Holy hell, what an opening! Fans have been begging for more Android action and this week we get our wish in spades. It was Zoie Palmer’s turn to show another side of her character. The results were some of the funniest moments Dark Matter has offered to date.
Episode 205 “We Voted Not to Space You” drops us in the middle of a scene where Android is looking and acting very human. And kicking all the ass. At first, one might wonder if this isn’t a human being upon whom our Android was modeled. But a quick rewind to “the beginning” shows it’s part of a plan that involves her using the upgrade chip.
This plan was Six’s idea. He’s still trying to prove he only meant to do good, even if it was misguided. The idea is to tap into the GA security system directly from isolated space station Balda-9 and learn who killed One. As fugitives, the human crew wouldn’t pass a security screening without setting off alarms. Android offers a solution – she goes undercover using the chip to make herself look human to everyone, including security scans.
Android plans to get arrested on a minor charge so she can put a bugging device in the security system. This leads to some hilarious scenes of her trying her best to get arrested and not being very successful. The lackadaisical cops seem content to slap her with a fine, at most. So she resorts to flirting with the desk guard to buy herself enough time to plant the bug. The flirting begins with her drinking all of the guard’s coffee. This caught me by surprise because I’m not sure we’ve ever seen Android eat or drink before. I didn’t even know androids could consume food and drink.
Where does coffee go when an android drinks it? (Image courtesy Syfy)
An exchange between Android and Four in the training room further explores what it is to be human. Four contends Android’s programming already makes her the best she could be so there’s no reason to practice. Android counters that repeating certain physical actions, “generates new and unusual patterns in [her] neural matrix”. Basically, it just feels good.
This brings us back to just after the opening flash-forward sequence. The crew now have Danny Bones, the informant Wexler told them about last season, and they need information on Corso’s whereabouts.
Meanwhile, back at the GA station on Balda 9, Chief Inspector Kierken (The excellent Kris Holden-Reid – Lost Girl, The Listener, The Tudors) seems to already know of the crew’s plans. He finds the bug and learns what information they snagged. So now our crew is on the trail of Corso and Kierken is on the trail of the crew.
As the Raza approaches the planet that Corso’s hiding on, Kierken’s GA cruiser shows up on sensors. To avoid detection, our new and improved(?) Android takes the Raza on a risky landing maneuver down to the planet. The VFX by Lawren Bancroft-Wilson and his team have never looked better. In fact, I think all the VFX have looked a little sharper and more detailed this year.
Raza, Raza, burning bright, in the atmosphere of flight. (Image courtesy Syfy)
The crew chase down Corso who tries to escape in an abandoned mine. One of his explosive booby traps causes parts of the mine to collapse, cutting the crew off from each other and trapping Four’s legs under a pile of rock. Kierken finds him and the two have a revealing conversation in which it becomes clear the GA Inspector is a fair man of justice who, again like Six, doesn’t realize how corrupt the GA really is. At the same time, I think Four puts enough of a bug in his ear to cause the officer to begin having doubts about the organization he’s devoted his life to.
Three and Nyx get paired off and our smartass gunslinger gets suspicious of the new lady when she pushes him out of the way of a collapsing beam. It’s not her actions that cause his skepticism, but the fact that there appeared to be no signs of an impending collapse when she pushed him. Knowing Three, he’s not going to let this go. Maybe it’ll be the catalyst to learning Nyx’s secret sooner rather than later.
Two is stuck with Corso and she forces him to dig them out or face the wrath of flying bullets to the face. In their conversations, Corso reveals that it wasn’t Traugott who hired him to kill One. He tries to make a deal with Two, but she shoots him right in the forehead. If you had any doubts, notice Corso’s body doesn’t turn to dust shortly after being shot, so he’s not a clone. Does this mean the end of scenes with Marc Bendavid? I’m not going to speculate one way or the other, because I’ve learned that guessing what’s coming on Dark Matter only leads to being wrong. I’ll only say I hope we see his face in some way or form again, but for now he seems really, really dead.
