S01.E11: Episode Eleven

[formerlyfreedom]

The crew's youngest member and an unexpected surprise turn out to be their best chance in a race against time to retake the ship from a group of ruthless mercenaries hell-bent on delivering them to the Galactic Authority.

[Raja]

It Friday from the promo monkey. Why not just say Two's story or are we actually supposed to believe that they will recast the female lead?

[thuganomics85]

I would think watching an entire planet get blown up would be a huge fucking deal, but that sure was the most understated reactions I've ever seen.  I can understand Android's since she's, well, an Android, but Two really seemed like she was watching a minor car-wreck or something.  More "Ouch, that looks rough" instead of "Holy shit!  That device we gave them just blew up an entire fucking planet!"

 

Anyway, no huge surprise.  Two didn't die do to her badass healing skills, and she basically help save the day, along with an unlikely assist from Five, since the bad guys were foolish enough to underestimate her.  Two even gets her revenge on Weskler, by ending it with blowing him out of the airlock.  I guess it was suppose to be a big deal that she went back on her word, but I was just glad it went against my expectations: I thought for sure she was going to "honor her word", and let him back in, only to shoot him and say something like "I promised I'll let you back in, but I didn't say I wouldn't kill you!"

 

It also turns out that Two is actually a bio-synthetic, so all her nifty healing stuff are actually nanities (seriously, I'm starting to wonder which sci-fi show doesn't have nanities.  They're everywhere!), and she actually shouldn't exist, so she better hope the authorities won't find out.  Raza crew is already starting to be freaked out by it, so I wonder how the whole leader thing is going to work out for her now.

 

All the guys basically hang out in the vault and lose oxygen, but it at least led to the hilarious scene where One tries to give a rousing speech, and no one can barely react.  Well, we also get those One/Five scenes, but I'd rather ignore all that since that was some pretty shitty acting on that front.

 

Also, what did the bad guys do with Android?  I was wondering why Two didn't try to send Five to find and reactivate Android: she might have been helpful in all of this.

 

Two hour finale next week!

[ottoDbusdriver]

It also turns out that Two is actually a bio-synthetic, so all her nifty healing stuff are actually nanities (seriously, I'm starting to wonder which sci-fi show doesn't have nanities.  They're everywhere!), and she actually shouldn't exist, so she better hope the authorities won't find out.  Raza crew is already starting to be freaked out by it, so I wonder how the whole leader thing is going to work out for her now.

 

The bigger questions -- who constructed Two ? And why ? And is there a real Portia Lin out in the galaxy somewhere ?

[wanderingstar]

All the guys basically hang out in the vault and lose oxygen, but it at least led to the hilarious scene where One tries to give a rousing speech, and no one can barely react.

 

I liked Six's reaction "Good speech, though." Ha!

[DEM]

As many of us surmised, Two is a genetically-engineered super-soldier-something.  I read an interview with Mallozzi earlier this week in which he said Two had withheld that information from the crew because she knew it would disrupt crew functioning. True to his word, the guys all got twitchy about it.  But... I don't get that. I don't understand why they all would react that way.  There's an odd sort of "1990's people dropped into 23rd+ (?) century space travel" feel to these characters.

 

I want to go back and review Android's interactions with Two. IIRC, the first indication that Android gave that she knew Two was different was in the "malfunctioning coupling" episode.

 

If Two were fully comfortable with her abilities, she probably could have blasted Baldy before he had a chance to blink. I fear now that we may have to endure Five's angst about taking a life.

[wayne67]

As many of us surmised, Two is a genetically-engineered super-soldier-something.  I read an interview with Mallozzi earlier this week in which he said Two had withheld that information from the crew because she knew it would disrupt crew functioning. True to his word, the guys all got twitchy about it.  But... I don't get that. I don't understand why they all would react that way.  There's an odd sort of "1990's people dropped into 23rd+ (?) century space travel" feel to these characters.

