eXploited
"Whenever you're ready, children."
Written by Jim Campolongo
Directed by Craig Siebels
Directed by Craig Siebels
"You think I'm gonna let an entire facility full of prisoners, full of criminals, go free because what? 'Cause you bust in my house, point a gun at me and my wife, and ask politely?"
— Agent Jace Turner
Campbell tries to learn the secret behind Andy and Lauren's gifts while the Underground debates how to rescue their captured friends.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Senator Montez can't remember Esme's (fake) name, even after being corrected.
- Armor-Piercing Question: After being told of the Hound project, Turner's wife asks this to Jace:"Baby, what are you doing in our little girl's name?"
- Age Lift: The Stepford Cuckoos are older than their comic book counterparts, who are in their mid-teens.
- The Bad Guy Wins: He may not have gotten to hold onto them, but Campbell got enough data from Andy and Lauren to move onto the next phase of his plan.
- Big "SHUT UP!": John loses his patience and punches off the corner of a desk when everybody starts arguing during the mission briefing.
- Character Death: Dreamer is killed by Campbell. Esme brainwashes Ed Weeks to kill himself.
- Creepy Twins: Esme has two identical sisters, and they really play up the creep factor after she (and then they) start forcing people to kill themselves and their friends.
- Cycle of Revenge: Marcos discusses this with Lorna, who is adamant on continuing to fight. Marcos however is disillusioned with all the pain war has brought them and thinks that the Struckers might actually have a chance in talking with Agent Turner.
- Expy: Senator Montez is one for Senator Kelly.
- Defiant to the End:
- Clarice doesn't blink twice while Agent Weeks interrogates her.
- Dreamer insists to the Strucker siblings not to cooperate with Campbell right up until he shoots her.
- Despair Event Horizon: Sonya crosses it during her confinement.
- Evil Grin: The Cuckoos have a very disturbing one after murdering all Sentinel Services agents.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Trader chews Reed and Caitlin out for going to Turner and how Esme told everyone they were cutting a deal with them. This confuses the couple as this was Esme's idea. Trader talks of how Esme talked the gang into attacking Trasks and all three realize Esme has been manipulating them all along.
- Flashback: The episode opens with Esme having conned her way into Senator Montez's campaign and trying to tag along on a donor meeting before she is warned telepathically that Sentinel Services has discovered her presence.
- It's Personal: Jace even spells this out to Sonia. He doesn't care for an apology for what she did, he wants her to pay.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: When the Strucker siblings prove resistant to torture, Campbell changes tactics and threatens to kill Dreamer and Blink if they don't comply. Dreamer ends up dead while urging them not to give in, so they acquiesce to save Blink.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Sonia, tragically. Her last lines are "Don't do what he-" before Campbell shoots her fatally.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Esme convinces Reed and Caitlin to go to Agent Turner to convince him to get the prisoners back from Campbell, as prison is the better alternative to being a lab rat. However, it was all a manipulation on her part.
- Manipulative Bastard: Esme has been manipulating the Underground so she could reunite with her identical sisters.
- Moral Myopia: Turner is outraged about the Struckers coming to his home with a weapon, threatening him and his wife, while he did the same thing to them. His excuse is his own legal coverage.
- Mythology Gag: Campbell says Trask Industries obtained its adamantium supply from a defunct facility in British Columbia.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Jace is convinced by his wife to do the right thing and take the captive mutants back from Campbell. Esme uses the opportunity to murder his partner and all his men while springing the prisoners.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Esme reveals she couldn't care less for the Mutant Underground; this whole thing has been about simply rescuing her sisters.
- Pineapple Surprise: One of Esme's kills has her forcing an officer to unpin his grenade, then hop back in his car with his buddy, killing both.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Esme runs wild with this trope. The entire Sentinel Services retinue is forced to kill each other and/or themselves. Jace only manages to survive because he's knocked out, and she still got Weeks to shoot him before that happened.
- Readings Are Off the Scale: When Andy and Lauren combine their powers for Campbell, one of the techs mentions that the readings are reaching the limits of their sensors. Later on, when Campbell is shown a summary of the data, one of the fields reads "Out of Range". Downplayed since most of the data they were looking for came out just fine.
- The Reveal: Esme is actually one third of the Stepford Cuckoos, the other two being the family she wanted rescued from Campbell.
- Wham Shot: Two of the prisoners get off the bus and stand on either side of Esme. They look exactly like her and then all three combine mental powers, revealing they are the Stepford Cuckoos.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Turner's wife sees him as a hero and a good guy, but that doesn't stop her from hitting him with her Armor-Piercing Question when she learns what Trask Industries does to the mutants Jace turns over to them and that Jace knows full well what becomes of them.
- The Worf Effect: Adamantium, as in most continuities, is supposed to be indestructible. To show how powerful Andy and Lauren are as Fenris, they manage to put a sizable dent into a wall made of the stuff.
"Time to go, boys and girls. The fun's just starting."
