In this episode of Continuum, Dillon was held captive at the TV station by Travis, while Garza infiltrated a weapons company that seems to hold powerful secrets. Meanwhile, Keira and Carlos worked to free the hostages and made progress in resolving their ongoing issues. There wasn't quite enough of the two Alecs this week, but what little we got was very intriguing! Let's discuss.
We got a lot of insight into Travis' backstory as flashbacks to his life in the future revealed that he sacrificed himself to the Corporate Congress to protect his family. As sympathetic as his actions in that time made him, Travis' ruthless, violent methods in the present continue to make him a complicated character doing the wrong things with a lot of the right on his side philosophically. I can't ever seem to get myself to care about Dillon or particularly like him; he always seems like he's just going to take the most convenient route for his own shifting agenda. But at least the increased focus on Dillon in this episode opened up a more nuanced view of his character, as he arrested his daughter for Liber8 activities and then helped her go undercover with the terrorists to support his attempts to defeat them. His willingness to place his daughter in harm's way is either brave or selfish, or rather inscrutably torn between the two extremes. This was nicely reflected by his harsh response to Keira's attempt to console him at the end of the episode. "What do you know about it?" he snipped, showing that he's hardly insensible of the consequences of his own choices, maintaining his facade of enmity with his daughter while revealing his unhappiness at putting her at risk. Between Travis and Dillon, the concept of moral ambiguity and inconsistency was well-canvassed indeed.
Carlos and Keira worked together really well this week, as he played the Reginald VelJohnson role in Die Hard with her going into the fray, assisted by her awesome future suit. The sequence of Keira kicking ass while invisible was one of the best action scenes this season. She got a call from Past Alec while she was trying to diffuse a bomb and mistakingly assumed it was Future/Scar Alec contacting her. This led to Past Alec figuring out that Keira knew about his future counterpart all along and had lied by omission about it. Sorry, Past Alec, but I have little sympathy for you because you show no understanding for the good intentions of others when they have to make tough calls. Between Emily, Keira, and Kellog, it seems like Past Alec just wants to cut away everyone that reminds him of his life before running Piron. These people don't fit into the new vision of life he has for himself, so he just crudely rejects them under the auspices of feeling betrayed or protecting himself. Well, Past Alec did apparently help Keira to cut the right wire and neutralize the bomb, so thankfully, he's not all bad just yet.
As for Future Alec, he and Emily are now officially in trouble with Past Alec cutting off all of their financial resources. We didn't see much of the couple this week and I would actually have preferred more of them in the episode.
Chen came to Keira with a proposal of "partnership" that sounded very sketchy. She went to Catherine with the information, and the Freelancer's leader seemed uncertain as to Chen's motives. The Freelancers seem like a factitious bunch for a group with such power.
Speaking of non-relationships, Past Alec gave the business boot to Kellog, who was irked to again get screwed out of the plan he's had all along to capitalize on his access to Alec Sadler back in the day. Kellog is frustrated, but it's hard to know what he can really do with regard to this aside from dropping ominous hints about Emily (neither Alec knows that she killed their father, Escher). I would also like to see more of Kellog this season, and hopefully we will soon. After all, Kellog steals pretty much every scene he is in by throwing out for-the-win quips like "my vision's 20/20, even when I'm seeing double."
What did you think of this episode? Share your thoughts in the comments!
