Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 38

Review: Dark Matter, “Hot Chocolate”

Well, I got my wish. I said I wanted more focus on the main arcs of the season, and here it is. “Hot Chocolate” puts galactic politics and the conflict with Ryo front and centre.

[image error]Led by Six, the crew of the Raza attempts to mediate the fractious delegates of various independent worlds, but when one of them turns up dead, suspicion is everywhere. At the same time, the Raza‘s systems begin failing, and soon the forces of Zairon are closing in.

I am running out of ways to say “Dark Matter is really fun and exciting,” but for whatever it’s worth, this episode is fun and exciting.

It has many of the things I love about Dark Matter. It’s got action, reversals, and twists. It’s got Six being the voice of reason when everything else seems to be falling apart. It’s got Five playing the hero. Even Sarah gets to help out; it seems my suspicions of her taking a sinister turn were unfounded (at least for now…).

However, my favourite part of “Hot Chocolate” by far was the fight between Two and Ryo. It may seem shallow to praise a simple fight sequence, but then, it’s not just a simple fight sequence.

Firstly, the choreography and cinematography are fantastic. It’s a beautiful sequence to watch. Two peerless fighters at the top of their game.

And then you factor in what it means within the context of the story, what it means to the characters. Once, they were friends, companions. Now, they’re bitter enemies. You feel Two’s rage and grief at Ryo’s betrayal, her pain at Nyx’s loss and all else Ryo has cost them. The tension between these characters has been building all season, and it just erupts.

[image error]It’s magic.

I do have two complaints about this episode. Neither is huge, but they are worth mentioning.

One is that it’s a little disappointing Sally the android doesn’t get to do much here. There was the potential here for her to have a real moment of triumph, but she’s basically just powerless and reliant on the crew to rescue her instead. Her character deserves better.

The other is that, entertaining as it was, this episode doesn’t really advance the plot that much. I really loved getting a meaty confrontation with Ryo finally, but in the end things haven’t changed much. There’s the usual cliff-hanger ending, but it had nothing to do with the rest of the episode.

It was an enjoyable episode, but not an important one.

Overall rating: 7.8/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV

Returning to Writing: A Manifesto

For the last couple years, I’ve been having an extended period of unproductivity in my fiction writing. I’ve managed a few short stories, but they’ve been very sporadic, and work on my books has ground to a screeching halt. This is due to some personal issues that are not really appropriate for discussion on a public blog, but the point is not much is getting done.

When I stopped writing, I was a little less than halfway through a new series, which I consider to be my life’s work, having been developing it for the last twenty years. I’m tentatively calling it The Soulcleaver Saga, and it’s set in the universe of The Wounding and Lady of the Dawn, both of which tie into the books.

The issues in my life that derailed my work on it have not abated — if anything they’ve worsened — but I think the time has come to stop making excuses and get back to work regardless. Therefore, I am developing a new schedule to that end.

For the record, I’m not posting this to boast or show off that I’m “hashtag am writing” or whatever. I’ve been at this long enough to know most of my blog readers aren’t interested in my fiction (no judgment; you’re not obligated to). I’m posting this because if I put all this out in a public form, I’ll lose face if I don’t follow through. I’m deliberating shaming myself into working.

My plan is thus:

I will do seven hours of writing work per week. In theory, one hour per day, but with the flexibility to maybe skip one day and catch up later or something. This idea shamelessly stolen from Ashley at Robo♥beat.
“Writing work” is defined as actually writing, revising, proofreading, or doing major plotting or world-building (IE coming up with new stuff, not just writing down things I’ve already defined in my mind).
During this hour, I will not use the Internet except for research or Internet radio. No distractions.
I may skip days due to illness or other extreme/unusual circumstances, but I will try to keep such instances to a minimum.
I will prioritize fiction over working on my blog. I don’t think there will be much conflict or that my posting schedule will be much affected, but I’ll mention it just in case.

