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Dark Matter - Pilot - Review: "6 Characters in Search of a Plot Twist"

Jun 13, 2015

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Conceptually, Dark Matter is ideal pilot material: 6 attractive people wake up with as much knowledge about themselves as the audience has, so zilch. From there we learn together through their actions who these people are. This is the stuff of absurdist drama really, questions of identity and moral theory, though such questions take a firm backseat to the space shenanigans we’d expect from a SyFy space opera. This isn’t to say Dark Matter isn’t worth watching; in fact it’s pretty a fun ride.

The series opens to near-pitch black, a lens-flared star in the distance, pushing in on a motionless ship in the middle of nowhere, and it’s not looking good inside. Sparks are flying, emergency lights are on, and life support is at 15%. This is the world we blink into along with “One”, a handsome fella with perfect good-guy jaw who trips out of a steaming pod into the chaos. Running aimlessly through live wires barefoot (!), he finds a control panel and pokes at the touch screen as dumbfounded as a senior citizen holding his first iPhone (same, buddy).

 A figure rises behind him, and lo we have our first ass-kicking. Said figure takes One down without much trouble and makes her way to the control panel to... restore life support? Maybe you guys should ask questions before the punch throwing, eh? But in that, we have our first quick glimpse into the nature of these characters. On that note, a bulky shadow who is more guns than man appears backlit in the doorway and demands, “Who are you?” to which they answer simultaneously, “I don’t know.” NO ONE KNOWS, now it’s a party.

Their numbers grow as they walk about the ship shoeless and de-pod the rest of the crew, the last of whom amusingly just freezes in the pod for an extra moment like, “Um no thanks, strangers, I’m good in here.” The crew deduces they are on a ghost ship and must have been in stasis for a long journey, probably to deliver the massive amount of weaponry they find on board. Unfortunately, no one has much of idea as to how they’ve lost their memories. They’ve conveniently named each other in order of appearance, though we all learn this is not to last the pilot. Three is a puncher, clearly, itching for a fight. The dominant woman who restored life support is Two, of course. Number Four is a quiet, stone-faced young man, Five, a pattern-mixing young girl with bright hair, and Six is a brawny bear of a guy affectionately nick-named “Tiny”. The crew breaks into pairs to explore the ship.

Numbers Three and Six, the most macho, discuss who should be in charge (“You could be second in command!” aka alpha male shade being thrown) as they discover a small shuttle on board. Meanwhile, beta males One and Four wonder how long they’ve been hibernating (How hungry are you? Do you have to pee? I would probably not be useful in space) and chat about their memory loss, defining for the audience exactly what they can and can’t remember. It’s noted that Two “just knew” how to restore life support when standing over the controls, One knows what a pod is and how to, like, button a shirt but not his own name; no one on board has retained any episodic memory of their own existence. To further illustrate this notion, Four happens upon a room filled with swords he is apparently very comfortable handling (and jumps from 0 to very sexy with the terrifying flick of a wrist, might I add).

The crew’s search and inventory leads to the most useful, but inherently dangerous find yet: a scary robot lady in a touch-activated pod. The Android (she has no personal designation) emerges and efficiently stomps the guys out in a pretty stellar fight scene, hilariously intercut with Two declaring that a “security protocol” has been activated. Honestly though, I was partly cheering the Android on, assuming she was on some level kicking 3’s ass for calling her “sweetcakes”.

 Around this point the episode starts to lose momentum, getting a little muddled with so many potential clues and loose threads to pull. The Android is very cool, gamely toeing the uncanny valley line, but as the crew reigns her in she ultimately becomes an exposition bot for the rest of the episode, pointing the crew to the ship’s original destination: a small planet not too far away. It’s suggested there might be a mole on board, perhaps one of the six sabotaged the ships data storage before whatever happened that caused the memory loss, and everyone’s wheels continue to spin; another puzzle piece to process. Without much else to do, everyone hunkers down and hopes to find answers when they land.

There are some nice character-building moments as they try to rest, echoing each person’s unique approach to deciphering their lost identities. One pokes through his things, stuck on his own unfamiliar reflection in a shiny mug, and finds a very deco pendant under his pillow. Four works at a Japanese puzzle box he’s found on board. Five has hit her head and should probably seek medical attention? That is not great for you. She does seem to recall the giant mysterious door that Three is concurrently discovering for himself. Thar be secrets, apparently, which Three unsurprisingly tries to shoot out, to no avail.

