Continuum: Waning Minute

"What have I done?"

Who knew that an episode set almost entirely in the future could be so interesting?

Kagame kept talking about how much he owed his old friends the Gleaners, and then he had them all killed, which was just brutal. He did it to radicalize and recruit Sonya, a principled physician who left the city because she got a job offer from the SadTech super soldier program that she couldn't turn down and couldn't accept. All this made sense of Sonya as a character. I bet Kagame even got shot on purpose, which is hardcore.

But I was really blown away by what Kagame did with the biblically symbolic apple of knowledge there. Kagame got old Alec to give the command to bomb the Gleaners. A direct connection between the elder Alec and Liber8. I don't think it's ever been this direct before.

(How perfect was it that Alec was telling Greg Cameron that the corporations were only trying to make life better for the people as the bombs were falling?)

We finally got more about Kiera's husband Greg. He was devastated when he learned she was dead. (What a cold, nasty way to hear that your wife was dead. Inhuman much?) Greg was going on about life and love and meaning to old Alec, who was arguably the most powerful human on earth. I've been thinking Greg was a bad guy, but now I wonder. He really did love Kiera.

Kagame said that Kiera had been conditioned from birth like a dog. Jaworski said that even in a cage, he was freer than Kiera would ever be. In the present, Curtis said that Kiera was asleep. Kiera had already realized that turning in Week Ahead Alec to the Freelancers was a mistake, and now it sounds like they're going to torture Alec for the location of the Grapefruit of Death.

So Kiera has finally turned the corner. Her eyes have been opened. She finally gets it. Sonya was radicalized in this episode. Was Kiera radicalized too? And what will she do next?

Big hint: It had better include liberating Alec. After all, pretty much anyone can escape from Freelancer Underwear Prison.

Bits:

— Although it wasn't mentioned during the episode (did I miss it?) the synopsis said it took place in 2076, a year before the pilot. The entire episode took place in the future or in the Freelancer HQ, so no VPD.

— I liked the use of Stefan Jaworski, who has appeared on and off and was even in the pilot episode. Love his face tatt.

— At the farm, Kiera never saw Kagame's or Sonya's faces. Nice touch.

— Sonya and Kiera had similar reactions to the destruction of the Gleaners. That went nicely with their change of heart.

— Old Alec was a single father. Has anyone mentioned who Jason's mother was?

— Alec's creepy assistant is the one who captured Travis and talked with Travis's wife and daughter. Wouldn't that be a field job beneath Alec Sadler's personal assistant?

— The pregnant Pangea was the only Gleaner who escaped. Her name kept distracting me, though; I kept thinking of Pangaea. Was that deliberate? A united Earth?

— Loved how Jaden picked up and threw Kagame's digital photo at the wall.

— Kiera was wearing a different uniform that was a patterned gray. Maybe it was supposed to match the gray rocky wasteland where the Gleaners lived.

— This episode was directed by Amanda Tapping. With Tony Amendola as a guest star, that makes it an SG-1 reunion.

Quotes:

Jaworski: "Would you mind pulling this hunk of fascist gun ship out of my leg?"
Loved that one.

Kiera: "I'm not in this for the money. One more nihilist lunatic off the streets? That’s reason enough for me."
Jaworski: "You talk like that even when CPS isn't listening. Wow. 'Nihilist'?"

Jaworski: "You trade with the very same people you despise."
Jaden: "Isn't that the definition of capitalism?"

Alec: "Ultimately, each of us is judged by what we leave behind."

Kiera: "Enjoy your cage."
Jaworski: "Even in a cage, I'm freer than you'll ever be."

Kiera: "I'm not asleep anymore."

This episode only got more interesting on second viewing, so I think I'll have to give it four out of four biblically metaphorical bloody apples,

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

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