My goals are:

To rewrite the first two Soulcleaver books with more depth and detail, among other changes.
To complete the remaining three Soulcleaver books.
To rewrite and republish Rage of the Old Gods. It was the first book I wrote, and I believe can now do better in some ways, especially regarding the beginning, which I’ve never been happy with. I may also revisit the later books in the series, but right now I’m pretty content with them, and I’m not sure they need to change.
To write any good short story concepts that occur to me along the way, especially if they are part of the Soulcleaver universe.

I do not promise to complete those goals in that order, or any order. Only that they will eventually all get done. Once they are completed, I will give myself permission to resume giving up, if desired.

Because I like to procrastinate, this new schedule will begin on the first Monday after this post is published.

I have several reasons for doing this, but one utterly outclasses all others: My father. While it is likely he will be around for many years to come, and I certainly hope he will be, the fact is he’s not going to live forever, and I don’t think I could live with myself if he didn’t see the completion of my life’s work. I want to get it done while there’s still time.

My writing was never meant to be about me anyway. I lost sight of that over the years. True creativity must be unselfish, I think.

For the two of you who are still reading this, I leave you with one of the main characters of the Soulcleaver series, as recreated in Black Desert Online.

[image error]I’m coming home, Seesha.

Filed under: My writing Tagged: fantasy, I'm going to regret this, Soulcleaver, writing

Review: Dark Matter, “Wish I Could Believe You”

I think the radio has been playing the Revivalists too much, because I keep wanting to type “Wish I Could Believe You When I Was Young.”

Anyway.

[image error]After hoodwinking us all into thinking Six was gone, this episode is pretty much all Six, all the time. After a ruthless chemical attack by Ferrous, Six is the only survivor, and while he makes it off the planet in one piece, he’s far from out of the woods.

Things start to get weird as he experiences flashbacks to his previous life — before the Raza, before the memory wipe — triggered by exposure to the neurotoxin.

To be honest, I was able to see where this was going pretty early on. I’ll avoid spoiling it, but if you’ve watched enough sci-fi, you probably will, too.

So it’s a very predictable episode, but otherwise it’s not bad. A focus on Six is always welcome, especially after we thought we were losing him, and he gets to turn the tables on the bad guys in some spectacular fashion.

On the downside, there’s little room left for meaningful development of the other cast members, but that’s really only noticeable because Dark Matter usually goes above and beyond to give everyone something to do. One episode where that’s not the case isn’t the end of the world.

My one real complaint is not so much about this episode as it is the rest of the season up until now. If Six was never going anywhere, why fake us out like that? What was the point of that whole tangent? I suppose we’ve now made Ferrous into an even scarier threat than they already were, but did it need to take so much time?

[image error]We’re seven episodes in, and it feels like the season is just getting started. It feels overdue for us to get some serious development with the corporate war and the conflict with Ryo.

And I don’t think the next episode will solve that, either. It looks like Sarah’s story is going to take centre stage (bringing back the dead never has a happy ending — a good nerd like Five should know that). And I think that will be interesting, and I’m looking forward to it, but again, when do we return to the main story?

But hey, at least Six is back.

Overall rating: 7/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV

The Mustering of Azeroth: Is Trouble Brewing?

Three down, nine to go.

[image error]I’ve now completed the monk class story in World of Warcraft. So far, every class story has been a bit inconsistent, to varying degrees, but this is much truer of the monk campaign than the rogue or warlock stories.

The monk story starts well. It’s intense, and it gives a clear and personal reason to hate the Legion right of the gate.

The problem is that after a while it stops being a monk story and becomes simply a brewmaster story. Even as a brewmaster main, this is a bit hard to get behind. Brewmaster is fun to play, but it’s far too silly a concept to carry a full story arc. To put it mildly, I have trouble taking the game seriously when it starts borrowing philosophy from Homer Simpson.

“Brew: The cause of, and solution to, all of Azeroth’s problems.”

This is a problem Blizzard often runs into. I like WoW’s sense of humour, but when the jokes become the meat of the story, they stop being funny pretty fast.

