Santiago is late for church. On crossing a busy street he narrowly avoids being run over by a scooter. But the inertia of this near miss pushes him into the path of an oncoming van. Time slows to a crawl, and suspended two feet above the ground, Santiago is able to visualize a possible escape route. Time speeds up again, and at super speed he manages to pursue the path to safety.
During church, Santiago is distracted. After the sermon, he tells his mother (Iris) about his near miss. She deems it a miracle, and says God must have saved him for a reason.
Santiago sees a beautiful girl across the street and uses his powers to navigate a route to her, before arriving at super speed. The girl (Elisa) opens up to him, and confides in him that she's been praying for an answer to her problems. Santiago tells her to stick around. He has a feeling that her prayers are about to be answered.
Minutes later Elisa is seen standing beside a mysterious blonde lady, who instructs her to get close to Santiago. Elisa promptly dissolves into a puddle of water.
Thoughts
Is no one ever what they seem to be on this show? I was just falling for Elisa's sob story too. Seconds later, she's conspiring with a mysterious blonde lady (who we all recognized as Andrea Thompson from Babylon 5, right?). So who is MBL working for? It's tempting to think The Company. The "one of us, one of them" pattern holds true. But no black suit! So the jury's out at the moment.
Santiago's power is a combination of accelerated probability and super speed. A nifty pairing. Without the super speed element, accelerated probability alone may not have been enough to save him from the oncoming van. Lucky break.
Quite right too that he should use his powers to save himself from an untimely death. But can no one see him stop? I can buy that he's too fast to be seen in transit. But people must be able to see him popping out of nowhere surely? Particularly when he approached Elisa. That was a pretty crowded area where he came to a halt.
Oh, and using your powers to save wine is cool too. No more needs to be said on that subject.
Elisa's power is water mimicry. I was wracking my brain, trying to remember whether we've had anyone else on the show with a similar ability. All I could come up with was the Liquid Man (well, what else would he be called?). He's mentioned by Ivan Spektor in the episode "The Line" (2:6). Apparently he was captured by The Company in a train yard.
And what did Elisa mean by "He's ready"? Ready for what? He's only had his powers less than a few hours. In fact, how did MBL identify him so quickly anyway? Did she see Santiago escape death before church? A lucky coincidence, if that's it. Or maybe he's a known synthetic, and they've simply been watching and waiting for his powers to become manifest.
I'm happier with the slightly longer format (five minutes instead of three). It's still not perfect, but at least it gives us more time to get to know the characters.
Quotes
Santiago: “There are many who suffer while others feast. Father Juan said that in his sermon today. We have to help each other.”
Iris: “Open your eyes, Santiago. There is a world of opportunity in front of you. Can't you see it?”
Santiago: “Actually, I can. I really can.”
MBL: “Well?”
Elisa: “He's ready.”
MBL: “Good, get close to him. Just be careful. Understood?”
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