Do you remember back in season two when I was joking how if you squinted you could sort of see the Dark Matter universe as a far-future version of The Secret World?
It’s a bit less of a joke now. I think Dark Matter just walked into empty.
Spurred by one of Suki/Sally/whatever’s recovered memories, Two leads the Raza crew to a secret Dwarf Star facility. Something about the place sets Three on edge immediately, but Two forges ahead, and in the depths of the facility, the terrible truth of Dwarf Star’s plans is at last revealed.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Rook Dwarf Star wgah’nagl fhtagn.
This is by any measure a strong episode. It’s suspenseful, and it’s exciting, and it provides all the fun of a Dwarf Star episode without any Wil Wheaton (sorry, he’s just not good at playing a villain).
That said, this is definitely one of those episodes that’s most interesting not for what it is, but for what it may lead to. I’ve been developing a growing suspicion for a while now that Dwarf Star is the true Big Bad and meta arc of Dark Matter, and this certainly doesn’t dissuade me from that idea. It’s hard to imagine Zairon or the corporations, bad as they are, ever being as scary as this.
I’ve long enjoyed Dark Matter’s character-driven stories, but I’m not one to ever turn down a good fight to save the universe.
This is also the second episode in a row that has featured Three as an important and even interesting part of the story. Has the cast’s last remaining weak link finally been shored up?
Overall rating: 8.5/10 Dwarf Stars collide with the mind. Please adjust the pressure. I’m not comfortable.
In other news…
It seems Dark Matter might not be our only option for some Filthy TV, though. Massively has just reported on the utterly and completely unexpected news that Johnny Depp wants to make a TV series based on The Secret World.
Now, I’m not going to get too excited. Lots of ideas get optioned for movies or TV and then never make it out of development hell. I don’t think the odds of this series actually making it to air are very good.
That said, if it does, obviously I’ll watch the hell out of it. It’d be worth watching just to see Jeffrey Combs reprise his role as Hayden Montag. Maybe this could even be a more worthy end to the story than Legends.
The real question is, what actress is crazy enough to do Lilith justice? She’s probably too big a name for them to afford, but I think Charlize Theron could do well.
Superior Realities 
The sad thing about the TS series is the timing. I mean, this will get TSW (or rather the new trainwreck) a lot of exposition. It will bring in new players and will probably be a huge financial boost.
I so much wish this would’ve happened a while ago. Such a TV series (along with a better introduction for the beginner, which always was the one big problem of old TSW) would’ve gone such a long way. We could still have the great original game… but with the given timing, we’re stuck with SWL. 😦
Yeah, that is a shame. I’m choosing to see it as a potential consolation prize — something to wash away the bad taste of Legends.