1.2 Brave New World Thus begins the real plot-of-the-week for Colony this time around. It’s a fascinating one, although it frequently gets lost in a tug of war between Will and Katie’s competing storylines. The second episode of this lofty social sci-fi saga maintains the uneasy status quo established in the pilot while introducing us to another, more digestible state of affairs that will have a lasting impact on the formula of this series from here on out. Sound convoluted? It is. But I kinda dig that. Now that Will is employed by the Occupation as a detective (or something), the show allows itself to indulge in more action-oriented pursuits. I wouldn’t expect any large scale stunt work, as this show is still an exercise in subtlety. This episode provided us with a realistic sense of what to expect in this department, which appear to be shakey-cam chase sequences featuring cameos by flying robots made from CGI that make me long for a *batteries not included rewatch. Will’s first day of work as Collaborating peacekeeper wastes no time in ushering in the new cop drama pastiche to the series, introducing three new characters in less than five minutes to boot. Yet nothing feels rushed, all new personalities are clearly defined, and the meet and greet goes smoothly. How does writer Wes Tooke pull this off? I’m guessing that he takes advantage of the degree of familiarity the audience has with this kind of procedural template and runs with it. The more Will gets lost in the nebulous power structure of the Occupation, the more we discover clues about what it actually is. The imagery conjured up here in Brave New World barely conceals the Nazi influence this time around. It not only gives us a better look at their swastika-inspired logo, but also presents us with an unsettling scene towards the end with naked prisoners forced to stand in a metaphorical gas chamber. If the strong WWII overtones weren’t obvious enough last week, they’re now more pronounced than ever, and I’m assuming we should get used to it. Will and Katie may be working for two opposing sides of the war, but their goal is one and the same: get their missing son Charlie back from beyond the wall. Although their individual ideologies and moral compasses appear to be pointing in different directions, this power couple are a united front of man and wife when it comes down to this cause. Both characters feel as if they’re starring in two wildly different TV shows that exist under the umbrella of a larger one. Will’s is a sci-fi clone of NCIS while Katie’s is a post-apocalyptic, humorless version of Jessica Jones. Somehow the two don’t compete with the other and manage to neatly fill in each other’s gaps. That’s something I find great, and it’s only making me appreciate this series more than I thought I would when I sat down to watch the pilot. In a time of crisis, all you can really do is try to take care of your family. That means you have to make tough decisions that will put others at a disadvantage. This moral dilemma of Brave New World is also its lynchpin. As Will and Katie both struggle to maintain a safe and stable home life in the midst of localized global terror, they also take it upon themselves to help Carlos and his family hold on to their clan, too. But how far are they willing to go to save someone else’s hides? When Carlos realizes that Will is working as a Collaborator, he reacts with just as much disgust as distrust, considering it a personal betrayal. Will defends himself, saying that he’s doing what he has to do to protect his family. “What about my family?” Carlos asks. As Colony continues to move forward with more mystery and food for thought than any other scripted TV series on the USA network ever, I’m eager to discover more about its world and the conflicted characters that live within it. And what that huge friggin’ wall is about. Read Stephen’s review of the previous episode, Pilot, here.
