CONTINUUM: A Little Matter of a Murder
Episode 104 “Matter of Time”
Well, I don’t know how I missed it. I really don’t. But it seems I completely missed the fact that Edouard Kagame didn’t make it to 2012 at the same time everyone else did.
Poot.
OK. That little oversight aside, this is the episode when Kagame makes it to 2012. Why is he later than the others? I’m sure that will prove significant at some point. but for now it remains a question.
Meanwhile, we have a murder mystery taking the attention of our intrepid heroes, Kiera and Carlos (with Alec in virtual tow). Investigating the death of Professor Ames, who was working on a way of containing anti-matter. In the course of the investigation, they come across an illicit affair between Ames’ assistant and his former partner, Dr. Melissa Dobeck. Dobeck wanted Ames dead, but claims to know nothing about the incident despite the fact that she’s one of the few people who could have rigged the “accident” that killed Ames.
Said assistant offers to help in the investigation as much as he can, only the backup files are all missing. Deleted. Poof.
Oh, yeah. And the assistant? He’s having a fling with Dobeck. Now it starts to get interesting. At least, within the context of the show. Because you know there’s another copy of the data floating around somewhere. And of course Dobeck had something to do with Ames’ death. She thought he was being too reckless with his research, too willing to let the military get their hands on it.
Nice to see Tom McBeath (Mayborne from Stargate SG-1) and Chris Gauthier (Eureka) again. McBeath, of course, as a pretentious military type who grabs all of the evidence in the investigation because Ames’ research into antimatter containment is a matter of national security. Uhm… in Canada? Well, OK, I guess. And Gauthier’s peacenik is just paranoid enough without being over the top into caricature. But just once I’d like to see him get the lead in something…
Underlying all of this, of course, is the search for Kagame, and when Kiera finally finds him, it’s at a place where (in the future past) he held court with his followers. And the more we get into this series, the more I feel we’re going to be asking just who it is we should be rooting for. Granted, Kagame’s group employs the wrong tactics, but looking at the motives… I wonder if these “terrorists” are going to be fleshed out with a little more depth and presented to us as freedom fighters.
Of course, I’m still snickering at the idea that governments all over the world will collapse to the point where corporations take over. That’s just such an unrealistic premise, but you have to buy into it (or completely ignore it) for the show to work.
The other question this episode raises: how much can Kiera and the other time travelers actually change? When Kiera figures out that Dr. Dobeck will eventually be Melissa LaRoche, the scientist who develops clean energy, her sense of responsibility to the future gets in the way of her responsibility as a law enforcement agent. So which is more important, preserving a future where everyone apparently is “owned” by corporate interests, or doing what’s right regardless of the consequences?
Because it’s very likely the future’s already been altered enough, just from these folks being in 2012.
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[Official Show Web Site on Syfy] [Previous recap: “Wasting Time”]
