Reviews

Continuum: Second Guess, Review

Some disturbing brushes with drug abuse and mental illness set the stage for more paradoxes. Throw in the usual concerns about surveillance and the invasion of privacy, and Continuum continues to impress!

By Jen Johnson | August 17, 2013 | | 0

In tonight’s episode, a series of cyber-crimes are linked to Liber8! Really? What a shock, since Liber8 is behind pretty much everything criminal in 2013’s Toronto, fragmented or not. The more I think about it, though, if everyone from 2077 was supposed to travel back in time, what do Sonia, Garza, Travis, and Lucas become as the years go by? Sonia headed a huge super soldier program, which is how she met Travis. Garza was sent by future Alec to kill past Alec, but she didn’t. What’s part of the plan and what isn’t? I don’t know. There are only a few episodes left in the season, and I have no idea what the hell is going to happen.

Oh, and on a side note, the more I thought about Lucas’s little pill addiction, I realized that since he was seeing Chen and Kagame and hearing their voices, he must be taking Flash (which was featured several shows ago). Sorry. I see someone popping little white pills and I think opiate high. Flash makes a little more sense, since it makes you revisit your past. Got it. Sonia gets more concerned, since Lucas started the massive hack into people’s e-mails and has created mass hysteria in the city. He also keeps looking off to the side. And seeing Kagame. And talking to him. Yeah, Lucas is losing it. I can see him becoming a casualty pretty soon…like Alec’s girlfriend, but I’ll get to that later. Things get ugly pretty quickly. The hacks create chaos. The city goes under martial law, arresting people for the smallest infractions. Betty gets uncomfortable, claiming that “the line gets fuzzy.” However, the police chief seems to want to take any measures necessary to get what they need. Indeed, the lines have been getting more and more fuzzy this season, but it seems, sadly, that the good guys are starting to stoop to the level of the terrorists they’re trying to stop. (cough…Patriot Act? cough, cough) Oh, and when Kiera is asked, she admits she hasn’t seen Agent Gardner for weeks. WEEKS. It’s been three episodes and it’s finally sort of getting addressed. I was starting to wonder, but we still don’t know anymore about the body snatchers who killed him. Mayoral candidate Martin is feeling pressure from both sides of Liber8. Sonia and Travis both threaten to kill him more slowly and painfully than the last mayor (who just took a bullet to the head). Julian presents a video claiming to know of the hacking, then turns himself in to the police, but…ok, I’m officially confused. There are cameras everywhere, that much I know. Constant invasion of privacy, I get it, but the cameras are on public streets, not in everyone’s e-mails. Unless, of course, that’s the point: Even e-mails can become public. More importantly, who is Mr. (Stan) Escher? Turns out he is interested in antimatter, that could be used to…hmm…power a time machine? Kellogg is able to find Escher through Alec. In a game of verbal chicken, it seems that Kellogg loses, so he goes to Sonia. He then gets a visit from Kiera and proceeds to convey his thoughts about Lucas losing it. Escher seems to be the biggest threat to Liber8, but thinking about why and how for so long is making my brain hurt. Potential mayor Martin calls Sonia pretending she will be meeting Julian, but instead she will end up seeing Travis. In the meantime, Alec disguises his voice to call and meet up with Lucas. Deception all around! The ARC program is a double edged sword, allowing transparency while protecting privacy from the government? I was all for a show that pushed ethical boundaries, but I just don’t know what’s right anymore. But then, even straight laced Carlos turns a blind eye so that Kiera can take the missing pieces of the time travel device after Lucas’s arrest. Right on, brother!!! When I saw the wedges, I inhaled so hard I might have to take an allergy pill before I can go to sleep.Jim Martin is now the target of both Sonia and Travis, since he tried to set them BOTH up. So yay, they’re back together, but things will not fare so well for Martin. Julian is the mastermind behind the attacks, controlling Lucas, who appears to him as Kagame. Martin wins the election. Emily pretends to destroy ARC, but doesn’t. Kiera brings Alec the time travel device, putting in the missing wedge. And in the final, most disturbing scene, Lucas ends up in a psych ward full of Kagames. Eek!Final review: I like this show. I do. But things are getting harder and harder to keep track of. There are so many betrayals and backstabbings and turns of coat that it’s hard to see what the end result will be. Maybe that’s the point: The future is unknown, uncertain. Even a time traveler can’t determine what the future will be, even if they’ve seen it with their own eyes. If Simon Barry’s goal is to keep us in the dark until the very last minute of the very last episode, it makes total sense to me.Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!

Rating: