Continuum: Waning Minutes Review
Kiera isn't asleep anymore and her new outlook may be a turing point for Continuum moving forward. Here's our review.
I have the feeling we will look back on this episode and say to ourselves, “This is when it happened. This is when Kiera became the hero of Continuum again.” As I was saying last week, the show had reached a threshold where Liber8 could not possibly gain more audience sympathy.
And then Kiera awakened.
When she told Katherine, “I’m saying I’m not asleep anymore,” Kiera might as well have held up her hand and casually said, “No,” to a phalanx of bullets a la Neo in The Matrix. Inside, I exalted.
But then I thought, “Why now?” It seemed that her epiphany sprung from a number of stimuli. Yes, Chen’s chiding and Jaworski’s preserved corpse reminded her of her time with the Gleaners, but let’s not forget her CMR has been disconnected from Alec’s Sadtech servers for some time now. If we are to believe Sonya that the CPS chip has influenced Kiera’s thoughts and feelings over the years, then perhaps this small vacation from cyborg-dom has roused her from her slumber. Kiera can now see the enormity of her betrayal of Alec, the injustice of her future, and the futility of the Freelancers’ mission. At least I hope that’s the case.
Don’t get me wrong; I can understand the appeal of living among the Gleaners, but the truth is they’re fence-sitters. I’m sure most viewers, like me, were appalled at the “maximum response” that Elder Alec rained down upon the farming community, and we can’t help but question Kagame’s motivations in causing the strike by announcing his presence with the bloody apple. Whether he sought merely to recruit Sonya to the Liber8 cause or send a message to the populace that they must pick a side, Kagame is truly a monster.
I can’t help but wonder if the Sonya of today knows how she was manipulated back then. Her devotion to Kagame never wavered in season 1 and only went briefly off-track in season 2. Kagame’s statement that Sonya “will heal us all” may be quite prophetic if the strength of her leadership this season somehow meets Kiera’s newfound clarity. Is there another team-up in the show’s future like the one we saw with Kiera and Garza? Will #Kierza be joined by #Kiernya among Twitter shippers?
This pivotal episode was strategically placed, and thankfully I didn’t find myself chomping at the bit to get back to Piron Alec’s rise to power, Dillon’s Liber8 infiltration plan, or several other characters’ personal misfortunes (Betty, Carlos, Kellog – take your pick). Kiera’s changed outlook, though, should bring a whole new perspective to these other story arcs, and I am optimistic for an amazing payoff to what I think will be a turning point in, not just this season, but the whole series.
Continuum has never been about Hollywood endings, so we don’t need Kiera to “win” anything per se. But it IS time for her to start kicking some moral ass.
Want more Continuum discussion? Join me and Dave over at continuumpodcast.com each week for predictions, nitpicks, and plenty of fan interaction!
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Michael Ahr is a writer and multimedia producer at Den of Geek with a focus on science fiction television. Elsewhere, he teaches video production to high…