 As the final act begins and the crew prepares to land, we lose some of the claustrophobic tension that was driving the episode. Of course, it’s not a Sarte play, we have to get off the ship eventually, but we end up landing on a poor mining planet colonized by village people clichés (not the fun roller-disco kind, either). The villagers’ sob story boils down to an impending slaughter by urban legend, a race of alien/lizard/chupacabras called the “Raza” sent to eliminate all life from the planet so it can be commandeered by the ominous “Multicorps”. The villagers are expecting a relief shuttle with weapons any time now, a teenager there even has a cute deco pendant identical to the piece One found under his pillow! They all share knowing looks: obviously, they are the cavalry.

 The crew each reacts to this news earnestly, and the raw wound that is their burgeoning, toddler morality puts them in firm disagreement on what to do next. One is aghast that anyone would even consider leaving these kind people to certain death, though Four astutely points out that the battle cannot be won even if they stay to help, so why stay at all. Three was ready to bounce five minutes into the conversation on planetary mining. It comes down to a vote: One, Five, and Six against Three and Four, with Two left to break the tie. She splits the baby, keeping half the weapons on the ship to sell later and releasing the other half (and a fighting chance) to the miners.

 As the crew transfers the weapons to the miners, their first ethical decision put into action, they are called up the ship. The Android has uncovered a cash of corrupted files… on the crew! Finally, some answers, probably good news, guys, amirite? I mean, they just did a nice thing and gave perfectly sellable weapons to those in need and- oh crap, they have been wanted criminals this whole time. The Raza isn’t a race of evil space dementors, it’s the NAME OF THE SHIP. Yes, the numbers have names now, and history, and extensive rap sheets to boot; careful what wish for, amnesiacs!

 For the record:

 Three (Anthony Lemke) = Marcus Boone: murder, assault, kidnapping, piracy

 Six (Roger R. Cross) = Griffin Jones: murder, assault, smuggling

 One (Marc Bendavid) = Jace Corso: murder, assault, kidnapping, trafficking, theft

 Four (Alex Mallari Jr.) = Ryo Tetsudo: murder, assault, piracy

 Two (Melissa O'Neil) = Portia Lin: murder, assault, arson, theft, piracy

The big twist is handled well. It’s not an absolute shock, but the information is dropped at just the right time to have some impact for the characters (Six/Griffin seems genuinely hurt to discover he’s a murderer). I had actually gotten fairly comfortable calling them by number, so I do hope it sticks around to some extent, even I can see why they’d shy away from it, as Battlestar Galactica did plant the flag on long-term numbered characters. In that vein, Dark Matter assumes its audience is fairly genre-savvy, or that we’ve at least seen a handful of Stargate episodes, and it has some fun playing with those expectations. It fails, however, in building a story big enough to match the philosophical weight of the concept, but there may be enough to form a solid foundation.

The actors do seem to be having a good time with the premise, though it’s easy to get lost in sci-fi clichés when you have no backstory to work with. They are overall very likeable, bringing enough nuance to their roles to keep things interesting. That being said, Three/Marcus is particularly obvious as a poor man’s Jayne Cobb, which fell flat for me in spite of a few good zingers. Alternately, Zoie Palmer stands out as the icy Android, the ultimate blank slate: devoid of personality beyond programming, but also mysterious and somehow a little snarky.

 A premise like this is an expository best case scenario, often used in a bottle episode of an established show, so we can contrast the characters we know and love with their alter-egos, but for Dark Matter it provides fundamental, establishing moments for these nameless people. As Two/Portia constantly implores the Android to “show her”, the premiere searches for interesting ways to reveal information. Even as they learn who they were, who they will become is still in the air. Like the crew, we’ll just have to find out as events unfold.

 Post Script:

Five (Jodelle Ferland) is a particularly intriguing little bug. She seems to have earned an A+ in scary high school assassin biology, reconstructed that glowing handheld foosball table (Sorry, what was that thing? I’d definitely not be useful in space)… Also she has other people’s memories of tearing someone’s eyes out?? Can’t wait to see her rap sheet.


Two/Portia trolling One/Jace in his briefs = thumbs up

Six/Griffin seems to recognize what a “Marauder” class shuttle is? I may be reading into that though, he’s possible just reacting to what a cool name “Marauder” is.

No one on the mining planet asked for names?

“I vote against her voting.”

They have their names, but how long before they get their memories back? How will this affect who they’ve become in the meantime?


What did you think of the Dark Matter series premiere? Post your big laughs, eyerolls, and lingering questions below!

About the Author - Lindsey Salazar
Lindsey is an unabashed TV, film, and book nerd who lives and works in Los Angeles. Watch this space!
Recent Reviews (All Reviews)

56 comments:

  1. Congrats on your first post Lindsey, welcome to the team.

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  2. Thanks so much! Happy to be here! :)

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  3. Great review Lindsey! Very good analysis of this amazing episode!