He’s dead, Jim … er, Two! (Image courtesy Syfy)
Before Two shot him, one thing Corso said that was true is she’s started to care. Just look at Two’s face after she shoots him – her eyes well up with tears and she’s not at all comfortable with what she’s had to do. Kudos to Melissa O’Neil for conveying those emotions sincerely and without a single word. The crew are still desperate outlaws who’ll do whatever needs to be done, but they’re definitely better people than they used to be.
As Kierken and his men make it to the surface with Four in custody, Two, Three, and Nyx surround them. As he points out, the crew are still outnumbered, but then Kierken catches sight of the Marauder flying in, guns out and ready to fire. Having no other choice, he lets Four go with his shipmates and they leave the GA bunch unharmed. This should further prove to Kierken that they’re not the people he’s been let to believe they are. At least not any more.
Time to recalculate! (Image courtesy Syfy)
All aboard the Raza, Six and Two are having a bite and discussing who may have hired Corso. They’re suspicious of the current acting CEO of CoreLactic Industries, the slimy Darius der Hoeven. While they’re eating, a Dark Matter first happens. Three walks into the room … a room with food … and doesn’t eat! He’s still too pissed at Six to eat, but I think this is the first time Anthony Lemke’s character has been in a scene with food and hasn’t eaten. Poor man’s gonna starve at this rate.
In the final scene, Android lies to Two about the nature of some damage to the Raza. Shortly after, Holodroid appears and chides Android about the fact that she made a mistake in calculating the landing trajectory. The overload of the ship’s systems is what caused the damage. She states the mistake is not a result of the upgrade, but rather of her faulty programming that existed beforehand. Holodroid goes on to say the fact that Android even upgraded herself in the first place is further proof that her programming is faulty and that she’s become a danger to the crew. Worse yet, Android is aware of this, but unwilling to admit it to herself or the crew. How human of her.
A little Android on Android action. No, not like that! (Image courtesy Syfy)
This revelation opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Android’s future. Will she do the human thing and try to cope with the problem or will she do what Holodroid suggests and reset herself to factory defaults? I can’t imagine Android going the reset route because that would simply erase the programming and literally reboot her. It would be far more interesting to explore the repercussions of this programming and the mystery behind who’s ultimately responsible for it.
This week’s episode seemed to highlight what it means to be human through examples of human error. Or in the case of Android, human-like error.
GA Chief Inspector Kierken comes to the realization that he’s wrong about the organization he serves. Android’s overly risky landing that damages components on the Raza is a very human mistake. Two killing Corso in cold blood meant they’re going to have a much harder time finding out who hired him. Additionally, Two felt remorse over her actions. From a practical standpoint, she made the right call, but her conscience feels otherwise.
Even the now dead Corso miscalculated his exploding mine escape and became trapped with the others. A fatal error to be sure. And while it may have saved his life, Nyx pushing Three out of the way of the collapsing beam opened her to suspicion. Although her willingness to expose her “gift” to save Three’s life says a lot about Nyx’s character.
And then there’s Devin. We’re shown flashbacks to when he apparently lost a patient. We don’t know yet if the mistake was due to his drug use or if his drug use is a way to numb the guilt over not being able to save someone.
A few more random thoughts from the episode:
-When the crew hack into Corso’s hiding place and notice evidence he’d been wounded, I loved Three’s “Didn’t disintegrate, did he?” line. We viewers and the crew are all wondering if Corso is actually a Transfer Transit clone at this point. I think we got a pretty definitive answer by episode’s end.
-The GA may be a corrupt organization working with the megacorps to do dirty deeds, but it’s clear Kierken is a good man only out to serve justice. In that way, he’s very much like Six. This is just a hunch based on no facts at all, but I have a strong feeling we’ll see Kierken again. No disrespect to Kris Holden-Reid, but I really wish we could see Anders (Jeff Teravainen) again.
Dark Matter has always been and remains a story about family. The Raza crew are a family constantly in turmoil; in the midst of unexpected changes and challenges greater than anyone could reasonably expect to endure. But no matter how bad things get and no matter how many mistakes they make, they always manage to find a way to work through them. That’s the sign of a real family.
They will succeed. They will survive. And they will always remain family to one another.
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