The ending of the base storyline is short and severely underwhelming in terms of both plot and gameplay, but on the upside, the 7.2 continuation provides a much more satisfying conclusion (the same was true for warlocks). The story’s still awfully brew-centric, but there’s some clever gameplay. At one point you imbibe a particularly potent batch of Storm Brew and are able to devastate an entire cohort of demons while moving at super speed (represented by the entire game around you moving in slow motion).

[image error]The real charm of the monk campaign is found not in the meat of its story but in the peripheral features. Fu Zan and Sheilun both have excellent acquisition quests and really fascinating lore. Seriously, if you haven’t read the lore book on Sheilun yet, go do that. Just… wow.

The frequent opportunities to revisit Pandaria are also welcome, and in many ways the monk campaign does feel like a good epilogue to Mists of Pandaria, which was one of the best expansions for story, despite whatever other flaws it may have had. After all the damage we did to Pandaria, it feels good to now be standing as one of its protectors.

The monk story also brings back a number of memorable characters from Pandaria. The Monkey King, of course, is always welcome to join me when I go grookin’.

But my favourite part was being able to recruit Taran Zhu. I know Zhu bruised a lot of people’s egos, but I’ve always felt him to be a very compelling and well-written character. After all of his distrust of us, his anger, all that he lost, to have him willing to follow my banner was an incredibly gratifying moment and, to me, the perfect coda to Mists of Pandaria.

I only wish the new characters could have been as compelling. Blizzard seemed to want to add some racial diversity to the monk followers, which is understandable, but the fact they’ve never really bothered to create non-Pandaren monk characters before now meant I got saddled with a bunch of nobodies I don’t care about.

Still better than Li-Li, I guess.

[image error]The monk campaign is so all over the map it’s hard to rate. At times, it’s thrilling or profoundly powerful. At others, it’s deeply disappointing. Overall, this won’t go down as my favourite class story, but I can’t say it didn’t have its moments.

Filed under: Games Tagged: fantasy, The Mustering of Azeroth, Warcraft, World of Warcraft

Review: Dark Matter, “One More Card to Play”

After some rough episodes, this is a return to form for Dark Matter. It’s not perfect, but on the whole, it’s a good ride.

[image error]There’s a twist that it would be impossible to discuss this episode without spoiling. The twist comes fairly early on, and I won’t spoil the other twists later in the episode, but if you haven’t seen “One More Card to Play” yet and want to come in totally fresh, you might want to leave now.

Cool? Cool.

The episode begins with Two and Three stirring rebellion aboard a Zairon prison ship, but it soon becomes clear it’s not actually Two and Three. It’s Portia and Marcus, their ruthless selves from the other universe.

Yes, the evil universe is back, and they’re about to cause all kinds of problems for the Raza crew.

As mentioned above, this is a return to the kind of rollicking, thoroughly entertaining adventure that Dark Matter is known for. It’s a fun episode, there’s humour, there’s action, there are some good twists, the ending gives us another cliffhanger, and it’s just a good ride all around.

I have to say, I like having Wexler back. I mean, he’s disgusting, but that’s the point. When it comes to “love to hate them” bad guys, there are few better.

It was also interesting to see Ryo continue to lose it, though once again it was too small a portion of the episode.

[image error]And once again, Five and Sally steal the show by being completely awesome in every way.

There are still some issues. The new guy continues to irritate, though he’s not in the spotlight nearly so much as past episodes, so it could be a lot worse.

If the ending is to be believed, I’ve gotten my wish, and the new guy is gone. I’m not going to get my hopes up too high, but if he really is gone — or at least reduced to a background character — that can only help the show.

I’ll miss Solara, but if they must be a package deal, he’s more annoying than she was interesting, so this is still a net gain.

Also, I had hoped the return of the evil universe characters might offer some more insight into Portia and Sally’s history, but I was destined for disappointment on that front.

Still, it’s a pretty solid hour of television all told.

