Welcome back Continuum time travelers!
The concept of ‘revolution’ usually brings a bitter taste to the mouths of those who remember it. At the time, revolution seems heroic, brave, a way of releasing years of pent-up emotion, and bringing about an immense relief of change.
At the outset, few people realize the cost of revolution. It will change their lives, right down to the time they get up in the morning. Worst of all, it will pit a son against his parents, a brother against his brother, and ultimately it will pit revolutionaries against each other.
Revolutions can end up positive and bringing about the change desired – but like politics it can take years for those changes to occur. In the end, revolutions often have negative impacts for their starters as Jono McCleery relates in his great song “You and Me”.
Family Time:
Spoilers ahead for this week’s episode of Syfy’s ‘Continuum’….
For example, Julian Randol (Richard Harmon) had to sit by and watch while his father, Roland Randol (Michael Rogers), is gunned down for being a terrorist.
The incredibly beautiful irony of the grass-roots start of Liber8’s revolution at Alec Sadler’s (Erik Knudsen) home is likely not lost on any of you sharp-eyed viewers. At the very least we are learning some of the details of how and why the elder Alec orchestrated the time-jump. Is that still a theory at this point? I think it is pretty clear!
The foreshadowing of the entire season has led us to this moment with Julian slowly becoming involved in Edouard Kagame’s (Tony Amendola) propaganda.
He would be an incredible ally to Kagame if he had just stayed under the radar – but once that excessive amount of fertilizer was ordered, it was inevitable that the stuff was going to hit the fan. As they take control of the situation, Julian and his friends announce themselves as ‘men’.
That being said, it is clear that they are pretty much all terrified by the scope and magnitude of what they are instigating. If there is a larger plan at work, none of them seem to know about it.
You could say that they were just smart enough not to say anything but given at how they just let Alec basically do whatever he wanted, I am willing to bet smarts are not a major part of that group of friends.
Of course, Julian was already having trouble with the revolution starting at his house. Though angry and rather emo (especially with that haircut), it was clear he did not want any member of his family hurt. He just could not show that kind of weakness to the more-fanatical-minded Hoyt (Wesley MacInnis), who is the apparent ‘real’ leader of the takeover.
His fate was thankfully left in his own hands by the end of the episode, but I am pretty sure there is not a good ending in store for him by the time this season is over.
Julian’s not the only one getting the short end of the stick. Alec lost his stepfather, a man he never seemed too close to but who his mother Ann (Janet Kidder), truly loved.
Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster) spent most of the episode half-dead (scaring the daylights out of us a few times when he went limp and seemed to stop breathing). Then, of course, there was Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols), star of the show and, therefore, The One To Whom Everything Happens.
Kiera has had it rough this episode. Actually, she has had it rough the last two episodes.
First, she gets hacked and brainwashed.
Second, she is at ground zero for the start of Liber8’s revolution, watching her partner and the man she calls her ‘best friend’ (tissue time), bleeding out onto the ground.
Third, in a beautiful show of emotion that has been coming all season, she actually reveals a little of her past (future?) to said partner.She is opening up, and though she reveals only a little, it would be enough to get Carlos’ questions going – once he wakes back up.
Through most of this, Kiera manages to hold it together.
She is a very well-trained police officer. I will use the word ‘capable’ more than once here. As a main character, I am very impressed with how she is written and how she is acted.
Her cool head under pressure and quick, adaptable thinking skills blend nicely with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and, of course, her partner’s by-the-book way of working.
Even when handling the stress of keeping her grandmother alive a few episodes ago, Kiera managed to keep a logical ‘this is what has to be done’ mindset, only allowing herself a few moments to tear up and get emotional.
She has been portrayed not as unfeeling, but definitely as emotionally detached. Until, that is, the end of this episode. She is told to go home and get some rest. Instead, she takes a detour to Matthew Kellog’s [Stephen Lobo] yacht and – to our eyes – proceeds to definitely not rest.
Which leads me to the question: Kiera Cameron, what were you thinking?
I understand that she probably has not gotten laid in several months, that she is missing her husband, and that she is completely exhausted and just wants a break. But Matthew Kellog?