 

Well she withheld her super healing ability for days/weeks? so they haven't really had much time to assimilate the information so I assume they're all in shock that she's a constructed human with super nanites. There is also the fact that she's perfectly fine with murdering people in cold blood, I'd imagine that even without all the high tech bio tech bullshit that's a disquieting factoid for them to process.

 

That said I still haven't decided on why Four killed his former mentor except maybe he wanted to deprive his stepmother of a seasoned veteran general and warrior.

[Human]

I guess Two's lack of emoting is explained?  I assumed it would be some biotech thingamajig, but it's still sort of a let down.  It's annoying the men are freaking out over a little bit of biotech.  I mean Two has already showed a willingness to have sex with an android, basically a blow up doll with a computer chip installed.  It would be nice if they are only upset because she kept info from them after the whole 'spill your secrets' conference.  

 

I'm really confused about how long they all been on the ship together.  Sometimes they make it seem like it was years, but then sometimes it seems like it was merely a day.  Which is it?  

 

 

That said I still haven't decided on why Four killed his former mentor except maybe he wanted to deprive his stepmother of a seasoned veteran general and warrior.

 

I think perhaps that but also the mentor exhibited zero loyalty.  The mentor went so far as to tell Four that he has a debt to repay but he wasn't going to do it.  He wasn't loyal to Four's father, he's not loyal to Four, he's unlikely to be loyal to Four's brother, and Four has reason to think he can be friendly with his brother.  If Four ever wants to return, the mentor is someone who'd need to go right away.  

[sjohnson]

Girls' night out!

 

Das is one of the crew now. 

 

Lin's murder is a huge dramatic choice. Will the series live up to it?

[AudienceofOne]

I enjoyed this episode. Quite a lot actually. It's just a shame that One and Two aren't better actors. If they were, this would have been a really enjoyable hour of television.

[edhopper]

They know one isn't Corso, but do they know who he is? I hope the resolve this three killed one's fiancee plot soon.

And will we find out which one did the mind wipe to them?

[MissLucas]

Good episode - even if they overdid the whole girl-power thing a bit.

 

I get the guys being freaked out by Two. She's not just your standard Android/Sexbot but a piece of far more advanced and illegal technology of unknown origin. I'd say that's reason for some slight concern at least.

 

One's attempt to pull a Mark Antony was hilarious. Less hilarious the whole anvil-dropping when Three talked about the need for revenge while One tried to give him some Blue Steel.

 

The end felt rushed: I would have liked to see Two explaining to the rest of the crew what she is.  And the cut to the planet was very abrupt - for a moment I thought the broadcast had been messed up and we missed a scene. Was the planet inhabited or did it only host some research facility? I'd like to know if mass extinction will now be added to the Raza's rapsheet or not. It would also be easier to gauge reactions if we knew more about what exactly got blown up.

 

Random observation: Where's Red Android?

[arjumand]

I just realized - Two is basically a supercharged Cylon: Now With Extra Nanites!

 

Pity they couldn't put some emotions in there somewhere.

 

NGL, I liked this episode. Though I called bullshit on Five's, "Sure, I'll let them rape me. No problem." They skimmed over that a bit too quickly.

 

I also knew straightaway that Wexler and BrokenNose (no, I can't be bothered to look up the name of a character who might as well have had EVIL tattooed on his forehead) were going to die - they threatened to rape a teenager. That's kind of the moral event horizon right there.

 

One thing I would have changed is the final dialogue between Wexler and Two:

 

Wexler:  "You promised you'd (kill me last) let me go!"

 

Two:       "I LIED!"

 

The ending was pretty rushed though, as many people are saying - I guess they couldn't get Torri Higginson back? I mean, it wasn't clear to me that they delivered to the same company that employed them. Also, the device is a planet-killer. Huh. I don't know if that's satisfying or not. I think I was expecting the box to be bigger, and when they open it, there's another Two inside. Or something like that.

Edited August 22, 2015 by arjumand

[AzureOwl]

The bigger questions -- who constructed Two ? And why ? And is there a real Portia Lin out in the galaxy somewhere ?

