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wordsmith30 · 10 months

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Warrior Nun Rewatch 1×09-1×10

Our rebel Sister Warriors infiltrate the Vatican to steal the bones from Adriel’s tomb. This is Ava’s first big mission and everything has come down to this. She is already fumbling along while Beatrice tries to keep her in line.

“Trust your team.”

While casting their votes for the new Pope, Duretti’s Divinium ring lights up. He alerts the other nuns that Ava is here.

Mother Superion joins their fight and Ava learns that she was previously a Warrior Nun. Ava’s shocked as, to her knowledge, no Warrior Nun lives to see their successor. But the Halo rejected Mother Superion.

There’s so much pain in Superion’s face at the memory. So much shame.

I couldn’t help but think of how honour was/is valued in ancient civilizations and other institutions. In Ancient Greece specifically, a soldier’s worth was determined by their accolades: how many kills they had on the battlefield, how many war prizes they took, how many cities they plundered. Honour was represented by material things that could be taken away at any time. Their ultimate goal was to die on the battlefield in a blaze of glory so that bards would sing their names and stories forever. That was immortality.

To return home empty-handed or to fail in the line of duty was a fate worse than death. You lived the rest of your days in shame. No title. No riches. No recognition.

Unless you got the chance to prove yourself again. In defecting from Duretti and the institution for Ava and her team, Mother Superion takes the first step towards redemption. Her failure propels her towards a different choice: putting the welfare of her girls before a man’s consolidation of power.

She tells Ava that she should’ve listened to Vincent. Ava is worthy. And the tenderness Ava shows her by readjusting her habit is a beautiful moment of respect, one that says the same thing Mary says to Lilith: “I see you.”

Ava is not happy to learn that Beatrice brought backup explosives just in case Ava can’t do the job.

“You don’t think I can do this.”

Given that Beatrice has been the one training her, it feels like a very singular “You” here. The two of them have already developed quite a bond in their short time together, so Ava cares about Beatrice’s opinion. To find this out on the “homestretch” of their journey is quite a slap in the face.

“I know you can do this. We all do,” Beatrice says. “We’re just not certain you will do this. Being a team player isn’t exactly your forte. You do what’s best for Ava: flight, not fight. That’s where your instincts lie.”

It’s accurate, if not difficult to hear. And it’s eerily similar to the argument they have in 2×02 where Beatrice says that Ava just does whatever she wants.

But Ava is determined to prove her wrong this time.

“But things change when you realize not everything’s about you.”

This brings a smile to Beatrice’s face. Ava is putting the mission first.

And we even get the same cross imagery on the wall behind Ava when Beatrice uses the projector to measure the tomb.

Lilith, meanwhile, is back at the lab with Jillian and keeping close to herself. Jillian realizes that Lilith can teleport and has regenerative healing abilities, but before she can confront her, she sees her heading to Michael’s room.

Michael is drawing pictures of Adriel. He tells Lilith that she’s too late. Ava’s already at the door.

Lilith races to the Vatican to stop them. She’s the only one who knows the truth: that they’re about to release the devil.

After taking out Crimson once and for all, she engages Ava and Beatrice in the crypt. Mary shows up and restrains her, talking her down.

If only they had known. They were sending Ava into a death trap.

They learn as well while she’s moving through the wall that the Tarasks are the original source of Divinium, not Adriel’s armour. Beatrice surmises that they were coming for the bones, too, but it’s actually a step further. They were after Adriel himself for his crimes against Reya.

Ava is terrified when she gets there. Her comms have cut out and her flashlight goes dark. She’s trapped and alone, and there are no bones waiting for her. Instead, it’s the real villain of our story: Adriel.

Feels a lot like the ambush in season two, doesn’t it? 😭

The thing that makes Adriel such a compelling villain in 1×10 is that he tells us things that sound very believable. Especially in an institution like the Catholic church, we’re very familiar with corruption. We know all too well how men vie for power. It’s not hard to imagine the church imprisoning Adriel for their own gain or making Areala their pawn. And Adriel tells Ava that he doesn’t even blame Areala.

But the part that got me the most was him explaining that he was never blind to the human world. All the pieces of his armour are connected to him; through them, he can see and hear what’s going on in the outside world. And because all the Divinium in the OCS’ possession came from his armour, all their information goes back to the same person.

It’s not Divinium in general that allows people to connect to Adriel. It’s the pieces of his armour. That finally explains why Adriel was always a step ahead of them in season two! He didn’t need to possess Camila to infiltrate their base of operations. Ava had his Divinium sword strapped to her back! He would’ve heard everything.

Michael’s body is seeded with Divinium. He was the perfect conduit, the perfect pawn.

