S02: E01->E10: The Whole Achaian Enchilada

[shrewd.buddha]

Here's a place to discuss all of Season 2.  
No need for separate episode topics, due to apparent lack of interest .. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Let's keep it for viewers that have already seen the entirety of the season so everything doesn't have to go into spoiler tags.

[Melina22]

It's a shame this thread wasn't busier. This show is the perfect snark vehicle 😁

[DoctorAtomic]

I liked the season overall. They jammed in a lot. I thought some of the episodes could have used some breathing room. They did good on not over doing the sci fi and leaning too hard into the technobabble. I thought the finale was a little rushed. 

[Melina22]

I definitely preferred this season to season one. Still, there were so many things about it that I found ridiculous or snark worthy. That said, I watched the entire season over several days, so obviously I found it watchable and entertaining on some level. 

I like how the ending was a good series finale, while leaving lots of room for the series to continue as a very Star Trekky space exploration series if needed. 

I have to admit I never warmed to the husband, even though I've liked the actor in other roles. I also thought it was funny how one minute the mother is supposed to be this horrible person, the next she swoops in and carries off the little daughter, because suddenly she's a caring and good person apparently - freeing up the writers to not have to keep putting the little girl in scenes. I was okay with that. 😁

Even though this wasn't great sci-fi, IMHO, I enjoyed seeing 3 alums from my actual favourite sci-fi series, BSG, all together again. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I'd give it a B, and I would be interested in checking out a third season if it was like maybe the Salvare contacting the other races to consolidate against the Achaia. I can't imagine they're going quietly. Or finding the Achaian homeworld. 

The mother was basically a plot device for the kid, but that's fine. It was silly that both these career driven people had the time to think about raising a child. 

I liked the larger picture, and I like that the narration was unreliable. The Achaia said that the Zakir destroyed themselves. Yes, but it was because of you bringing the artifact there. 

Why was the other race tracking the artifacts? Are they in a larger war with them? Or just there? I liked at the end that Nike v/o-ed - there's tons of life out there. I forgot what the theory is called, but it's either we're totally alone or there's trillions of life out there. We're just not looking in the right place. 

I don't mind, but I don't quite get the objectives here. Do the Achaia ask each race to stay in their own solar systems? Given the level of technology advancement, I would think installing the spiders in everyone would just turn earth in to one huge manufacturing plant for the Achaia. Again to what end? 

I kind of laughed when they were speculating that the 'Achaian' maybe weren't the actual ones, and they just sent AI out into the galaxy. Which totally makes sense too. They left a lot of good ideas on the table that could be picked up on later. 

I would have liked a little more development on the underground resistance movement, but they were basically a plot device. 

[shrewd.buddha]

Finished episode #3 last night .. so avoid reading if you are not that far yet .. 

The actress playing the uptight mother/mother-in-law is getting a lot of screen time. 
I suppose the 'simulations' save a lot on FX budgets - - which appear to be pretty low for this season.  They still seem to be doing a decent job.  The pitch-black interior of the Achaia ship actually works, in a way. 

It appears TPTB are saving money by not having much of a research station studying the Achaia artifact on Earth.  The husband guy is 'working' at the kitchen table on a laptop.  Also: probably not a good sign that I am this far into the show and can't ever remember Husband-guy's name. 

When the platinum-dye-job, 2nd-in-command  character left the ship to help Niko, it felt like dereliction of duty to me.  Didn't they just say "the mission comes first" a bunch of times in the last episode? (Also, how do you maintain a dye job on a multi-year space mission?)
 I had no issue with the 3rd-in-command, soldier-guy character  deciding to do things his way, despite the AI's whining about "that's not what Niko would do". 
If the A.I.'s on this show are any indication of what they might be like in our future, we are certainly doomed.. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by shrewd.buddha

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, shrewd.buddha said:

The husband guy is 'working' at the kitchen table on a laptop. 

He wasn't actually working though. He was on the DL to test the DNA from the ring to see if it was really Niko's ring. He's not going to let that intelligence quite be so widespread. He only said that to dismiss the mother in law. 

[shrewd.buddha]

Episode #4:  My AI has an AI in it .. : 
  It was interesting that AI:William was built from a faulty AI:Gabriel (?).  But seriously, these A.I.'s are out of control. How could the space program have decided that it was a good idea for them to have so much control of the ship? And the AI's are way too emotional. 
AI:Iara still is obsessed with that time she was 'tortured' by her slow internet speed.  She is already more paranoid than Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Episode #5:  Humans ruin everything they colonize, including space.:
The Paula the Explorer character seemed nice at first,  but took a heel turn pretty quickly.  It's difficult to believe that she could out-program AI:William to force Niko to allow the colonists to return to the planet  ... to continue their genocide of the local primitives. 
Why can't Niko put the crew members who are problematic back into hyper-sleep? 
And Niko is sad that AI:William is not the same as he was --- except that he really seems pretty much the same. They are not making any  of his differences stand out.

