This week on ‘Dark Matter’: the Android gets a makeover and the crew of the Raza goes after Jace Corso.
Spoilers through Dark Matter season 2,episode 5: “We Voted Not to Space You.”
On a purely selfish note, boy am I glad that Dark Matter opted to go with episode titles this season instead of last season’s numbered affairs. It makes reviewing them so much easier.
“We Voted Not to Space You” begins with a flash forward to a bar scene with the Android who now humanized freaking OOZES charisma and badassery. She beats up a few dudes and takes the third one as her prisoner. The episode starts out with a swift kick to your pants and never really lets up throughout the hour-long episode. Now, after last week’s inner struggle, I’m not surprised we saw Android quickly take the chip. Victor was a charming dude. (And that kiss!) But more importantly, Android now has a purpose outside of running diagnostics and getting shot. Hooray for Android!
Flash back to before the Android’s transformation and we see the moment when Two decides they need to get revenge for One. With Six now alive and awake they can use his knowledge of the Galactic Authority to pilfer information about Jace Corso’s whereabouts. Three is suspicious of Six still, and while I don’t blame him, I think the rest of the crew recognizes that Six only did what he thought was best. He struggles with his past and present as much as anyone and when it comes to punishment, the guilt over One’s death will haunt him for a long time. Besides, I think he’ll continue to voice his dissent over their sinful ways, trying to keep them on that good side of the line. More lovable troublemakers than thieving murderers.
In order to get the information from the GA, they need to hack into a GA terminal and the Android is all too eager to try out her new tech and get arrested. The crew is hesitant, especially Three, who has grown into a big softie and D’AWWW with me, guys! Android let’s her hair and OH BABY. She turns some heads, smacks Three’s bottom, and goes about her mission with a smirk. There’s still a hint of Android in this new program, but I ADORE this new rebellious humanesque Android who rips open a GA agent’s shirt to get arrested. Once arrested, she flirts with the officer and drinks all his coffee (a crime in and of itself) in order to distract him from plugging in her little Raza night-light Five uses to collect GA information.
An aside, couldn’t Five download like…a bunch of their information? Or at least all the data they have on the Raza crew. I know revenge for One is the mission, but it just seems useful to me for them to have more outside information on what they’re up against. Also it would protect them from the GA knowing it was them hacking into their system. But hey, hindsight, AMIRITE?
After replaying the opening sequence and interrogating Danny Bones, Two, Three, Four, and Nyx all head down to the planet where Corso is thought to be in hiding. Down in the mining facility, there’s a shootout, Corso gets injured and then sets the place to self-destruct because he’ll be hiding UNDERNEATH the exploding building, so nothing could go wrong there.
Oh, wait.
Except it does and it traps the group down there. Four is caught by the Galactic Authority and put under arrest, while Three is saved by Nyx, and Two forces Corso to dig a way out.
Let’s talk about One and his death for a minute
I have to say, I thought Corso was much more interesting when we first met him in season one. Maybe it’s because we had the side-by-side with One but now that he’s alone, all I hear is whiny One and I’m grateful that Two doesn’t leave any loose ends and kills him. Even when he realizes that she’s vulnerable, there’s something about the way he presents himself that SCREAMS One and not Corso. Maybe it’s just me projecting but the sequences with Corso felt more like One. And I don’t think that’s some grand conspiracy theory. I just think it was presented that way.
Sure, there’s a part of me that is sad that it looks like One is really dead, but that’s more because of how it affects the other characters. Granted, Two seems like the only one who’s emotionally invested in getting revenge and I did not expect that. In fact, if there’s anything to my theory that One might still live, it’s that part of me feels like we still haven’t dealt with the emotions of it all. Maybe next episode we’ll get a scene where Three offers to clean out One’s room and he finds something and takes up One’s quest to find his wife’s killer. They know the Corporations are involved but if this is the real end of One’s story….I don’t know if I’m okay with that.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Five, Six, and Devon head out on the planet to help warn the rest of the crew about the GA and happen upon the Marauder, which they use to threaten the GA into releasing Four. The crew of the Raza escapes with smirks on their faces, happy to accomplish the mission and flee the GA once again.
But it’s not all good news as the Android struggles with her new human self. I have no doubt she enjoys the attention as a human and the improved respect, but as her diagnostic confides, there may be a flaw in her programming that allows her to put the crew at risk when she makes a mistake, and that could be deadly.
