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Benchmark

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Benchmark is the fourth episode of the Peacock American fantasy horror television series based on the novel series of the same name by Richelle Mead. It aired on September 15, 2022, alongside the other three episodes "Pilot", "Earth. Air. Water. Fire. and "Death Watch".

Premise[]

Rose faces a defining test as a Guardian; Victor offers Lissa a chance to improve the Dominion.

Plot summary[]

Rose is training with Dimitri, whereas Christian thinks of his parents due to the unwelcome gift of Xavier's teeth that they gave him.

Elsewhere, Sonya greets a man named Robert, calling him Papa. Victor then comes out of the other room, telling Robert that he's fine, but Robert asks Sonya what she did in a stern tone.

Later, Victor and Robert sleep together and then discuss Sonya. Robert says that she can't risk it again, even for Victor, and thus Victor feels guilty that her daughter used elemental magic on him.

Robert tells Victor he'll talk to Sonya and that he almost lost him. Victor says it came out of nowhere. According to Robert, however, it's not really out of nowhere, given Victor's family history, but he doesn't want to jump to any conclusions. Thus, Robert tells him that he needs to see a doctor immediately.

Victor instead replies that he needs to get back to work.

Meanwhile, Rose gives Lissa a book that Christian says would be helpful to her. Lissa is still upset that Christian broke up with her. Rose responds that he likely had his reasons, but Lissa says that she has her own reasons for not wanting his help.

Since the book is in Old Moroi, she needs help translating it. Thankfully, Rose offers her help, even though she has her Benchmark Tests coming up.

Lissa instead tells her friend to focus on her tests and that she'll be fine since she has a lot of free time. Rose asks Lissa if she's okay, and she responds that she might have dodged a bullet. She's now back to her initial plan to graduate and see the world with Rose, but she wants to figure out the Spirit element issue first.

Later, Tatiana Vogel gives a speech to the Council, declaring her candidacy for Queen. She also states that Lissa was really the radical choice, given that she has a Dhampir best friend and is associated with the Ozera family. After Tatiana's speech, one of the Council members suggests lowering the age of guardian enlistment to 16. Victor objects to this but is outvoted.

The Benchmark tests start, and the novice Guardians get assigned to a Moroi and have to protect them from attacks by other Guardians pretending to be Strigoi. The Novices that do well in these tests get to go on the Royal Tour as part of the Guardian security team and get good assignments once they graduate. Rose hopes to be assigned to Lissa for the test but instead has to protect Jesse Zeklos.

Victor visits Lissa, wanting to restore her ability to vote in the Council through a loophole he found. If Lissa gets married to someone who has enough Dragomir blood, her voting power will be restored.

Christian gets a delivery of a ski lift ticket with coordinates on it that tells him to meet someone there on Friday at 3:00 AM. He doesn't answer when Mason asks him who wants to meet him, as he instead looks at a picture of him and his parents on his bedside table.

Lissa calls Rose to tell her about her potential marriage. She says that most Moroi women over 21 are married, and Rose wonders what the rush is. Lissa asks her friend to name all the love-match marriages she can think of in the Royal Court. According to her, most Royal marriages are about power, bloodlines, and money. Rose then counters that it wasn't like that for Lissa's parents and isn't like that for Victor and Robert. Lissa, however, says that they're the lucky ones.

Rose asks who the groom will be, and apparently, he has to have some amount of Dragomir blood for Lissa to regain her quorum. One of the Moroi men on the list is Jesse.

Rose then sees Jesse arguing about marrying Lissa with his father. Eventually, he reluctantly agrees to court Lissa.

While they're meeting in a church, Christian and Mason show up, and then a bunch of other novice Guardians with their Moroi charges do as well. Rose then realizes it's a trap from the Guardians, who are pretending to be Strigoi, and tells Jesse and Lissa to get out.

She and the other novices fight the more experienced Guardians. Many of them succeed, Rose included.

Mason notices some romantic tension between Rose and Dimitri while she's fighting him. Unfortunately for Rose, Jesse didn't leave when he was told to, and Rose is upset because this will affect her score.

In the end, Rose gets into trouble for fighting with Jesse. However, she is told that she did well otherwise in the test, so she moves up in the rankings.

Dimitri tells Rose that he'll come harder for her next time. She responds by telling him that she's looking forward to it.

Jesse's father asks him how his meeting with Lissa went, and he tells him about the fake Strigoi attack. He tells Jesse to reschedule it immediately. Jesse is reluctant since Lissa won't choose him anyway, but his father hits him and repeats his words.

