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MAJOR SPOILERS FOR NON CANADIAN VIEWERS!
The title for this episode, Second Skin, is very appropriate, since it refers to the second suit found by our mild mannered dry cleaner with visions of heroism. On him, the suit is so snug, it fits like a second skin.
It is also the second suit, just like the one that Kiera (Rachel Nichols) wears. If Rex (Patrick Gilmore) had been able to make all the gadgets work, he might have been able to be a real super hero. Still, he does learn an important lesson and gains the confidence he lacks earlier on in the episode.
In episode four, we learn a little more about some of the other people from the future who have come back in time; one of which turns out to be Kiera’s partner, Elena (Caitlin Cromwell). We get the opportunity to see how Kiera and her partner do police work in the future, only to discover that the police work is a simulation meant to determine if Kiera can handle a bad guy who is holding her son for ransom. The bad guy turns out to be Travis (Roger Cross).
Does he know he is being used as a training tool? Kiera is not too impressed that her son is also part of the program. Why are we privy to this bit of information? The main reason seems to be because Kiera’s partner from the future plays an important role in this episode.
Back to the present. Garza (Luvia Petersen), acting on Travis’ orders stops a fuel truck. Garza tells the driver, “this isn’t about you. It’s about big oil. Tell the company you are working for to stop ripping off the people.” Shooing off the driver, the group place some explosives onto the truck and then blow it up.
Garza is obviously having a good time as she laughs while she climbs into the getaway car. They have obviously been very successful at this. Carlos (Victor Webster), at police H.Q reports that several more trucks have been destroyed.
The consensus with Dillon (Brian Markinson), Carlos and Kiera is that Liber8 is going after companies that the public already hate, dressing themselves up as Robin Hood.
Moments later, Alek (Erik Knudsen) contacts Kiera. There is static or some other interference, but Alek thinks he knows what is causing it. Someone elses future tech, similar to Kiera’s just tried to access Alek’s equipment.
Alek calls it a data spike. Then Alek drops the bomb – there is another time traveler on line, he tells Kiera, “you’ve got company”.
With Alek’s information, Kiera goes searching in a suburban neighborhood. A guy is holding a garage sale. When Kiera asks him about a distinctive suit, he admits to having sold it. It had belonged to his mother. Kiera leaves him with information to contact her because now, she wants to talk to the mom.
Alek is distracted while he is having a chat with Kiera about the time traveler she is looking for. Since the young lady of his interest has arrived, he is looking for every excuse to end the call. He does moments later, leaving Kiera hanging. His new interest is Emily (Magda Apanowicz).
Since Kiera no longer has access to Alek, she heads back to Vancouver PDHQ where Carlos is putting up photographs. They have a discussion about the latest behaviour from Liber8.
When she gets a call, Carlos comments, “section 6”, to which Kiera replies “no”, giving Carlos the best line of the series so far, “that’s okay, I’m seeing other police departments too”. She is off to see a guy about a suit.
It turns out that the other suit is in the possession of a couple who are using it as part of a costume. Rex, Patrick Gilmore, from Stargate Universe has the honour of wearing the skin tight outfit. He is about to find out that being a super hero is not all it is cracked up to be.
Later, in the hospital with Elena’s son (Christian Vincent) Kiera finds her old partner who is also dying of liver failure. Old Elena (Karin Konoval) recognises Kiera first and calls her by name, “you haven’t changed, Kiera”.
Elena arrived in 1975, she tells Kiera. She shares with Kiera that she did not tell anyone she was from the future because she wanted a normal life. When he son comes in, she adds that she arrived wearing her suit and took it out kayaking, “I was wearing it this morning”.
We know that she was not wearing it, nor did she go kayaking, so is she saying so to talk to Kiera without her son getting what she is saying, or is she really not all there.
At a gay wedding, Rex and his girlfriend, Tammy (Carrie Flemming) enjoy the festivities. That is until Rex accidentally sets his arm on fire, and yes, for those who follow him, that is indeed Bill Butt or BAG (Balding Asian Guy) holding the bowl of rolls and looking alarmed.
When Rex checks his arm to see how badly he has been burned, he is surprised to discover that he is fine. That suit is something else.
Kiera and Elena’s son chat while Elana sleeps. We find out a little more about her. Kiera says that her mother and Elena were friends. They chat a little longer until Elana wakes up and sends her son to get her some chocolate.
Kiera informs her that Alek Sadler is a teenage boy living in Vancouver. As soon as she arrived, Alek was in her head. Then she asks Elena if she ever heard anything.
Elena admits that she turned her CMR off years ago and stored it away in a box somewhere.
As Rex and Tammy pull up to a gas station, they are still talking about the wondrous properties of the suit he is wearing. He steps inside the store to encounter a robbery, and not just any robbery, but one being closely monitored by Garza and Travis.
When Rex intervenes, he gets shot for his trouble. However, although he gets knocked to the floor, he does not appear to suffer any other ill effects. This draws the interest of Travis and Garza who quickly realize Rex is not wearing ordinary apparel.
