The Equalizer: Season 2/ Episode 18 “Exposed” [Finale] – Recap/ Review

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Robyn flies too close to the sun, as Delilah shows she is her mother’s daughter by helping Vera deal with a nude photo scandal.

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Aired (CBS)	5/15/2022
Directed By	Eric Laneuville
Written By	Terri Edda Miller, Andrew W. Marlowe, Joseph C. Wilson
Introduced This Episode
Luka	Moti Margolin
Omar	Gabriel Slyer

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Recap

Too Many Secrets – Delilah, Robyn, Harry, Mel, Carter, Omar

Delilah is stressing out. Robyn isn’t coming back home until morning, and despite her being a child, she seems to think she should be more aware of what her mother is doing. But, if it is any consolation, Robyn isn’t upfront with her team either. Both Harry and Mel are in the dark about Robyn working with Carter to hunt down a man named Omar in order to get information on what Mason Quinn plans to do next.

Life For A Shortie Shouldn’t Be So Tough – Vera, Mel, Harry, Delilah, Robyn, Dante, Luka

Vera, Delilah’s best friend, has a nude picture of her leaked the day she is supposed to make a speech to become class president. Embarrassed and frightened due to her picture being imposed on other women’s bodies in porn, she spirals. What doesn’t help is the school can’t do anything, and Dante can’t without alerting Vera’s parents. That’s not an option since Vera’s parents are religious, so learning about this would be catastrophic.

So, Delilah asks her mom to help, and with that, she meets Mel and Harry; and Harry makes it his personal mission to help Vera and uses the same tech he used to disappear to wipe her off the face of the internet. It’s a little hard to do because a man named Luka, a former FSB agent has created tech which rivals Harry’s. However, he finds an exploit that wipes Vera’s identity.

This doesn’t fix the trauma, though. Vera is at the point of committing suicide, so Delilah seeks out Mel and Harry to track her phone and thankfully, Delilah talks Vera from jumping off a skyscraper, and the next day, Vera’s ex, who leaked the picture, gets arrested.

Never Trust The CIA – Carter, Delilah, Aunt Vi, Robyn

There comes a point where Robyn’s work with Carter requires him to reveal she is a source. She doesn’t like being revealed, but it would be better to have her on board than Carter running with the ball for a task force meant to take Mason Quinn down. So, Robyn takes the task, and no sooner than she is finally ready to reveal Mason Quinn’s plans to set off a dirty bomb in Manhattan, her car is hit, she is kidnapped, and Aunt Vi is left consoling Delilah who is further traumatized.

Things To Note

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Considering Harry was never supposed to touch a computer again, should him working for the CIA be considered an exception? Also, I thought he didn’t want to work for the government in any capacity?

What Could Happen Next

1. Delilah steps up and trains to the point of potentially becoming her mom’s next protege

Collected Quote(s)

Maybe the pain that you think is driving you is actually blinding you.
— Harry

Review

Highlights

Vera’s Storyline

The best part of Vera’s storyline is a reminder that revenge porn is still a major crime, and it isn’t just something that happens to celebrities and potentially makes them (in)famous. It happens to everyday people too, and it isn’t something that you can monetize and use as a launchpad. For girls like Vera, who are maybe 16, it is the end of the world.

Think of it this way, Vera is uncomfortable with public speaking, so imagine how she feels about everyone she knows seeing her nude body, then it being on the internet, then a guy like Luka having it go out to every porn site he can push it onto. Yes, Harry got it taken off of the internet, but like, I believe, Dante said, that doesn’t erase people who have already downloaded it. It took a day or more for Harry to scrub her off the internet.

Yes, the girls of Delilah and Vera’s school present camaraderie in the end, but let’s not pretend they didn’t print, likely, multiple copies of Vera’s nude and the boys? Oh, who knows if they may or may not still be circulating the photo, even if Vera’s ex got arrested.

And in there lies the problem: You are a perpetual victim. Like most sex crimes, the victim might be able to get some form of justice against the person who betrayed them, but they can’t undo the damage. There is no Men In Black mind wipe. Instead, the victim has to re-introduce themselves repeatedly and face a stigma. Especially if, for larger cases, there was any media attention.

This leads to one last thing, being thankful that Delilah, or anyone else, didn’t try to put any positive spin on what happened. There wasn’t a comic relief joke about the quality of the picture, trying to make Vera feel better by commenting on her body, or anything you could imagine from a well-intentioned but still inappropriate YA show that would air on Netflix, for example. The Equalizer stuck to the reality of the situation, from Vera’s helplessness to the recognition that what’s done is done, and there isn’t necessarily any getting back to normal. Rather, you have to live with what was done and become resilient despite someone trying to take your autonomy and power.

Robyn Got Snatched

Let’s be real, Robyn is not in immediate danger. The Equalizer was just renewed for two more seasons, and it’s doubtful CBS would do that if Queen Latifah planned to pass the baton. So the only question is, how many episodes of season 3 will be dedicated to her being captured, potentially tortured, and then rescued?

But, setting aside the reality of this being a TV show, I gotta admit, the fact this is the first time Robyn got taken is surprising, and I’m a little surprised Delilah and/or Aunt Vi weren’t taken as well. Clearly, the idea here is that Robyn will not be able to separate her personal life and professional life for too much longer. Delilah wants to know too much, and Robyn is getting involved with people who can hack Harry’s server and find her if they want to.

With that, it means slowly but surely, things are escalating, and I appreciate it not happening all at once. I do wonder though, if Mason Quinn is taken down in early season 3, what or who could he be replaced with? I ask mainly due to it being nice for this show to have a villain.

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