Episode #6: Why would the US government allow the Alien-implanted ambassador to kill other humans?
They are doing a pretty good job of showing how contact with a not-exactly-nice alien race could lead to a civil war.  There would be crazy conspiracy theorists on every side -- and they would all be partially legit.  The government is keeping secrets, the Achaians are keeping secrets, and the returning Salvare crew are keeping secrets.  Most likely there would already be rioting in the streets. 

[DoctorAtomic]

17 minutes ago, shrewd.buddha said:

AI:Iara still is obsessed with that time she was 'tortured' by her slow internet speed.

Ah, brilliant. She should have shrieked in 'modem'. 

I actually think once you wake up from soma, then that's it. They woke everyone up because they hastily surveyed the planet and were stuck when it showed that there was life there. Niko and Cas were talking about 24 more people to feed. 

I don't know why if the Salvare was carrying colonization crew that they wouldn't have better equipment to survey for intelligent life even from low orbit. It can't be that hard. 

[iMonrey]

I'd say this season was a modest improvement over the first, but that's not saying much. They had yet another episode wasted on what was mostly a hallucination and that just felt like pointless filler. If you only have enough story for nine episodes, then just make nine episodes. 

I'm not a big fan of non-corporeal entities communicating through hallucinated memories of loved ones. For one thing, it's been done, and it feels derivative. It also smacks of cost-savings.

For another thing, it creates a larger problem in this specific premise. If the Achaians are so advanced they are able to reach into our memories and make us see whatever they want us to see, and do whatever they want us to do, then they have already won the war. They don't need the further intrusion of installing some kind of spider-like hardware onto our brains. There were a lot of things that didn't really make sense in this story but that was one that really stuck out to me.

There were a lot of ideas introduced and then never fully explored, like the aliens that captured Niko and  Richard, and the natives on the colony planet. They also made short work of a lot of the first season cast, presumably to make room for new characters, but I was fine with that because I honestly didn't remember most of them.

The way Niko insisted on being a martyr at the end really annoyed me because it felt stilted and tropey. Cas was the logical choice for the mission but the show can't have a supporting character stealing the spotlight from the star. 

I doubt very much there will be another season, the reviews for this are awful. I'm frankly surprised it even got a second season, but maybe that was the original deal.

[shrewd.buddha]

Episode #7: It was all a bad dream because you had a bad enchilada  air. 
Why is Niko going on and on about running out of air in a ship that looks as big as a football field.  They have AI's but they don't have air scrubbers/filters? And who thought it was a good idea to run around the ship with automatic guns?  Bullets and spaceships don't go together. 

Episode #8: All aliens are assholes
At this point, Earthlings have not met any E.T. type friendly aliens.  That's the takeaway, I think.
Luckily for Nick and Richard, there is only one alien running the giant spaceship.  They also lucked out that all the controls were so user-friendly that they could regrow Richard's arm, fly the ship and engage the FTL system.  
I did appreciate, later, that finding Paula-the-genocide-Explorer dying on the other ship was a good plot move:  If they didn't know that the colony was destroyed, that was probably where they should have logically gone with their new spaceship. 
But it kind of sucks that 24 colonists were tortured and killed and that whole thing was treated as a afterthought. 

Edited November 11, 2021 by shrewd.buddha

[shrewd.buddha]

Episode #9:  Everybody's back on Earth..
  I realize that they wanted Niko and the others to be outside to see the Salvare ship apparently explode,  but it was clumsily played.  Niko and the others run outside the tent and start yelling into the sky to Erik, as if they could get better reception there. That was just silly. 

AI:William's creator/programmer had an odd turn when William was going to take over Erik's body via the implant.  Up to that point, she was totally okay with all of the Achaian killing of humans, soldiers, etc. At what point did the US military turn power over to the Achaians?  Did the other countries go along with that?

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't think they 'turned power' over per se, but when Seth took the implant, it was basically the US saying they were just going to go along with the Achian plan - clean water and don't leave the solar system. They never said anything about the other countries though. I assume getting the US on board meant that the US was going to put pressure on the other nations, but that's kind of a stretch. 

[shrewd.buddha]

Episode #10: Let's wrap this up and put a bow on it..
Overall, I would say that season 2 was a vast improvement over season 1.
(Remember when they converted the dining area into a disco and had a dance party?). 
I was never bored.  The things happening on Earth were much more interesting in this season.

It was amazing how much Niko and the gang were able to accomplish when given a 24-hour deadline: discovering an Achaian could possess a human without a brain-spider ,  realizing the Achaians might not be biological beings anymore, breaking down Achaian DNA.  Wow.  That was a lot.  And they were taking shuttles to/from the Salvare  like it was an Uber service. 

 

[Ottis]

Annoying there are no episode threads. What’s it cost to create virtual threads?

