This episode was sooo good and there were lots of thoughts and feelings as I was watching. Kudos to everyone for a wonderful performance in this week’s episode! Melissa O’Neil (Two), Anthony Lemke (Three), and Alex Mallari Jr (Four) brought another level of complexity to their characters as we were officially introduced to Portia Lin, Marcus Boone, and Ryo Tetsudo. Jodelle Ferland gave us an emotional tone because in a way she was the audience this week. On to the recap!
We start the episode with Five, scared out of her wits, trying to hide in the vents. She almost makes it when Four catches her. He doesn’t remember who she is. Jump back to 10 hours earlier. Two, because of her nanites, can’t get drunk. Three observes that she misses One (Marc Bendavid). They both figure that Traugott was the one that got him murdered. She’s done playing a puppet to the corporations. Someone has to pay for his death. She mentions to Three the reason One looked like Jace Corso. That he almost got revenge on Three for thinking he killed his wife but he didn’t go through with it. Let’s make Three feel worse why don’t you Two?
The Android (Zoie Palmer) is still having problems establishing a neural link with the ship. The computer is still scanning for one. The Android goes to the infirmary to do a scan. It turns out her neural network were severely damaged when the GA tried to probe her for the Raza files. She decides to shut down for system repair for 32 hours so she can reestablish a neural link with the ship. Nothing can happen during that time frame right? Of course not! Two was wondering why the computer is now searching the medical database but thought it was just doing a system’s check. The computer finds three neural imprints. They are for Portia, Marcus, and Ryo.
Two and Three lay down the rules for newest passengers Nyx (Melanie Liburd), Arax (Mike Dopund), and Devon (Shaun Sipos). They will only be limited to the eating area and their quarters. The trust just isn’t there yet. Arax propositions Two into taking them to an asteroid belt in the Arkeon system. They can get the supplies they need there. The usual way of going to independent stations and colonies isn’t going to work anymore now that they have escaped from a maximum security prison. Two will think about it.
Three and Four go to the infirmary with severe headaches. Five is visiting with Android when both men collapse. Five tries to reach Two but is unable to. She finds her in her quarters also collapsed on the floor. She locks her in and goes to the main ship area to access the projected version of the Android (pro-Android) for help. Five is trying to keep calm but she is starting to freak out a little bit because she doesn’t know who to trust or what to do. Pro-Android advises against reactivating the real Android while she is repairing herself. Five reluctantly asks Devon and the others for help. He does some initial scans on both Three and Four in the infirmary and couldn’t find anything wrong other than higher brain function in the temporal lobe and outward signs of a coma. Arax convinces Five to have them go the place he suggested to Two earlier. She has him set up the navigation while she checks on Two, who is no longer in her room. Arax sets the coordinates but he also calls Alicia Reynard (Inga Cadranel) the mysterious chick from the last episode. So that was why he was in the escape! He’s going to bring Five to Alicia. At least Two was right not to trust him.
Five runs into Nyx still looking for Two. Nyx will help find her so she suggests they split up. Five eventually runs into Two but something’s off. Two, now Portia, doesn’t recognize Five even though she tries to tell her that she knows them. She even mentions that she knows about the nanites, which pisses Portia off. She is under the impression that Rook sent Five. I’m trying to remember if Rook was mentioned last season. Anyway, not too long after that Three and Four wake up as Marcus Boone and Ryo Tetsudo, also with no memory as poor Devon finds out the hard way by almost getting choked to death by Ryo. Arax tries to stop Portia from shooting Five but is unsuccessful. Both him and Devon eventually get placed into the cargo hold. Portia has Marcus and Ryo look for Five. We are now back to the present with Five almost making it to the vents but caught by Ryo.
Marcus and Ryo question Five as they put her in the cargo hold with the others. They don’t believe her when she tries to tell them that they recently escaped from prison together and how much they’ve changed.
Portia, Ryo, and Marcus try to play catch up. She does admit that the monitors show a 14-month time gap since the date is way later than they thought. All three agree that they don’t fully buy Five’s story. Marcus, at the thought of a long time gap, panics and wants to check the vault. Portia has Ryo go with him. Marcus then goes back to the cargo hold accusing Five of changing the access code. She confirms that the code was changed several times but also what happened to Sara, who was special to Marcus. Back in the control room, Portia is checking monitors when she starts to see coding and lots of data. She seems to figure out what it is because she smiles coyly.
Marcus brings Five into the eating area with Ryo. He confirms that Sarah’s gone and a lot of the money and supplies. Marcus brings with him a loc box that he opens. He goes straight for Sara’s necklace that he planned to give her when she was better. Ryo is surprised by the sentimentality Marcus is showing. Marcus reassures him that it won’t happen again. Portia walks in wondering what Five is doing there but decides that she may be able to confirm a theory she has on what happened.
