'Beyond' Recap: 'The Man in the Yellow Jacket'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

If you take a moment and ponder on some of the greatest heroes to ever grace the pop culture universe, you're instantly reminded of their greatest battle with their most powerful villain. Because a great hero is always balanced out by a quality villain, someone that we the audience love to hate because they constantly challenge our hero's core values and strength and when it comes to Beyond, it turns out that Holden has finally met his perfect foil on the show, the person who will accomplish all those things in The Man in the Yellow Jacket.

As it turns out, that titular mystery man was the focus of last night's episode of the show, even sharing the namesake of the episode in a story that gave us incredible insight into the Man and what makes him tick, all while once again feeding us just enough answers to advance the plot along, and everything we were able to learn about Yellow Jacket, came forth by way of an unexpected ally, Kevin's brother Jeff. Yes, that's right, despite the fact that he threatened Holden and dragged him away in terrifying fashion at the end of the last episode, he turned out to be a friend after all, one that wanted bygones to be bygones and he needed Holden's help to figure out what Yellow Jacket is all about, and what on earth the mystery man did with Kevin. 

But while Holden initially wanted no part in this investigation, Jeff was able to convince him by showing off some of his discoveries about the man, specifically that he has a house, only a few blocks away from Holden, registered under the name of Jack Churchill, piquing Holden's curiosity enough that eventually he and Jeff break into the place to see if there's anything they can learn about Kevin's whereabouts. But despite a thorough search, there is little to be found in Churchill's home, just the remains of a zip tie indicating that something, or in this case, someone, was tied up in the wine cellar, and they're able to swipe some files off of Jack's phone before he returns home to retrieve said phone, and plant some listening devices in his house,  in a thrilling sequence where Holden is almost caught by his nemesis.

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Naturally though, Holden does get away and it seems like Jack is none the wiser, but of course Churchill had more surprises waiting up his sleeve. Fully aware of the fact that Holden stepped inside his home, he finds a way to get his hands on Diane's wallet and comes to the Matthews' home to return it, leading to quite the tense confrontation between Yellow Jacket and Holden and well...I guess we have to continue to call him Yellow Jacket since he identified himself as David Jones to Diane, wherein he politely made a deal with Holden to keep their families out of this mess and to find him when he was 'ready' before returning the bugs and heading out for the day, and while it seemed as though their business was concluded and these two men could go back to avoiding one another...the universe had other plans in mind.

Because Kevin's body finally turned up and Jeff was more than happy to implicate Yellow Jacket as the chief suspect, and despite the fact that the police brought him in for questioning, they had nothing of substance on him, and let the man go. It was a move that Holden couldn't stomach and in a stunning moment, Holden chases down the mystery man and loses his temper and beats the hell out of YJ, evoking his powers in the process in the hopes of getting the man to confess to what he's done. But Yellow Jacket does nothing, and takes his literal lumps from Holden because as he put it...'you're too important'. The outburst is enough to scare Holden off, and the episode ends by more or less confirming the fact that Hollow Sky and Willa's side both have plans for Holden, and are both working overtime to gain control of him...

On the plus side however, at least Holden now has a true ally in Jeff, and it just so happens that his investigation is starting to yield some decent results since he is now aware of Yellow Jacket's ties to Hollow Sky and that he's spoken with the mysterious Tess Shoemacher as well, but let's be honest here, I think we're all dying to know why Willa and Arthur, and for that matter Hollow Sky and Frost are working so hard to get their hands on Holden. What exactly is he capable of, and how exactly will he change the world? Time will tell of course, and it's that mystery that keeps us coming back for more, but while we have to wait for those answers, we can at least bask in the fact that Yellow Jacket is one kick ass villain, one that is smart, conniving and resourceful and I cannot wait to see him square off more with Holden as this season progresses. Until next time. 

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