tv Interceptors [Prime-time American show]

[Ecalsneerg]

Interceptors

A teenager given superpowers in a freak accident is taken under the wing of the organisation of a mysterious man with the calling card of a Tarot card: The Jack of Blades. His team, the Interceptors, operate from a brownstone in New Jersey, working in secret to fight crime, iniquity and rogue superhuman foes!

Cast:

Initial team

Erik Espadas/Jack of all Blades: James Roday

- An initially mysterious yet charismatic man in a long coat and bandanna mask, he has the ability to form energy swords. A very secretive man, over the course of the series his family, and the past tragedy of the Interceptors, is revealed to be a big factor in this secrecy. A keen tactician and skilled swordsman, he is proud, confident, brash, and likes to flirt with the ladies. Later in the series, he falls in love with Willow.

Chris Kenzie/The Gecko: Joe Dempsie

- The audience surrogate, and a washed-up high school drop out with strong regenerative powers, the ability to crawl on walls and a keen sense of smell. He is rescued from near death by Jack of all Blades, and recruited as an Interceptor initially grudgingly (but later shown to be part of Erik's need to protect others). He soon shows a keen detective mind and learns to fight. While he's in his Gecko costume in the first episode, he later tends to wear a green leather jacket and his signature orange goggles. Chris has a sharp wit, and a fondness for goofing off which tends to put him at loggerheads with Jack.

Mara Hallomen: Sarah Jones

- An emotionally stunted genius with an array of gadgetry and a computer room in the Brownstone. Her computer room. While able to use technology in the form of a visor and gauntlets to fight in the field, she excels in the field of providing information and gadgets for the team's current mission. She is a little wary of Jack and Chris's loud natures, but gets on much better with Mona.

Mona Teymourian/Fulcrum: Bahar Soomekh

- The Team Mom, a tall and striking woman of Persian heritage. She has unexplained superhuman strength, endurance and running speed, and is able to make powerful leaps (though not true flight). She vaguely resents Jack for his actions driving her old boyfriend out of town, but understands why he did it, and as his old babysitter, maintains a fondness for him nonetheless. Towards Mara and Chris, she acts much more supportively. A genuinely moral and good person, she is the least likely to engage in any form of questionable action.

Later additions

Ellie Espadas: Silvia Tovar

- Erik's little sister, and a powerful biokinetic. While the younger sister who Erik is overprotective towards, she is clearly the more mature and is unafraid to remind Erik of this. Her fledgling relationship with Mara is a recurring plot thread. By the end of the series, she has progressed from recurring character, to regular, to member of the team.

Willow: Lesley-Ann Brandt

- An ancient being awoken early in the series. With great power to control plant life, and formidable regenerative capabilities, she is an aloof woman not entirely acquainted with modern life and struggling both with it, and her attraction to Erik. Her presence overtakes Chris's in the role of someone to exposit on advanced technology to. She is the Herald of the Gorgon, and plays a pivotal role in the finale.

Episodes (Italics denote important parts of myth arc)

Season One: Gorgon

1x1: Pilot

Chris Kenzie, recent high school wash-out and stoner, acquires superpowers from an abandoned laboratory in a warehouse. After a near-fatal first attempt at superheroics, the mysterious Jack of all Blades takes him into his Interceptors team, in their Brownstone headquarters. Jack and Chris foil a notorious serial killer.

1x2: Rhyme and Reason

The Interceptors face a mysterious man who is inciting masses of people into various emotions using music. As Chris and Mara are left facing a riot in the streets, Mona and Jack race against time to catch the perpetrator without falling victim themselves.

1x3: Boiling Point

Gang tension comes to a head in a rough neighborhood of Jersey, and Jack for inexplicable reasons is ardent that it be ended swiftly and decisively, leaving the rest of the team struggling to curb his anger and stop the gang war. Jack is revealed to have his mom and sister living there, and forces Chris to swear not to tell a soul.

We learn of Ellie and Gina Espadas' existence

1x4: Simon Says

A madman calling himself Simon forces Mona to follow a trail of inscrutable commands as he keeps a family hostage. But how far is she willing to go to keep him satisfied and save innocents?

1x5: Life Goes On

A woman from an ancient civilization is unearthed, and the Interceptors try to help her adapt to modern life. However, something else was buried with "Willow", and even as she and Erik kindle a connection, this ancient demon must be hunted down and its rampage stopped.

Willow is unearthed, we see a creature in the likeness of a Gorgon...

1x6: Thicker Than Water

Most of the team are away spending time with their families, leaving Mara alone to man the Brownstone. As Erik notices his sister hides a dark secret, Mara is confronted by a vampire-like metahuman who has managed to circumvent all their security systems.

We learn Jack's name is Erik, and that Ellie is hiding something...

1x7: Razor

Part 1/2. A new murderous vigilante, Razorwing, is murdering criminals across the city. Taking the team down one-by-one, he manages to stymie their efforts to stop him even as a new threat stirs beneath the cities, a hive mind animating an army of roaches...

