Dark Matter: Episode Eleven
August 21, 2015 12:31 PM - Season 1, Episode 11 - Subscribe
After losing one of their own, the captive crew plot to retake the ship from a group of ruthless mercenaries bent on delivering them to the Galactic Authority so that they can collect the sizeable bounties on their heads. Five must save the day...but all actions have consequences.
This episode at least provided a satisfactory conclusion to the last one, answering most of the questions.
Also it had a huge whiny oxygen-deprived Space Ross speech that served absolutely no purpose, which was amusing. I swear that was the Ross-iest he's ever been. I was expecting him to yell "We were on a break!" at any moment.
I knew #2 wouldn't be dead, and I knew that she'd end up saving the day somehow, but I didn't guess how they were going to do it, and the callback to the earlier android spacewalk episode was nice.
The android's "copy" who was running diagnostics disappeared, apparently. But at least we got to see her at the end, and #2's sudden realization that she's not that different was handled well.
posted by mmoncur at 1:40 AM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also it had a huge whiny oxygen-deprived Space Ross speech that served absolutely no purpose, which was amusing. I swear that was the Ross-iest he's ever been. I was expecting him to yell "We were on a break!" at any moment.
I knew #2 wouldn't be dead, and I knew that she'd end up saving the day somehow, but I didn't guess how they were going to do it, and the callback to the earlier android spacewalk episode was nice.
The android's "copy" who was running diagnostics disappeared, apparently. But at least we got to see her at the end, and #2's sudden realization that she's not that different was handled well.
posted by mmoncur at 1:40 AM on August 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
season two, if there is such a thing
Update 8/4/15: This show is actually Syfy’s best performing new series since Z Nation last Fall. That and the network’s partnership with the Canadian Space Channel on the show gives it a good shot at a second season.posted by phearlez at 5:42 AM on August 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
This show is so frustrating because it shows flashes of being really good, but the plots too often require the characters to carry the idiot ball.
So yeah, conflict is the heart of western drama, but conflict doesn't have to come from people suffering the outcomes of their own foolishness. It can come from people striving and having to overcome the gap between preparedness and reality. I thought this episode on the whole was pretty solid, but throughout I was plagued by the desire to shout "It's your own damn fault you're in this situation!"
I feel like the show has some quality writers and some terrible ones, and the terrible ones have final say over plotting.
I really like most of the characters. I have strange feelings about Space Ross - I think he's very poorly conceived and written, so I get through by thinking about the poor actor playing him and hoping he's a great guy who deserves better. I hope they eventually do something interesting with his character.
Three is a blast, just a pleasure to watch. I also really like Two and Six. Five is interesting but the actor's performance seems to be just sitting on the surface, a little artificial. I like the actor playing the android and I see what they're going for, but the performance just isn't landing for me.
I really hope they get their writing in order for season two. There's a good show in there struggling against some lazy, hacky writing.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 8:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
So yeah, conflict is the heart of western drama, but conflict doesn't have to come from people suffering the outcomes of their own foolishness. It can come from people striving and having to overcome the gap between preparedness and reality. I thought this episode on the whole was pretty solid, but throughout I was plagued by the desire to shout "It's your own damn fault you're in this situation!"
I feel like the show has some quality writers and some terrible ones, and the terrible ones have final say over plotting.
I really like most of the characters. I have strange feelings about Space Ross - I think he's very poorly conceived and written, so I get through by thinking about the poor actor playing him and hoping he's a great guy who deserves better. I hope they eventually do something interesting with his character.
Three is a blast, just a pleasure to watch. I also really like Two and Six. Five is interesting but the actor's performance seems to be just sitting on the surface, a little artificial. I like the actor playing the android and I see what they're going for, but the performance just isn't landing for me.
I really hope they get their writing in order for season two. There's a good show in there struggling against some lazy, hacky writing.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 8:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I find Space Ross more interesting the more messed-up things get, but in a distanced sort of way. He's definitely not the character I identify with, but I sure like watching him get beat up. I think if they're going to move his character in any direction it needs to be less romantic hero, more Rodney McKay.
I am wondering if the android diagnostic stuff will drop in the season finale.
What's interesting about Six is that they took many stereotypically feminine characteristics - nurturing, empathetic, gossipy (OMG what a yenta!) and put them in the most visually masculine character of the bunch.
