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.

You know the drill: Here be spoilers.

“Second Truths”:

Here’s an episode I have mixed feelings on.

“Second Truths” sees Carlos investigating a serial killer who has popped up off and on since long before Kiera’s arrival. Kiera recognizes the case, having researched it during her career in the future. She knows that the case was never solved, and that dozens more are destined to die.

She’s determined to stop the killings — despite the fact she knows the victims are all pedophiles — but her frequent inexplicable leaps of logic and “lucky hunches” draw increasing suspicion and frustration from Carlos.

Ultimately, the purpose of “Second Truths” is for Carlos to finally learn the truth of Kiera’s identity. That’s where the mixed feelings come in.

I really like the idea behind this episode. Revealing the truth to Carlos is something that needed to be done sooner or later, and it offers to change their relationship in very interesting ways. This is a good thing for the show going forward.

But it could have been handled better. Carlos became too suspicious of Kiera too quickly. Last episode, he was the president of the International We Love Kiera Fan Club, and now suddenly he’s been pushed to his limit by her secrets and can barely bring himself to speak with her.

Similarly, Kiera behaves rather erratically through the whole episode. She is reckless, and doesn’t even bother trying to come up with covers for how she’s getting her information. It doesn’t jive with her usual cool, calm, and collected persona. It’s especially strange that this is supposedly due to her desperation to save people whom no one in their right mind should really care about, least of all a parent like Kiera.

I think this plot should have been spread out over more than one episode. With more foreshadowing and more time to develop, it would have felt a lot more natural. As it is, I’m glad Carlos has been brought in on the truth, but the way it happened left a fair bit to be desired.

“Second Truths” also developed the Freelancers a bit, giving us our first glimpse of Mr. Escher, but we didn’t really learn anything. Kind of strange, really.

And it turns out Alec’s girlfriend is a spy, which surprises me not in the slightest. The only question is whether she’s working for the Freelancers or Liber8. I’m kind of hoping it’s the Freelancers, just for a change of pace.

Overall rating: 7.3/10

“Second Degree”:

Most of “Second Degree” revolves around the trial of King Weasel himself, Julian Randall. Carlos, Kiera, and Alec are adamant that he must pay for his crimes, but both factions of Liber8 have other plans, and Jim has been using the case as a glorified campaign ad, billing himself as the law and order mayoral candidate even when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The main thing that struck me about this episode was how complicated things have gotten — not a word I would have applied to Continuum before now. Between two factions of Liber8, the Freelancers, the cops, Gardner, Kellogg, and Kiera and her inner circle, it’s quite a tangled political web. So many disparate schemes are bleeding into one another.

Mind you, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The outcome of Julian’s trial was somewhat predictable, but seeing so many schemes and interpersonal struggles evolve kept things interesting. I’m also rather enjoying the new dimension to Kiera and Carlos’s relationship now that he knows who she really is.

The side plots were fairly interesting, as well. Kiera and Gardner on the same side for once was a nice twist, and I’m hoping we can soon start to get an idea of just who the Freelancers are and what they’re after.

Also, hot damn, Lacey can kick some ass.

Yeah, yeah, I know her character is named Emily on this show, but she’ll always be Lacey to me.

Overall rating: 7.4/10

“Second Listen”:

I was planning to give this episode a fairly low rating until the last five minutes or so.

“Second Listen” begins with Kiera and Gardner continuing their search for the body snatchers who have been stealing the corpses of time travelers. It proves surprisingly difficult, and every lead results in a dead end — emphasis on the “dead” part in some cases.

Kiera even turns to Mr. Escher, who claims the culprits are Freelancers and that he is not one of them (despite previous reports to the contrary), but even that doesn’t help.

However, halfway through the episode, things take an odd turn. Garza appears out of nowhere to massacre Alec’s roommates and kidnap him.

The problem with this episode is that it feels scattered. Both story arcs are interesting, but the split between them is jarring, and it doesn’t leave enough time for either plot to get the attention it deserves.

But the ending totally saved it. Most of the time, Alec is like wallpaper: he’s always there, but you rarely notice him. He’s a good and likable character, but not always memorable compared to, say, Kiera and her cyber-powered ass-kickery.

But man, when Alec breaks out of his shell, he is awesome. His panicked speech as Garza holds his life in her hands has to have been the single best performance, the single most powerful moment Continuum has produced to date.

And only now do we begin to understand just what is going on in Continuum, why they were all sent back in time.

It’s Alec. Everything is about Alec. It’s all to change the course of his life, to ensure he becomes the man he should be and not the man he ultimately became the first time around.

It does feel a little jarring that Garza apparently knew all along that they were meant to go back sixty years, not six. It seems an obvious retcon… though her line to Alec when they first crossed paths last season could have been an early hint. But I think that was just crazy Garza being crazy Garza. Either way, it wasn’t foreshadowed enough.

On the plus side, the idea of her being Alec’s “fail-safe” is awesome, and it does add an extra dimension to what was previously one of the thinnest characters on Continuum. Retcon or not, it’s probably for the best in the long run, even if it could have been handled better.

Overall rating: 7.9/10

“Seconds”:

This is another episode mostly focusing on Julian. Though he may have been exonerated on charges of murder due to the interference of Travis, he finds himself hunted on all sides. Kiera and the department are out for his blood, and they’re willing to bend or break the rules to get it.

This was a weird episode, and I’m not really sure what I make of it. It seemed as though they were trying to make the viewer feel some sympathy for Julian, but that’s simply not going to happen. Forget what he will do in the future; what he’s already done is unforgivable.

I am very disappointed that Alec tried to help him. That does not reflect kindly on Alec’s character, or his chances of not becoming the monster he became the first time around.

On the other hand, it was interesting to see Kiera’s ruthless side on full display. It’s becoming ever clearer that the war between her people and Liber8 is not one of good versus evil, but merely a clash between two very dark shades of gray.

I can’t say I approve of Kiera’s methods, but I also can’t say I blame her too harshly. Julian is not deserving of any mercy, though it would have been a lot simpler and more effective to just shoot him full of truth serum and then put a bullet in the little weasel’s skull.

I did enjoy the drama and intensity of “Seconds.” A rare strong performance from Rachel Nichols.

On the downside, it’s pretty strange that apparently no one noticed Gardner going missing.

So, yeah, this was pretty weird episode. Plenty of good stuff, but also some questionable story-telling decisions, and some things that just flat out don’t make any sense.

Overall rating: 7.3/10