Dark Matter Season 3 Episode 9
Time travel can either be a real crowd pleaser or a confusing dud, but Dark Matter created a wonderful diversion in this week’s episode, “Isn’t That a Paradox?” Seeing our 21st century society through the Raza crew’s eyes was entertaining as well as informative, providing both insightful character moments and humorous ones. As the blink drive continues to add to the drama — first parallel universes, now time travel — the fallout from this episode may be subtle for the time being, but the potential for payoff is huge. The other small interaction that had surprising impact was the exchange between Two and Three as they investigated the location of the blink drive. Two’s hard edge combined with a moralistic leadership style means she doesn’t smile much, and when Portia grins, it’s seductive, sadistic, or both. But when Two smiles at the cute dog or at the chocolate shop, we notice along with Three how radiant and happy she is when her guard is down. What this means for the story remains to be seen, but seeing her soften both then and when playing video games with Five later was heartwarming. But the MVP of entertainment in this episode has got to go to the Android. Upon discovering that they’ve traveled 600 years into the past, she doesn’t just accept the grim facts with robotic indifference; she embraces the past with her invented “soccer mom” and “goth chick” profiles and her helpful hacking of Earth’s primitive networks. When she deadpans comments about getting double reward points, finding toilet paper on special, or getting an Uber, viewers likely wonder how Zoie Palmer’s castmates could keep a straight face in those scenes. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Soundcloud The writers created a very believable atmosphere in the fictional Fort Falls, Wisconsin, as well. The curiosity of small-town kids on bikes has been re-introduced into our modern age by the likes of Netflix’s Stranger Things, but it’s telling that Jake and the others are actually happy that supposed aliens have visited their town. Jake bonding with Five over video games and then declaring his love plays out like every geek’s teenage daydream. Not to mention having his great-granddaughter invent the FTL drive, which puts a nice cap on the causality plot as well. Tacked on at the end of the episode but still a good reminder of what’s still to come are the introduction of Portia and Marcus to Ryo (doesn’t bode well) and the surprising call from Victor requesting help from Android (much more intriguing). The galactic war has retreated to the background, which is perhaps for the best, but it leaves several big question marks hanging over the otherwise great season. With Dark Matter’s reputation for last minute hijinx, however, it’s likely that the next few episodes will leave such misgivings behind in the dust.