1x8: Pest Control

Part 2/2. The police mobilised against vigilantes due to Razorwing's actions, the Interceptors separated and hunted, the team is faced with the Swarm tearing through the city. The threat is foiled only by Ellie Espadas' biokinetic abilities managing to disperse the hive.

Quiet tolerance of the Interceptors' activity ends. We learn Ellie Espadas has superpowers. The team learn Erik's identity.

1x9: Fear The Reaper

Willow, still disoriented from modern life, struggles to understand the human condition. Caught up in a hostage situation in the bank, she overcomes her lack of empathy for the human condition after a security guard dies in her arms, foiling the robbery.

1x10: Gung Ho

Ex-Interceptor All Star returns to the city, quickly irritating everyone with his brash attitude to heroics. A routine mission to examine a private collector's alien artifacts soon gets out of control when he accidentally breaks a sphere imprisoning an alien organism which causes those around it to share the feelings of its host (in this case, overconfidence).

Ellie campaigns to join the team to 'protect her stupid brother'. We learn of prior Interceptors incarnations, and a mysterious 'doctor'.

1x11: Task Force

A government team, led by Captain Simmons, tries to arrest the team for their outside-the-law heroics. The team's unorthodox methods have to contend with an efficient, highly-equipped task force.

Opposition to vigilantes continues. We learn Willow can come back from death. Big Damn Kiss between Willow and Erik.

1x12: Date Night

Ellie and Mara want to sneak out on a date, aided and abetted by Chris. Willow and Erik want to sneak out on a date, aided and abetted by Mona. Can the two teams evade one another?

1x13: Tooth and Nail

A young woman with the power to control the minds of animals uses it to perpetrate a string of crimes. While Mona and Chris track her down, Erik gets in a fight with a bear.

1x14: Speed Freaks

A new drug craze, Zoom, is hitting the streets, giving super-speed... with a fatal price. When the creator turns out to have managed to internalize the drug, the team is forced to do the unthinkable to stop him: let Chris drive an experimental car Mara built.

1x15: Intelligent Life

As Willow and Erik hit their first relationship snags, an alien lands on Earth, warning the team of an "incoming force powerful enough to end worlds". Knowing it's dying and will be unable to live past the night, Chris shows the alien around human culture for the last night of its life.

The Gorgon is coming.

1x16: Shadow Puppets

A magician with power over shadows robs banks across the city, seemingly able to walk between shadows. Only Mara is able to pursue him, with the team desperately searching for information to aid her. Chris accidentally lets slip that Mara and Ellie are dating.

Big Damn Kiss between Ellie and Mara. Erik doesn't approve.

1x17: War Wounds

Doktor Archeville comes back to town, opening old wounds. Erik is upset at past crimes against his team, Mona still resents the man she loved being driven out of town. But they'll need his genius to help defeat Malice, an anti-metahuman weapons manufacturer with a chip on his shoulder and a powerful array of weaponry.

We learn of what Archeville did to the Interceptors long ago, and Mona's history with him. Flashbacks seen of Erik claiming the Brownstone, and recruiting Mara to his new team.

1x18: Card Sharp

A mysterious woman appears with a team of ninjas to kidnap Erik. We see glimpses of Erik's past as the team races to track him down and save him.

The House of Suits first appear.

1x19: Hate Crimes

The White Knight and his gang of white supremacists come to town. As Mona, Erik and Chris deal with the problem, Willow starts hallucinating the voice of her "mother".

Willow comes under the Gorgon's influence.

1x20: Keep Calm

A wave of apathy sweeps the city, with people barely caring enough to avoid walking into traffic or keep their safety in mind. The team must overcome forced apathy to find the perpetrator, with only Willow ultimately able to withstand it.

The Gorgon's influence over Willow is seen to repel outside mental control.

1x21: Storm Warning

Part 1/2. Mara's sensors detect a huge presence approaching the planet. Willow's irrational behavior hits an apex. The team is driven to ground when she destroys the Brownstone, and struggle to come up with ways to deal with the coming crisis.

The Gorgon comes, taking control of Willow. The Brownstone is destroyed. The team is split by their unresolved issues with Erik.

1x22: Lost Causes

Part 2/2. The Gorgon is visible in the skies above the Earth. Willow is destroying the city at the apex of her power. The Interceptors have been laid low by their own grudges. Can they save the Earth?

Jack kisses Willow and she is severed from the Gorgon's baleful influence. Mara and Mona drive back the Gorgon. Ellie joins the Interceptors.

Season Two: Vigilantes

2x1: Hide and Seek

The US government is hunting down Willow for her actions in Lost Causes. The Interceptors have been hiding across the country, until they are finally found in the Arizona desert...

The team are established as hiding a fugitive Willow. They have their first violent confrontation with government forces

2x2: Shark Week

Hiding out in San Diego, the team encounter a local scientist who mutates himself into a shark-like form and assaults the city with a force of similar mutants.