 

Considering the fact that the Android made a point of saying that Two was assembled (as opposed to grown) in a lab, I see no reason to assume that whoever engineered her felt the need to base her on an actual person. 

 

The ending was pretty rushed though, as many people are saying - I guess they couldn't get Torri Higginson back? I mean, it wasn't clear to me that they delivered to the same company that employed them. Also, the device is a planet-killer. Huh. I don't know if that's satisfying or not. I think I was expecting the box to be bigger, and when they open it, there's another Two inside. Or something like that.

 

Truffault is a warship commander so it makes sense that she wasn't on the research facility. There really was no need for her to take personal delivery of the device. Besides, they probably want her to be a recurring character, so having her on that planet when it blew up would've been a bad idea. 

 

And it had to be the Mikkei Combine that they were delivering it to. Remember that they have no idea what the device actually was or what it did, so they would have no way of selling it to anyone else. The only options were returning it to Traugott Corp (who would probably shoot them on principle) or tracking down the megacorp Wexler and Co. were trying to sell it too (who just showed they do not want to tangle with the Raza).

 

But I am left wondering about the purpose of the device. Did it blow up the planet because it malfunctioned or was it designed as a planet-killer and worked as it was supposed to? The company they stole it from is the same one responsible for the zombie virus debacle, so they don't exactly have the best industrial safety track record in the galaxy.

 

On the other hand, maybe there was a reason they were working on the device on a space station as opposed to a planet-based facility. Maybe you are not supposed to turn that thing on so close to a planet?

Edited August 22, 2015 by AzureOwl

[Izeinwinter]

Yhea, I'm thinking that the actual inventors had a reason to stick their entire research facility in space. Either going boom was always a possibility, and it was in the middle of nowhere to limit collateral damage or it just does not like gravity even a little bit.

[shapeshifter]

So many questions that will likely never be answered.

--including: Which Stargate episode originally used that exploding planet CGI? I think Teal'c was escaping from it in a Glider.

Maybe this one?: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_(Stargate_SG-1)

Can they legally do that (reuse special effects)?

I did chuckle when oxygen-deprived One got to the point in his soliquy in which he declared they would show the bad guys what the "men" of the Raza were capable of, and then the scene changes to the women of the Raza taking out trained assassins on board the Raza.

So does this now mean that Five can't be Two's sister? Maybe Five was born by budding off of One, and if Wexler had cut off a finger she would've grown a new one.

In an episode that reveals the super healing abilities of one member to be due to bioengineering, they really shouldn't have had the bad guy keep hitting One in the face only to have him look perfectly fine later save a little ketchup on his nose.

[tennisgurl]

I can get behind Two running around doing her Die Hard thing while the guys just laugh their heads off at One`s well- intentioned doofyness. So good episode in my book. 

[zxy556575]

I liked this episode a lot but am wondering who's in charge of corpse cleanup on the Raza. Also exactly how those soldiers were so readily dispatched when they were wearing full body armor. Didn't seem like the bullets did much damage, but whatever. It was still fun to watch Two have at them.

 

Was Two's story about disabling the coupling true? I assume it was because the thing was broken, but she seemed pretty frozen stiff when she first got back in the airlock. At least she finally took the bandage off.

 

It was my impression that blowing up the planet was not the intended consequence ... or at least the scientists who activated it weren't aware that it would do that.

[Donny Ketchum]

So the boys pretty much laze around due to hypoxia while the girls kick ass and take names?  My kind of episode!:)

[call me ishmael]

I thought this was a surprisingly good episode. Lots of good action, tension, and humor. Although you had ro know that Two was going to send that guy off into space.

But i also thought that it reinforced one of the problems with the way the show has unfolded. Wexler's crew was in reality what people THINK the Raza crew is (super tough and vicious mercenaries--the woman lasted longer against 2 than did the soldiers in body suits). But as we have learned about all the backstories it is hard to believe that the Raza crew was ever like that--unless the real Corso and the pre-stasis Two were forcing them to behave that way. For all of their tough guy acts 3,4, and 6 just don't have callous mercenary written all over them.