I like Three a lot and I have the feeling he is not as bad as we've been led to believe. We know he threatened to toss Five out an airlock at some point but we never saw what happened next. I'm betting it was an empty threat. I also suspect that whatever connection lies between him and Space Ross's wife, it's not that he killed her. I'm wondering if instead Three helped Space Ross's wife escape from something/someone.
I agree that Five's performance is a bit on the surface, and Four is often a bit stiff. Android's performance mostly works for me; it worked best in the episode with the other android. I'm hoping those things shake out later...along with the writing.
posted by rednikki at 9:11 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I am wondering if the android diagnostic stuff will drop in the season finale.
What's interesting about Six is that they took many stereotypically feminine characteristics - nurturing, empathetic, gossipy (OMG what a yenta!) and put them in the most visually masculine character of the bunch.
I like Three a lot and I have the feeling he is not as bad as we've been led to believe. We know he threatened to toss Five out an airlock at some point but we never saw what happened next. I'm betting it was an empty threat. I also suspect that whatever connection lies between him and Space Ross's wife, it's not that he killed her. I'm wondering if instead Three helped Space Ross's wife escape from something/someone.
I agree that Five's performance is a bit on the surface, and Four is often a bit stiff. Android's performance mostly works for me; it worked best in the episode with the other android. I'm hoping those things shake out later...along with the writing.
posted by rednikki at 9:11 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I also suspect that whatever connection lies between him and Space Ross's wife, it's not that he killed her. I'm wondering if instead Three helped Space Ross's wife escape from something/someone.
It would be a nice reversal if Space Ross had been an awful human being (he was a CEO, yes?) and Three was hired to help her get away. That would seem to work for the characterization, which I am kind of enjoying. The degree of reveals we've gotten so far have been that these folks aren't misunderstood angels but instead are just perhaps not-great folks who have been suckered/forced/misunderstood worse.
Six did indeed do something violent and awful, though he was not endeavoring to do as awful as he was tricked into. Four isn't a father-killer but he was kind of a jackhole never the less. Why can't Three be a mercenary who has indeed been kind of crappy but perhaps took jobs that weren't flat-out scummy?
I'd be perfectly tickled, in fact, to have Space Ross be the only person on the crew who was actually a flat-out unredeemable shitburger before mind-wipe.
posted by phearlez at 12:33 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
It would be a nice reversal if Space Ross had been an awful human being (he was a CEO, yes?) and Three was hired to help her get away. That would seem to work for the characterization, which I am kind of enjoying. The degree of reveals we've gotten so far have been that these folks aren't misunderstood angels but instead are just perhaps not-great folks who have been suckered/forced/misunderstood worse.
Six did indeed do something violent and awful, though he was not endeavoring to do as awful as he was tricked into. Four isn't a father-killer but he was kind of a jackhole never the less. Why can't Three be a mercenary who has indeed been kind of crappy but perhaps took jobs that weren't flat-out scummy?
I'd be perfectly tickled, in fact, to have Space Ross be the only person on the crew who was actually a flat-out unredeemable shitburger before mind-wipe.
posted by phearlez at 12:33 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
If Three was basically a mercenary for hire before the memory wipe, and he did kill Space Ross's wife, who's the person most likely to have hired him? Her own husband.
That would be an interesting twist.
I'd like it even better if #3 helped the wife escape from Space Ross. Then his whole motivation to be disguised and aboard the ship wouldn't have been revenge, it would be getting #3 to tell him where she's hiding.
I do worry that we're writing better plotlines here than the actual writers are, but the show has so much potential you can just *almost* see the brilliance peeking through.
posted by mmoncur at 8:23 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
That would be an interesting twist.
I'd like it even better if #3 helped the wife escape from Space Ross. Then his whole motivation to be disguised and aboard the ship wouldn't have been revenge, it would be getting #3 to tell him where she's hiding.
I do worry that we're writing better plotlines here than the actual writers are, but the show has so much potential you can just *almost* see the brilliance peeking through.
posted by mmoncur at 8:23 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Well, she did literally let him out of the airlock.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:30 PM on July 28, 2016
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:30 PM on July 28, 2016
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As for the guys, so much for their big bonding experience. I really wanted One to spill the beans about his (supposed) dead wife and his desire for revenge, but I guess we won't be seeing that until season two, if there is such a thing.
Of course the crew will be blamed for blowing up the planet, so they'll have everybody in the galaxy on their tails yet again. I don't know, for an episode with so much happening, this really felt like a two-steps-forward-one-step-back situation.
posted by sardonyx at 9:09 PM on August 22, 2015 [2 favorites]