Manhunt In The Woods
Episode 3 of Alex Rider begins with Alex heading back to school but remaining distant with Tom, especially given his upcoming assignment for the Forces. Back home, he tells Mrs Jones that she needs to give Tom’s phone back before they go but he remains untrusting toward the organisation. As the cover story is put into action, Jack and Mrs Jones work together to test Alex’s credentials and after quizzing him on his story, he’s given a makeover. Back at school he’s invited to a film night with the girls and Tom but as Alex leaves, a text comes in regarding the mission and he’s forced to lie to Tom and bail, beginning to fracture their friendship. Alex arrives at the Friend Estate after further briefings surrounding some of the students at Point Blanc. David and Caroline are none too happy with the arrangement of Alex staying with them though, calling it irresponsible but agreeing to do this one last time. Alex soon settles into the role of living with his new fake-parents but when their daughter Fiona returns home early, it puts a spanner in the works. At the same time, Tom goes on a mission to try and find his friend, eventually leading up to the estate posed as a pizza delivery man and forcing Alex to admit the truth about what he’s doing. With the duo finally on the same page, Tom takes his leave. Later that evening Fiona invites her friends over, including Rafe, who subsequently encourage Alex to join them in the morning for a “walk around the estate”. Alex suspects something afoul though but turns up nonetheless. Not long after, he’s shot at prompting him to rush through the forest as Rafe and the others stalk him. Gathering his bearings, Alex learns what they’re doing and conceals himself in the bushes until they walk past. He springs the element of surprise on them, hitting Rafe in the nose and throwing his shotgun in the bushes before walking away. Meanwhile, Alan and the others contemplate whether Martin Willby is telling the truth or not. That evening, they tell him to go home as Martin frantically discusses the fake Korean shooter. Eva Stellenbosch arrives at the estate and interviews Alex while Mrs Jones and the others watch from afar, praying that he makes it in. After a tense few minutes, Alex passes the test and as the episode closes out, Alex is flown to the remote Point Blanc in France as Dr Greif watches him arrive. Out of all the episodes so far, episode 3 feels like the weakest with little plot progression other than the final few minutes as Alex passes the test and is sent to France. The scenes with Tom are a nice touch but the whole subplot of them falling out and making up feels like it loses some of that dramatic weight that this could have had if it was dragged out across the series. The cliffhanger ending is good though and after an episode of not-very-much, hopefully Alex Rider is gearing up for a much more exciting second half to its season. Published: 04 June 2020 at 11:47 am on TheReviewGeek.com
