Alright, back from vacation. Time to catch-up on my sci-fi.
This week (and last week) on Sci-Fi Friday: It's us against the world.
Dark Matter S03E05: Dark Matter was in top form for this episode, which is fantastic since it now needs to share the Friday spotlight with KIlljoys. It was the obligatory focus episode for the new characters, with Adrian (aka notDavidHewlett) getting the bulk of that focus. And it was put to good use.
This may seem harsher than intended, but the show's moral compass has always felt a bit adrift since One was written out. Two, Five, and Six are good people at heart, but One was the only person who wore it on his shoulder for all to see. So when he left, the show lost that drive. Now with Adrian, it's essentially brought back that kind of character trait (perhaps not quite as neat & tidy) and mixed it with some comic relief. Which works. The comic relief in particular isn't fantastic - it's not like the Android in that regard - but it works well enough.
The show has him starting from an interesting place: all this time he thought he was some bigwig working for Tabor, but instead everyone has been screwing with him in one way or another. Tabor hung him out to dry, his co-worker he set out to rescue just wanted to use him to get at some of Tabor's stuff, and even the crew of the Raza isn't above screwing with him in a less-than-malicious manner. So despite his connections and supposed ability to wheel & deal, he's very much a greenhorn. It could make for a good character with some additional fleshing out.
Solara meanwhile gets a bit more focus as well, but not a ton. What this episode does do is establish her badass credentials, and why she deserves to hang with the crew of the Raza: she's a martial arts-trained prioress who has no problem putting her skills to use to get revenge.
Otherwise, this episode was primarily a good old fashioned scavenger hunt, which is plenty of fun. Tabor left quite a mess, to say the least. Plus Android Antics are the best antics, and is always good that the actress gets to break out from that very rigid role now and then (though I was surprised she didn't rough up Three again, since that's been a running gag).
As for the B-plot, we have Emperor Ryo. Ryo is having a bad time. He's losing a war, he's getting conflicting advice, the crew of the Raza still has the blink drive he wants, and now someone is trying to kill him. It was implied that Ryo had trouble fitting in with the royal court before the start of the series, and now that he's back he's not doing any better. Each week gets worse and worse for him. Though it's hard to argue that he doesn't have it coming. He may be powerful, but he's a crappy leader and it's catching up with him.
Finally, we have the mystery of Ferrius's Agent Zero, which I'm assuming is some kind of chemical agent. Something had to go wrong with Six's plan to unite the independent colonies, and this appears to be it, whatever it is...
Dark Matter S03E06: Compared to S03E05, I don't have quite as many nice things to say about this episode. It wasn't bad, but it didn't all click, either.
So we finally know who the Raza brought back with them from the alternate universe: pretty much everyone besides AU One. We have AU Portia, AU Boone, AU Tash, AU Wexler, and even AU Android! And now that they're in another universe, they seem content to raise hell by posing as the Raza crew.
We knew that at least one AU character would be making the trip over, but I wasn't expecting quite so many of them. I really don't know how I feel about it. There's not really a great reason for the entire AU Raza gang to be over here, and while the actors do a marvelous job of acting for two, it feels like a plot thread too many. Or maybe just something that is distracting about the whole thing? Having your doppelgangers running around should be funny, and at times it is (how to tell Two from AU Portia: the cleavage). But it's not as entertaining as it should be.
On the plus side, watching each side one-up each other when crossing each other was fun to see, especially with Five coming in at the end. She's the X factor that separates the two timelines, after all, so having her one-up the AU crew makes sense. And one can't help but love the AU Android shooting AU Tash because she's being a backstabbing moron. Both versions of the Android are loyal, but it's especially heartwarming with the AU crew since the rest of them are scumbags. Throwing in Truffaut is also a good call, since Tori Higginson does a great job being cross.
And poor Ryo. Last week was bad, this week was worse. He's lost a warship to the AU Raza crew, he's still losing his war, he's losing his grasp on power/the people, and he's taking it all very personally. It's a bit of a trainwreck, which makes it fun to watch. But I appreciate that it's the B-plot and he's clearly a villain, so it's uplifting to see him fail.
The downside to this episode? The crew of the Raza has turned into a damn revolving door. Just when we get to know Adrian and Solara, they're being pushed out the door again. At this point I'm at a loss for why. The inconsistent nature of the main cast is seriously driving me mad, and while I'm sure they'll be back, if this is more than a one-to-two episode thing, it means my focus and time has been wasted caring the least bit about these characters. And I don't even know what the hell was going on with having Five kiss Adrian (even without the absurd Dawson casting going on with Five, she's still way younger than Adrian's actor).
Finally, I'm finding it hard-to-impossible to be invested in anything going on with Three's subplot with Sarah. We all know it's going to end poorly - the only question is how - so why waste the energy caring about it?