It is then that Christian walks by, seeing the whole altercation. Meanwhile, Lissa goes to a bookstore to get a book about the Spirit element. The shop owner is reluctant, but she compels him to do so anyway.

Meanwhile, Victor argues against 16-year-olds being Guardians at the Council meeting and suggests temporarily taking Guardians from non-Royal Moroi, even though that would mean his husband Robert would lose his protection. Tatiana, who is now a member of the Council, agrees with Victor.

Christian looks at the ski lift ticket with the coordinates and talks to a feeder about his troubles with Lissa. Later, Christian tells Jesse that he has to get past the wards. Since Jesse has a car, he needs his help. Jesse initially refuses, but then thinks of a way that Christian could help him. Christian goes to pick up a Dhampir girl that Jesse uses as his feeder but that his father disapproves of.

Rose congratulates Mason for being on top of the board but says that he can only stay there for so long. He explains that Rose might not get so lucky with who she's fighting next time, and she wonders what that means.

She asks Mason where Christian is, and he says that he is with the girl who sent him the ski lift ticket. Rose asks if Christian said the ticket was from a girl, and she figures out it was from his parents. Once Mason realizes Rose is right, he goes after Christian, despite her warnings that they should tell someone. Christian gets to the coordinates thanks to Jesse, while Rose runs into Dimitri.

She tells him that they have to find Alberta and Mikhail because Mason needs their help.

As for Christian, he meets his mother as a Strigoi and wonders why she and his father left. She tells Christian that they wanted to come back for him and that they wanted to be together forever. But before she can say more, Mason comes, and Christian's mother disappears, much to his dismay.

Mason tries to get Christian to leave, saying that his mother wouldn't be happy with him being there. As another Strigoi shows up, Mason fights him until the more experienced Guardians show up. They manage to subdue and capture the Strigoi. Christian then confirms that the Strigoi isn't his father.

Later, Sonya is in a greenhouse when Mikhail comes to meet her. He tells her about the captured Strigoi. She then proceeds to tell him she has a secret she's not supposed to tell him but wants to. According to Sonya, there is a darkness inside her that sometimes makes her act out in ways that might scare him. Mikhail reassures her that he's not easily scared. He says he knows darkness and that right now, all he sees is light in her, and the two kiss.

Dimitri talks to Christian, telling him that he knows St. Vladimir's Academy has been hard for him. However, Dimitri warns the young Moroi that he puts a lot of people at risk. Christian apologizes but says that he wanted to see his parents. Dimitri says that they're not Christian's parents anymore and that Christian wants something that he can no longer have. Christian, however, recounts a story about his childhood cat, Harvey. Harvey wasn't the friendliest cat, except with him. He would follow him around and give him gifts of dead birds, which Christian figured out was his way of showing affection. Thus, Christian wonders if his parents can still feel love, even as Strigoi.

Elsewhere, Mason yells at Rose for telling on him since he lost his ranking and his ability to go on the Royal Tour, which he wanted to do to see his father. Rose apologizes and says that she didn't know. But Mason counters that she didn't since she never asks anything personal. It's always on her terms.

Meanwhile, Lissa goes to talk to Christian. She scolds him for almost getting himself killed and then shows him the book she got about the mysterious Spirit element. Apparently, St. Vladimir had the ability to compel people, just like Lissa. She wonders what else Spirit users can do. In the stories she read, they could see auras and heal people.

At the greenhouse, Sonya and Mikhail continue to spend time together. Sonya heals a bird that was on the floor, and her eyes turn dark, which is noticed by Mikhail.

Elsewhere, Lissa talks about the darkness that comes with Spirit use.

Rose goes to train with Dimitri, still upset about Mason yelling at her. Dimitri, however, tells her she was brave and that she is number one because she obeyed the chain of command, and Christian and Mason survived because of her. He also calls her Roza, stating it's due to his Russian childhood coming out, but she likes it.

Dimitri then continues by telling Rose to always be ready because today is a new day and the Benchmarks are continuing. He wishes her luck when someone comes up behind Rose and puts a sack over her head.

Meanwhile, Tatiana tells the Council that Victor was right and that the only way to truly test a novice Guardian is to confront them with a real Strigoi. Which they just so happen to have one available and the votes to make it happen.

In an undisclosed location, someone unlocks the Strigoi in a cage.

Cast and Characters[]

Starring[]

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Co-starring[]

Other Characters[]

Shown[]

To be added

Mentioned[]

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Quotes[]

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Trivia[]

  • This episode, along 3 other episodes were released on September 15, 2022 as a breeder set.

External Links[]

Gallery[]

References[]

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