Good Greif
Episode 7 of Alex Rider begins up on the mountain as emergency services are called by the truck driver after hitting Alex Rider. Kyra meanwhile, remains stuck inside the facility, hiding in the basement and waiting for Alex’s signal. When the guards finally find Alex, they watch from afar as he’s rushed to hospital where Eva follows to make sure he’s dead. As the monitor flat-lines, Eva leaves but it turns out to be a big set-up by Jones and the others to trick her into thinking Alex is dead. Back at headquarters, Smithers briefs Alan Blunt about Parker and how he’s clearly undergone multiple surgeries. Realizing he’s not the real Parker, they contemplate just who the man they have in custody really is. They don’t have to wait long though, as a feed is set up remotely with Alex and Jones to discuss what they’ve learned. Alex reveals that Greif cloned himself and then surgically enhanced all the different copies to maker them look like the kids at the school. These kids were handpicked as children to wealthy families across the world with the plan being infiltrating each of these families, killing the parents and then controlling the global economy through these different companies. This also reinforces the face masks found at Point Blanc. While they try to work out what to do with this information, Alan interviews Parker again and reveals he knows what’s really going on. As Parker speaks up but remains cryptic, it’s just what Smithers needs as he uses the same vocal tech from before to fool Greif into believing Alex and the others have been completely dealt with. Meanwhile, Alex is briefed by Wolf and his squad who work together to infiltrate the building and rescue Kyra and the other kids. As they break in, the soldiers subdue the clones and despite a quiet operation to begin with, things soon escalate into all-out carnage as Greif works to destroy the evidence on his computer. Wolf approaches him in his office though, holding the man up at gunpoint, while down in the basement Eva and Alex fight until a fire breaks out. As flames engulf the lab, it ignites and explodes as it hits liquid nitrogen. Upstairs the clones are brought to their knees while the real prisoners are freed. On the way out, Kyra watches her clone who smiles at her ominously. With Greif captured and Alex returned home, Alan Blunt tells him he’s failed and that Greif’s experiments are over. Only it certainly isn’t the end of what happened to Ian Rider, as Greif reveals he wasn’t part of that operation, going on to mention an ominous shadowy organization overseeing what’s happening. As the episode closes out, back at Point Blanc another Alex Rider walks away from the wreckage of the basement. Unfortunately, Alex now has a clone to contend with. While the various motivations for some of the characters is a bit basic and the clone explanation pretty far-fetched (why not just clones of these kids rather than clones of Greif and plastic surgery?), the good amount of action during this penultimate episode is enough to offset this. It’s certainly not the best action show of the year but it’s good enough to make for an entertaining watch. It definitely hits those young adult vibes too and as a simple enough espionage thriller, Alex Rider certainly makes for a decent watch, even if it’s unlikely to ignite the TV scene any time soon. Published: 04 June 2020 at 2:49 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
