Torture
Episode 2 of Alex Rider begins with Alex arriving at the Special Forces headquarters where he learns more about what his Uncle was doing. He was getting close to the Russians in a bid to learn what their moves are on the global stage. In order to get intel on Point Blanc and what goes on there, the Forces need to send a troubled teenager to infiltrate the school; that teenager being Alex Rider. Back home, Alex deflects Jack’s questioning and heads to school. Once there, it turns out everyone knows what happened with his Uncle and his love interest Ayisha offers her condolences for his loss. Midway through class, Alex is called out by the Principal where he finds a man named Geoffrey Daniels waiting for him, posing as a “grief counselor”. Sighing, Alex agrees to talk to him but it turns out he’s actually working on Alex’s side and reveals the truth about what happened that night with Ian – and how Alan Blunt let it happen. Alex hears the man out, despite his reluctance to trust him, as Daniels reveals he wants to shut Alan’s department down. Before he goes, Geoffrey tells him to be careful and to watch his back. While Alan Blunt visits David and invites him out for a drink, Alex heads home but on the way is hit by a van and bundled inside. When he wakes up, Alex’s dragged to an interrogation room and questioned by a man named Wolf. He has one question for the bloodied boy – who was Ian working for? Unfortunately things go badly for Alex when he doesn’t give the right answers, prompting the group to begin torturing him with loud heavy metal. He remains un-phased though, singing to blare out the guttural roars. Wolf and the group continue to torture Alex, changing tactics from music to water which pounds on him from above. The group turn on Wolf though, telling him it’s not their job to torture kids but as they turn their attention away from the monitors for a second, it’s just the opening Alex needs and as we cut back and see he stole a paper clip earlier in the episode, he uncuffs himself and slips away. On the road outside he’s stopped by Daniels in his car who also happens to be working with Wolf and the others. Alex scoffs in disgust, asking them all if he’s passed the test until Mrs Jones arrives and tells them all to stand down. Taking Alex away in her car, they ride away while back at the office, Jones confronts Alan Blunt given she was supposed to be his handler. In the wake of this, Wolf confronts Mrs Jones and asks her about Point Blanc. She has no answers though while back in the office, Daniels briefs Alan Blunt over a new holographic technology that was used within the elevator shaft to make it appear like the lift was there when it wasn’t. This leads them to the assumption that the Russians are involved, given it’s their sort of advanced technology. Meanwhile, Yassen visits Martin who confirms the North Korean story has worked and the organisation have been fooled for now. In the morning, Alex agrees to help Alan but only because he wants to find those who killed his Uncle. His new cover story has him adopt the alias of “Alex Friend” for when he arrives at the Academy and he’ll be living with David and Caroline at their estate to help sell the believability of this. As we cut across to Point Blanc in France, a man named Dr Greif smiles “This one will be just perfect,” He says as the Alex Rider file sits on the table. While the story itself continues to unravel and deliver more depth to the espionage thriller tale, it’s hard not to be disappointed with the lighting of some scenes. During the operation at night when Alex is running away from the compound it’s difficult to discern exactly what’s going on and scenes being bathed in unnecessary amount of shadow is a constant problem throughout the series so far. Despite that though, the torture sequences are a great way of showing how resilient and strong Alex is and seeing him endure everything Wolf and the gang throw at him really helps build his character up nicely. With a cliffhanger ending and lots of scope going forward, Alex Rider is certainly building some strong foundations for its first season. Published: 04 June 2020 at 11:37 am on TheReviewGeek.com