Yes, he is pretty gorgeous and a silver-tongued fox with money and a brain sharper than most Ka-Bars, but he is also a member (former?) of a terrorist group. He has stolen from Kiera and proven, in the past, to work both sides! Why would she put herself in such a vulnerable state with him?
There is the key word. Vulnerable. As I hinted in the last paragraph, throughout most of season one, we have watched Kiera slowly go through what looks like the stages of grief. Denial and rage seem to be the ones she is stuck in for the most part.
Kiera is not, per se, projecting her rage on the innocent people of 2012, instead bottling it all up inside and turning it into the hardened, no-nonsense, very capable agent she is. She is trying to find pieces of the time travel device in order to find a way home, (which will come up later).
Most of all, she has formed a strange and uneasy alliance with Matthew – a terrorist with whom she has some history and with whom she continues to share oddly personal moments.
By the end here of season one (we are only one episode away), it is clear that she and Matthew are forming a bond as well – one that may even explain why on earth she would go to him seeking sexual comfort. (Okay, so we did not see said sexual comfort, but the sparks flying in those last few seconds should be enough to suggest what was coming).
Kiera has been working with him throughout the season to have inside information on what Kagame and the others are doing, despite the fact that she knows he is working for Kagame as well.
It is only when things turn personally bad for Matthew that he seems to make a clean break with Kagame. Matthew is out only for himself, taking and giving assistance to the highest bidder. No matter what he appears to be, however, he is a dangerous man.
Yet, Kiera has bonded with him for probably the same reasons he points out to her. They are the only two people who can relate to each other in this timeline. With their odd history and Kiera slowly accepting that Liber8 seems to be achieving their goals, (suggesting she may never get back to her own time).
It is inevitable that Kiera would finally give into some kind of need for physical comfort – and really, Matthew is the only one who can provide that kind of comfort. Alec? No way, though I love their relationship. Carlos? Not yet at least, and he is in recovery anyway.
Then, of course, there is the other reason she might have done it. Enter my next theory – and stay with me, because it is kind of far-fetched.
Kiera was indeed vulnerable. She knows Kellog and has a clue on how to manipulate him. She knows he is out for his own survival, that he is hedonistic, and that she can potentially use the bond the two of them have to make him give her something she wants.
Of course, I am talking about the piece of the time-jump device that he stole a few episodes ago and that Kiera told Alec she was: “just going to have to get [it] back.”
Seduction for information is a tried and true staple of a lot of movies and shows. The trick, however, is that it has to be in character, and that is where my theory falls apart. Kiera, in my opinion, is too logical and cold to utilize her womanly wiles.
Plus, she has a husband and a son and her devotion to them has been one strong constant throughout this season. It just does not jive with what we know about her for her to take this kind of action. She is more likely to hold a gun up to Kellog until he gives her the darn thing. Sure, it would hurt their bond, but it would be no worse than anything else that has happened between them this season. If the writers took this path with the storyline.
Next week may well address one or both of these theories. Until then, we are left wondering about that last shot of Kiera and Kellog. I was definitely in favor of a little spark between them, but I did not expect this much this quick! Of course, do we ever?
Next week, as well, is of course the season finale of ‘Continuum’. For me, this has been a show that unexpectedly grabbed my interest when I caught a particular actor in the pilot. Throughout the season, however, I have gradually come to realize and believe that the genre of science fiction is far from dead, (I am still reeling from the deaths of such shows as ‘Stargate Atlantis’, ‘Alcatraz’, ‘Eureka’, and ‘Alphas’).
This may make me sound naive, but instead I welcome the realization that there is so much more out there to watch and enjoy. A couple of weeks ago, I praised the writers of ‘Continuum’.
I want to call out everyone else on the list as well now, including our actors for personifying words on a page, our directors on the show for their artistic visions of the future as well as the present and their blending factors, and our composer, Jeff Danna, for the often scene-stealing music he brings to the episodes. Special thanks also go out to our producers, Simon Barry, Jeff King, and Matthew O’Connor.
This show is awesome.
Thanks to Kenn, WormholeRiders Managing Editor for additional images, and music video embedding, and many thanks to you for visiting WormholeRiders News Agency
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I and the WHR team look forward to and will be Seeing You on The Other Side“!
Thank you. 
Regards,
Nayari09 (Pam)