Overall rating: 7/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV

WoW: Kul Tiras Ahoy?

Well, it’s that time of year again. The time when wild rumours, rampant speculation, leaks, and “leaks” about the next World of Warcraft expansion are flying wildly. And boy, we’ve got a doozy to lead things off.

Datamining for 7.3 has revealed a partial armour set labelled “Kul Tiras quest.”

Well then.

[image error]Kul Tiras has always been one of the great oversights of WoW. As a pillar of the Alliance, a naval superpower, one of the last surviving human nations, and the homeland of Jaina Proudmoore, it’s something that very much should be in the game but inexplicably isn’t. Honestly, a very strong argument could be made that it should have been the Alliance capitol instead of Stormwind.

And yet it’s nowhere to be found. It’s barely even mentioned. If Kul Tiras is finally making its way into the game, and that now seems almost certain, it’s long overdue.

I had initially assumed we’d be visiting it for a story scenario or something, but it has been pointed out that this “[place name] quest” file name nomenclature has in the past always been used for leveling gear in a new expansion.

This raises the very real possibility that Kul Tiras will be the setting of the next expansion.

Kul Tiras is very significant politically, but not very big geographically, which could make for a very cramped expansion, but Legion has proven that Blizzard is willing to set expansions in smaller locales. And it’s also possible that the expansion might include other islands, such as Zandalar or Tel Abim.

Of course, Kul Tiras indicates an aquatic expansion, and that raises the possibility of Azshara.

[image error]Man, I’ve wanted an Azshara/Naga/N’Zoth expansion for so long now. I refuse to get my hopes up again. There have been too many false alarms: The Dark Below, Eye of Azshara…

I also have to wonder if, after all this time, Blizzard could deliver on my expectations for such a thing.

Azshara is, I think, the last great Warcraft villain. We can’t bring Gul’dan back from the dead again. The Lich King’s story is finished. Murozond and Deathwing are defeated. The mid-level Legion leadership has been pretty defanged in WoW, and Sargeras is too powerful for players to ever face directly. Sylvanas is too beloved by the fans to be made a direct antagonist.

There are still the Old Gods and Void Lords, but Azshara has a human (for lack of a better term) face that they lack. For all her godlike power and legendary influence on the Warcraft universe, she’s still ultimately just a person. A profoundly twisted, chillingly selfish person, but a person nonetheless.

Azshara is unique among Warcraft villains, and not just because she’s one of the few prominent female villains in the universe. Most Warcraft villains are literal monsters: mutant dragons who bleed liquid hate, undead monstrosities, grotesque demon lords, eldritch beings from a realm of pure entropy.

[image error]Even Gul’dan, arguably her closest analogue, is nakedly monstrous, his appearance hideous and his cruelty clear.

Azshara isn’t like that. Azshara is charming, personable, and charismatic. Her darkness is well hidden. To the untrained eye, she is a beacon of grace and beauty, truly the Light of Lights.

Azshara is a slow poison, a subtle killer. Her people continued to love and worship her even as she burned everything they ever loved. She already shattered the world once, and she’s had ten thousand years to perfect her plan to finish the job.

But can WoW do justice to all that? Historically it’s done a very poor job of making its antagonists into credible threats, with the Lich King and to a much lesser extent Garrosh being the only notable exceptions.

Kul Tiras probably also means more Jaina, and that could also be a problem. Every time I think Blizzard can’t ruin Jaina’s character more, they find a way. I so want to have the old Jaina back, but I think it’s now far too late for that.

So while the news of a Kul Tiras expansion would have once filled me with joy, right now I’m trying to keep my expectations carefully managed. It could be great, but it could also be a terrible disappointment.

[image error]I won’t lie, though. If Gamescom/BlizzCon rolls around and they show a trailer for “World of Warcraft: Light of Lights,” I may nerdgasm a bit.

Filed under: Misc. Tagged: fantasy, tinfoil, Warcraft, World of Warcraft

Review: Dark Matter, “Give It Up, Princess”

Man, the casting changes have really not done this show any favours.