In midst of ep 5 now. Don’t like anyone they are waking up. Can see the coup coming from the two military buddies. And the leader of the colonists is too young and sassy. And the AI trio drama is annoying. Gabriel is clearly the failed early version, sewing doubts. I assume William will be saved by Lara.

They should be interested in whether the Achia can actually transmit people. Also, aren’t they sending a message to Earth about neutrinos?

UPDATE after finishing ep: Yep.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Ottis

[Ottis]

On 11/3/2021 at 1:39 PM, Melina22 said:

I definitely preferred this season to season one.

My favorite part was how it continued killing off a lot of the annoying 20-something characters. The MTV Real World vibe was the most annoying thing about season 1.

On 11/3/2021 at 2:29 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I kind of laughed when they were speculating that the 'Achaian' maybe weren't the actual ones, and they just sent AI out into the galaxy. Which totally makes sense too.

This is where I landed. The "Achians" we saw weren't the actual Achians, they were their AI creations that then went into the galaxy on a murderous mission. It was a version of "V'ger" from Star Trek.

On 11/9/2021 at 12:18 PM, shrewd.buddha said:

It was interesting that AI:William was built from a faulty AI:Gabriel (?).  But seriously, these A.I.'s are out of control. How could the space program have decided that it was a good idea for them to have so much control of the ship? And the AI's are way too emotional. 

And so if the above reveal on the Archians is correct, here we are looking at humans creating their own AIs, and some of them are ... faulty. So now we have a little Terminator Skynet thing going on.

On 11/11/2021 at 1:58 PM, iMonrey said:

If the Achaians are so advanced they are able to reach into our memories and make us see whatever they want us to see, and do whatever they want us to do, then they have already won the war. They don't need the further intrusion of installing some kind of spider-like hardware onto our brains.

The show hinted that the Archians wanted something more than to fool humans, but I'm not sure what it was beyond the murderous AI mission. On the crashed ship they were fighting over energy sources. Maybe the Archian AI needs humans as a sort of battery source, a la the Matrix?

On 11/11/2021 at 3:48 PM, shrewd.buddha said:

Luckily for Nick and Richard, there is only one alien running the giant spaceship.

I thought this needed more of an explanation. Some of them clearly died, and the ship crashed as part of a fight over energy sources. But did a ship that big start off with a small crew, or was there hand-to-hand fighting, or what?

On 11/11/2021 at 6:16 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

don't think they 'turned power' over per se, but when Seth took the implant, it was basically the US saying they were just going to go along with the Achian plan - clean water and don't leave the solar system. They never said anything about the other countries though. I assume getting the US on board meant that the US was going to put pressure on the other nations, but that's kind of a stretch. 

I believe the guy who was "the president" and said if time ran out they would have to go along with the Achian proposal had a name plate or chron ID that said he was president of more than one country, like "interstellar" or "interplanetary."

On 11/12/2021 at 9:39 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

It was amazing how much Niko and the gang were able to accomplish when given a 24-hour deadline: discovering an Achaian could possess a human without a brain-spider ,  realizing the Achaians might not be biological beings anymore, breaking down Achaian DNA.  Wow.  That was a lot.  And they were taking shuttles to/from the Salvare  like it was an Uber service. 

Maybe the weakest point of all for me was how Niko managed to defeat a much more powerful alien race, when so many other civilizations on other planets (who could open wormholes) couldn't. Niko didn't seem especially talented or gifted or even really strong willed. I liked her, but the show needed to do more with saying who she was and why she could win.

Another Life had its flaws, but I love space shows and I liked its overall feel once the teeny bopper characters were killed. I'd watch another season. Katee was fun as well.

[DoctorAtomic]

2 hours ago, Ottis said:

Maybe the weakest point of all for me was how Niko managed to defeat a much more powerful alien race, when so many other civilizations on other planets (who could open wormholes) couldn't. Niko didn't seem especially talented or gifted or even really strong willed. I liked her, but the show needed to do more with saying who she was and why she could win.

That's kind of scifi 101 - Humans are unpredictable, and advanced alien races are so advanced they forget that humans are 'too stupid' to know better and always win - see Farscape and SG1 where it was explicitly called out. On Babylon 5 'humans always form communities' and always try in the face of failure. That's why the station was critical in the Shadow War. 

To be fair, only Niko and the crew saw the neutrino burst, and the Ach and no one on Earth knew they knew that. That's a huge advantage. 

[Ottis]

4 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

That's kind of scifi 101 - Humans are unpredictable, and advanced alien races are so advanced they forget that humans are 'too stupid' to know better and always win - see Farscape and SG1 where it was explicitly called out. On Babylon 5 'humans always form communities' and always try in the face of failure. That's why the station was critical in the Shadow War. 

To be fair, only Niko and the crew saw the neutrino burst, and the Ach and no one on Earth knew they knew that. That's a huge advantage. 

That's the point...  without a reason, it was cliche.