Continuum: Minute by Minute Makes Time Travel a Family Vacation!

Welcome back Continuum Time Travlers!,

How much difference does a week make? Is it enough to change your world?

In the Season three opener of Continuum, that is exactly what we learn as Alec Saddler (Erik Knudsen), returns to the past so he can save Emily (Magda Apanowicz). Alec is young and impulsive, so, naturally, his only concern is his own love lost when Emily is killed. The world around him does not really matter. Thus, the seeds he sowsfor the life of his girlfriend will come back to haunt him. Now Kiera (Rachel Nichols) will have to go back in time to clean up his mess, if that is even possible.

We have to also wonder if the Producers are attempting to retool the series, having run out of ideas for Liber8 and Kiera’s original goal. If so, I think this is a mistake. The original premise was that corporations were taking over the world and Liber8 was there to put a stop to it. In this episode, Liber8 has been taken out of the story, more or less. Hopefully, this is only a minor break and Liber8 will be back stronger and more dangerous than ever.

Minute By Minute:

While we are at it, now that we are in season three and Kiera has not seen her family in the future for two years, how is this distance of time affecting her? There is the belief that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but there is also the idiom, “Out of sight, out of mind”. Will Kiera eventually give up on her desire to return to the future? Probably not. The Freelancers meddling with the past suggests that it is easier to travel back and forth in time than we earlier suspected. I can see Kiera’s focus changing to one of a greater desire to return to the future unless all the current meddling changes her mind.

Who are the Freelancers? Are they a group similar to Liber8; a small independent organization with their own agenda? Or are they something more? I am sure we will learn more about them as the season continues.

Minute by Minute

Season three begins with a review of what has happened so far. We find out that Escher (Hugh Dillon) is Alec’s father, and as Escher says, “Time travel isn’t just some technological marvel, it’s the family business”. Alec insists he has to save Emily so he goes back in time. The effort destroys whatever exists of the time travel device in the past.

Kiera is taken to a holding area of clear boxes, or cells. She discovers that she is not alone. Garza (Luvia Petersen), Jason (Ian Tracey) and Kellogg (Stephen Lobo) are also there. Then, Curtis Chen (Terry Chen), a man that Kiera killed, walks in with Agent Miller (Zak Santiago). This is Kiera’s Alice In Wonderland moment. Everything is turned around. Nothing makes sense.

Later, Miller brings Kiera to an investigation room where Chen takes over questioning. He tells her that she slipped up by letting Alec manipulate her. Chen wants to know, “when is Alec”.

Alec has arrived one week earlier. He buries the time travel pieces in a park. His cell phone’s automatic update of the calendar proves to him when he is. Fortunately, he also, somehow received a cut on his temple that allows us to easily tell him and the original Alec apart.

As Kiera is questioned, she brings us up to date on what has happened up until Alec’s leap back in time, “Kellogg let Travis (Roger Cross)into the lab, Emily and Alec escaped, went to Jason’s . That’s where I ran into them. Then your people showed up. It’s confusing”. She asks Chen, “How are you still alive? I killed you.” Chen replies, “Soon, you will know everything I know. Soon you will see the battlefield”.

Naturally, as Alec gets his bearings, he watches Emily from a distance. Once he recognises the patterns of comings and goings, it should be easy for him to figure out where and when Emily and his other self will be so he can save Emily.

Jason, naturally, shows up, just in time to lend some lightness to an otherwise very dark moment. He immediately asks Alec, “Who are you?” Alec replies in a very logical way, considering the current situation, “Who am I? I’m your father.” Great line.

As Jason bounces around, as he does, looking for “Freelancers” who may be watching him, Alec clarifies that he is the Alec from a week in the future. Jason offers to help Alec, and they are off and running. Jason, at this point, does not seem overly surprised by Alecs revelation that he is Jason’s father. Maybe he has known all along.

Kiera is brought before Catherine (Rachael Crawford), the keeper of the cell. Kiera asks, “Head Freelancer?” Catherine responds, “If you like”. Okay, time for answers. Catherine tells Kiera that Time travel is a Pandora’s Box. It found itself in the hands of criminals who saw opportunity. The only way to protect the time line was to create a safety net. One man made the sacrifice to travel back in time to establish an order that would be able to neutralize threats from the future as they became apparent. Catherine states that she, Chen and Martin, among others, are guardians of history. They are not from the future and they discourage time travel among their members unless it is for strategic purposes. At this point, Kiera eyes Curtis Chen.