Thoughts
- I love the new Android and I love the inner turmoil she’s facing between being true to her programming and being true to how she really feels. It’s such an amazing amount of depth to a character who should just be robotic and I’m a huge fan.
- Four and Android sparring and the pair sharing a moment talking about emotions was great for both of them. Four is still dealing with the war happening on his home planet and with that comes the guilt over feeling responsible to the people and to his family. He’s with the Raza now but I have no doubt when the time comes, he’ll leave to save his home.
- And then there’s the moment with Android returning from her arrest and the banter with Three. Remember back in season one when he hardly looked at her? AWW.
- Devon has a flashback to what I am assuming was a failed surgery from before his time in jail and I wonder if this was the start of his descent due to a drug addiction. Nyx also hints at her hearing abilities leading her to save Three’s life but we still don’t know too much about either of the newest members of the Raza.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY. Android still has that patented Android snark but now it’s in human form and I am so in love. “Do you want the precise answer?”
Dark Matter airs Fridays on Syfy at 10pm EST.
The rapid dispatch of both One and Corso in their respective episodes, plus the fact that Marc Bendavid’s name went from first listed in the credits to “Special Guest Star” in this episode tells me that Bendavid is off the show, and that his characters are dead.
If there was some story arc involving one or both characters, I’d like to think it would’ve been done with a little more style and finesse. Instead, the killing of both was done in such a way as to seem like the tying up of loose ends as quickly as possible so as to move on. It certainly seemed to me that both of his characters’ deaths were more perfunctory than they would’ve been if these characters were integral to the future direction of the show.
It seems odd to me that the producers would go to the trouble of giving an actor the first name in the credits, and TWO characters to play, with interesting backstories for each, and then dispatch them both so quickly and offhandedly. It feels rather abrupt–so abrupt that I can’t believe that this was the planned direction of the show after Season 1. I’ve been trying to find anything online indicating Bendavid’s departure from the series, but I haven’t turned up anything yet. Was it a contract dispute? Creative differences? Better opportunities for the actor? A change in direction of the series? Nobody seems to be saying right now. Perhaps the story will emerge now that the episode has aired, and we’ll get a definitive answer.
Meanwhile, events occurring both in the show and in the real world (vis-a-vis the credits) seem to indicate that we’ve seen the last of One and Corso…and Marc Bendavid.
I agree with everything you’ve said here. Early on in the show’s run, the showrunner made a comment that any of the characters could die at any time, and while I believe him, I also believed their deaths would be in a such a way that it would matter to the story. Granted, we don’t know how these deaths of Marc Bendavid’s characters will play out for the remainder of the season, but at the moment, they feel rushed, almost shock-value. A way to end the opening episode on a cliffhanger, so to speak. I applaud Two’s killing of Corso in last night’s episode but something about it felt…off to me. As for offset issues, I’ve heard about none, so I can only imagine/assume it was a narrative decision.
“Series”, I meant “throughout the series” in my response to Winston Smith below, not “throughout the season”. Five planned seasons.
It was creative interference by the execs, who wanted to “shake things up”. The showrunners, Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, always planned to continue all seven original characters throughout the season, and still aren’t happy about this. According to Mallozi’s blog, he planned to reveal it was a longer-lasting clone that died (CoreLactic invented the technology in the first place) in Season 4, but they were cancelled.
I can’t believe I’ve seen no one mention the fact they have a key that will allow for time travel and no one is making the connection they will likely go back and save one.
This is an interesting theory and one that both opens up a ton of potential and a ton of issues. I like it!
i liked the episode too. FYI i heard Mark Bendavid/one has signed on to do another show so i doubt we will see him again except in flashbacks maybe. same thing happened to Ricky Whittle on The 100. he is on a new show that looks interesting. fun watching Android and 3 flirt and how he was hanging around waiting for her to return from the mission. Nyx doesn’t have super hearing but is a Precog from what i gather from the sneak preview. i think if 6 gets 3 out of a tight spot he will come around. 3 and 1 didn’t get along for awhile. it was cool the group came together to avenge their former crew mate, even Android wants to find Corso for killing a team member. that was a great scene where Jace says the old 2/ Portia would have never done what she is doing and she is getting weak caring for others. yet he is all alone and has no one to call on for help but she has her crew/ family which makes her vulnerable and strong. the crew risks themselves for each other. like 2 says; “we have to fight for each other. nobody else will.” Nyx gets it too: “Your fight, my fight. we ride together.”