Sunday, October 7, 2012

XIII - Revelation


The First Season finale opens with Rainer Garehart (Tom Berenger) in control of the weapon and using it to create national chaos to further his own ends, as does Wally Sheridan (Ted Atherton) who uses the attacks on government facilities, airports, strategic oil reserves, and the CIA to strengthen his run for the Presidency. Despite being ordered by President Carrington (Stephen McHattie) to let the matter rest, XIII (Stuart Townsend) contacts Agent Jones (Aisha Tyler) and begins his own search for Garehart, but first he'll have to deal with the hit squad Amos (Greg Bryk) has sent to take him out of the game permanently.

After coming to an understanding with Amos, by showing up in home of the Director of National Intelligence and threatening his family, XIII and Jones reconnect with Dylan (Aaron Ashmore) and use the slowly returning fractured memories of XIII and the malware Dylan installed on the laptop to search for Garehart. When Irina (Virginie Ledoyen) kidnaps Dylan and tries to take him out of play it slows the search down as XIII has to use Sheridan to find their missing computer hacker.


National chaos, and a double-cross by Garehart, turns enemies into unlikely allies as Carrington and Sheridan agree to work together to stop Garehart's attacks on U.S. soil. Meanwhile, XIII and Jones track Gareheart to Paris where he uses the pause in the energy summit to negotiate potential billions in future alternative energy projects for his company. As the show's First Season comes to a close XIII is able to stop both Garehart and Irina and retrieve the weapon. However, his memories don't come back soon enough to allow him to understand Carrington's true role or prevent a final, and potentially deadly, double cross.

For most of the first season the show does a fairly good job of capturing the byzantine nature of the Franco-Belgian comics series written and drawn by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance by providing possible answers and motives that later turn out to be only partially true. With the quest for the weapon finished and Garehart dead it will be interesting to see what new angle the show returns with in its Second Season. Will XIII seek revenge on the President of the United States or continue to delve into the murky history of his own past? And, just as important, what will happen to XIII and Jones following her betrayal?

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