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  4. Thanks Aimee! I can't wait to see where they take this premise.

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  5. I'm excited to watch this show evolve. It has a very strong base to start off on.

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  6. Hi! You know, I realized something. So, you know, apparently THEY are the Raza that was supposed to destroy the coloni for Multicorps, right? They were the bad guys. So... where did the missicles came from? In which universe do the good guys shoot missiles first and ask questions later? That's usually a 'bad guy'' move.

    No, really, beyond all the misteries surrounding this (really amazing cast), I wanna know where the missiles came from, and why!

    Also, I don't feel like using their name. Not yet at least. Those numbers make for much cooler names! :D

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  7. Oh yeah you're right, although the crew were murderers. Right?! using numbers as names is so cool! I mean don't get me wrong i'm glad they didn't keep their identities a secret for an entire season but it's still cool using their number as their names.

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  8. There are so many options for the missile attack. It could be "Hrothgar", the actual person meant to deliver weapons to the miners, it could be countless enemies the crew has made in their time murder/assaulting all those folks. Maybe the Multicorps found out they've been compromised and sent another crew to take them out. Sooo many possibilities...

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  9. When I first saw it it kinda reminded me of Deepwater Black. Everyone wakes up with no memory and yet they all have a skill set. Whilst watching I was wonder about how someone in deep space wakes up and has knowledge of the ship in a basic way and then Four answers it...cool! Then you get the twist at the end, so this is kinda like Blake's 7 and the ship made flesh in the avatar robot. I do hope the ship is a character on it's own as this is a rare thing these days that the ship has its own character (IE Zen). Yes Red Dwarf does it but it's super rare these days.

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  10. Those could all be very plausible, especially the Mulitcorps one, what bothers me though is why aren't they surprised that they're in a SPACEship? not an airplane but a spaceship. A ship that's out in space and meeting aliens, those miners ARE aliens right?

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  11. Not bad for a pilot ep. But I would really like to see some scary aliens introduced to give the show some real edge. I liked the actors, and I liked how, totally without knowing who they were, they gravitated toward doing good, mostly. And when they found out who they were, they wanted to reject the bad. It makes for interesting characters.

    I hope they take alittle time before the crew gets their memories back. The whole dynamic of becoming better people than they might have been is very interesting. Also, it still leaves mystery and the question of if the info they were given was even accurate. We really don't know. Whoever erased and corrupted the files could have really planted anything. Should be fun to discover all the answers as the season goes on.

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  12. Huh you're right, they all gravitated towards good, the only one we should watch out for is Five, we don't know her identity. So you think they WILL get their memories back? Seeing scary looking aliens would run the risk of being hated on by fans though wouldn't it?

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  13. Aliens would make it more interesting. I think eventually, they will get some memories back, but by then, they will be very different people from who they were.

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  14. It's a sci-fi show, those things are common in that time! One were all like ''yeah, I know what a pod is'', Two was super-skilled with the main computer the second she woke up, that kind of stuff.

    My point is, this show is clearly set in a world where spaceships is just as common as planes are in the real world. So it would make sense that the knowledge they managed to keep despite the memory loss are relevant to their world, not ours.

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  15. Thanks for the review. I loved the pilot, there wasn't a single thing in it I didn't like. For some reason I prefer calling them by their numbers, I memorised who was who pretty quickly. I loved all the characters, they were great. All the mystery the show has certainly kept my eyes glued to the screen and wanting more by the time the episode finished. I think the twist of them being wanted criminals will just be the first of many, can't wait to see more of this show.

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  16. I liked it. It wasn't great and it needs more meat to it but it was just a pilot, establishing itself, so I'll give it a break.

    I'm kind of wondering if Five is some kind of stowaway and is the cause of the crews' amnesia.

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  17. Well if the sneak peek is any indication they'll want to be called by their numbers and not their real names, Two at the least.

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  18. I saw that too, it will be weird if they keep it like that though, introducing themselves to people as numbers lol, not that I'd have a problem with it though.

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  19. Hey they're in space, people have weird names. I mean "Hrothgar", "Nass" (i think, i don't remember if that's the girl's name or her Dad's i'm guessing) those ain't Earth names LOL. So having number for names could a quirk to people right? heh

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  20. Lol true, just no surnames then!

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  21. I was just rewatching the episode, and I noticed this: You know THAT scene where Five talks about brain tumor and effective kill strikes, while simultaneously working on some weird panel? Well, basically 2 minutes after she finish working on it, that's when the missiles happened! Maybe there's a link there? Maybe the panel is some kind of tracking device?

    Or maybe not. Who knows? :p

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  22. Well that's coincidence right?

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  23. Already changed your avatar huh? LOL

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  24. Lol yup, I usually change it depending on whatever show I'm loving at the moment. The one I had before this one is like my default one.

