Frenemies Chapter 10: The Killer – Director: Andi Armaganian/Writers: James Dale Robinson, Taylor Streitz
This one starts with a focus on the Crocks, who seem to be assimilating pretty well to life in Blue Valley (and we see Paula has finally learned how to bake a chocolate cake). While out for a jog, Crusher and Paula decide they need to do something about the Mahkents.
Out in the woods, Mike and Jakeem have fled from the farm where they ran
into Ultra-Humanite. They wish for phone service and get a phone booth, but don’t have a dime for the call, so they keep on running, wondering what happened to Cindy. At home, everyone’s worried because Mike and Jakeem are missing. Courtney wonders if the Mahkents are involved, but Sylvester points out how convenient it is that Beth tracked the camera signal to the Mahkent home. He figures 
someone is manipulating them. At the hospital, Lily Mahkent is worried that the JSA are plotting against them and blames the JSA for Sofus’s heart attack, as well as Jordan’s death. She urges Cameron to find Courtney and do whatever he has to. Beth’s mom is looking after Rick and notices how elevated his vitals are. Beth blames the hourglass and wants Rick to take it off, but he refuses … rather strongly.
Pat and Sylvester drop by the Mahkent house to see if they have anything to do with Mike’s disappearance. Things get tense, but they realize the
Mahkents don’t know where Mike is. Sofus tells them how his family came to America to escape persecution in Europe and Pat suggests they just put an end to their bad blood, but Sofus says that’s probably not possible. Meanwhile, Lily goes to see Barbara and threatens her, but Paula shows up with a crossbow to warn Lily off. In the woods, Mike and Jakeem run into a trap set by Cindy (which kinda reminds me of the Ewok trap in Return of the Jedi). Cindy (who doesn’t seem to have mutated any more) was hoping to catch Ultra-Humanite so 
she could clear her name. It might be my imagination, but I kinda think Jakeem has a crush on Cindy. Anyway, she disappears after freeing them, so Mike and Jakeem wish themselves back to town. Paula takes Barbara out to teach her to shoot a crossbow, in spite of Barbara’s dislike of violence. Courtney meets with Cameron to tell him what a scumbag his dad was, but Cameron just wants to know who killed his father. In order to protect Mike, Courtney tells him she did it. Naturally, he’s pissed off and says he never wants to see her again.
The Crocks drop by the Mahkent house to urge them to give up their vendetta and go straight, like the Crocks have done. Sofus is willing and
asks Lily if she can forget her hatred and find some forgiveness in her heart. She’s resistant to the idea, but it seems like they may have gotten through to her. Mike and Jakeem go to the garage and tell Pat and Sylvester what they saw at the farm. They immediately realize it’s Ultra-Humanite and that they might all be in deep 
shit. They call a meeting at home and everyone except Rick shows up. Pat and Sylvester give them the lowdown on Ultra-Humanite, including how he keeps switching his brain into various bodies. They figure Ultra-Humanite is the one who’s been watching them and the one who killed the Gambler, but aren’t sure what he wants or how to stop him. Courtney says everyone needs to band together to stop Ultra-Humanite, including the Mahkents. That night, Crusher and Paula get news from Artemis that she’s gotten a football scholarship to the University of
Nebraska. They find a trail of flyers from Crusher’s gym and follow it into the tunnels below main street, where they’re surprised by the hooded figure we’ve seen watching everyone on the now-defunct cameras. The spy turns out to be Jordan (Icicle) Mahkent and he kills Crusher and Paula rather perfunctorily and blasting their bodies into mist.
This is a really good episode that gives us another big villain to go along with Ultra-Humanite, who was revealed last episode. It looks like Jordan is 
the one who’s been watching everyone, so does that mean he’s the one who killed Gambler? It seemed like Gambler had detected the camera outside his trailer, so Jordan could’ve killed him to cover his tracks, but we heard a weird growl right before Gambler died, so maybe Ultra-Humanite killed him. But Icicle and Ultra-Humanite could be working together, which means the Mahkents probably won’t help fight them … unless Cameron decides to do the right thing and join the JSA against the villains. Courtney taking the rap for Icicle’s death to protect Mike was cool, although I suppose it doesn’t really matter since
Jordan is still alive. The scenes with the Crocks were nice (although I knew they were going to die as soon as they got that call from Artemis), and their death scene was quite touching. Since their bodies seem to have disintegrated, I wonder how anyone will find out what happened. It was cool to see they kept so much of Ultra-Humanite’s history from the comics, including his brain being in the body of Oscar-winning actress Dolores Winters.
Favourite Quotes:
- “Why would I need to walk around with a dime?” Jakeem speaking for a generation who grew up without pay phones.
- “Huh, you might need a bigger trap.” Thunderbolt pointing out that Cindy’s net is a bit small to hold Ultra-Humanite.
- “Oh, just like Batman.” Thunderbolt’s comment after Cindy vanishes quickly and quietly.