At the same time, in the other Liber8 headquarters, Lucas (Omari Newton) draws Sonya’s (Lexa Doig) attention to some kind of visual anomaly on one of his computer screens. Lucas figures that it might be someone else from the execution chamber. Sonya wants them located. Lucas’ talents bring them the same video feed that Travis was getting from the gas station. The plot thickens.
Back at the hospital, as Kiera admires the kindness of Elena’s son toward his mother, Aleks contacts her to tell her that the other suit is active again. Time for Kiera to go.
Kiera heads into the Gas station only to run into Gardiner (Nicholas Lea), who wants to know about this amazing suit that has so impressed the cashier. Although Rex and Tammy have left, the cashier tells them that the suit was sparking like crazy when Rex got shot. Gardiner immediately starts questioning Kiera as if she is responsible. He is such a jerk.
Carlos and Kiera discuss the robbery while watching the camera footage. Carlos points to one of the bad guys who he says clearly has a syndicate tattoo on his arm. In walks Gardiner. As he does, the party breaks up and Carlos goes one way, while Kiera goes another.
Walking away, Kiera gets a call from Alek. She is not happy with him since things seem to be spinning out of control. Meanwhile, Gardiner, like the bug he is, sits at the end of the conference table as near as he can get to her without actually crowding her personal space. Kiera asks Alek if there is any way to track the suit.
Alek, of course, knows how to do that and tells Kiera, all she needs to do is get the traveler to turn on their CMR and he can find the suit.
Rex and Tammy are having an argument about the suit. Rex is impressed that he not only did not get burned but that he was only slightly injured by the bullets when he was shot, “I saved that guy’s life”, Rex demands excitedly.
Tammy takes the other side; what if Rex had been killed? In response to Tammy’s concern he promises to get rid of the suit.
Just when she thinks she has gotten away from Gardiner, he shows up and gets into the car with her, “no one should ride alone to visit a sick friend”, he offers. Gardiner attempts to show that he is really on her side.
Then he brings up Esher, “why don’t we all go over and talk about section 6?’ Kiera tells him, that she has to visit her sick friend first. That does not work with Gardiner, “until you get truthful with me, we are going to be spending a lot of time together”.
Arriving back at the hospital, Elena pretends that she is suffering from dementia when Gardiner follows Kiera inside, calling her Beth and him her husband, the marine biologist. He leaves, completely fooled. Kiera uses the time to tell Elena that someone has Elena’s suit.
If she can turn on her CMR, Alek can trace it. With Elena’s agreement, Alek “cycles all the other CMRs”. As he does so, Travis experiences the same effects that Elena does and Lucas informs Sonya that the signal is active again. What is more, now he knows where it is.
Rex is by himself in his dry cleaning shop. Garza steps inside followed by Travis. Garza tells him to strip down and it will go easier for him. Rex swings a bat at her, but she deflects it easily. What does work is some sort of fluid that Rex tosses in Garza’s face.
That puts her out of commission for a bit, but Travis is close behind, getting a couple of rounds off as Rex dashes away. Then Sonya shows up and aims a gun at Travis. “You’re not going to shoot me. If you were, you’d have done it already” he tells her.
The standoff does not last long. One of Sonya’s people shows up distracting Sonya and the fight is now on between Rex and Travis and Sonya and Garza.
Rex, gets the worst of it as Travis tosses him around and shoves him through a wall. It is only when the sound of a police siren getting closer is heard that the battle breaks up, more or less. Travis hangs around a bit longer, dragging Rex by his heels across the cement floor. Then Kiera shows up and goes hunting for Travis. Now that Kiera is on the scene, both Travis and Garza take off into the night.
Once the bad guys have left, Kiera calls an ambulance and stays with Rex. He notices that she has a suit too. He then says, “I thought it would make me a hero”. Kiera replies, “you don’t need a suit for that.”
As the ambulance arrives at the hospital, Tammy is just a little distraught. In fact, she looks like she is going to hyperventilate then pass out, she is so upset about Rex. That is when Gardiner shows up to cause more trouble, demanding the suit.
Rex, fed up and now being the hero he wanted to be, tells Gardiner, “Oh, shut up!” Gardiner does not get the suit. He wanders off looking extremely frustrated. What a happy ending.
So, where is the suit? Kiera has it. She brings it to Alek. It has been deactivated so he will not have to worry about Liber8 showing up. Again, he is distracted and doing his best to get rid of her. She leaves him on his own. After all, he has a life too. Alek heads out to meet the new lady in his life at the coffee shop.
As someone once said, when one door closes, another one opens. Alek’s door has opened to a new relationship. Kier’s door is about to close. She brings Carlos with her to meet Elena only to find out she had passed away. Kiera is naturally very upset. Fortunately, Carlos is there to comfort her.
Thanks to Kenn for the audio embed and additional Continuum images for my analysis, and many thanks to you for stopping by WormholeRiders News Agency!!
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ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)