Grayson struggles with his parent’s betrayal, Roman and Emery work through their feelings and Lukas fights for his life in this week’s episode of Star-Crossed.
The episode opens in Emery’s house, where Grayson is staying after the whole fiasco of his mom being a terrorist and all. He’s grateful towards Emery and her parents, but he’s decided he needs to go see his mother and talk to her about her and his father’s Red Hawk actions. He spends most of the episode angsting over them, in fact.
Calm Before the Storm
Julia and Emery talk about the whole Grayson versus Roman thing, and Emery says she feels like she has to be there for him the way he’s been there for her in the past, but Julia tells her not to stay with him out of guilt. Good advice.
Then the two of them and Grayson and Eric chat a bit, and Julia’s old clunker of a car Bruce is brought up. Emery jokes that she should just get rid of it, and Grayson comments that she should keep it, since loyalty is so important. Subtle, much?
Just then, Ms. Benton, the teacher who slept with Bandell in the previous episode of Star-Crossed, shows up. She talks with them briefly before snagging two of the mugs the girls were using and making off with them. Because that’s not creepy and weird at all!
Bad Luck, Lukas
Later, Lukas and Sophia are chatting, and we learn that Atrians don’t choose who they love based on gender. So that whole Sophia-liking-Taylor thing? Might not work out so well for her unless the blonde girl adopts a similar orientation.
But the real point of Lukas’ character this week is to be the innocent victim in the Trag’s plans to go after the humans. After their conversation, Lukas goes outside and goes to help Taylor with putting her bags into her car. Zoe is menacingly watching from a distance, and we soon learn why.
There’s a bit of black cyper in the car door, and when Lukas breathes in the spores from it, he collapses. An ambulance shows up and gets him to the hospital, but some serious damage may already have been done.
Drake and Roman talk about the presence of the black cyper just after the attack until Emery pulls Roman away. She says if he knows something he needs to tell her, but he’s still reluctant to tell her all he knows. She’s a big girl, Roman, I think she can handle it!
Roman and Drake realize Lukas wasn’t truly a target, and that there’s probably more black cyper out there, waiting to be used in a similar fashion. The hunt is on.
Castor’s Guidance
In the hospital, Lukas isn’t responding to treatment, and his lungs are getting worse. So Roman and Drake go to Castor for help, and he tells them it’s not the leaves of black cyper that do the damage, but the spores. Turns out, they can fatally damage human lungs, so Lukas is in serious trouble.
Not to worry, though, because Uncle Castor has a plan! He gives the boys a bomb to detonate in the middle of the hidden black cyper plant they have to hunt down, and says that if they find it, Vega’s plan will be averted. Am I the only one that thinks she probably has a Plan B?
Banding Together
Emery finds out from a nurse in the hospital that another person was brought in with symptoms like Lukas’ just days before, after being found in a nearby state park. That particular individual didn’t make it, which doesn’t bode well for her best friend.
So Emery goes to Drake and Roman to tell them the news, and at first Drake is shocked that she knows about cyper at all, but she reassures him that the secret is safe with her. They have to work together, because they have only hours to find the black cyper plant before everyone in town is affected by the spores.
Roman says that in order to cure Lukas, the leaf from the black cyper, which his uncle claimed would heal the boy, has to be cut that same day. So not only do they need to find and destroy the plant, they need to get a leaf from it beforehand in order to save Lukas. But no pressure or anything.
Drake’s Mission
Drake and Taylor talk, and she’s freaking out a little bit about her brush with death. She’s also pissed at him because she thinks there’s something going on with him and Zoe, but he quickly reassures her that that’s not true. When she reveals that she’s been trying to call her friend all day with no answer, he agrees to go to Zoe’s house and look for her. But really, he’ll be there looking for evidence of the location of the black cyper plant.
When he goes to the address, no one answers the door, so he breaks in. There are beds all over, but no one is there, so he starts snooping around. Unfortunately, he steps in front of some sort of laser, which sets off a booby trap that shoots some sort of arrows at him, and one hits him in the back. Ouch.
Drake pulls himself backwards so the arrow stays in the wall, since it went clear through him (and again I say, ouch!), then he turns and starts looking through one of the computers in the room. He figures out that the cyper is probably in an old boathouse by a lake, so he calls Emery to give her this update.
