Continuum: Final Hour Review

Note: This Continuum review contains spoilers.

Continuum: Season 4 Episode 6 “Zero Hour” 

There isn’t a show on television that trusts its audience’s intelligence more than Continuum. The series has never dumbed down its time travel, and the gray morality of both the supposed villains and the protagonist were always left for viewers to judge. Although the show had to wrap up its story in a truncated season, it did so brilliantly, and the series finale gave closure to its many beloved characters and ended with a completely unexpected but perfect twist.

What’s so amazing about Kiera’s heartbreaking discovery upon returning to the future is that, despite its complete unpredictability, her ending is almost the obvious conclusion and feels totally logical given the rules of time travel the show has set up during its run. Most viewers knew that Alec going back a week in season three would mean there would be two of him. So why did no one realize that going back to a new future would mean Sam would already have a mother? Total surprise! But perfect.

As “Final Hour” progressed, several characters got to say their goodbyes to Kiera and express what she meant to them, and this provided a rare opportunity in a show that knew it wasn’t coming back to provide closure for many of its story arcs. Carlos’ tearful goodbye, Jason’s note to his father in the future, Alec’s expressions of gratitude, and even Kellog admitting “I met my match in Kiera Cameron” all lined up perfectly as Kiera made her way to the time portal.

Kellog, of course, did not have his admiration reciprocated, but the comeuppance he received in this final episode was a fitting end to this weasel of a character. Particularly delicious was the irony of him killing his own daughter after talking about the paradox of seeing his grandmother die in season one: a completing of the circle. And it’s hard to beat the satisfaction of seeing Kellog banished to the Vancouver of the distant past, although something tells me if he survives the first night, he might still have a chance to manipulate the situation. He’s just that good.

Alec engineered more than Kellog’s banishment, however. Sabotaging the key that cranked the portal’s ignition was just the thing to provide him and Kiera enough time to get to the portal, and it allowed Brad to see the truth of the situation when only three soldiers made it through. The tunnel wasn’t built to rescue family and friends; it was an invasion. I’m not sure Brad tackling Zorin at the last minute was enough to redeem him, but at least Kellog passing through the portal obliterated the Time Marines’ plan along with the dismal 2039 future.

It was the final showdown for Dillon who died heroically by taking out Weaver, the Time Marine who suited up to take out most of the VPD, but there were plenty of survivors to speculate on the fate of the time travelers. With Kellog’s future eliminated, the more rosy future sprung into being, which amazingly seemed to be the one the Traveler needed to return to his time of origin. Does that mean the original Corporate Congress future was also an aberration? Carlos, Brad, Curtis, Alec, and Garza remained to pick up the pieces, and presumably they succeeded in making a better future.

Viewers are left to speculate on the fate of several characters, but fortunately not in a frustratingly incomplete way. It’s fun to imagine what Garza did with the remainder of her life before her future self was born again, along with Kagame and the rest of Liber8. Kagame talking about Uncle Julian as well as elder Alec referring to Emily gives some indication of how those absent characters ended up, but what was the fate of Brad and Zorin? How did Curtis fare after his mission for the Traveler ended? Perhaps a Continuum movie or spinoff is in order!

If you’d like to share your theories or thoughts about the series finale, join me and Dave over at http://continuumpodcast.com for our last hurrah discussion Continuum! We’ll also be chatting with showrunner, Simon Barry, live on Blab on Monday at 7:30 ET. Come say farewell to this great series with your fellow fans!