On the other hand, corso did. And now we get the possibility that Original Two might have. Personally, i can't say there was any reason for her to let him go and they couldn't exactly get a reward for Wexler. So in that situation letting him live might be dangerous. But it is possible that whereas all the other crew members are trying to be more unfeeling than they were, maybe Two was rying to be more feeling. I wonder if she wiped their memories because they discovered who/what she is.

[ottoDbusdriver]

But it is possible that whereas all the other crew members are trying to be more unfeeling than they were, maybe Two was rying to be more feeling. I wonder if she wiped their memories because they discovered who/what she is.

 

That's an intriguing premise.

 

Was Two constructed as a mature adult ?  If so, were her original memories for command implanted since she seems to remember a lot of stuff that someone with years of experience would have ? And because she has nanites that repair her, did she ever lose those memories in the first place ?

[DEM]

And because she has nanites that repair her, did she ever lose those memories in the first place ?

 

This is the question I've had ever since we learned she had super-healing.  The rules for the amnesia are a bit dodgy, but as we saw in the "dream" episode, memory is still a neurological process in this universe. Thus their amnesia is fundamentally a result of neurological trauma.  Therefore I don't understand how Two could have been affected.  OTOH, she doesn't seem to be faking it.

[Mars477]

Holy Christ, who was the stunt coordinator on this episode?  The direction and choreography was just comically awful.  The girl fight was perhaps par for the course poor action choreography and directing, but the fight against the clamshell armored soldiers was atrocious.  Hell, the director apparently forgot that Two was fighting three enemies, since the third just kind of disappears in between cuts.

 

That said, actively pathetic hypoxic One is actually kind of endearing? 

 

Also, how did Two get back into the ship?  She was ejected out of the airlock without a means of propulsion in space.  Also, the show apparently know one of the big rules about space: no vessel or body is ever at an absolute stop.  A ship can be at a relative stop (ie in orbit around a large body/planet), but on an Earth sized planet that means it is traveling at many kilometers per second.  Even a drifting ship (ie acceleration is cut completely) would be traveling way too fast for Two rejoin it.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Mars477

[shapeshifter]

The direction and choreography was just comically awful.

...the fight against the clamshell armored soldiers was atrocious...

...Also, how did Two get back into the ship?...

That was actually explained: She grabbed onto something as she was being ejected, and then after sabatoging the FTL drive, made her way back to the airlock to wait for someone to open it, all the while with her nanites making a shield to keep her alive.

What I don't think was explained was why all those "clamshell" guys (looked more like Mutant Ninja Turtles to me) boarded the ship ready for bear just because Wexler muttered something about there being a "situation" on the ship. Maybe we were supposed to assume he conveyed more, but from what we heard, the situation could've just been the distraction of bikini-clad Jersey Shore stoways.

[sjohnson]

Lin was never off the ship...she managed to grab a protruding section of the ship. I must assume the ship was supposed to be accelerating because otherwise Lin's momentum would have kept her directly opposite the door, well away from any such handholds. 

 

I am a little puzzled. I too find actively pathetic Moss kind of endearing, but isn't he always pathetic, hypoxic or not?

[MissLucas]

I am a little puzzled. I too find actively pathetic Moss kind of endearing, but isn't he always pathetic, hypoxic or not?

Yeah, that's way more confusing than space physics. I think at the beginning it looked as if we were expected to embrace this guy as the Raza's shining white male hero despite his many annoying traits. The past couple of episodes the writing placed him more into goof-territory and he became much more likeable. At this rate he might soon replcae Five as the ship's mascot.

