Summary
“Ephesians 4:22-24” can’t provide Ava the answers the needs, but it might provide her the motivation to choose a side as change drives the Order to drastic measures.
This recap of Warrior Nun season 1, episode 7, “Ephesians 4:22-24”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Check out our spoiler-free season review.
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Warrior Nun episode 7 opens with a vigil for the dearly departed Lilith, attended by all the Sisters. Camila is worried that she might be in Hell rather Heaven since the Terask took her, but it’s not a question anyone knows the answer to. Mary is still insistent that Ava will return, sooner or later. Cardinal Duretti is in attendance with several “rejects”, who greet Mother Superion with an unconvincing, “It’s good to see you again.”
Ava is in town, so Mary was right about that, but she’s at Arq-Tech. She demands to see Jillian and plunges her Divinium knife through the front desk, flexing her powers on the security guards. But when Jillian herself turns up, they’re cordial. Jillian would like to know what Ava is capable of and why, and Ava likes the sound of that — she wants her to “science her”, to learn everything about herself so she can decide what to do about it. They both get the answers they want and leave each other alone. Jillian agrees.
“Ephesians 4:22-24” returns to the Sisters, sparring with the rejects as Mother Superion and Duretti observe; the former is appalled at the presence of her disbarred students. Duretti insists these are new measures to combat new threats; as if to prove the point, Sister Crimson, one of the rejects, cheap-shots Beatrice with a pair of nunchucks.
Ava undergoes Jillian’s tests in “Ephesians 4:22-24”. She determines the Halo is a power source and not of this Earth, but nothing more specific than that. Cardinal Duretti, meanwhile, has relocated Beatrice and Father Vincent to convents in Malaysia and Florida, respectively. There are no OCS chapters there; he’s getting them out of the way, and Mother Superion won’t go against his decision. Everyone’s up to no good in Warrior Nun episode 7; Jillian’s tests include hooking Ava up to her quantum portal and using her abilities to power it, but she tips her hand by pushing the tests too far. When Ava figures it out, Jillian takes her to meet her son, Michael. When Ava approaches, his veins glow blue with Divinium.
As Beatrice surrenders her weapons and says farewell to Camila, who wouldn’t mind being kicked out of the Order herself now so many things are changing, Mother Superion speaks with Mary in Sister Shannon’s chambers. We see another side of the stern Mother Superion here; Mary knows her better than anyone and knows her demeanor is a defense mechanism against caring too much about her charges. Mary reiterates that Duretti isn’t the Church — he’s a self-serving man who puts himself above everyone, including God. On her way out, Mary socks one of the rejects, to prove her point.
Elsewhere in “Ephesians 4:22-24”, Jillian explains to Ava how she was told she couldn’t have a child. Refusing to be told that, she used her own research to facilitate a “medical miracle” pregnancy. Michael has a blood disorder; the Divinium is keeping him alive. The Ark isn’t designed to save him, but to take him somewhere where he can be saved — a dimension where there’s no disease, no death, an already existing eternity that she’s just opening the door to. Ava apologizes for not being the one who can help, and Jillian apologizes for not having the answers Ava is looking for.
Shotgun Mary, Beatrice, and Father Vincent conspire. Mary is insistent that evidence against Duretti is in the secret room in her chambers, but getting to it would require breaking into the Cat’s Cradle and fighting their fellow Sisters. Beatrice mentions that, hypothetically, if it was her breaking in, she’d use a small door in the back of the crypt that nobody remembers.
On her way out of Arq-Tech, Ava talks with Kristian, who explains how he became disillusioned with the church. This strikes me as a smart, reasonable backstory for a lapsed Catholic; it isn’t grandiose, but mundane, and relatable — the simple desire for a miracle that never came. Complex attitudes towards the Church persist with Father Vincent, who confesses to being approached by Shannon weeks ago. She was convinced that the Church was hiding something in the Vatican and keeping it from the OCS; he recommended that she took her concerns to Duretti. If she did, in his opinion she’s dead because of him.
Under Duretti’s orders, the rejects arm themselves in preparation for fighting off the returning Sisters. As we see Beatrice apparently get on a bus to God-knows-where — cue last-minute day-saving return, I presume — Ava returns to the Cat’s Cradle and is taken aside by Mary, who explains what’s going on. They infiltrate together, and it turns out Mary was right — there is a secret room in Sister Shannon’s chambers. It contains an urn glowing the tell-tale blue of Divinium, and a weighty tome containing a list of the warrior nuns. Back in the chambers, Mary is jumped by Sister Crimson, and they fight. Beatrice arrives in the nick of time and gets the upper hand, but when Crimson pulls one of Mary’s shotguns on her, Ava overexerts herself power-wise and can’t move afterward. On the way out she’s shot by an arrow, but a gun-toting Camila gets them out of there.
Father Vincent drives the getaway car. In the back, Camila and Beatrice tend to Ava while Mary reads from the book taken from Shannon’s chambers. Shannon uncovered that the Vatican hides a secret power which anchors demons to our world — a power that Duretti wants to use for himself.
Back at Arq-Tech, Michael tells Jillian that Ava is “the one who opens the door.” Jillian, mistakenly believing he’s talking about the Ark, says she isn’t, but Michael clarifies: “Not that door, Mummy. The one on the ground.” What that means remains unclear for now. As Warrior Nun season 1, episode 7 ends, who should emerge from a portal outside the Cat’s Cradle other than Lilith?
