S04.E01: Truth For A Truth

[DanaK]

Quote

McCall races to save the team after they're put into extreme danger by her former CIA colleague Michelle Chambers (guest star Ilfanesh Hadera) while she discovers the truth behind the CIA withdrawal in Venezuela that led to the death of one of her friends, on the fourth season premiere of the CBS Original series THE EQUALIZER, Sunday, Feb. 18 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+

 

[AnimeMania]

Donal Logue as Colton Fisk 
Ilfenesh Hadera as Michelle Chambers

[Brown44]

I'm just glad they didn't wait 5/6 seasons in to fully have Marcus in what's going on with the crew. Kinda like Det. Carter in Persons of Interest, now let's hope they don't do Marcus like Carter if you know what I mean.

[AnimeMania]

Did Robyn shoot a CIA Lady in the face to save that worthless Michelle woman!

[dwmarch]

Oh, this show. Well, since the end of The Blacklist I haven't had a good show to snark on so I'm happy this one has stepped up to take its place.

Can we please get away from the evil CIA ruins everything plots and get back to scrappy vigilante protects people the system ignores? The CIA plots are just not that interesting. How many times by now have I seen "CIA did something dirty back in the day and is murdering the witnesses to cover it up"?

And how do we wrap up that cliffhanger from last season? Evil Michelle is startled by the roof shaking and so she just leaves, with Robyn guarded by a single mook who is also easily distracted. This allows enough time for Robyn to search the whole place, find the flaming room of death and grenade the door open. It's a good thing it was a Hollywood fire which does not respond to the giant blast of oxygen that would accompany blowing that door off. It's also good that one bad guy had a Hollywood grenade which acted more like a breaching charge instead of just throwing a bunch of lethal fragments back at Robyn.

Weird whiplash with Robyn and the villain too. She was trying to burn your friends to death but let's go talk to her and try to convince her to switch sides. She tries to kill you (again!) with a wakazashi but lets you have one too so I guess it was a fair fight and no harm no foul despite the ruined sweater? Also, who decided that since we made it to season 4, screw it, let's just have a sword fight?

And of course, the CIA has no idea how to secure a prisoner and in short order Michelle has just wished her handcuffs off and is getting her Hannibal Lecter on. You know what this means? More thrilling CIA plots trying to stop Michelle from getting her hands on some other MacGuffin or from killing some other Important Person.

I also found that I wasn't particularly charmed by the actress. Far be it from me to bag on someone's acting but this lady in particular seemed to have a totally flat affect. After what she's been through I'd expect something a little more like Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. Instead we got Sarah Connor in Terminator 3.

Last but not least, I know not everybody knows guns and there is no particular reason for Delilah to be an expert in this subject (other than the fact that several guns are present in her house and she's been training with a former military sniper) but I think D is the first person in the history of ever to mistake an MP5 for an M-16. The only thing they have in common is the letter M! Well, everybody's got to start somewhere I guess.

[stonehaven]

I have watched this show from the beginning and normally I hand wave a lot of the silliness but I was seriously snarking on it last night. How do you say someone is a good person and right after they try to burn your team alive?

I was half expecting the security guy to be on Michelle's side and then have D save the day.

Also, Vi and D got literally nothing to do but be the worries relatives. They had the hostage plot did they even try to tell Robyn about that?

 

[michelec]

11 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Can we please get away from the evil CIA ruins everything plots and get back to scrappy vigilante protects people the system ignores? The CIA plots are just not that interesting. How many times by now have I seen "CIA did something dirty back in the day and is murdering the witnesses to cover it up"?

 

I can honestly say that I was completely bored with last night's episode, so much so that about 15 minutes in I started doing online crosswords and kept the show on as background.  The Equalizer shines when they stick with the "client of the week" format.  When they get into that CIA stuff, they lose me.  I know it will be revisited at some point since it was implied that Michelle escaped, but hopefully, they'll keep the espionage to a minimum with maybe a couple of future episodes at most.

Also too, the Delilah and Aunt Vi being in danger every week twist has the potential to get old really fast.

Edited February 19 by michelec
Spell check is not my friend

[milkyaqua]

Yes, except for liking Robyn's silver earrings, I pretty much have the same opinions as the rest of the forum.  Tired of the implausible CIA plots.  Tired of Vi and Dee being in danger.  Robyn being so concerned about Michelle after trying to kill all of her friends regardless of how Michelle got there, was a stretch.

I was glad Dante got cleared and his shield back and got to see the secret lair.

[possibilities]

I have no problem with calling the CIA corrupt, or evil-doing, but the show has gotten too absurd even for me. 

How is it credible that they are not going after families, when they just tried to murder Robyn's chosen family? Yeah, they spared Vi and D, but seriously-- why would Robyn believe that the rest of the family would be spared?

I do think, if they are going to do family stories, they need to do more than "worried and helpless" beats. The issue of D wanting to follow in her mother's footsteps is actually a viable idea, I think-- not that she should or could do it but the general idea of wanting to  be like her mom. That actually strikes me as somewhat of an in character conflict, because I  bet Robyn doesn't like the idea. 

I do not believe Vi would suffer empty nest meaninglessness, especially not with her having her rekindled romance and her teaching career and her art. 

I did enjoy Marcus and Melody working together in the field. He fits well into the team. I'm a little worried about Melody teasing him about whatever he said under sodium pentathol (I don't remember, but I take it he confessed romantic love for Robyn?). The flowers later seem to suggest he's not going to hide it but her reaction seemed so neutral that I don't know where they're going. Also, doesn't he have kids? Where were they when all this was happening. Or am I remembering someone else with kids from another show?