As Catherine continues explaining, she makes it plain that Alec’s time travel to a week in the past has done more damage than he realizes. He will never grow up to be the Alec Saddler in Kiera’s future. Her future has been changed. Alec has created a new branch on the tree that Catherine’s group manages. For them, it means the new tree will remain cultivated. However, there is nothing they can do about Alec’s crime. Kiera, on the other hand, can do something to change things back the way they should have been before Alec interfered with the time line. In other words, she is on her own, again.

Back at the lab…Jason and Alec have entered. Alec takes the original Kiera’s piece of the Time travel orb. Kellogg shows up asking questions. That man has to know everything. Alec does not seem pleased to see him. Is anybody? Alec warns Kellogg that if he wants to protect his future he should start focusing on the real threat – Escher.

Why is Escher a threat? Alec provides the answer. Escher has built an antimatter system designed specifically for the time travel device that Liber8 brought back. A little upset by this news, Kellogg kicks a chair. Then he thinks things through in his head, “So, Escher goes back to the time we all arrived in, kills us all. After that, well, I guess the world is his oyster”. Alec finishes, “That’s how you stay on top”.

Back with the Head Freelancer, Kiera learns that thousands of people can perish in an alternate time line and nothing happens, but there are a select few who can create chaos in the time line. Alec Saddler is one such person. Chen then tells her that she is too. Kiera’s response is to tell them that they are all out of their minds.

Never let two martial arts trained women pass each other in a hallway, or on stairs. That is the lesson for Martin and another of his people as Garza and Kiera take them both out. Garza gets the upper hand and shoots two of the attackers. As they get out of the handcuffs, they make a deal to help each other until they escape, then go their separate ways; an uneasy alliance to say the least.

As Jason and Alec walk down the street, Jason warns him to be careful about what he changes, because it can change a whole lot of other things. Emily shows up taking Alec off guard. Thrilled to be with her at last, he kisses her passionately. They end up in a coffee shop. Alec tells Emily he would like to go to Thailand with her.

Back at the holding area, Garza and Kiera are on the run. They get spotted by a high tech device used to act as a sort of sentry. I am calling it a Spy Bot. They both shoot it down, which, they acknowledge is going to attract some attention.

Hiding behind some pipes, Garza and Kiera agree that Garza should be the decoy to allow Kiera to escape because she can bring back the police. As they talk, there is an explosion and a shaking of the building. As she runs, she comes across an exit, several stories up.

With nowhere to run, Kiera runs out of time. Chen has found her. She is brought before Catherine again. Catherine tells her that the time line is dying and so are they. Nothing can change that. However, is Kiera agrees to use their time machine and fix what Alec damaged, they can all live, or at least, some version of them. The Kiera that exists in Alec’s new time line has to go as well.

The second Alec catches up with Kiera to tell her that Agent Gardiner (Nicholas Lea) has been murdered and that things that happen in the next few days may not make much sense.

With some intel that Alec gave Kiera and Carlos (Victor Webster), they capture Lucas (Omari Newton) inside a van. Kiera finds the rest of the pieces of the Time travel orb inside.

Now in her suit with a newer more advanced remote device, Kiera is ready to head back in time.

At an art gallery, Kellogg finds Escher. He tells Escher that they have a mutual interest in Alec Saddler, antimatter and time travel. Kellogg tells him, “I have the sick feeling we are both working from the same playbook. If we keep stepping on each other’s toes, one of us is bound to push back. My money is on me, by the way”. As Kellogg gets up to leave, someone shoots Escher. It is Emily. Has she killed him?

Kiera returns to the past and frees Garza. Captured, yet again by Chen and Martin and brought before Catherine, Kiera tells the group that they sent her back in time. Kiera has the dots between her fingers that are common to the Freelancers. They are examined and discovered to be legitimate. Kiera tells Catherine that there are two Alec Saddlers in this time line. She has to determine which Alec Saddler will bring about the future that both of them want.

As Alec number two gets ready to leave for Thailand, he discovers Kiera lying dead on the floor in a pool of her own blood. He is devastated. That is, until the other Kiera shows up.

The body count in this episode is amazing. However, in science fiction, and especially time travel, no one stays dead for long. It should be interesting to see who survives into the next few episodes. One thing is for sure, we know that one of the Alecs must die.

Thanks to Kenn for the audio video embed and additional Continuum images for my analysis, and many thanks to you for stopping by WormholeRiders News Agency!!

We look forward to seeing more of you here at our review site dedicated to our wonderful science fiction series Continuum!

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Regards,

Thank you.

ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)