Motherland
Episode 8 of In From The Cold begins in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We’re in the past, with Becca on the verge of turning 18. Jenny and her husband are about to get divorced but he’s concerned over how Becca is going to take this.
What does Svetlana want with Becca?
In the present, Jenny pleads with Svetlana to leave Becca alone. However, Svetlana has other plans. She’s going to use Becca to fulfill her destiny, taking over from Jenny given she failed her birthright. As Svetlana walks away, Jenny crawls across the ice-rink and grabs the phone, telling Chauncey he needs to get to the Madrid arena to save Becca. Chauncey convinces Ohana to let him talking to Diego and Ines. In doing so, he learns Gideon is a woman. This, alongside Jenny’s pleas, gives him a decent amount to go on to try and stop Gideon before it’s too late.
Does Chauncey save Jenny?
Well, Chauncey instead heads to the rink where he finds Jenny bleeding out. Apparently her powers are only as strong as she is (and we’ve seen how terribly weak she is across the whole season!) Anyway, Chauncey helps staple her wounds back up, which is enough to get “The Whisper” back on her feet to fight back against Gideon. That’s probably just as well, given Becca is currently being brainwashed by Svetlana. Alone in her dressing room, she’s given headphones to listen to that strange humming, alongside a glossy look in her eyes.
What is Svetlana’s plan?
As Chauncey and Jenny drive together, we learn that Svetlana’s planned attack on the prime minister was actually just a distraction for the main event. Her real target appears to be the senator. With law enforcement thin on the ground, it gives Svetlana the perfect opportunity to use him for her dastardly means. But what is he being used for? Well, we find out later on in the episode that Svetlana intends to brainwash the senator into being her puppet. She wants to get him promoted up to become the President of the United States. Then, she’s going to start World War III, bombing a Russian city like St Petersburg to make Russia the good guys this time.
What happens at the arena? Is Svetlana stopped?
At the Madrid arena, everything kicks off. A sniper nearby stands ready to take out Jenny. Only, she uses her powers to morph into different people in quick succession to evade the threat. Becca is used to try and take out the senator but in order to stop her, Jenny shoots her gun near her daughter’s ear in order to break the brainwash. I’d be surprised if she’s not deaf but then Jenny did use a defibrillator on her head last episode so I guess anything goes. Back in the present, Jenny tracks down Svetlana up on the rooftop. She admits she’s been in Siberia after being arrested in Russia for her crimes. It’s here she divulges her diabolical plans (detailed above) but Jenny has heard enough. She shoots her mentor and that’s the end of the brainwashing queen’s rule.
One Month Later
We then jump forward one month later. Jenny and Becca are back in New Jersey. The latter’s ear is absolutely fine now and Jenny apologizes to her daughter for not being honest about the divorce. Jenny also promises no more secrets between them either. While Becca heads off with her father, Chauncey and Jenny hang out. It’s revealed that the pair are now a couple, with Chris deciding to get a quiet IT job. Chauncey has also been reinstated to the CIA as well but for Jenny, she still doesn’t have her freedom.
How does In From The Cold Season 1 end?
That night, Jenny heads into the garage and begins smashing up the concrete. Underneath, she unveils a box with a phone. Speaking Russian after downing some vodka, she contacts someone and smirks. “Agent Anya Petrova, everything is fine. It worked.”
The Episode Review
So In From The Cold bows out with a final episode that leaves us more questions than answers. The most notable of which revolving around that phone call and just what’s going on. It seems Jenny/Anya is actually undercover but why? And to what end? The whole Svetlana plan is ludicrous to the point of hilarity. Her master-plan to get revenge includes her bombing her home country after hoping a senator becomes President, making Russia the good guys in a World War. Excluding the Cold War stuff, Russia fought with the Allied Forces against Hitler so solely on World War history, it makes Svetlana look like a deranged lunatic that skipped out on History class. There have been a lot of inconsistencies with this show but perhaps more so than that is the level of contrivance surrounding Jenny’s powers. We learn she’s only as strong as her powers allow her to be but yet across the whole season she’s had a frustrating lack of control over using them. We could have had some awesome scenes with more than one shapeshifting assassin, with the pair transforming into different people and forced to use their espionage skills. We could have had had a more fleshed out segment with the sniper here too, with Jenny transforming but struggling to hold her form while evading fire. Or even still, we could have had a big fight between Svetlana and Jenny on the rooftop. Instead, we get none of that and everything is just rounded out without much aplomb. This has been a pretty disappointing show and the editing has been really poor. The jump forward one month, right off the back of a flashback, was handled badly, and the bait for season 2 is every bit as annoying because it essentially undermines Jenny’s character arc and negates her promise to Becca to be more truthful. However, those who have stuck with this one may find enough to like here and if this does well, I’m sure Netflix will green-light a sequel. For now though, this rather underwhelming series bows out with a pretty average final chapter.
