Colony: In From the Cold

January 27, 2017 7:56 AM - Season 1, Episode 8

Qualye makes a deal to turn on his cell; Will accepts it but also makes sure that Katie knows. Broussard gets a new job offer. We get a glimpse of the factory.
posted by nubs (5 comments total)

I was wondering how long it was going to take Will to figure out that the surest way of making sure Qualye kept quiet was to make sure that Qualye couldn't talk. Still, he used it to set up the rest of the cell and almost got everyone except for Katie.

So Will knows what Katie's doing; has Katie figured out what Will's doing in terms of passing along information? Because it seems like an unacknowledged secret between them.

Most interesting bit by far was learning where the Factory is, though I think that just raises more questions than answering anything.
posted by nubs at 8:07 AM on January 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

So the Factory is on the moon? With artificial gravity?

Guess the 'gas chamber'/'airlock decontamination' was pretty much just for intimidation/humiliation; the people in the canteen were wearing soiled plastic coveralls, though their prison uniforms while in the dorms look pretty clean.

Now I'm super-confused about the in-between colony spaces, and what the Raps want from humans. If you can achieve interstellar travel, doing it for resource extraction doesn't really make any sense. Comfortable planetary habitat, perhaps, but not solely for resource extraction.
posted by porpoise at 4:17 PM on January 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the "alien locusts with super advanced technology" trope is pretty well played out, and never made a whole lot of sense to start with. I hope the agenda of the Raps is something more interesting than that.
posted by tobascodagama at 4:59 PM on January 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now I'm super-confused about the in-between colony spaces, and what the Raps want from humans.

My assumption—so far—is that humans were wiped out in those areas, because there were far more of them than necessary to meet the Raps' needs, whatever those might be. Like vaporized, leaving all their stuff sitting there.

I thought Quayle's remark was interesting, that he believes there are pockets of survivors in the interstitial vastness, presumably living large off all the unused goods. Which does beg the question, where are the high and mighty getting all their fancy supplies—booze, fancy pastries, fabulous art?

Speaking of resources, how did the Raps build that impressive wall in less than a year? How?!
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:59 AM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fancy supplies, I assume were looted and stored. The fancy stuff didn't seem all that fancy, just really luxurious because of scarcity of supply.

Interesting point, though, are the whiskey distilleries in Scotland still operating? Champagne vineyards in France? Fancy pastries can be made as long as you have the raw ingredients and expertise (people). Fine art is probably a limited resource, its just horded.

The walls, are explained (much) later. But it isn't a great explanation and raises its own questions.
posted by porpoise at 10:25 AM on February 4, 2017 [1 favorite]