Roman and Emery’s Next Adventure
Because Emery and Roman are already out and about looking for the plant themselves! He tells her about Zoe being a Trag in hiding, and they have another heart-to-heart about him wanting to protect her. When he reveals that these infiltrated Trags are among those who are after her family, she realizes why he’s been pushing her away all this time.
They find a tent at a campsite, and at first they think the cyper is inside. Roman says he’ll go in, because Atrians can breathe through their skin, so the spores wouldn’t damage his lungs the way they would hers. They find that there’s nothing inside, but soon Emery gets that phone call from Drake, so they head towards a lake and boathouse that she knows is in the state park.
Grayson’s Meeting
Meanwhile, Grayson, who tries to convince Emery to come with him to the prison to see his mom but is rebuffed when she says she had something “important” to do, instead goes to see his mother alone.
He’s mad at her for lying to him about what she and his father were really involved in, but she is adamant in her beliefs. She brings up his brother, and Grayson gets angry at her for using him to justify what they did. Maybe he really was sincere about turning over a new leaf.
When she tries to tell him about Emery and the reporter, Bandell, leaving the party together the night she was revealed to be the Red Hawk matriarch, he won’t believe her. He feels that Emery is one of very few people he can trust. Boy, is that going to come back and bite him later!
Showdown at the Boathouse
After Eric fixes Julia’s car for her, she agrees to tutor him in exchange for his help. While she’s working with him in the hospital, Emery calls, and Julia tells her the bad news: Lukas isn’t doing well. He has some sort of attack, she explains, and they’re really just making him comfortable. So the pressure is on to find that black cyper, and fast.
But when Emery and Roman finally reach the boathouse, they’re not alone. Zoe is there, and she and Roman start to fight while Emery runs to the building. Zoe has a blade and Roman has a stick, so you can imagine how well the fight goes for him.
Emery manages to break off a black cyper leaf and puts the bomb in the middle of the giant plant growing in the boathouse. But when she turns to leave, she’s stuck there for some reason. Luckily, when Roman is cornered while fighting Zoe, Drake shows up, so he’s able to continue fighting with the arrow he brought with while Roman runs to the boathouse as well.
Roman runs in, grabs Emery and pulls her out of the structure just before the bomb goes off. They plunge into the lake nearby and are saved. Zoe, however, is not so lucky; Drake tosses her at the flames, so she’ll be at least seriously injured in a later episode, if she isn’t dead now.
In the water, Roman and Emery share a moment when he presses his lips to hers in order to help her breathe while they’re stuck under there. When they get out of the lake, they continue their make-out session until Drake walks up. Way to interrupt your boy’s moment, dude.
Lukas’ Recovery
Luckily, Emery did manage to snag that cyper leaf, so they head back to the hospital with it. She convinces Lukas’ mom to go for a walk with her so Roman can slip in and do his healing thing.
But when Sophia shows up just before he gets started, she wants to do it instead, and he lets his sister help her friend. When Lukas wakes up, Sophia is the one by her side. He seems cured, but I guess only time will tell.
Drake’s Lie
Drake and Taylor have another conversation near the end of the episode, and Drake lies to her about Zoe’s whereabouts. He claims Zoe and her family got evicted, so they had to go stay with family, and she didn’t tell Taylor because she was embarrassed.
He also tells Taylor that Zoe said she was the best friend she ever had, and Taylor is obviously comforted by his words. Looks like he really does have a soft spot for the pretty blonde.
Roman/Emery
Roman and Emery talk outside the hospital, and he tries to brush off what happened at the lake, but she holds him to it. She knows what they’re up against now, she says, and she wants to be with him.
Roman asks about Grayson, and Emery claims she just wants to be there for him as a friend. They kiss again before Sophia walks out and she and her brother walk away, which has gotta suck for Grayson to see, since he’s watching nearby. Poor guy.
Ms. Benton Knows
Did you think Ms. Benton just took those mugs early on in the episode because she’s creepy? Well, there was more to that moment, thankfully.
Ms. Benton brings the mugs to a scientist or something to look at the DNA samples on them, and he determines that Julia does in fact have cyper in her blood. But just what is she going to do with that information?
Castor’s Stash
Finally, at the end of the episode, Roman thanks his uncle for his help, and Castor is glad he’s earned his nephew’s trust. It’ll be a great cover for him, since after Roman leaves, he goes to a secret room and reveals that he has shelves absolutely lined with bottles of black cyper. Looks like he’s not the benevolent guy he’s been passing himself off as after all!
Star-Crossed airs Monday nights at 8pm on The CW.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