Edited February 19 by possibilities

[Attatude]

I would like to see Delilah join the team and become a superhero like her mom. College seems so boring compared to the excitement going on in her personal life. I love Aunt Vi. Doesn’t everyone want an aunt just like her?  But she’s too old for all this danger and upset in her life.  

I have mixed feelings about Dante going back to his job. He can do a lot to help them from the inside, but he would be so much more if he was part of their team.  

We waited almost a year to see them rescued. The actual rescue was….nothing.  I could, have rescued them in the same situation.  I expected a much better resolution.  Michelle is the enemy. She tried to kill Robyn by fire and then by cutting.  She’s not a good person.  I don’t ever want to see her again.  Another vote here for the case of the weak format. CIA makes a good backstory for Robyn but ruins the show on a regular basis.

[possibilities]

I also wish they would go back to the original Equalizer concept, which was RETIRED operative who now helps everyday people.

[KWalkerInc]

16 hours ago, possibilities said:

Also, doesn't he have kids?

Yes, Dante has two sons.  Maybe they were with their mom?

[blackwing]

I don't particularly care for Michelle as a recurring baddie.  If they were going to have a corrupt ex-CIA agent be the recurring baddie, I wish they hadn't killed off Brett Dalton's character.

Despite the implausibilities of some of the plot, I'm glad the show's back.  I liked seeing Dante working with the team.  I get why he went back to the police department, but it would have been better if he was just with the team full time.

How old is Delilah now?  And when are these episodes supposed to be taking place?  It's obviously not winter in NYC.  They didn't talk about her missing school so it was either summer or the weekend.  Is she a junior or senior now?

When Mel talked about Aunt Vi's cooking in Robyn's hospital room, and then we didn't get to see any of her cooking, I felt cheated.  I'm still hoping that CBS could put up a bunch of Aunt Vi's recipes on the show's website, especially the ones for her gumbo and her cassoulet.

[AnimeMania]

4 minutes ago, blackwing said:

When Mel talked about Aunt Vi's cooking in Robyn's hospital room, and then we didn't get to see any of her cooking, I felt cheated. 

Aunt Vi made sandwiches, they didn't appeal to me because they appeared to be mostly bread and were too large to fit into your mouth.

[blackwing]

32 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Aunt Vi made sandwiches, they didn't appeal to me because they appeared to be mostly bread and were too large to fit into your mouth.

Ah right.  But unless she described them as something like a fried catfish or fried crawfish po boy... doesn't count! 😋

[Attatude]

6 hours ago, blackwing said:

How old is Delilah now?  And when are these episodes supposed to be taking place?  It's obviously not winter in NYC.  They didn't talk about her missing school so it was either summer or the weekend.  Is she a junior or senior now?

 

Delilah was around 15 and a sophomore when the show began which means if they were following a one year per season timeline, she would have turned 16 sometime during that year, 17 in season 2 and 18 this year. So she should be a senior.  When she was looking for an internship, that is usually a senior activity, or maybe junior year if they were stretching it.  In any case, she should graduate this season.  

Edited February 20 by Attatude

[milkyaqua]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Aunt Vi made sandwiches, they didn't appeal to me because they appeared to be mostly bread and were too large to fit into your mouth.

That's another type of sandwich you'd find in Louisiana, a muffaletta.  A soft round bun sliced in half with italian meats and cheeses and olive salad.

[andromeda331]

I agree the episode was boring. I didn't like Robyn trying to save Michelle. It made no sense after Michelle tried to set her and her friends on fire. And I really don't care about the CIA or that Michelle's free.

I wish Delilah and Aunt Vi had more to do. Hopefully it was just for this episode. Robyn doesn't even know they were held hostage. 

I loved Dante working with the team and finally seeing where their work. It was really great. I'm also glad he got his badge back.

[12catcrazy]

On 2/19/2024 at 12:56 AM, dwmarch said:

Oh, this show. Well, since the end of The Blacklist I haven't had a good show to snark on so I'm happy this one has stepped up to take its place.

Can we please get away from the evil CIA ruins everything plots and get back to scrappy vigilante protects people the system ignores? The CIA plots are just not that interesting. How many times by now have I seen "CIA did something dirty back in the day and is murdering the witnesses to cover it up"? ...

 

 

I've got to stand up and yell YES to everything you wrote!   If this show continues like this I'm just going to call it quits and check in on this forum for the snark factor.   I remember the original Equalizer back in the 80s and was hoping that this would be an updated version of that.   I hate the CIA stuff and the recurring Big Bad of the season and wish that the team would just help the people with no where else to turn.   It seems that the TV powers that be have decided that all people who watch the networks want to watch are things that go boom and lots of shooting and other violence.   CBS dumped all the Sunday night shows that weren't over the top with the violence, so that must be what they think their viewing audience wants to see.  

[Trini]

For goodness sake, how many nemesises does Robyn need? And the character and actress weren't compelling either.

Like everyone else, I prefer the cases-of-the-week with Robyn helping the little guy. There shouldn't be any CIA plots, but I'm willing to tolerate a couple episodes per season.

 

On 2/19/2024 at 12:56 AM, dwmarch said:

Also, who decided that since we made it to season 4, screw it, let's just have a sword fight?

I did LOL at that, just because of how ridiculous it was.

But I am glad the show is back, hopefully it's back to its regular format next week.