Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 3 Review: I've Seen the Other Side of You
Kathleen Wiedel
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If any of you were ever wondering what Two, Three, or Four were like before the amnesia, Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 3 hopefully answered some of your questions.
While the technical reasons that resulted in their reverse-amnesia didn't really make sense to me, I did appreciate this window into their pasts. Plus, it gave Five a real chance to shine.
Curiously, one of the first things that happened after the rather chilling cold open was Three walking in on Two attempting to drown her sorrows over the death of One.
Three: Those nanites of yours, they keep you from gettin' drunk, too?
Two: Yeah, I think they might.
Three: Well, guess there's a downside to everything, right?
This particular exchange is extremely reminiscent of the one between Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger after Steve's friend Bucky fell to his (supposed) death. In Steve's case, it was the super-soldier serum that prevented him from getting drunk.
There could probably be whole essays devoted to comparing Steve Rogers to Two, I think.
Anyhow, what I found most fascinating about this scene was that Three, of all people, has been the one expressing the most concern about his shipmates. Compare this to the Marcus Boone he used to be.
Y'know, the guy who totally wanted to throw Five out the airlock pre-amnesia. And provided us with this blackly hilarious gem:
Five: You're not cruel, vicious people who would sell someone into slavery just because they're inconvenient!
Marcus Boone: It's not just because you're *inconvenient*. It's also for the money.
Really, though, Anthony Lemke had some brilliant moments in this episode, particularly when Five delivered the grim news about Sarah, the girl Marcus Boone loved, who died on Dark Matter Season 1 Episode 7 when the power to her stasis unit failed.
Plus the scene in which Five delivered Three the personal effects, and the genuine warmth with which he thanked her made it almost possible to forget that he suggested selling her into slavery not hours before.
Something profound happened at the end of this episode, and I really don't think it was given enough focus. Two, Three, and Four had the opportunity to regain most of their lost memories and ultimately decided against it. All of them, even Three.
From a meta-perspective, getting their memories back would change one of the original staples of the series (the characters' amnesia and subsequent efforts of pretty much literal self-discovery).
Members of the cast pointed out in the Dark Matter conference call prior to the start of Season 2 that the audience knows just as much about the characters as the characters do, themselves; restoring their memories would take away from that extremely unusual characteristic.
From an in-universe perspective, it meant that each of the characters had decided that who they were is not as important who they are, even at the risk of doing something incredibly stupid due to their ignorance (like Three activating a subspace beacon!).
This made sense for Two, as she had already said flat out that Portia Lin is dead and she didn't want to be that person anymore. But Three and Four? It showed just how far they'd come from those first stumbling moments on Dark Matter Season 1 Episode 1.
Marcus Boone: She said that we were trying to go straight, turn over a new leaf. That sound like the truth?
Ryo Tetsuda: That does seem unlikely.
That brings me back to One and his death and what it means for the show. Two was trying in vain to drown her sorrows, but her conversation with Three indicated that she wasn't going to let One's plot threads die. Oh, and she essentially declared war on the megacorps and the GA.
They play us like puppets, and we play along. We always have.
Two
So, while One is dead, his story is not.
Oh: surprise, surprise, Arax is not to be trusted. I thought he sounded weirdly insistent that they go to his asteroid hideaway, and boy was I right! Another curiosity about our newcomers: Devon seems strangely proficient with firearms for a doctor...
One thing I did not buy about this episode was the firefight between the New Guys and Marcus Boone and Ryo Tetsuda. I know that in terms of the series that they don't want to kill off the characters like that, but it made no sense to me that with all that those rounds fired by heretofore awesome fighters, no one was even injured.
In fact, the only ones that were injured at any point (Arax and Devon) seemed to recover with magical speed. Arax got seriously owned by Portia Lin, yet he's not even wincing later? And Devon, who got knocked unconscious by Ryo, just went about like nothing's wrong. (What happened to "concussion protocol," man?)
Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but that was definitely pushing things.
A few final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you, fellow fans:
- Though the Android spent most of the episode conveniently incapacitated, Zoie Palmer was still on hand as the Android's holographic alter-ego. Definitely having Andromeda flashbacks now...
- Maybe Three should lock his door so people don't steal his guns and/or ammo?
- Did Marcus Boone completely miss Six in stasis when he and Five went to the vault? Maybe he purposefully avoided looking at the stasis pod.
- Five made some very smart moves, like locking Two in her quarters.
- Why did Portia Lin get all power-crazy over her neural link with the ship (when she apparently never did any such thing before)? It smacked too much of a ticking clock cliche.
- I hope that someone remembered to let out Arax, Devon, and Nyx from where they were shut up by the airlock.
If you haven't, be sure to watch Dark Matter online. Plus, stay tuned for Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 4, "We Were Family," slated to air on Friday, July 22, 2016 at 10/9c on Syfy.
So, Dark Matter fans, what did you think of "I've Seen the Other Side of You"? Did you enjoy seeing Two, Three, and Four as they used to be? Did you call Arax as an infiltrator? Who surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments section below!