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  25. Ack, my mistake it was One who said it's weird how they know stuff like talking and what things are on the ship. Four doesn't speak much.

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  26. One is the only one with kidnapping on his record and Five doesn't seem to have a rap sheet. How much do you want to bet One is wanted for Five's kidnapping?

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  27. Bad guys make enemies among other bad guys. At some point, they must have pissed off people enough that now a good number of them wants them dead

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  28. actually I thought the people shooting at them probably found them trhough the distress signal the ship was prodcasting. whoever left them locked up after taking their memories probably meant for them to be vulnerable long enough to be blown out of the sky. That way their deaths could never be traced back to them.

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  29. I guess it's common knowledge. The same type of memories that makes them able to talk, botton a shirt and know that weapons sell well on the black market.

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  30. You could be right about One and Five. Good theory.

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  31. Thanks for the great review, Lindsey. I loved the pilot and the characters. ( I'm very curious to see whose dream Five was having!)

    I thought it was a great twist at the end. Perhaps the loss of memory will give our crew a chance to redeem themselves. Most seem to have many good qualities. There is definitely a lot of potential here.

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  32. Oh ok yeah that i DO remember that and i liked that because you don't usually hear that in amnesia storylines right? It's usually, "hey no memory but i can still talk and how to move around"

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  33. Love that theory! Although Five does seem like she could be plenty dangerous all by herself, haha.

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  34. Thanks bj! I love the moral/existential questions raised by the idea of memory loss so I hope they really get to explore that as the series goes on.

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  35. This is awesome, great first post Lindsey :)

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  36. This is just a sad re-hash of Firefly. Crazy lady, big guy with guns who doesn't want to help; nothing new. Gun guy actually shot at a door, on a space ship. The room could have been open to space or could have been full of bombs or the location of the ship's AI. Too dumb for words. Of course the Asian guy had to know martial arts. I am not optimistic that this will be any good. Too many cliches and and stereotypes and stolen ideas. I was hoping for more.

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  37. I'm thinking that's why he kidnapped her in the first place. Or maybe she just joined them and because she's a minor they're calling it kidnapping

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  38. Why join criminals and what makes you so sure that One, Two, Three, Four and Six were together?

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  39. NoneofyourbusinessJune 16, 2015 at 3:43 AM

    No, the miners are colonists.

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  40. NoneofyourbusinessJune 16, 2015 at 3:44 AM

    In real life, amnesia usually works that way. People lose personal memories but keep basic knowledge and skills.

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  41. who knows what her home situation was? and just because they were criminals doesn't mean they weren't good people.
    About them being together, well in some interiews, when they talked about the way some characters would gravitate toward each other and the way they would interact, someone said something like "that gives you a real impression of how they must have interacted as a crew before loosing their memories".

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  42. Oh so you're thinking their rap sheets aren't so black and white? Are you going as far as calling them Robin Hoods? You're right about Five, maybe because she has some abilities her parents couldn't handle it and she ran away, interesting comment one of the actors said about the crew.

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  43. NoneofyourbusinessJune 17, 2015 at 2:32 AM

    We can assume they, and the crew, and the corporations, are human for now. The only aliens we heard tell of were a distortion of rumors about the Raza.

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  44. I'm not calling them good guys, I'm just saying we don't know enough about them yet and maybe, comparatively, they were better than whatever her old life offered. I'm really looking foward to Learning about all of their old selves. I know that because their memories were erased, the story will probably be more in the line of some redemption story. But I want to learn about their old selves too

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  45. Except the Raza isn't a race of aliens remember, it's the name of the crew's ship, and okay i guess we can assume that all characters right now are human. Even Five?

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  46. Huh interesting, her old life must've been hell for her to run away. Yeah i'm interested in learning about their old lives. The creator DID say that the show was about redemption for these six characters.

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  47. NoneofyourbusinessJune 17, 2015 at 12:33 PM

    That's what I said. The only aliens we've heard of so far were distorted rumors.

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  48. Whoa you really think so?!

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  49. Cool, so people being able to talk and move around is not just some TV thing?

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  50. NoneofyourbusinessJune 17, 2015 at 1:38 PM

    Correct. Usually it's what's called a fugue state and doesn't last forever, either, but in this case their memories were probably wiped by technology, so it won't be that simple.

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  51. Very interesting, so if they were removed by technology does that mean they will never get them back? Because it seems someone went through an amount of trouble to erase their memories for them to get their memories back.

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  52. NoneofyourbusinessJune 17, 2015 at 3:38 PM

    They'll probably get at least significant amounts of them back eventually, I think, to further the plot. One way or another.

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