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Continuum: A Matter of Time

Kagame: “We’ve been given the most precious gift that life offers: a second chance.”

This show just got more interesting for me. It's starting to take on some of the big questions such as the tension between technology and humanity and what happens when humans start to play God. I complained about the one-dimensional nature of the Liber8 but they are starting to get fleshed out and we are learning more about the "Corporate Congress."

Despite the allegiance of our heroine, it is becoming clearer that the government which is actually a giant corporation is not the benevolent actor that Kiera is a Protector for. The future seems to be a good place for those who are high up in the company or companies, but not so much for those literally on the ground. Like many of the companies of the early twentieth century, particularly mining companies, everything you need or want is only available from the corporation and so you are born into debt and never get out of it. In the future, the gap between the rich and the poor has become huge and permanent. The poor are little more than slaves and Kagame, the man we thought was an uber villain, is actually a freedom fighter if his flashback is any indication. It is particularly interesting how Carlos and Kiera react to the intervention of the military. Carlos is suspicious and annoyed while Kiera just accepts that whatever the government wants to do is right. I imagine her attitude may change over time.

The complexities of Kiera and the Liber8's situation are multiplying and Kagame, like Kellog, is more than willing to play God and take advantage of it. Kiera, reluctantly, is doing the same. She let LaRoche go even though she knew she was a murderer. Is murder ever justified? Did Melissa Dobeck save the world from an even worse fate than the future we see? If Kiera has accepted that then is it hypocritical to hold Kagame responsible for some of the choices he has made to try and break the stranglehold of the Corporate Congress? As I said above, the plot is becoming much more complex than police good/terrorists bad.

Of course our 'maybe' freedom fighters are also cold-blooded killers and opportunists. Valentine and Garza are the kind of kick-ass women I'd rather not see. They brutally murder those two men and seem to enjoy it. Maybe they were not very nice men but again we have people playing God. Kellog is making millions at the expense of those in the present but at least he is taking care of his family. How will that change his life in the future? If he eventually becomes one of the wealthy will he refuse to join Liber8 and simply disappear from now? So many questions. I like shows with questions.

Alec and Kiera finally meet and Alec seems perturbed by those who play God but as a major player in the Corporate Congress, I imagine he plays God every day in the future. So many layers, another thing I like in shows.

Bits and pieces

So mascara that keeps you from poking your eye out. I suppose that is an important advancement. More importantly, Alec is getting ideas for all kinds of inventions from Kiera.

I really enjoyed the 'Stop Mad Scientists' group. Not all technology is good technology.

I have been to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen garden in Vancouver. It is beautiful and in the Eastside, the poorest part of the city.

The contrast between technology and intuition was interesting. I'm sure we'll see more of that in the future.

I wonder if the gang would have lost their motivation and followed Kellog's example if Kagame hadn't shown up. They seemed pretty comfortable in their pot palace.

Quotes

Kellog: "Here’s new companies I want you to invest in".
Broker: "Synthetic food production, disaster insurance bonds? What are you expecting, the end of the world?”
Kellog: "Something like that."

Carlos: “You’ll have to break it down for me. I don’t speak scientist.”

Kiera: “Smart and secretive. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”

Vincent: “It’s not the science. It’s the user whose motivations are suspect.”

Carlos: “Did anybody ever tell you, you watched too much Star Trek as a kid?” (You can never watch too much Star Trek!)

Dobeck: “The worst I ever did to Martin was wish him dead. That’s not a crime, is it?”
Kiera: “Not yet.”

Carlos: “Shane, come on, you don’t have to fall on your lightsaber for her.”

Kiera: “If I make the wrong decision, millions could be affected.”
Alec: “But these scientists are playing God, and in a way so are you. That’s messed up.”

Kagame: “There’s a war coming.”
Valentine: “How can you be so sure?”
Kagame: “Because we’re going to start it.”

3 comments:

  1. This isn't a bad episode, but I believe it was when I initially decided to drop Continuum the first time through. It just seemed too much like they were going for a procedural with a twist and I found it hard to care. I really wish now that I'd hung in for a few more episodes.

    Now that I'm more familiar with the series, what I liked most was the little glimpse we got that Kiera isn't so strictly adhering to law and order where doing the right thing is concerned. She let Melissa go in the end. Tony Mendola is awesome, too. Kagame adds gravity and oomph to Liber8.

    And Kiera finally meets Alec. *Young* Alec, anyway, since she already met old Alec. But breaking in to Kiera's room wasn't very nice of him, was it?

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  2. I'm interested in your comment, Billie, for I am rather where you were. While I like the relationship between Keira and Alec, the rest of the story hasn't really grabbed me yet. Guess I'll hang in for a couple more.

    I did like the idea of Keira having to make the choice to let Melissa go. Although, clean energy seems a good reason to do so.

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  3. Chris, if you like it at all, I do recommend sticking with it a bit longer. It keeps getting better.

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