It's actually painful to imagine that we could have missed all of this back story if we never made it to Continuum Season 3.

This entire season is about flipping the terrorist movement of Liber8 and our ideas about it on its head. We're discovering the humanity behind it and it's brilliant.

In Continuum Season 3 Episode 7 it was time to learn about Sonya, who has consistently been the most hard-nosed character and the most difficult to understand.

Learning about Travis' family only enhanced what the character was already portraying on his own; what was revealed about Sonya was so monumental that it will be impossible not to look at her through new eyes when she makes her next appearance.

Watch Continuum Season 3 Episode 7 Online

When Kiera is transporting one of the most wanted criminals, Jaworski, their flyer crashes. It's time to see the human side of Kiera in her world, something we have seen very little of. They're taken in by a group of gleaners, a new-agey clan who lives off the land and stays off the Corporate Congress radar by not stockpiling weapons or doing anything dastardly. Or so they think.

In this short sojourn into an unknown society, Kiera comes into contact with both Eduard Kagame and Sonya Valentine. Eduard was a traveler who happened upon the village and comes under the care of Dr. Valentine. As we meet her here, Sonya is a kind woman with a good heart.

It's Sonya who gets Eduard to understand that the Protectors cannot be held fully accountable for their actions because their minds have been subtly altered without their knowledge or explicit consent. 

Edouard: You told me you fled the city because you got a job offer you couldn't turn down and you couldn't accept.
Sonya: SadTech super soldier program.
Edouard: What you know about implants make you uneasy.
Sonya: They nudge you. They change how you think, what you accept. You record instead of bear witness, store data instead of bear witness, it's...
Edourard: Inhuman.

• Permalink: Inhuman.

Very little about this entire situation seems random. It seems Eduard sought out Sonya based upon his knowledge of her unique skill set. As Kiera tells the story to Katherine, we learn he is the one who ordered the strike on the gleaners that propelled Sonya back to SadTech. 

Edouard: Take what you're feeling and put it toward something right. This is your place and your time. Follow your instincts to take a moral stand.
Sonya: I'm not a revolutionary Edouard.
Edouard: No, you're a healer, and that's something far more useful.

• Permalink: No, you're a healer, and that's something far more useful.

His intention was to bring her into the Liber8 fold so that she could make a great impact, and the only thing that would get her moving was to truly devastate life as she knew it. He had to prove to her the capabilities of the Corporate Congress so she would want to stop them.

It's simply fascinating that the three of them were once so close and that it has taken so long for Kiera to break free of her corporate control. By young Alec, an actual human, interacting with her CMR, she's been able to think for herself. Kiera no longer relies on implanted thoughts. Although she still records, she also bears witness because her partners give her that capacity.

We've been wondering which way Kiera would turn and if she could go home. At the end of the installment, she says she's going home, but I wonder now if her driving force to get there is to change the future and drive out the Corporate Congress from the inside with the knowledge she has of young Eric Sadler, similar to what Sonya tried to do from inside SadTech.

You also have to wonder how her husband chose to talk to their son when she didn't return home the second time she was lost. He loved his wife and the thought of giving her an actuarial value was repulsive. He had some time to think about it, so hopefully he was able to do her justice. 

If she gets home, perhaps they'll both learn just how much she's worth when she tries to upend the world and bring true meaning back to life and strip away government influence.

What do you think the result of "Waning Minutes" will be?

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.