Retro Review: Continuum Season Two, Episodes 10-13

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Tyler F.M. Edwards

I think we all know how this works by now. Here be spoilers.

“Second Wave”:

The last few episodes have been a little slow by Continuum standards, but here’s a welcome return to form: A thousand things are happening at once, and there’s no chance to catch your breath.

“Second Wave” sees Garza captured with the aid of Alec’s “Arc” program. As she is given a taste of some “enhanced interrogation,” Alec also concocts a scheme to track down Travis by activating his military CMR, but this has some unwelcome side effects.

At the same time, Julian is embracing his role as Theseus, and Lucas is continuing to lose his marbles… OR IS HE?!??

Most interestingly, though, the Freelancers are on the move. They are acting to interfere with both Liber8 and Kiera, and Mr. Escher has his eyes set on Alec — which is causing some very mixed feelings for Emily.

So much happened in this episode that I don’t even know where to begin discussing it. Which is probably my favourite thing about it.

I think the story of the Freelancers was the most interesting. They seem somehow more sinister than Liber8. Liber8 is something we understand, the devil we know. And while their methods are reprehensible, their goals are admirable.

The Freelancers, though, are a wildcard, and from what we’ve seen so far, I don’t believe there is anything admirable in their motives. In the long run, I think they may prove far more dangerous than Kagame’s disciples.

Julian’s development still feels a little odd. Seems like they’re trying to force his character in a direction that isn’t consistent with his previous depictions.

As with almost everything involving her to date, Emily falling for Alec in truth is very predictable, but not unwelcome.

“Second Wave” also saw Kiera’s slide toward the Dark Side continue. Her taking a page from Admiral Cain’s playbook* isn’t inconsistent with her character, but it is strange she isn’t just using her truth serum. Seems like that’d be a lot more efficient, and while Kiera is obviously not above some cruelty when it’s expedient, she has never seemed the sort to be cruel at the expense of expediency.

*(Two completely unrelated sci-fi references in as many sentences. I wonder if there’s a prize for that?)

Finally, Curtis being a Freelancer is a fantastic twist, which raises all sorts of delicious questions.

Overall rating: 8/10

“Second Guess”:

This is another very busy episode. Now completely lost in his madness, Lucas absconds with part of Alec’s Arc program and uses it to sow chaos every way he can. This gives pretty much everyone a bad day.

The fact that the cops are now lackeys of a shady corporation, as well as Jim’s connections to Liber8, come to light. Jim begins to play both Liber8 factions against each other in the hopes of freeing himself from their coercion. Alec is racked with self-doubt as he sees what his technology can do when used by those with ill intent.

About the only one benefiting from the anarchy is Julian, who is using it to spread his message far and wide.

Meanwhile, Kellogg looks into Mr. Escher and the Freelancers and grows more concerned the more he learns.

“Second Guess” is another episode where so much happened I hardly even know what to say about it. I will say that I enjoyed it all, and I really can’t think of anything to complain about.

One unexpected twist to come out of all this is that Kiera now possesses the time device in its entirety. Obviously, she can’t use it to get home, because that would be the end of the show, but hopefully it can have some sort of interesting effect on the story going forward.

I also continue to be fascinated by the Freelancers. Between their air of mystery and the fact they seemed to lack any redeeming qualities, I’m beginning to find them a more frightening threat than Liber8.

Overall rating: 8/10

“Second Last”:

“Second Last” sees pretty much everything crumble into chaos.

Gardner’s body has been found, and all the evidence points to Kiera as the killer. She and Carlos are forced to become fugitives, with their former comrades on the police on their trail.

As part of a thoroughly misguided attempt to gain allies against the Freelancers, Kellogg grants Travis access to Alec’s lab, and he extorts Alec into outfitting him with the spare CPS suit, making him even more unstoppable than he already is.

Mr. Escher places new pressure on Emily to recover the time travel device from Alec, forcing her to choose where her loyalties lie: Escher, or Alec.

The result is an episode that is nail-bitingly intense from start to finish, and which could have served just fine as the season finale — but there’s still one episode left.

I can’t say that I’m happy about Emily’s death, seeing as I’m a big fan of Magda Apanowicz, but I’m not sure I can hold that against this episode. That’s more my own personal reaction rather than any mistake on the part of the show. It’s not objectively bad for the story.