Killjoys S3E01 & S3E02: The first two episodes of this season may as well be a proper two-parter, so that's just how I'll review it.
Killjoys has been my favorite of the two Friday shows, and for good reason: they never cease having fun with their situation, even when the fate of the J hangs in the balance. Having your leads snarking at each other all the time is probably a cliche these days (or at least a trope), but it's still amusing to watch.
We left off Season 2 with Dutch declaring war against the Hullen and her doppelganger, Aneela. And this is right where we pick up in season 3. The Killjoys know how to defeat the Hullen with the black goo, but now they need the materials and manpower to actually get the job done.
One thing that surprised me here was that until now, the show hasn't attempted to put a number on just how many Level 6 agents there were. Well, now we have an answer: 436. The RAC is shown to be big, but given each one of them was a superhuman killing machine, that's a lot of Hullen agents.
Otherwise, Dutch & Davin's plot in the first two episodes is pretty straightforward. And by straightforward I mean thouroughly entertaining. The whole team taking down a hive of Hullen was delightful to watch, and the kind of action that has helped to establish this show. Episode 2's nerd squad wasn't quite as captivating, but clearly it's meant to setup a plot thread for later this season. Meanwhile, see if you can ID the Continuum alum.
As for the B-plot, we have John in the midst of his efforts to run away from home, joined by Clara. Or what was Clara, at least.
On a production note here, Clara's actress (Stephanie Leonidas) was unavailable for the show this season since she landed a role on Snatch. As a result, the writers had to rejigger the plot to account for this, and thus we get Ollie. Given that this was all setup in season 2, I feel like the fact that the writers set this in motion before ensuring they'd have Leonidas for season 3 was an ill-planned move. Still, you work with what you have.
The core purpose of Johnny's trip was to further flesh out the Hackmods, and it did a very good job of that. Dedicating so much time to the subject meant that the show could showcase a whole slew of different types of Hackmods, as well as further nailing down their culture and purpose. In short, they're abducted humans who are turned into superhuman slaves by The Factory, and they don't like it one bit. Most are still stuck in servitude, while others have escaped and are trying to secure their freedom. In short, they will one day be important allies for Dutch's war.
And in a cool bit of casting, did you notice how several of the hackmods had obvious prosthetics? Well the producers used actual handicapped actors for several of the hackmods, including the bartender and the skin-stealing psychopath (Niko), rather than doing CGI/costuming tricks like with Clara/Ollie. It's a great way to include actors who otherwise can't easily land more regular roles, and it makes their hackmod prostheses look very real since they are in fact replacement limbs. So real, in fact, that Niko's actress (Viktoria Modesta) already has a pointed prosthetic leg (though AFAIK, she hasn't impaled anyone with it!).
Meanwhile Johnny now has himself a completely unnecessary laser finger, and it's great. It's such a silly mod, and it's used to good effect, both in terms of comedy and advancing the plot. Though Dutch's reaction remains to be seen...
The weak part of this two-episode arc with Johnny unfortunately lies with Ollie. Ollie may technically be Clara, but the actress playing her wasn't brought on-board to be Clara nor is she trying to act like her, which is the right way to go. However by replacing Clara with another character, we've lost everything Clara's 1.5 episodes in season 2 built up to. Johnny and Ollie may as well be strangers, bound by a robotic arm. So Johnny's concern over Ollie tends to fall flat, and it's hard to take much of an interest in her.
The other part I'm having trouble with is how Johnny is back so soon. Don't get me wrong: he needed to be back; the core trio is just incomplete without him, and it shows. However the whole reason Johnny left on this trip was because he needed to get away from the Quad to avoid being captured after killing Delle Seyah Kendry (which was done in revenge for losing Pawter). And as far as I know, that problem hasn't been resolved. He's still a killer and a fugitive. So what did his trip accomplish besides collecting some data on the plasma on the side?
And finally, speaking of Delle Seyah Kendry, the Quad's least-favorite bitch is back! Unfortunately having her actress listed in the opening credits kind of gave this away, but oh well. Last we left Delle, Johnny left her to die. Except instead it looks like she's been saved, pumped full of plasma, and is meeting up with the Queen Bitch herself. It's really just a teaser for future episodes, but I'm glad to see the character back. Meanwhile the fact that Aneela now has possession of her has clear ramifications for the future, since she can spill the beans on Dutch & co. Plus the galaxy's two biggest bitches are presumably going to be working together.
(On a side note, we finally get to hear Aneela speak. We already knew she was crazy, but dang, she sounds it as well )
Overall it's a rather strong start for the show. It wasn't perfect - and I still do miss the 10pm TV-MA edginess of the first season of the show, along with its intro song - but a strong start none the less. So the next two months should be a lot of fun.