Edited August 23, 2015 by MissLucas

[call me ishmael]

I think that they are trying to set up an impending conflict between One and Three.  There was the moment when Three finally accepted One because he realized that One just never had had an excuse to want revenge enough to hate someone.  And then One gave Three what we are supposed to take as a meaningful look related to his wife.   Of course they will dodge it by having Three be innocent.  On the other hand, if they go through with it maybe we can get rid of One.

[Terrafamilia]

From what I've seen of Raza illustrations that airlock is up top facing aft in line with the trench. When she was spaced, the outrushing of air shot Two over the trench. And just aft of the trench is a gun emplacement sticks out. So if her trajectory were fortunate enough she'd have the opportunity to grab at something.

[Donny Ketchum]

On the other hand, if they go through with it maybe we can get rid of One.

I've only barely started watching.  There something you have against One?

[Mars477]

I've only barely started watching.  There something you have against One?

There's something everybody has against One.  Dude is terrible in the worst, whiniest way.

[AudienceofOne]

I've only barely started watching.  There something you have against One?

 

 

Inconsistent characterisation meets bad acting. As opposed to Two, which is one-dimensional characterisation meets bad acting.

 

One has been the moral voice, the fish out of water, the shady corporate schill and the spoilt brat - sometimes even in the same episode. Unfortunately the actor doesn't have the chops to pull off that kind of inconsistency.

[DEM]

Good episode - even if they overdid the whole girl-power thing a bit.

The end felt rushed: I would have liked to see Two explaining to the rest of the crew what she is.

 

Re: the first, it came across as "girl power" because of One randomly inserting gender into his rouse-the-troops speech.  This was Two's story, and at this point, it's a given that Five is going to be everywhere in every story, so she's more like a mathematical constant than a young woman.

 

Re: the second, I had intrusive flashbacks to ep 6 and Five acting out Four's story, but I talked myself down by remembering that next week is the 2-ep finale, so Two telling her own story will come soon.

[formerlyfreedom]

I've only barely started watching.  There something you have against One?

 

There's something everybody has against One.  Dude is terrible in the worst, whiniest way.

 

Inconsistent characterisation meets bad acting. As opposed to Two, which is one-dimensional characterisation meets bad acting.

 

One has been the moral voice, the fish out of water, the shady corporate schill and the spoilt brat - sometimes even in the same episode. Unfortunately the actor doesn't have the chops to pull off that kind of inconsistency.

 

Maybe a better conversation for the One: Jace Corso topic, folks?

[Ottis]

Am I the only person who is surprised that everyone on the show thinks five is a young teenager? I thought she was 25ish. Shy and awkward, but 25ish.

 

I would think watching an entire planet get blown up would be a huge fucking deal, but that sure was the most understated reactions I've ever seen.

 

 

This show has a habit of missing meaningful little details like this. Just a quick comment that the planet was a quarantined research location or something would have helped both answer the question and explain the reaction.

 

Still, Dark Matter is growing on me. I like some of the bonds between the crew members. Honestly, who they actually are, and why their memories were wiped, doesn't matter that much to me. They can go on space adventures with moral lessons for a while, and I'd enjoy it, Star Trek-like.

[Hanahope]

But as we have learned about all the backstories it is hard to believe that the Raza crew was ever like that--unless the real Corso and the pre-stasis Two were forcing them to behave that way. For all of their tough guy acts 3,4, and 6 just don't have callous mercenary written all over them.

 

Yeah, its really unclear how long the crew has been together and what they were like before the memory wipe, and even why they were in the pods in the first place.  I find it hard to believe One was that harsh to them, and it appeared that Jace Corso was not on board the Raza before One took his place.  It sounded like One took his place when the real Jace Corso was supposed to become a new crew member, as the real One found out that Three was on the ship and ft with some easy plastic surgery, he could take Corso's place.

 

But agree that it doesn't seem like the pre-memory wipe versions of these people were all that different from how they are now, such that the Raza had such a mercenary reputation.  Three and Six definitely had much softer pasts and even Four, for all his skills, seems like he was in general a decent person.  So the only one whom we really don't have a clue as to her pre-memory wipe life is Two, and its hard to believe just one person could have gotten the rest to go along with such a brutal mercenary mentality.