Besides, it’s sci-fi. No guarantee she’ll stay dead.

While “Second Last” was unusually gripping and action-packed even by Continuum standards, I think the most interesting thing about it may have been some of the offhand comments made by Jason.

For one thing, he seemed to indicate the Freelancers may not be from the future after all. Or at least not in the way we think. So who are they? People from the present who somehow got their hands on future tech? Is there some sort of parallel universe shenanigans going on? If they’re not from the future, how was Curtis one of them?

Also, when the Freelancers hit his apartment, Jason said, “I won’t go back.” Is this an indication he has been captured by the Freelancers before? Is that why he’s such a screwball?

Of course, it’s also possible some or all of this is just Jason being crazy.

Overall rating: 8.4/10

“Second Time”:

Holy mother of… This is almost “Boomer shot Adama” quality.

Okay, first of all, let’s run down all the crazy things that have happened here.

Jason isn’t Alec’s father. He’s Alec’s son. Escher is Alec’s father.

Escher isn’t leader of the Freelancers after all. He was trying to protect Alec from them — he’s still a bastard, though.

All of the time-travelers, including Kiera, have been captured by the Freelancers.

Alec’s gone back in time to save Emily.

Carlos and Betty have gone rogue and sought the aid of bloody Julian of all people.

I just… wow. That is one Hell of a cliff-hanger.

Do I even need to say this was an amazing episode? There was no part of it that was not mind-blowing.

Of course, it’s Continuum, so there was no shortage of tension or action. I was particularly impressed with Kiera’s battle with Travis atop a moving elevator. Once again, I am awed by what this show can pull off for what is undoubtedly a low budget Canadian production.

But that barely scratches the surface of what made “Second Time” so excellent. I think what impresses me the most is how so many different plot threads have come together, how so much foreshadowing over so long has paid off so well. I think I may have underestimated the cleverness of Continuum’s writers. Severely.

There were a lot of great little moments, too. I really enjoyed Kiera’s ruthless assessment of how Dillon has become corrupted, and it made me realize what an interesting arc that character has had. He was quite bland for a long time, a good guy but an unremarkable one. But his slow fall from grace has been well-executed, and now he’s one of the show’s more sinister figures: the progenitor of CPS, the man who sows the seeds for Kiera’s totalitarian future.

I also liked how Carlos was clever enough to find out Betty was the Liber8 mole. Usually, Carlos is second fiddle to Kiera, and for the most part, that’s as it should be, but it is nice to see him accomplish something on his own for a change.

Beyond all that, I’m just struck by how much this show has improved. Don’t get me wrong; Continuum was always a good show. I’ve enjoyed it consistently from the outset, bar an occasional minor stumble. But it was always a pretty basic show.

The second season, and particularly the Freelancers, have done a great deal to make it less simple, less generic. They were exactly what Continuum needed to stop being just Cops and Robbers with more technobabble. The series is weaving a fascinating and complex mythology all its own.

Overall rating: 9.4/10 Mind = blown. Kaboom.

WoW: Cloak Crazy

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Tyler F.M. Edwards

As of last night, I completed my third and final run through Wrathion’s quest chain in World of Warcraft, earning my rogue her legendary cloak. She follows in the footsteps of my warlock and my monk, who had previously earned theirs.

When I first completed it on my warlock, I figured I’d never have the patience to attempt such a massive grind again. However, with nothing better to do in this seemingly endless pre-expansion lull, I ended up giving it a go again on my other level 90s. A variety of nerfs had made it much less of a grind than it once was, though still quite an effort.

I still have fairly mixed feelings on the legendary quest, but in the end, I think my positive memories will outshine the negative ones.

A legendary journey:

Yes, it is an ungodly grind, even in its heavily nerfed state. If I never see the Isle of Thunder or its associated raid again, it will be too soon (EXECUTUS). And I still don’t really think a legendary item is something that should just be handed out to anyone and everyone. It may not be a popular opinion, but I think Burning Crusade had the best philosophy to handling legendaries.

However, while I do tend the mock the idea of “accomplishment” in video games, I must admit there is a certain satisfaction to completing such a long journey.

More importantly, it was one of the better pieces of storytelling Warcraft has seen in recent memory. Wrathion is a very interesting and complex character, and it’s great to see a strong anti-hero in WoW again. Let us hope he doesn’t go the way of Illidan and Kael’thas.

