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Continuum: A Stitch in Time

Four words: I really liked it.

Okay, a few more words: stuff like this is precisely my cup of tea. A bit of RoboCop, a touch of Blade Runner in the future scenes, a lot of Terminator time travel, and even a bit of Alias (Rachel Nichols, who plays Kiera, was supposed to be spun off during the final season of Alias).

Essentially, the story is about a cop named Kiera Cameron from 2077, an oppressive, dystopian future where corporations rule (like today is any different), accidentally following a group of escaped terrorists back in time to 2012. Kiera managed to bring with her some cool cyborg-ish cop tech and a bulletproof costume, and I found one particular twist to be quite interesting -- she immediately connected via her internal software with a young man named Alec who had just created said software in 2012. It was pretty obvious to me almost immediately that the young man and Cigarette Smoking man in the future were the same person. Especially since future Alec had a knowing, unsurprised expression on his face when the terrorists and Kiera disappeared from the execution chamber.

I did find it a bit hard to swallow that handsome 2012 Canadian cop whose name I'm spacing (okay, that's Carlos Fonnegra, added later) believed Kiera's "I'm a cop from Oregon that I saw on the news" story without backup ID and a phone call from her lieutenant. But instantly making her a legitimate police consultant is obviously important to the plot, so I'm okay with it.

And so many interesting questions to explore. Is it indeed a one-way trip, as that one escapee told Kiera, or will she ever see her husband and son again? Will she catch the terrorists before they make hay of the past and screw up her present? (Considering how awful Kiera's time looked, that might be a good thing.) Will Kiera and the escapees even be able to screw up the past, or was all of this destined to happen? Future Alec's knowing expression suggested that it was indeed something that always happened, or will happen, but hey, we don't know. I'm interested in finding out.

I'm a little confused about why Syfy is claiming Continuum is "a Syfy original series" (like Lost Girl) when it's already aired in Canada, but whatever. I'm definitely planning to keep watching. And I sort of wish I had a reviewing slot open so that I could review it. Greater praise hath no Billie.

Addendum: Season three has ended and I am now a huge fan of this show; we'll soon be adding reviews for the first two seasons. I'm not going to include spoilers here, but I wanted to add a couple of things to this way-too-short review:

1. "A Stitch in Time" saves nine. That includes Kiera herself, plus the eight Liber8 prisoners: Travis, Sonya, Garza, Curtis, Kellog, Lucas, Jaworski (who died in this episode), and possibly Kagame, who seems to have gotten lost. I had a hard time keeping track of the Liber8 characters for awhile, but I know them now. Note also that Kiera's 2077 partner Elena vanished in the explosion but didn't show up in 2012.

2. Everything they did here beautifully sets up stuff they come back to later. Even the broken sculpture in the shape of a number eight, or infinity.

This is a quality science fiction series, and I love it. In retrospect, I would rate this pilot three out of four toy soldiers,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

15 comments:

  1. Allo, Billie.
    It's good that you liked this series.
    It's quite cool actually.
    I was fortunate to have seen it all and i'm happy that you are reviewing it.
    Seeing the CSM here hooked me in 'cause I missed him from TXF.
    I think when he vanished from TXF he time travelled to Continuum.
    He didn't seem to have aged a bit. Hahaha.
    If you liked the pilot, i'm sure you'll warm up to it more and more as the series goes on.
    Btw, I love the suit. :)

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  2. Great review Billie!

    I saw the show last summer and LOVED it! So please keep reviewing! :o)

    I don't remember all the details from 6 months ago (too many shows between then and now), but I DO remember that I didn't connect the dots with Alex until Kiera did! I must be a bit slow... :p

    And yeah, that suit rocks! Where can I get one just like it? ;o)

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  3. Your description reminded me of a series from twenty (!!) years ago called Time Trax, but I guess the similarities are only on a very basic level.

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  4. I wish I could keep reviewing it, but I have too many! For now, all I can manage is the pilot episode. Ah, well.

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  5. I loved this. It's a rare pilot that has me connecting with the characters so quickly, but I thought both Keira and Alex were interesting and I am looking forward to seeing their friendship progress.

    Simply loved the last scene meeting Alex. The look on his face, as though he were seeing an old friend again, was a wonderful last shot.

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  6. Starting on season two - really great stuff. If anyone can squeeze it in, I sure would read the reviews! Also, I just started watching season 1 of Arrow (really enjoying that one too), and noticed some cross-over actors...these guys get around, don't they? I must be watching too much tv if I am starting to recognise the actors...usually that stuff blows right by me.

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  7. Vague spoilers for episode eight ahead

    Too bad you guys aren't covering this show. I started watching it a couple of weeks ago and I love it. I just finished watching episode 8 from season 1, and it made the geek in me so happy. They actually did a battle between hackers and it was entertaining. God, they know how to do sci-fi tech geeky stuff right. “Who the man?”. Alec, you’re the man.

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  8. Lamounier, I love it, too. I'm even considering the possibility of doing reviews, I love it so much. We'll have to see.

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  9. Great to know that, Billie. I hope you find the time to do it. :)

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  10. pucklady, loved the comment. Don't want to delete it, but I have to. Could you post it on a season three review?

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  11. Darn. I thought I might have been too spoilery.

    Let's see.

    I was noticing Kellog firing an assault weapon at Kiera with deadly intent. Love me some Kellog, but weapons? And that's all I'll say or I'll get booted again.

    Anyway, here's an inaugural limerick, slightly edited for spoils:

    Death chamber was set up for eight
    TIME JUMP and just seven remain'd
    A shootout ensues
    For Jaworkski to lose
    Six members are left to tempt fate

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  12. Terrific inaugural limerick, pucklady. My review of Friday's episode will be up today, btw!

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  13. My family just started watching this. "Or great, they've found Heroes, Part Two."
    Running from room, again.

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  14. I was just walking through the room, so can't place this in the right time, "I'm old, I'm cranky and I want chocolate."
    May go down as my favorite TV line of all time.

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  15. I've been curious about this show for a while and spotted it on Amazon Prime, so I'm starting into it now. It's an interesting opener, though I will say that like you, Billie, Carlos struck me as bizarrely trusting. And claiming there's a gang in Portland, Oregon that no one's ever heard of is this resourceful and ambitious doesn't seem very plausible.

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