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In “Ignition,” Amalia continues to try and recruit those who can fight and be assets rather than take space – as Inspector Mundi’s secret gets revealed.
| Episode Title | Ignition |
| Director(s) | David Semel |
| Writer(s) | Kevin Lau |
| Aired (HBO) | 4/25/2021 |
| Newly Noted Characters | |
| Annie | Rochelle Neil |
| Odium | Martyn Ford |
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Recap
Preparing For Better Days – Amalia, Annie, Penance, Lord Massen, Hugo, Augie, Dr. Horatio, Maladie
With it being the turn of the century, telephone lines are infiltrating homes, including Lord Massen’s castle. This leads to quite a curious discovery that implies that Lillie Massen, the assumed daughter or possible granddaughter of Lord Massen, she might not be dead. Rather, because of her being Touched, she might be imprisoned with an uncontrollable gift.
But while Lord Massen deals with more changes than he could ever want, Amalia is trying to recruit Annie, Maladie’s fire caster. This comes about as Annie messes with the Beggar King, possibly for a new employer, and Penance is the only thing that keeps everyone from being lit up. Thus, Amalia does get to have some conversation with Annie, but it doesn’t go anywhere, and with one head turn, she is gone, and we watch Penance high on the opioids Annie destroyed, and Amalia taking a sniff just because the opportunity presented itself.
That doesn’t sit well with Dr. Horatio, but that’s mainly because he isn’t just the go-to doctor but feels a bit protective, like a big brother, over many of those in Amalia’s care. But don’t get it twisted, he is an equal opportunity doctor. He patches up the Beggar King’s people, and Maladie even gets him to handle her bullet wound.
And as all this happens, Hugo is auditioning, i.e., having sex with all the Touched he can find and seeing if they would make good additions to his and Augie’s business venture. One that Augie is increasingly uncomfortable being part of.
The Dangers Of Someone Knowing Too Much – Inspector Mundi, Hugo, Mary, Amalia, Dr. Horatio, Livinia, Odium, Beggar King
Which Augie should feel uncomfortable with, since Hugo is using dubious means to get both the men and women he is auditioning. For example, using the fact Inspector Mundi is either bisexual or gay, he made sure he could raid Amalia’s Orphanage for information. And yeah, the reason Hugo knows Inspector Mundi is queer is that they had sex multiple times. Now, as for who was the top and who was the bottom? Well, neither go into such details. All we know is Inspector Mundi is quite ashamed of this, and we later learn Mary is aware of his sexual orientation – likely leading to why she left him at the altar.
Inspector Mundi’s blues aside, he isn’t the only one with a secret. We learn Amalia and Dr. Horatio had an affair, potentially when Maladie wasn’t committed, for she slightly remembers him. But with Dr. Horatio married and still in love with his wife, he’d rather Amalia stay mum about their past relationship.
After all, people knowing your business gives them something to use against you. Case in point, Amalia discovers Livinia’s little side excursion and brings the information to her. Now, while word of Amalia’s discovery couldn’t possibly get to the Beggar King quickly, unless Livinia and him have telephones, either way, he does have a bone to pick with her.
Why? Well, with her being seen with Annie and the Beggar King’s opium up in smoke, it is assumed she was part of it. Thus, Odium, one of the Beggar King’s enforces, who is Touched, goes after her and tries to drown her. However, with his gift being that he can’t be submerged in water and him trying to use a chain to play whack a mole with Amalia’s head, she uses said chain to choke him to death. Thus, Amalia shows why she is trying to recruit people with Mary’s voice; because she can’t be the only fighter on the streets.
Progress Always Has A Sacrifice – Mary, Amalia, Lucy, Penance, Inspector Mundi
This could press you to question why Lucy isn’t called upon more, but, if you remember, Lucy is protecting the Orphanage, so she can’t really go out much. Plus, as shown by interrogating Livinia’s secret worker, she has demons she’s dealing with that make the prospect of going out into the world difficult at times.
Long story short, Lucy accidentally killed her son with her powers, and since then, she has been racked with guilt. Yet, said guilt does make her a fierce maternal figure to the girls, which they are all thankful for; Amalia, especially since it means less for her to worry about.
However, Lucy isn’t invincible, as shown when Mary finally sings her song with Penance’s newly invented amplifier, and she is murdered in cold blood. Thankfully though, Inspector Mundi, invited to the event, kills the murderer, and Mary served her purpose of bringing Touched to the Orphanage. But with killing the murderer, we have no means of learning who ordered the hit? Was it Maladie, out of jealousy; Livina, out of fear of the Touched uniting, if not Lord Massen for the same; or maybe it was The Beggar King, after learning his enforcer was killed?
Stick around for future episodes to find out.
Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
Waiting’s only painful when you’re not doing anything else.
— Amalia
We build homes to keep other people out and then build machines to let them all in.
— Lord Massen
Review
Highlights
The Odium Fight
Between watching what was filmed and the behind the scenes on how they did it, Odium vs. Amalia is one for the books. Also, despite the David vs. Goliath feel, it didn’t feel like a fight that cheapened Odium’s strength to uplift Amalia. More so, it showed brute strength vs. agility and strategy and pushed you to realize, even without foresight, Amalia can handle herself quite well.
Now, as for what led to her being this agile and seemingly a trained fighter? That has yet to be revealed. However, there is no denying that she whoops ass, takes names, and that might be what attracted Dr. Horatio to her at one time.
Inspector Mundi’s Secret
It isn’t clear what Inspector Mundi’s specific orientation is, but you do have to appreciate a masculine-presenting man being gay or bi-sexual. It presents a bit of diversity in the LGBTQIA+ spectrum that isn’t seen too often. Particularly with main characters in shows that aren’t necessarily LGBTQIA+ focused.
On The Fence
Dr. Horatio’s Affair
While we get his attraction to Amalia, it sucks that the leading Black character on the show cheated on his wife. Especially since he is presented as so nice, dependable, and while an equal opportunity doctor, it seems the affair was solely meant to taint his image, more than creating a sense of there being layers to Dr. Horatio.
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