[image error]We were bound to get at least one episode devoted mainly to fleshing out the newbies, and “Give It Up, Princess” appears to be it. Unfortunately, its focus is not on Solara, but on Jimmy the Idiot Boy.

It’s a long, dull, irritating slog that mostly goes nowhere. In theory it’s setting up something that could be interesting in the future regarding Ferrous Corporation, but we’ll have to wait for the pay-off on that.

I’m repeating myself, but this new guy is terrible. Absolutely terrible. It feels like he was meant to be the show’s comedy relief, but he’s not funny. At all. Not even close.

I’ve been complaining about the show being too quick to kill off its characters, but can this guy please get spaced sooner rather than later? He is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to Dark Matter.

I feel bad for the actor. He seems destined to be hated, but it’s not really his fault. The writers just gave him a crap part. He’s probably a very nice guy and totally undeserving of how much I’m dumping on his work.

The one piece of good news is that there’s actually a lot of interesting stuff going on in this episode. You just have to look to the subplots.

[image error]We get to see Sally the android stretch her wings again, which is always nice (though that Southern accent needs work). I do get the feeling there might be some consequences to her trying to share the upgrade. Should be interesting to see.

I also enjoyed Ryo’s subplot. Mostly all he’s done this season is shake his fist at the Raza like some toothless Saturday morning cartoon villain, but this time he gets a much meatier story to sink his teeth into, and it shows his true character as a ruler and as a man.

I am increasingly suspecting that someone in his court is conspiring against him. I’m just not sure if it’s Misaki or Teku. Misaki seems the much more likely candidate… but that’s exactly what gives me doubts. She’s too obvious. And Teku is definitely smart enough to plot to bring Ryo down without ever giving a hint that he’s disloyal.

Finally and most intriguingly, we get to see Six again, if only briefly. That gives me hope the show isn’t done with him yet. The ending hints he may be in dire straights, but at least there’s the chance he could once again be a full cast member. I’ll cling to hope for as long as I can.

Now, if only one of those plot threads could have served as the focus of this episode, instead of the dumbass.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV

WoW: Salute the Dark

I’m baaaack.

[image error]Perhaps because my last visit was so short, it feels like it’s been a long time since I played World of Warcraft, though rationally speaking it hasn’t. Regardless, it is as ever easy to get back into the swing of things.

I’m taking a relatively laidback approach to my return so far — after a brief burst of intense grinding the first couple days — so I haven’t yet visited the Tomb of Sargeras or done anything too dramatic.

I did give the new dungeons a run. I enjoyed the Cathedral of Eternal Night. Solid five-man, nothing to complain about. Return to Karazhan I’m mixed on. I know a lot of people loved original Karazhan, but I was always bitter such an iconic location in WoW lore was reduced to a cheesy haunted house. The new five-man version is less of a waste of potential, but only somewhat.

My initial goal was to focus on the Broken Shore story. It’s not the most exciting content they’ve ever done, but it is pretty quick and painless as grinds go, so I was able to unlock flight much quicker than I’d anticipated.

At last.

It’s so much better now. The game feels complete, and I can finally start playing at my own pace. I cannot exaggerate the relief I feel upon being able to take to the skies again.

[image error]With this, I can finally embark on my main goal for the expansion and begin leveling alts. The Mustering of Azeroth is at hand.

First up: Monk.

I’m developing a slightly unconventional but effective and so far enjoyable alternative leveling style, since I’ve already done plenty of questing in Legion. Basically I just fly around the Broken Isles collecting herbs, completing bonus objectives, fighting Legion invasions when they come, and doing anything else quick that catches my eye. Also queue for the occasional dungeon while flying around.

The variety keeps things fresh, and so far the levels seem to be going by pretty fast. Invasions in particular are a great source of XP. Their only downside is they don’t seem to award much gear, but I think the solution there could be to stop doing them at 109 and do quests and/or dungeons for the last level. That should get you some fairly up to date gear for when you hit max level.

