Thursday, May 2, 2013

Continuum Season 1 Ep 5 "A Test of Time" Review By @Rivergate31





Continuum
Season 1 Ep5
A Test of Time
Written by Jeff King
Reviewed By Lara Luke



A futuristic helicopter made its way through the Vancouver skies carrying Protectors who are seeking the manifestation of a report that Liber8 was after a high value target. With Martial law declared, the Protectors focus on a Sad Tech warehouse.



2012 Kagame is in meditation when Sonya interrupts him with the news the group has assembled as he had asked. After reassuring him of her loyalty to him over Travis, they join the other members. Kagame lets the group know that Kiera’s presence in this time will cause some alterations to their plans. Travis mentions the 60 year mix up also changes things and Kagame ignores him. Kagame wants to start working on public opinion right from the beginning by influencing the youth of the time ,in order to  prevent the Corportate Congress from evolving at all.



Matthew Kellog shows up bearing a fruit basket. He insinuates that fresh fruit is not something the inhabitants of his time period enjoy on a regular basis. While the group is suspicious of his intentions, Kagame chastises them for attempting to harm one of their own. He also comes down on Kellog for his self-indulgence. 


Alec is approached by his step brother, Julien, regarding his dad’s meeting. When Alec bows out Julien chastises him for not spending time with family. Alec informs him that he is not family and he does not want to “sit around with a bunch of conspiracy freaks wearing tinfoil hats.”




Liber8 begins targeting women with the name Lilly Jones. Kiera is shaken to realize the group is targeting her in a new way. Lilly Jones was her grandmother’s name. She realizes the group may be trying to erase her very existence. Keeping this information to herself, Kiera tells Carlos she was a witness in a past case against Liber8. The police department decides they should take all Lilly Jones’ into protective custody for the time being.



Kiera believes her grandmother to have been a woman of education and character. However, the girl she finds turns out to be a street punk. She has to become the parent in the situation. Discovering Lilly is pregnant with her mother, fearful, and wanting to abort the baby, Kiera tries to reassure her about the future. This causes her own thoughts to turn to when she discovered, as an unwed woman, she was pregnant with Sam. In confession to Greg, she tells him of her decision to abort the baby. Greg’s response is to propose to her early instead of surprising her on her birthday.



Meanwhile, the battle of the grandmother’s goes to new levels as Kagame learns of Kellog’s conspiracy with Kiera. He phones Matthew to let him know he has taken his grandmother, Maddie. He demands a trade of Maddie for Lilly. Kellog phones Kiera and they hatch a plan. At the meet the two girls are to be traded and Kellog takes the hood off the girl Kagame assumes to be Lilly. It turns out to be his own mother who is very pregnant with him. Fearing for his future, he makes the swap.  With Ms Kagame in safety with her future son, Travis, in sniper position, fatally shoots Maddie. As Kellog grieves, Kiera points out that he is still there. Her death did not erase him.




One thing I didn’t like about this episode is how everyone’s ancestors all seem to be from Vancouver. And while this could be true, it seems a little unrealistic to me in such a mobile society. I do realize, it was necessary for the plot, but not real believable.



Family seems to be a key thread. We meet one set of Kiera’s grandparents, and Kagame’s mother. As Kiera is faced with her grandmother wanting to abort her mother, she is reminded of the beginnings of her own little family back home.

Alec admits that he doesn’t feel like he has a family. The end of the episode shows him watching his mother and step family from the outside of the house.

Kellog keeps returning to Liber8. While seeking to make his own way, he’s still drawn back to those he knows from his own time line as if substituting for a family lost.




I like how the return of Kagame has given Liber8 a definite aim beyond a group of lost souls wreaking havoc and trying to get back to the original plan. Will we find out Kagame’s purpose in the time jump? Was the 65 year jump an accident or was it the plan all along?


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