Nobody said dealing with issues of time and space was easy.

Somehow, as confusing as Fringe sometimes seemed to be, it actually looks simple in comparison to Continuum. Not simple as in less compelling or not well written, but easier to follow.

On Continuum Season 3 Episode 4 Carlos started the hour coming close to sympathizing with Liber8 while Kiera was steadfast in her belief in a system to protect the people.

By the end of the outing, Kiera had given a bit on the system and Carlos was no longer interested in the antics of Liber8 and how their views might represent the people, especially after discovering someone he trusted had been lying to him for a year.

Yep, this was the episode Betty was outed as the mole.

I know it must have been terrible for Carlos to see Kiera's dead body, while she was still standing beside him. Even knowing all about time travel, that's gotta sting. But given the background information he had prior to that little surprise, I thought maybe a guy like him would roll with that punch a little easier.

Now we know why he hasn't rolled! He didn't "get rid of" the body at all -- dead Kiera is hidden in an unused freezer room (where the hell is that?!) and he just takes his booze down there, unzips the bag and has chats with his dead friend. Just like Kiera is dealing with two Alecs, Carlos is dealing with two Kieras, but he's getting the crappy end of the deal.

I'm really not sure how that's going to end for him, but someone has to find out he's mingling with the dead, right? What if someone thinks that's really Kiera? If he doesn't dispose of the body, it's not going to end well. End of story.

Julian was a reluctant leader in the other timeline, and he's even more reluctant this time. It's kind of fun watching him just fling words out there to anyone who is willing to listen. There are so many sheeple begging for someone to lead them somewhere, and he's not afraid to share his thoughts, so of course people will follow. That doesn't mean he admires their willingness to do so.

It would be interesting to see someone tap into the goodness that's inside of Julian instead of pulling his hand and dragging him down a dark path, but the television anchor started that already. He's not necessarily interested in standing for anything, but if you tug hard enough, he'll rise to the challenge.

My favorite part was watching CAlek at Piron. I thought he was pretty down with the Kiera's future history and what becomes of Piron and Dillon and the police state. Was all of that really revealed to him in the week prior to Emily's death? Knowing the Alecs, if he was aware of what releasing the technology to the public would mean to the future, he wouldn't have done it. As it stands, he essentially did exactly what his father did after Dillon joined Piron's board.

I asked last week if the future could survive two Alecs, and I'm still thinking along those lines. Especially in light of Alec hanging at SadTech and CAlec finding him. Somehow CAlec has turned into Escher in a matter of days with the information about Emily and Alex remains the same boy we always knew. For the future to be the same, Escher had to exist, right? So wouldn't Kiera have to make allowances for that anomoly?

The scene where CAlec confronted Alec was really well done. His initial amusement at seeing his alter-self wore off pretty quickly.

Wow. This is very Marty McFly right now.

CAlec

• Permalink: Wow. This is very Marty McFly right now.

CAlec is hardened. It took no time at all for him to surpass his time-traveling world-weary counterpart. That he couldn't believe Alec traveled back in time for a loser like Emily was brilliant. Whether they decided not to make them pals because of the difficulty of having both actors in the same frame or because it will lead to more interesting scenes going forward, we'll just have to find out.

It's a pretty safe bet that Carlos won't be riding off into the sunset with Betty to Julian's like he did in the other timeline. Maybe he'll go somewhere with dead Kiera after a bottle of booze, instead. Yikes. He really needs to ditch his demons and come to terms with living Kiera, because he can trust her, she is the same person. Her memories of the future prove that.

Speaking of the future, I have to mention again that it looks pretty ugly out there. While Kiera really doesn't have a choice but to make it turn out like it was if she wants to get her family back (a ship that I think sailed a timeline ago), she has to look at it and wonder why she wants a future where you're charged with a life debt for saving children's lives over that of corporate executives.

Julian is talking about corporations being people and that same dilemma is still taking innocent lives some 50 odd years into the future. Things don't appear to be better there, just more organized and with better tracking. Yuck. Who likes receiving tickets from a traffic light? Not me. Kiera might have to sacrifice her future for the greater good of society. 

If you want to catch up on the latest installments, you can watch Continuum online -- 'cause we're all futuristic like that here at TV Fanatic.

Do you think Kiera can give up her future to save it for mankind?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.