I’m not sure if this will be my strategy for every alt going forward, but so far it’s working for me.

The one other thing that’s making this exploration-heavy leveling method enjoyable is the newly implemented Inky Black Potion. Easily obtainable from a vendor at the Darkmoon Faire (or the auction house when the Faire isn’t on), it turns the entire game world to night for its duration.

[image error]A lot of people are loving the potion because it makes the world much darker than regular night time, but I’m just glad to be able to experience night at all.

Unlike most games, World of Warcraft’s day/night cycle is actually tied to real world time. Between that and the fact that Blizzard is in California, that means I have to stay up well past midnight to actually see the sun set over Azeroth. As a result, I’ve had very little experience of in-game night despite playing for the better part of a decade.

Therefore, playing with the Inky Black Potion almost feels like playing an entirely new game, at least visually. Everything takes on a totally different character. Val’sharah is somewhat pretty in daylight, but it’s breathtaking in total darkness. The soft glow of lanterns, the bright wisps fluttering through dark branches, the shafts of gleaming moonlight… it’s enchanting.

The only problem is it can sometimes make it a bit hard to see what’s happening on screen when playing in the afternoon. Downside of living in an apartment that’s half windows and faces due west.

Of course, the Inky Black Potion is a perfect fit for a Night Elf, which is why I’m mainly using it on my monk so far.

[image error]In retrospect, it seems incredibly bizarre my Night Elf has spent the vast majority of her existence in daylight. Just imagine how messed up her Circadian Rhythm must be by now. Poor girl must be exhausted.

Filed under: Games Tagged: fantasy, The Mustering of Azeroth, Warcraft, World of Warcraft

Mass Effect: Andromeda Second Playthrough Complete

I think it says something that even after spending almost 100 hours on my first playthrough of Mass Effect: Andromeda, I was still left chomping at the bit for more.

[image error]Thus, while it took me months and a couple excellent DLCs to convince to play Inquisition a second time, I started on my second playthrough of Andromeda quite quickly.

At times I regretted doing it so soon, as the game was still quite fresh in my mind. It did feel like a bit of a grind at times.

But more often than not I continued to enjoy myself. Andromeda is a truly special game the likes of which we are rarely privileged to see. I still have trouble fully articulating in rational terms exactly what I love so much about it — most likely it’s a confluence of factors — but regardless it’s a game that clicks for me in a way few others do.

I made it easier on myself by skipping most optional content and focusing almost entirely on the essentials: main story, crew missions, finding Arks, and of course Ryder Family Secrets. It only took me about half as long as the original playthrough.

I tried to make a lot of different choices, which allowed me to examine just much your choices actually matter in Andromeda. It seems to depend on the choice, sometimes unpredictably so.

[image error]It does seem to be well and truly impossible to permanently sour your relationship with any particular character. Having been buddies with Jaal the first time, I resolved to do everything in my power to piss him off this time, but while he spent a lot of the game giving me the silent treatment, he nonetheless ended the game by telling me I felt like family. In this context it seemed bizarrely out of the blue.

On the other hand, I did somehow get a totally new (to me) scene with Drack at the end of the game this time. I’m guessing this is because I made more choices he liked?

Also, be prepared for a surprising amount of heartbreak if you don’t convince Avitus to become a Pathfinder.

Overall, I’d say choices in Andromeda are more meaningful than they seemed to be the first time I played, but there’s still definitely room for improvement on that front.

On the subject of choices, I opted to romance Cora this time around. It’s much less of a disappointment than Suvi’s romance, though I have seen better. It’s a lot of flirting and very little actual relationship stuff, which is a bit strange, but on the plus side it does make Cora feel a lot more three-dimensional by allowing her to show a softer side, and I think that’s the best thing an in-game romance arc can accomplish.

[image error]I was going to complain that Scott feels rather flat as a character, but then I remembered I felt the same about Sara. I still think I’d prefer her a little, if only because she takes up a lot less screen space. Scott is surprisingly huge, and it was quite a jarring adjustment after playing exclusively female characters in my Mass Effect career to date.