 

So, why is this show called "Dark Matter?"  Is there any connection or reference to this whatsoever in the show and I missed it?

[maczero]

I would think watching an entire planet get blown up would be a huge fucking deal, but that sure was the most understated reactions I've ever seen.  I can understand Android's since she's, well, an Android, but Two really seemed like she was watching a minor car-wreck or something.  More "Ouch, that looks rough" instead of "Holy shit!  That device we gave them just blew up an entire fucking planet!"

Two may be the self absorbed type.  Finding out she's not human (in the natural sense) probably trumps a planet being blown up.

Am I the only person who is surprised that everyone on the show thinks five is a young teenager? I thought she was 25ish. Shy and awkward, but 25ish.

This is nothing new.  It pops up in every episode thread.  I'm pretty sure the actress is around 21 which I thought was supposed to be the character's age as well.  However, the show wants me to believe that she's a minor so I just roll with it.  The funny thing is, I think she acts too childlike compared to most teenagers so lately I've been surmising that she's a mentally off adult.

[Ottis]

This is nothing new.  It pops up in every episode thread.

 

 

I commented in this ep thread because someone noted above that, because the show intimated that a "teenager" might be raped, that the two bad guys were doomed. That thought didn't enter my mind because she seems so much older.

[arjumand]

I commented in this ep thread because someone noted above that, because the show intimated that a "teenager" might be raped, that the two bad guys were doomed. That thought didn't enter my mind because she seems so much older.

 

I'm really bad at gauging ages? Even in real life? Also, teaching teenage girls, I know 12-year olds who look twenty, and 16-year olds who look 11, so YMMV. I never looked up the actress's age because don't care!

 

To me, it's how the other characters treat her - they take care of her, protect her, and put up with her crap. Also, the stuff she does is treated like she's a child prodigy or something - I'm sure they'd be less impressed if she was meant to be an adult. And, with M&M as show-runners, blue-green hair is code for teenage rebellion.

 

It would be cool if she were playing the long con and she's actually an adult, and that's her crazy secret!

[Izeinwinter]

No, no, no. Remember the corporation that was so invested in the immortality research that they were willing to retrieve things from a zombie apocalypse planet? They are so determined because they had *successful* test subjects before things went to hell. She's actually 92, and was living on the street because once she heard about the research planet being declared offlimits she saw the writing on the wall and decided to pull a vanish before someone got the bright idea to vivisect her. 

Edited August 27, 2015 by Izeinwinter

[Raja]

I liked this episode a lot but am wondering who's in charge of corpse cleanup on the Raza. Also exactly how those soldiers were so readily dispatched when they were wearing full body armor. Didn't seem like the bullets did much damage, but whatever. It was still fun to watch Two have at them.

 

 

 

Well at least they didn't have the hero's handgun defeat the enemy body armor while the enemy's rifle just knocked the hero down with a "you wore your vest" comment from his partner. Two defeated the armor just like armored knights and samurai defeated their armored enemies. She put the muzzle in the weak points, the joints which have to be flexible s that you can move at the neck, the armpits, etc. Since the corporate mercenaries or the Dark Matters universe doesn't seem to have the invincible armor of Tony Stark's Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[CletusMusashi]

She shot around the armor, but she threw some strangely effective punches right into the middle of it.

Incidentally, I've seen a lot of people comment on other episode threads that Two tends to act like a man in a hot woman's body. In the past, I have not really agreed. But in this one, she does act so much like a male action hero that every time she and Five interacted during their big action segment, half of my brain kept expecting them to kiss. And not in a "Wow, they're really getting chemistry together" way, like with Gabrielle and Xena. More of a "Blah blah blah.. yeah, I know the punchline already. I've seen action movies before," kind of way. Which would be kind of hilarious if I thought the writers or director were deliberately averting the trope, but honestly I don't think they were even aware of the dynamic that they were setting up.