2x3: Prey

The team decide to split three ways to evade the pursuing military. Erik and Willow are pursued by the mysterious assassin Orion, who has been hired to put an end to their activities.

Independent contractors are now after the Interceptors.

2x4: Leap of Faith

Ellie and Mara are free of the rest of the team over their shoulders to pursue their relationship more. But this alone time is stymied by a small-town bully with illusion powers.

2x5: Carpe Diem

Mona and Chris have a chance encounter with the White Knight's gang of thugs once more, and defy their cover to arrest him in battle despite the consequences.

Chris is captured and imprisoned.

2x6: Chains of Command

Part 1/3. As Chris is faced with prison life and the dangers thereof, the team are faced with the dilemma of how far they're willing to defy the government to rescue him.

The team reunite. Captain Simmons mobilizes a specialist unit of metahumans. Doktor Archeville reappears.

2x7: Gordian Knot

Part 2/3. In an uneasy alliance with Doktor Archeville, the team storm the highest security prison in the US to rescue Chris, even as Captain Simmons descends to stop them.

The team rescue Chris, but now all of them, not just Willow, are Most Wanted. Erik is mortally wounded by Captain Simmons.

2x8: Knife Edge

Part 3/3. As Ellie, Mara and Archeville try to save Erik's life from whatever weapon Simmons used on him, we see flashbacks to Erik's earlier life.

House of Suits back story filled in a little more. Erik no longer hates Archeville but is still unwilling to work with him any further.

2x9: Home Is Where The Heart is

In disguises and false aliases, the Interceptors return to New Jersey. Erik and Ellie reunite with their mother. Mara and Chris track a gang using advanced technology salvaged from the Brownstone's wreckage.

2x10: Mara

The Interceptors are powerless to stop a digital-based demonic spirit from wreaking havoc in the city, leaving Mara as the only one with the knowledge and skills to fight it.

2x11: Sword Point

The House of Swords send a team of warriors to stop Erik less directly, storming his home, bombing Chris's car, and assaulting Mona with a special sword...

Cliff-hanger. Chris is left for dead, Erik and Ellie are too late to stop Gina being taken hostage and Mona stabbed with daka crystal and tossed off a skyscraper.

MID-SEASON CLIFF HANGER OVER CHRISTMAS HIATUS

2x12: From The Ashes

The team, battered and bloodied, are forced into a desperate attempt at storming the House of Swords to rescue Gina Espadas.

The Houses swear vengeance upon Erik.

2x13: Family Ties

Gina forces the Interceptors to sit down to a "family dinner".

We learn some of Mara's past.

2x14: Changeling

A shapeshifting criminal is committing scams just by shifting into people's forms and taking their company's money.

2x15: Brute Force

The Jack of Cups, Georgi0 Herz, is sent to town to assassinate Erik. Can even Mona's mighty strength contend with his?

Georgia reveals all four Houses are coming in force.

2x16: Fit of Pique

Interceptors not shown, but John Pique, Erik's father, is the lead as we find out the circumstances of his life.

2x17: The Maltese Gecko

Chris investigates the theft of a sword claimed to be the mythical Excalibur.

2x18: If You Go Down To The Woods Today...

Willow and Mara go into the woods to investigate a spate of mysterious killings, linked to... Bigfoot?

2x19: Raid

A theft from a government facility leads to metahuman-level weapons circulating among street gangs, with the Interceptors struggling to track them down, even as Simmons does the same.

Captain Simmons is in New Jersey

2x20: Unholy Alliance

Part 1/3. The House of Cups, posing as a consortium of 'concerned citizens', enlist Simmons' aid in destroying the Interceptors.

Series of confrontations with metamagi backed up by elite government troops leaves Interceptors on the run again.

2x21: Police Brutality

Part 2/3. Simmons is concerned by the collateral damage caused by his new allies, even as he works to bring Erik down for good. Jakken Staff breaks into the headquarters and takes on the entire team.

Erik and Simmons engage in final battle. Erik wins, but convinces Simmons the Houses are the enemy. Episode ends with other Interceptors losing fight

2x22: Jack of Blades

Part 3/3. Jakken and the Interceptor's battle, reinforced by the military and Jack of all Blades, escalates into a full pitched battle. Ellie gains strange new enhanced powers.

Ellie becomes the 'Jack' of Coins. The Houses are repelled. Simmons shoots Jakken Staff in the heart and pardons the Interceptors

Future Season plot arcs:

- The Houses of Suits arrive to take the city for their own.

- The demonic invasion, and Jack's infection by hellfire.

- Spellbound and Chris keeping their involvement secret.

- The rise of the superheroic era.

[Scuffles]

I would watch this thing.

[April]

Likewise.

[Dr Archeville]

This is a thing that I would love.

And would be sad when FOX canceled it halfway through the first season.

But maybe SyFy would pick it up.

No, wait, it's clearly an HBO or Showtime series. (It's right there in our TV Tropes page -- "Like a Saturday Morning Cartoon that airs on HBO"!)