Continuum 2.03 "Second Thoughts" REVIEW

Continuum 2.03 "Second Thoughts" TV REVIEW

Episode 2.03
Writer: Sam Egan
Director: William Waring

THE ONE WHERE A drug from 2077 called Flash is flooding the streets of Vancouver, while Sonya deals with a biker gang and Travis goes up against her. In the future, we discover that Flash killed Kiera's sister.

VERDICT Quite a low-key episode this week, although there's a stonking shootout towards the end that seems to last forever and must have left Vancouver with a severe bullet-shortage. Gunplay aside, however, there's still lots to chew on, from the business with Kiera's younger sister Hannah, to Travis's double dealing with the Sons Of Anarchy -style B-story.

Travis is shaping up to be a formidable foe this season – not that he wasn't last year, of course, but now he's gone off on his own he seems to be unstoppable. When he swings by to visit the local gang boss and deposits a bag full of disembodied heads in front of him, he's about as badass as any character in a TV show could ever be. No wonder he ends up uniting both gangs in a show of force (and a solid “Up yours!” to Sonya); we wouldn't have turned him down, either!

Sonya, too, develops a new dimension this episode, turning from a ruthless killer who'll team with anybody to a new Kagame, preaching peace and vowing never to harm people again unless it's entirely necessary. Lucas doesn't look particularly impressed, claiming that it won't work, but we'll see where her new mission takes her.

Finally we have the welcome return of Jason, Kiera's fellow time-traveller with a side-portion of “nuts”. He's very funny in all his scenes, as he was in the show's first season finale, but it's not until he pops up in Alec's Flash-flashback that we get gutpunched with all the force of a donkey kick... because it seems to point to the fact that he's Alec's biological dad! WTF? How is that possible? Well, okay, we understand the birds and the bees and all that, but whoa... time paradoxes ahoy! If this is indeed the case, Alec is suddenly even more special than we thought he was.

DUMMY OF THE WEEK Alec may be special but he can also be incredibly stupid. Who the hell gets into a car with someone who's just taken an experimental, hallucinogenic drug? The guy assures him it makes his focus sharper, but he's also just said that the drug makes you relive old experiences, so how can he do both and drive at the same time? No wonder they crash. Alec, you're a twit. We expected better from you. Go sit on the naughty step.

GROSS-OUT OF THE WEEK When the guy in jail is stabbed towards the end of the episode, the sound effects are absolutely disgusting. Someone really must have gone at it with a knife and a squishy slab of beef to get that to sound so convincing! Now 'scuse me while I throw up...

EVERYBODY LOVES JULIAN First Julian's mum turns up and tells him she understands why he tried to bomb the building; it was to expose a dodgy deal being done by big business. Then he gets a new protector in jail after Travis's departure. Then, as if that's not enough, he gets even more protectors after Travis forms a syndicate. He's got people fighting over him left, right and centre! Can you feel the love in this room?

FRIENDLY INTENTIONS? Kiera is furious to discover that Kellog and Alec are working together, but we have to ask: how much of her annoyance comes from the fact that Alec is her friend and she's worried about him, and how much comes from the fact that she's scared he'll mess up his future and thus destroy hers? We'd guess it's a bit of both, but one must be more prevalent than the other...

TAXI! This fabulous flying taxi in Kiera's future is great. Wonder if it would go south of the river at this time of night?

COOL TECH Kiera figures out who shot who in the aircraft hanger by using her chip to examine the dead bodies and figure out trajectories. She also plants a tracking chip on a car without Carlos seeing her do it. When he asks how she managed it, her deadpan response is hilarious: “I give away all my secrets, I lose my mystique.”

HANNAH AND HER SISTER The problem with introducing a character and then killing them off mere moments later is that it's difficult to care much for them. This is true of Hannah. No matter how well Rachel Nichols weeps after watching her jump to her death. It seems a real shame that we don't learn more, spend more time with her and then feel the impact of her death.

CHEEKY CHAPPIE Kellog's getting more and more likeable each week – we don't trust him, of course, but he's relentlessly charming. And the way he greets Alec in the hospital by hijacking a wheelchair is more amusing than it really should be.

BEST LINES
Jason: “I'm looking for Kiera, police person, very attractive.”

Or…

Kiera: “What do you know about Flash?”
Kellog: “Grandmaster, right? Hip hop icon, invented the cross fader... I used the Google.”

Jayne Nelson

Continuum will air on Syfy at 10pm on Thursdays from 23 May

• Read our Continuum season two reviews
• Check out the new SFX TV Reviews Index