Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Wednesday Reviews #7



"I've Seen The Other Side Of You" looks at the tension on the ship after the crew's recent escape from the security moon where they were held captive. Two wants to take on the corporations in the wake of One's death, and the three newcomers find their access to the ship restricted- which seems prudent since neither we or the crew know very much about them. Android, meanwhile, cannot re- establish her neural link with the ship, due to the injuries she sustained on Hyperion-8. So she shuts down to effect repairs- and then bad stuff happens.

Basically this episode is one of those exercises in what happens when people lose their memories? Two, Three and Four are all uploaded with their old memories, back when they were criminals- so they get to sneer and be ruthless and Five has to figure out a way to survive and restore them to their, um, new selves. Or whatever. Of course she does so in the end but we learn a few things- we get a glimpse into what made Two the way she is (er, was), we find out that Arax is the mole onboard, and we also find out that the crews old memories are available- but they decide not to upload them as Android warns it could make them into their old criminal selves again. I'm not sure any of that really makes sense, but whatever. A moderately entertaining episode.

I think Dark Matter has a lot of potential, I really liked S1 with the slightly claustrophobic feel aboard the Raza and the dark themes- and three episodes into S2 I'm not sure where this is going but I'm cautiously optimistic. This show isn't as polished or as well written as say a 12 Monkeys, like I said last week, but it is keeping my interest.



Speaking of 12 Monkeys- this week The Memory of Tomorrow  is the final episode of S2. We finally get to find out who the Witness is- but more on that in a moment. First we start off with Cole and Cassie in 1959, exchanging presents for Christmas. Awww... we want them to be happy, but of course it's not to be. The much ballyhooed appearance of Madeleine Stowe as a guest star happens- Cole encounters her on the street and time just... stops. It happens again and Cole finds her in an insane asylum. Guess what? She's a Primary... or something. She tells Cole he can go back to 1957 and try again to stop the paradox... the only problem is doing so will erase the happiness that he and Cassie have found in the last year.

The other wrinkle is- Cassie is pregnant. Yay Cole and Cassie- congratula- wait that's not going to happen if Cole does his thing. And sure enough... he does, drinking the red leaf tea or whatever and going back. And he doesn't tell Cassie- which is the biggest problem I have with this one. I HATE it when a show does that- I can't see him not telling her. Shouldn't she have a say? Anyway Cole succeeds and he and Cassie are pulled back to 2044. The happiness of their time together is erased- or is it? Later Cassie remembers their time together- yay! But what does that mean?

It's nice to have the band back together. Cole and Cassie, along with Jones, travel to Ramse's location and mount a rescue, along with Jennifer and the Daughters. Everyone in one place! But things go wrong, because of course, and Ramse ends up with Olivia and her dissidents while Cassie is snatched away just before the bad guys get away via time displacement. Argh- they're separated again! And no- Deac gets taken out after valiantly defending Jennifer. He really grew on me- if he's truly dead that's a shame.

It was nice to see Jones kick a little ass in this one- that image of her with a shotgun and a cigarette was a hoot. Cleaning house! And she has a dog. And her daughter wasn't too shabby with the weapons either! But we end with Cassie in 2163- they're in the future now, not the past- and Cole is determined to go and save her. And the big reveal... the Witness is- the child. Cole and Cassie's child will be the Witness? I was kinda hoping that wouldn't be the case- but at least now we know. Although on this show you never really know.

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