becomes a present love....

Who inevitably dies in the crossfire when a kill team comes looking for McCall / Bishop

[wanderingstar]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:23 PM, milkyaqua said:

I had a feeling Harry was going to get caught.  I do wonder how he'll get out and whether or not Bishop can even help him (he better really try unless he wants to feel Mel's wrath).

More importantly, when Harry gets out, how much will he be able to use his "freaky ass skills" without getting caught?

[mythoughtis]

On 11/29/2021 at 12:40 AM, Trini said:

. I don't remember why he didn't have the CIA helping him - did they state a reason?

Because the CIA didn’t know Bishop had a son. 

[paigow]

12 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

More importantly, when Harry gets out, how much will he be able to use his "freaky ass skills" without getting caught?

All the time because he will be a CIA / NSA asset...

[Raja]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:41 PM, ribboninthesky1 said:

Harry's arrest felt like a performance.  We don't see any faces of those arresting him, and I assumed that was on purpose.  Either his arrest was Bishop's (and Robyn's?) machinations for his freedom, or there's some other malevolent force. Or...maybe it's the simplest explanation and the Feds got to him.  Guess we'll find out next episode. 

I hope Vi's old love becomes a present love!     

The performance to me seemed to be the standard TV over militarized police raid to get a hacker. Since we never had a Fed who suspected that Harry was alive and was tracking his "widow" just use masked stuntmen who can be gunmen for any organization on next week's episode.

[ribboninthesky1]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:47 PM, paigow said:

Who inevitably dies in the crossfire when a kill team comes looking for McCall / Bishop

That might be Vi herself, but she would be seriously injured rather than killed.  Then Robyn will have to go scorched earth again! 

3 hours ago, Raja said:

The performance to me seemed to be the standard TV over militarized police raid to get a hacker. Since we never had a Fed who suspected that Harry was alive and was tracking his "widow" just use masked stuntmen who can be gunmen for any organization on next week's episode.

Hmm, you may be right.  OTOH, there is sometimes a guest role with an antagonist Fed, but we weren't introduced to such a character.  That's why it didn't feel real to me.   Would have been a prime opportunity to introduce someone with a grudge/animosity towards Bishop for whatever reason. Plus, the show made a point to tell us just how off-radar Harry was, so even as they traced the hack, I was confused how they knew who HE was. 

[paigow]

Mark Harmon will hold Harry hostage until this show is renamed NCIS: NY