2x03 Brother-Sister Act

[7.1/10] I’m conflicted about this episode. I like a lot of the things it’s going for. Giving Sharon more of the spotlight for an episode is a good idea. Contrasting her relationship with Virgil versus the one between Boom and Mirage is a deft move. And I even like the prospect of her figuring out her brother’s secret identity.

The catch is that you have to actually go through with it if you’re going to tug on that thread. As a superhero fan, I am more than on board with extending a story the willing suspension of disbelief necessary to preserve characters’ secret identity. Sure, if you stop and think about it, it’s pretty implausible that Sharon wouldn't immediately recognize that her brother is Static, given that he looks the same, talks the same, and doesn’t have anything but a domino mask to shield his identity, but whatever, that’s tons of superhero stories.

You just can’t point it out. Instead, treat it as a given that it’s enough to shield who Virgil really is and you can expect the audience to follow suit. The problem comes when you have Sharon realizing that Static and Virgil use the same slang (“so Y2K” -- hah!), travel around the same neighborhood, and even talk to Ritchie, only to not then bring her into the know. Granted, I actually like using Mirage’s powers to give Virgil plausible deniability, but going from Sharon being this close to confirming that her brother is a superhero, only to back off after she uncovers a mountain of evidence, is pretty unsatisfying and unbelievable.

I also felt pretty bored by Boom and Mirage at the end of the day. There’s a lot of meat to a brother/sister crime duo, where the older sibling is gung ho about stealing while the younger one is reluctant. There’s also a lot of worthwhile territory to explore in the tale of two kids from the suburbs who lose their parents, move in with their grandmother in a worse neighborhood, and want to use their powers to help her financially. The problem is that the episode either just grazes these interesting ideas or does them in an over-the-top way, which leaves the execution lacking.

Still, both stories deal with the complicated intersection of your feelings for your siblings and your challenges/responsibilities as a metahuman. I may not like where either lands, but it's worthy subject matter, and that helps buoy this episode overall.