Welcome to the review of episode 6 of Dark Matter, titled We Should Have Seen This Coming, which I kept referring to in my head as I Hate Being Predictable. Coming into this episode, I kept hearing Five’s line from last week, pondering who the crew even is anymore. Who are they? What are they doing? Where are they going? Are they going to break into separate pieces and go their own ways with their own agendas, or are they going to find a mission that keeps them together?
This episode definitely threw me a bone or two as far as those ponderings went.
The revelations of Nyx and her brother, Milo, may be the thing the keeps the Raza crew glued together for the time being. Nyx’s secret is wide open now. Her people are predisposed to having a high level of CPA (cognitive predictive ability). This makes them more intuitive, better analysts of data, and in generally, excellent educated guessers. Interesting, right? But not that exciting. Unless you link them all together in what approximates a more human version of the Borg Collective. When they are all linked, they can analyze unlimited amounts of data, and essentially predict the future. This also involves heavily drugging them, so I’m sure that’s not fabulous for their health.
We find all this out when Nyx convinces them the best way to get cash to steal drugs from this cargo ship, and sell them. The crew figures this will help them to get money to stay alive, and also maaaaaaaybe fuel their little rebellion against the corporations. It’s also help them address the problem of the corporations and Five’s key.
Of course, it’s not just a cargo ship. This is where we meet Nyx’s brother Milo, who is in some kind of pod, with some kind of neural link device. He’s not the only one in this state, either. He’s spring by Two and Nyx and brought onboard. Two and many of the other crew members are none too pleased. Milo is the most talented of all the Seers’ people at analyzing data and predicting the future. Obviously, the Seers want him back, given he is the most talented at predicting the future.
The Seers pursue the Raza crew and eventually force them to return him, but not before Milo has a chance to plant seeds of hope and possibility in the crew. Overall, he’s got a message for them. A small unique group, such as themselves, are exactly what’s needed right now to effect major changes in the galaxy. A small group, or even an individual person, could topple the corporations.
There were so many nice touches in this episode. The scene with Android and Two was great. It’s so incredibly clear that Android is retreating into her usual self as a safe place. Whether it’s because she’s just not ready to handle the upgrade, or because she is scared that she might harm the crew in some way with her “flawed” programing, it’s touching. I keep thinking about what to call her to differentiate between her various selves. If the Red Android is Randroid, then the Blue Android is… Blandroid? Does that make the White Android Whandroid? If we are venturing that way then I vote for the vote for the most human version of Android to be Hamdroid, because she really gets to ham it up.
Three has plenty of witticisms and moments that made me laugh out loud. It was a relief to have him and Six paired off and stuck together in the Marauder. We just can’t have Three so upset that he’s turning down a chance for food, you know? I really appreciate Three’s pointing out to Six that Three will never forgive Six, even if he will give him another chance. It makes for some good friction between those two. It’s not cop versus mercenary tensions; it’s about betrayal.
Speaking of betrayal, Nyx’s brother mentioned that someone in the crew would betray the others AGAIN. So we have that to watch out for. Unless it already happened, no? There’s a scene at the end with Nyx and Four that reminded me of Milo’s prediction. Nyx thanks Four and refers to him as a friend. However, we know that Four gave Milo the means to kill himself rather than go back in to the Seer/Borg collective. Does Nyx know that when she thanks Four? If not, ouch. Maybe that is a betrayal of sorts. Somehow, I think the show has a bigger and more spectacular betrayal in mind for us.
I am firmly in the category of always enjoying and being up for more Four and Nyx scenes. Four opens up in a way around her that I don’t think we’ve really seen him do with anyone else. He’s still not an open person, but he’s a bit more relaxed and communicative than he generally is. Perhaps it’s the similarities. There’s the fighting skills, of course, but there’s also this sense of unfinished business that they both experience. Four’s got long terms plans for the Ishida Empire, and Nyx has long terms plans for her brother and the Seers.
There’s lots of things we put in a pin in to remember, so here’s a few: Who hired Jace Corso to kill One? How does the key work and what will it allow you to do? What does Ms. Reynaud and Ferrous Corp want with the key? How does the key play into this impending war? Can the crew keep ahead of the Seers, and what will they do about them? What will the crew do to exact their revenge from the corporations? That’s not even counting the concerns of various individual crew members, like Devon. You know that chicken is going to come home to roost soon.
This episode felt incredibly timely for me. It came just as I was wondering what was going to keep our band of misfits together. As things fall apart in the galaxy around them, the only certainty they seem to have is each other, and a purpose of finding a way to live without being hunted again.
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