Although he can be deadly serious at times, Wrathion also brings a lot of humour with him, and the writers manage to incorporate it in a way that doesn’t seem clownish or detract from the player’s ability to take him seriously. That’s a difficult tightrope to walk, and one WoW rarely succeeds at.

And some of his banter with Anduin is just sheer gold.

The few aspects of the chain that didn’t involve a massive grind offered some very fun gameplay, as well.

As I was working through the quests on my monk and rogue, I came to the conclusion that a major portion of my motivation was simply the desire to replay the solo challenges at the Thunder Forge and the Celestial temples.

A lot of people — including myself — like to complain that WoW is far too easy, and there’s a lot of legitimacy to that complaint, but it’s actually a little more nuanced than that. The vast majority of WoW’s content is insultingly easy, but there is difficult content, as well — but it’s insanely, brutally difficult.

What WoW is severely lacking is moderately challenging content. There is no happy medium; only ludicrous extremes.

The solo challenges on the legendary quest fell into that sweet spot of being difficult, but not overly frustrating. I’d usually only die once or twice on each before completing it. And because it’s solo, there’s no sting of letting anyone down if you fail, or feeling of being carried if you succeed.

I really wish we could have more content like that.

Controversy. There’s always controversy:

Of course, just as I was finishing up my final legendary quest, Blizzard came out with the announcement they’ll be removing the entire storyline from the game when Warlords of Draenor is released.

The odds of my ever attempting the quest again were very low, so this doesn’t effect me much, but I still think it’s bad for the game.

Blizzard has made a lot of questionable decisions lately. This isn’t necessarily the worst, but it’s definitely the most confusing.

Nobody benefits from this. It fractures the lore, eliminates an impressive chunk of content, and results in people having less to do during the next year-long content drought.

Content should never, ever be removed unless there’s absolutely no way to avoid it. It’s a known fact that no MMO developer on the planet can produce content faster than players can consume it. A large stable of legacy content is one of the ways to mitigate player boredom during content lulls. Why would Blizzard shoot themselves in the foot by eliminating some?

I’ve heard Blizzard talk about how it’s a problem that all of the game’s story is so scattered and disjointed. Why would they make that problem even worse by gutting Mists of Pandaria’s main storyline and eliminating a massive amount of development for two crucial lore figures?

The only explanation we’ve gotten so far is that it’s meant as a reward for those who played during MoP, but that doesn’t make any sense. The reward was getting the cloak when it was still relevant. Removing the storyline going forward doesn’t reward anyone, but it does punish a lot of people.

I honestly find it a little insulting that Blizzard thinks I’m a sufficiently petty person that I would view kicking the teeth of everyone who came after me as a reward.

It also seems to indicate that Blizzard cares more about stroking the egos of a vanishingly small minority who find some kind of prestige in a cloak you get from LFR than about its own epic lore and story. That doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence for the future of this franchise.

The news that Warlords of Draenor’s legendary quest will also be temporary content has dampened my already minimal enthusiasm for the new expansion. On top of removing flying, on top of the lack of new features, on top of the wacky lore, I also have the to spend the whole expansion worrying I won’t be able to grind fast enough to finish the chain in time?

Bleh. It’s hard to convince myself it’s even worth playing at that point.

It’s rather a trainwreck from a PR perspective, too. They announced the chain’s removal far too late, such that anyone who sees the announcement and thinks, “Damn, I better get on finishing that” will have no reasonable chance of completing the chain unless they were already very close.

And it comes across as incredibly tone-deaf considering how sensitive people are about all that’s being removed in Warlords of Draenor. One of my favourite comments on the matter to date has been, “They ran out of things to remove from the new expansion, so they started removing things from live.”

This is why I struggle to maintain my former level of love for World of Warcraft. It’s not that Blizzard isn’t putting out great content. They are. But there’s inevitably some kind of poison pill, some utterly baffling and pointlessly punitive decision that puts a damper on the festivities. I can never just relax and enjoy the game.

Edit: Because I’m a masochist, I posted this rant on the official forums. If you agree with me, or if you disagree, post and help keep the discussion going.

Always look on the bright side of life…

Well, at least I can be glad I got all the cloaks I wanted while I still could. I’ll enjoy my memories of the storyline, even as I mourn its loss.

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