The DSR 1x04 'ESP_ionage'

by A.J. Black

When two CIA agents are murdered by Patrice Lombasa, a renegade African war criminal, Jai & Ethan are drawn into danger when the DSR encounter a remote viewer who wants to help them. Meanwhile, Carson is blackmailed by a mysterious man...

The DSR is a show that after three episodes still hasn't quite tapped into its potential, but after two slightly shaky opening episodes it hit back with 'Demons,' a much stronger story that's built up some good momentum for the season now, particularly in the case of tightly-wound Ethan Watts. Let's hope 'ESP_ionage' follows this trend, and bucks some of the less appealing trends of the series like Jai's typecast characterisation and the typos that littered the last script.

Opening in a hotel in Djibouti, as a big black dude named Patrice Lombasa steps out onto his balcony for a spot of air - while across the street, a pair of mercenaries line up their target in their rifle sights. Lombasa is joined by a chap named Ratner, who has an odd little moment of sensory overload (and yes, we know a Plot Point when we see one), before the would-be assassins are rudely interrupted by a gaggle of security guards. Tch! Well, our two mercs get taken out, and as we skip to PBH Kendall informs us that they were indeed contract killers, and pretty high-profile ones at that. Kendall informs Jai and Mia that Lombasa is ex-African military, a brutal warlord run into exile and looking for a way to freedom, but that's not all - an insider in Lombasa's group has contacted DSR agents to offer them help in taking Lombasa down. Mia raises a valid point - how did the insider even know about the DSR? Kendall is equally concerned and knows that the situation has to be resolved quickly, and before a major security risk is created. Kendall tells Jai that Ethan's about to leave hospital and return to active duty, which Jai is less than happy about, before we catch up with Carson. She's over at a Federal morgue in Ohio to investigate the body of Walter Hinds, the doctor involved in the drug trials that created Falen in 'Demons.' Thing is, Hinds was cremated. Bah! She stomps back to her car but finds a cryptic message waiting for her, pointing her to a meeting place if she wants to get her answers. And the plot thickens once again...

Ethan returns to work for Act I, but he's clearly still rattled by recent experiences, and Jai's thunderous glare can't be helping his nerves all that much. Jai is unrepentant as he and Mia fly out to Africa, but Mia takes a moment to remind Jai that maybe Ethan feels more disappointed than anything else that he wasn't made team leader, managing to break through Jai's Sawyer-like layers of indifference for once. Mia remains probably the strongest character in the show for her ability to do things like this - intelligent, quietly confident and surprisingly observant, with stacks of hidden depths and stories to tell, she's the glue holding the team together and I think she knows it. In Nairobi, the DSR meet their mystery insider - and it's Ratner! Hmm. He says he'll hand Lombasa to them but expects ten million for the service, before another trippy moment - Ratner sees visions of an ambush, and seconds later, there it is. Hands up anyone else who's worked out what the Freak Of The Week can do this time! But hang on - techno music! You know what that means. One nicely-choreographed fight later (during which Jai cracks his first actual joke, and even though it's a throwaway line it honestly feels like the real Jai for the first time all series), tossing in some John Woo-tastic gunplay along the way, Ratner is gone and the dynamic duo have to beat it before more goons show up. Carson meets her contact, a smooth-talking man named Jonas, who appears to be blackmailing her into working for the shady 'inside government' group that he works for. Back in Nairobi, Jai's team are discussing their next move when they get a surprise visitor - Ratner!

Ratner begins Act II in DSR custody, with the rest of the team debating what to do with him. Anton volunteers to interrogate the guy (as we get a little aside of Carson acting shifty - what's on that CD?), and finds that when Ratner was 15 he took part in medical research into the brain organised by - wait for it - Dr. Hinds. Carson's CD is full of biometric info on Falen, which appears to match that of Ratner. Ratner tells the team that he developed the ability to project his consciousness as a result of the trials (which Ethan confirms as Jai takes another pop at him - and I must say, I'm admiring Ethan a little for taking so much stick thus far), and Carson gets a call from the shady Jonas again - seems she's getting blackmailed into doing something fishy here, against her better judgement. Ratner's story tells of how the experiment broke down after months in isolation for the subjects, and the now psychically-awakened subjects wandered back out into the real world, trying to adjust to their new abilities. In Ratner's case, it led him into the employ of Lombasa, and his mention of 'second chances' sparks another spat between Ethan and Jai - but this time it's Kendall who steps in to bitch slap Jai down. And it's a fair play - Jai's been a real arse about this whole thing, and to be honest after four episodes I'm still thinking the guy's an idiot! Seeing him and Ethan sparring like schoolkids is quite comic but I think we need to have this tension resolved before it gets old. Anyway, Sara sets up an experiment to monitor Ratner's abilities, but Carson seems to know something the others don't...

Act III opens with a slightly wonky bit of para-science (tracking astral projection via satellite relays? hmm...), with Ratner scanning out Lombasa's African hideout so the team know where to go looking. It feels a tad deus ex machina, I'll admit, but I'll allow it this time because Black's clearly tried to ground the whole thing in reality, even if it doesn't work perhaps as well as he'd hoped. The team prepare for their strike but Ratner insists on coming along - he's created a few more remote viewers among Lombasa's men, you see, so without his help the DSR strike team'll be spotted a mile off. Ethan asks to take Mia's place and ahe sgrees - to her, she's probably thinking it'll force Ethan and Jai to get over their issues. Let's hope she's right, eh? Carson meets a Caribbean guy and hands him a photo of somebody located in Nigeria (which just happens to be where the DSR team are headed - coincidence?), deepening her part in whatever unsavoury business she's messed up in. Carson doesn't strike me as the sort to suffer fools gladly, so if she's being blackmailed it must be over something pretty major. Anyway. Out in the Nigerian desert, the DSR team find Lombasa packing up and ready to leave his facility, with Jai favouring a stealth strike instead of an all-out assault due to the superior opposing numbers (with another groan-inducing Sawyer-ism along the way). The trio sneak into the base - and it's a set up. Lombasa was waiting for them and Ratner was the mole all along. Surprising? Well, not really, considering the world of espionage we're working in, but's a good moment to end Act III on as Jai and Ethan get their asses handed them by the guards. Something tells me we've got a Wash/Mal 'War Stories' moment in the offing here!

Act IV brings us Jai and Ethan tied up in Lombasa's custody. Are we going to get some interrogation room bonding between our boys here? The PBH team have just worked out it was a set up so it'll soon be Mia to the rescue, but back in Nigeria it's Jai doing his bit to try and escape. It provokes a good outburst from Ethan where he finally tells Shaw what he honestly thinks of him, before they're led outside to await their fate at Lombasa's hands. Lombasa, hacksaw in hand, makes his choice and swipes - and we black out. A cliffhanger! Another tried and tested Alias device but it does the trick here.

So it's another improvement for DSR, then, with a solidly-written episode that continues to build on these strong characters and relationships. A few elements are still taking their time to work out - the parascience elements feel a little clunky, for one - but old bugbears like Jai's Sawyerisms are becoming far less frequent, and Ethan's actually showing good signs of growth at last. Carson's blackmail sub-plot helps break the episode up, and all in all we're starting a good snowball effect here. Let's hope the next few episodes continue to build on this recent upswing in the show's standard!

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