While looking for Jillian, Kristian walks into her office with Michael’s pictures all over the walls. He sees the full picture now, the full vision – that the Ark is proof of the beyond, that Adriel is real and is coming, and that this moment is just at hand. I think he finally gets the miracle he was seeking for so long. That’s why he joins Adriel.

Standing before Adriel, Ava is faced with that impossible choice: to help the church or help her family. She wants to end the cycle of pain, end the deaths of Warrior Nuns. She thinks in this moment that Adriel can help her, that they can take down the church together. But that means giving up the Halo. After all, she’s told that it was stolen from him.

And because Ava is the self-sacrificing person that she is, she agrees. As long as it means the safety of her friends, she doesn’t care what happens to her.

But then Adriel touches her back and she sees it: Areala screaming in pain while Adriel raises the Halo above her. Ava draws back.

Danger.

Outside the tomb, the others are prepping to blow the wall. Ava’s been in there too long and they’re worried.

Mother Superion says she has to find Camila.

Adriel shows Ava the vision of how Areala first met Adriel. She was in the midst of a war, cutting through men left, right, and center. Then, finally, she went down. All of her men rallied around her.

And then Adriel appeared out of a void, the Halo in hand. He used it to close the door behind him, but a minute later, a Tarask followed. It chased him through the fortress and he used the Halo to fight it off. Only when it was dead did he go to Areala.

The men, awed by what they had just seen – this supernatural (but humanoid) being fighting off a demon – could never have known who or what Adriel truly was. They wouldn’t have known he was being chased for a reason.

But this works in Adriel’s favour. Now he has people to follow him. They see another Tarask about to emerge and Adriel drives the Halo into Areala’s/Ava’s back. The orange light flickers and vanishes. They don’t come through.

The Halo was never a gift. He was just trying to get the Tarasks off his back. For the next thousand years, they would chase down the Warrior Nun while he got off scot-free.

Areala confronts him the next morning and we’re reminded that she’s an atheist. She sees through Adriel at once. She’s like, “You lie like a man. You’re no angel. That’s just what you want us to think.”

And he admits the truth. He says that men see what they want to see and promises her that if she exposes him, he will take back the Halo and leave her for dead.

Now armed with the truth, Ava tells Adriel to suck it.

He asks why she thinks she was sent here, revealing that she was just a pawn all along. Then he shoves his hand into her chest.

As the power of the Halo flares, the Ark fires up. Michael says that he’s coming and races towards it. “Come with me, Mummy!” he cries, and then he’s gone.

Ava screams, blasting Adriel away from her, and the ceiling comes down on their heads.

Jillian stands at the empty Ark and sobs.

As the rumbling starts in the crypt, Lilith looks at Beatrice. “I tried to warn you.”

Beatrice arms the charges and blows the crypt just as Duretti is about to give his speech.

One thing Ava has been excellent at doing from day one: screaming. Beatrice is the first one to her side.

Vincent carries her out of the tomb and through his torn sleeve, we can see his Divinium tattoos light up. Then they’re all racing back upstairs.

Mother Superion confronts Duretti and says she knows he killed Shannon.

The rest of them meet up with Camila and Ava says to let her down. She’s regaining feeling in her legs again. She tells them that Adriel’s alive and not an angel.

And then the devil himself appears.

Mother Superion quickly realizes that Duretti doesn’t know what she’s talking about: not Shannon, not the bones, any of it. As the realization hits her, she staggers. Vincent walks up to Adriel and attempts to talk him down, saying that he will get the Halo in time. For now, he’s won.

The girls realize with horror that Vincent has been playing them all for fools. He killed Shannon. Mary is ready to rip his head off, but Lilith intercedes. “I’ll handle this.”

I love that she’s the one who steps up here because it puts all her previous baggage behind her. Long past the girl who went to war with her sisters, now she’s the avenger coming to right all the wrongs: to stand up for Shannon, unjustly taken; to stand up for Ava, used and deceived; to stand up for Mary, who trusted this man when he murdered her love in cold blood.

Lilith walks right up to Adriel and tells him he’s a thief.

The fight that ensues is one of the best choreographed sequences I’ve ever seen. Our girls converge on Adriel like a pack of wolves. It is the crown jewel of season one.

Camila’s double headshot still takes the cake and the look they give Vincent as they pass says one thing: You’re next.

They all turn when Adriel gets up, but it’s no matter to them. As Beatrice says, “We only needed seven minutes.”

And there’s our girl Ava, Divinium sword in hand.

(I still wish we got to see this fight! 😤😫)

Before she can rain down hellfire, however, Adriel summons his army of wraith demons. All the assembled people in the courtyard are possessed and move in towards them.

Mary breaks rank and throws herself into the fire. “In this life!”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now: no body, no death!

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