A brain scan was done on the three of them because they felt the Android could potentially get compromised on their Ellaria Six mission. They were going to test it the following day. Before the Android shut down the computer was trying to scan for any active links and it found their last brain scan. By trying to link with the three of them, it reset them to the last brain scan. Portia is able to start a link with the ship and is figuring out how to control it completely. She gets a rush from what she’s found out about the ship so far. Portia is confident about creating that link. In the meantime, they decide to sell Five and the others on the black market. Five gets upset with this and tells them again that they are not cruel vicious people anymore. Portia has Marcus remove her from the room. She goes back into the cargo hold
Portia is in her quarters continuing her quest to link with the ship. Ryo is concerned with what could happen to Portia if she succeeds. He wants her to shut the link off, siting they don’t need it. Portia points out that the Android, even when she wakes up could be compromised. The only way for sure to be in control of the ship is to link with it. She ignores his warnings thinking she can handle it.
Five brings Devon and Arax up to speed. They have to get to the bridge to cut the neural link or Portia will be able to override any manual input. Nyx fortunately got Three’s weapons before finding Devon, Arax, and Five. So that’s what she was really doing! The three adults are going to the bridge while Five goes to the infirmary.
Marcus warns the others about his missing weapons. Portia will try to finish the neural link before they get to the bridge. She manages to lock out Nyx, Arax, and Devon and starts to undo the airlock behind them. Five meanwhile locks herself in the infirmary. The Android still can’t get reactivated because she is in the most delicate part of her recovery so she goes with plan B which is to try to establish a neural imprint of her own using Portia’s memories. Pro-Android is against it since for a normal human to try to connect to a computer will at first cause euphoria but then could eventually cause brain damage. Time is running out as Portia is almost able to decrypt Five’s code so Marcus and Ryo can kill her. Five is having a hard time trying to stop Portia as she can’t manipulate or make sense of the data. Pro-Android suggests using Portia’s memories against her. Find a memory where she feels most vulnerable. Five initially scoffs there is such a memory but eventually finds it. Portia is then transported to that memory with Five being there. Five is in an alley with Portia and they fight. Five has Portia vulnerable. Pro-Android wants her to finish Portia off but Five refuses. She realizes that the reason Portia became who she was because no one showed her kindness. She wants her best friend back. Five begs her to severe of the link. Portia does, causing her, Ryo and Marcus to collapse again.
Two, Three, and Four are back. Thank goodness! They don’t remember what happened. For Two there are no residual effects from the neural link. Android is back online. She always seems to miss the drama! Android thinks there is a way for them to download their brain scans while still retaining current memories. Five points out that they would be different if they go through with it. Android backs her up since they could also develop the personality traits of their old selves.
Five visits Three in his quarters. She has brought the loc box with her. Two, Thee, and Four have decided not to go through with the procedure for right now. He opens it and finds some cool stuff. He then finds Sara’s necklace. He thanks Five. Ahhh. One of the items he turns on and it glows blue.
On a planet a guy runs to another and mentions that he got a signal from a subspace transponder from Marcus Boone. That must be what Three unintentionally turned on. I guess Three is going to need those memories after all! There’s the episode guys!
More Thoughts
Last season we saw hints of Portia, Marcus, and Ryo through Five accessing their memories as well as when they first woke up. Three was a serious jerk always thinking of himself while Four voiced his opinion but respected Two’s leadership. I didn’t think Four and Three’s personalities changed that much but there was more coldness to their personality. Two however, aka Portia Lin? The way that she treated Five that was just cruel. I felt Five’s frustration especially since she is closest to Two friendship wise. We are also aware of another ability. Two can potentially take over a ship by establishing a neural link. It was noted early on that she was able to navigate the ships functions almost as well as the Android last season, but we never could figure out why other than she was technically inclined. Now there is another layer to it. We also had some understanding how Portia became the cruel paranoia person from when she was captured last season. Now we know there is another element to that story. From that memory it appears that people kept treating her like crap so she decided, “I’m going to be in control so I’m not in a position to feel vulnerable.” I got a little teary eyed when Five was in the memory with Portia and she looked so defeated.
It really makes me wonder how Portia, Marcus, and Ryo met. If they did show that last season I don’t remember. How long have they really been cohesive as a team? I find it interesting that Five had to handle a situation like this with only the help of pro-Android. One is presumed dead and Kal is in stasis. If they were around, would Nyx, Arax, and Devon have been locked away while One, Kal, Five, and pro-Android handled the situation on their own? It was probably better that it was just Five because as someone who has their memories, she really does have an idea how they were vs who they are now. Not only this but pro-Android was able to calm Five enough and provide some in-site to help Five stop Portia at the end. Maybe it was also a good think that Android was shut down because the others were already thinking she was compromised and may have reset her completely.
While a part of me is glad the three haven’t gone through with the procedure I think they will need to eventually merge so they can at least get their memories back. Especially Four, because I feel like he needs it the most because he needs to prove his innocence. I also feel like they will have to reconcile who they were and admit to themselves how much they have changed.
Of the newbies, Arax is the only person that has shown untrustworthiness. I wonder how long before they find that out? I’m glad Nyx was incognito until close to the end as she was a wild card.
Those are just my two cents. What are your thoughts of the episode? Sound off below in the comments!