One other thing I want to address is the new game plus mode in Andromeda. It’s fantastic.

The only thing of any significance that doesn’t carry over is AVP, and that hardly makes any difference anyhow. Your inventory, your skill choices, your credits, your strike teams, your Nomad upgrades, your research data… it’s all carried over.

You can continue with the same character, design an entirely new Ryder, or swap to the opposite Ryder twin while keeping the same custom appearances of both. The last is what I did this time, meaning my Sara from the original playthrough was an NPC this time. That felt a little strange at times.

This playthrough saw me hit the gear cap of level eighty. I farmed up a trove of crafting materials and proceeded to craft myself a final set of optimized gear.

Not only did I make all the items I need for my current build, but I constructed weapons and armour to support every build I can ever see myself attempting. On any subsequent playthroughs — and oh, there will be more — I won’t have to bother with crafting, or picking up mineral nodes, or scanning every little thing, or mining with the Nomad, or hunting down those stupid hidden caches, or even looting enemy corpses. I never have to worry about items or resources again. I can simply focus on the story.

[image error]I am free from the tyranny of loot.

My only complaint is that it took one and a half playthroughs to get to this point. This is how the game should have been from the start.

Filed under: Games Tagged: Mass Effect, sci-fi

Review: Dark Matter, “All the Time in the World”

Time for that old sci-fi tradition: the time loop. It’s Groundhog Day for Three as he relives the same twenty-four hours over and over again. In his efforts to break the loop, he discovers a deadly plot by Ryo to kill the crew and retake the blink drive.

[image error]And then things get really weird.

“Busy” doesn’t begin to describe this episode. There’s so much going on I’m having trouble keeping it all in my mind, and I literally just watched it. I may forget a subplot or two.

The sheer volume of things at play here is kind of a good news/bad news situation. The good news is there’s so much going on you’re bound to enjoy at least some of it. The bad news is the opposite is also true. There’s way too much going on for it all to be good.

First, Three’s initial trials with the time loop. Not my favourite part of the episode, but not the worst part, either. Perhaps not surprisingly considering this is Three we’re talking about, it’s played for laughs more often than not. Dark Matter has always had a healthy sense of humour, but this is probably the silliest it’s ever been. All things being equal, I’d prefer a more serious plot, but I won’t lie: I laughed.

Things suddenly get a lot more serious when Three discovers the assassin lurking on board. This plot was very good, and I wish it had been given a lot more attention. It could easily have been the focus of a full episode. That assassin’s genuinely scary.

But he got pretty short-changed by how overcrowded the story in “All the Time in the World” is. I’m still not even sure how he got on the ship.

[image error]Similarly, the actual cause of the temporal loop is very poorly explained, and in particular there doesn’t seem to be any explanation for why Three is the one affected, unless I missed something (which is possible in an episode so scattered).

Speaking of Three, I’m less than thrilled by his tribulations over the return of “Sarah.” I’m not a big Three fan, and his relationship with Sarah was always one of the weak points of the series for me. It’s just so at odds with the rest of the character. I understand the idea is supposed to be that his gruff exterior masks his inner pain, but he’s just so much more believable as an asshole than as a romantic. The mask feels more real than what’s underneath.

On top of all that, we’re also still getting used to the new characters. The new guy — I refuse to expend the effort necessary to learn his name — is still proving himself to be a waste of oxygen. He’s the Jar Jar Binks of Dark Matter. Yay.

Solara, the other newcomer, is growing on me, though. Still a bit early to be drawing any firm conclusions about her, but I like the cut of her jib. I really want to know her backstory. How did someone as badass as her find her fate shackled to such an imbecile?

And then there’s the mind-frack of an ending, which gives us some tantalizing glimpses of what might be coming. I’m still digesting it all.

Overall rating: 7.2/10

Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Dark Matter, review, sci-fi, TV