Max discovers another X5, Tinga, being listed as missing on the back of a milk carton, and realizes that she must try to save her and her family from Lydecker, his troops and one of her 'sisters', Bryn.

There's a danger that Dark Angel is playing to the crowd, bringing in Max's brothers and sisters left, right and centre to appeal to people wanting plenty of amped-up action. The problem with this is that all the characters are left on the side hoping to make some kind of a contribution. So far, Original Cindy has had one episode in which she's heavily featured, and Normal has, to some extent, had one too. Sketchy and Herbal, however, are still awaiting news of their usefulness. By introducing streams of supporting characters, it expands a cast that doesn't really require expansion, and this episode is no different.

While the X5 fight scenes are as good as ever, especially when Max is forced to go one-on-one with Bryn, it smacks of a serious flaw in plotting if that's the best the writers can come up with. While the story of Tinga trying to save her family and herself from Manticore's clutches is quite touching, the people acting it don't seem to be up to the job. Lisa Ann Cabasa plays the tougher Tinga well, but seems unable to elicit any serious emotion in her performance. Likewise, Sebastian Spence creates a two-dimensional character who doesn't really get enough dialogue or screen time to give any sense of pain or loss. He's just wet and annoying.

Also on the side of the annoyance is Zack, who turns up yet again and is as annoyingly brooding as ever. He doesn't seem to care about anything, is clearly ask for a slap, and doesn't serve any plot purpose other than to break Max and Tinga out of a minor jam early on. Logan, meanwhile, comes across a lot better, proving he's a better man than Zack, demonstrating to Charlie (Spence) that it's not as bad as it seems and really showing what he's made of.

While there are some touching scenes, the main concepts aren't explored well enough with everything eventually degenerating into a fight sequence when Madame X's troops decide to take Tinga's apparently advanced son as well as her. It makes her less of a force to be reckoned with when she fails, but Lydecker fails to take advantage of the fact. There's a lot more potential in this story than is realized, but it does provide a couple of good surprises, especially at the end as we get further news about Madame X's plans.

***

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