Frank backsteps to save the life of a scientist who has discovered the cure for cancer, but in the original timeline, she was killed by a chrononaut with his own mission.
For the first time since the beginning of season one, Seven Days shows just what it can do when it tries. In the beginning, it seems simple enough: make friends with the scientist, Christa Henderson, and stay close to prevent her shooting. However, once we find out that the man hunting her is a chrononaut from 2168 who has travelled back in time in a last-ditch attempt to save humanity in the future, it puts a whole different spin on things.
It seems at the start that what we’ll be watching is a fairly uninteresting story about Frank working the old Parker charm on a woman and protecting her, but it becomes a fascinating ‘what if?’ tale that really makes you think. If you knew of a future in which much of the population died, would you kill the woman who had brought death on the world? It’s good to see issues like this not being taken lightly, with twists thrown in on a regular basis as Henderson finds it impossible to believe what she is told or trust those telling her.
There’s a lot of thought put into the script as many of the Backstep team think what they would do and decide what their actions should be. Right up to the end, it’s not clear what will happen: can Henderson be convinced to try again, or will she have to die to save billions more? Likewise, Frank is confronted by a man who holds him in high regard, and is just as determined to finish his mission as Frank has ever been. With, as Olga rightly points out, no actual friends or enemies involved in this one, how do you decide what’s right? Her discussions with Parker also lead to a new closeness between them that will hopefully continue to build as time goes on (assuming it does).
Proof that not every has to be about action, this is one of the most thoughtful Seven Days episodes, carefully put together, and one of the best. Let’s hope season three can provide more like this.
*****
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