Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Stuff to Steal, People to Kill
Kathleen Wiedel
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There's something so inherently tantalizing about alternate-reality episodes in sci-fi. Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 8 doesn't spend a ton of time contemplating the philosophical implications at all, but the actors sure had fun.
Particularly Torri Higginson as Alt-Truffault. Just look at her as she strutted down the corridor on the Raza near the end of the episode! She was hamming it up and having a great old time.
Despite the alternate reality being clearly even more dystopian than the prime reality, it sure seemed that the alt-Raza crew were having a lot more fun. Notice the playful banter, for example, between Alt-Portia Lin and Alt-Marcus Boone.
It just seems that our prime crew is just so serious all the time, and the humor comes mostly from deadpan snarking. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that sort of thing. But would it kill them to smile and laugh once in a while?
Maybe that's one reason why I like Three so much. Everyone around him is just so grim, while he can get still excited about things like a good old-fashioned heist. Or...
I am a little curious about other-me's gun collection!
Three [on being in an alternate reality]
Alt-Marcus Boone also won with his great delivery of the title drop in conversation with Four (impersonating Alt-Ryo):
We're busy. Stuff to steal, people to kill!
Alt-Marcus Boone
Seriously, though, the writers seem to give Anthony Lemke a lot of the best lines. Check out our Dark Matter quotes page for some of the notable ones from this episode.
Pretty much only The Android, Five, and Six spent any particular amount of time pondering the differences between the realities and the implications for them. Six realized the importance Five has played in their story so far, Five didn't want to know about the alternate universe.
The Android, meanwhile, found no particular problem with being stuck in an alternate universe:
Five: We'll have the FTL up and running, but that won't get us back home.
The Android: But this ship *is* our home.
Five: I mean back to our reality.
The Android: What difference does it make? Whether here or there, there's nothing for us but this ship. And each other.
Surprising probably no one, Marc Bendavid made a return appearance, as Alt-Jace Corso, who in this reality was a member of the crew, if a mutinous and murderous member of the crew. It was somehow extremely satisfying when Three gave him that brutal beatdown.
In fact, it was ultimately more enjoyable than Prime-Corso's death a few episodes ago, even though Three didn't actually kill him here. The fight between Alt-Corso and Three was brutal and harsh, displaying none of the smooth, dance-like style favored by both Two and Four.
When Three delivered that knockout blow, all I thought was, "OW." Kudos to all who made that face-to-console blow look so painful!
The episode wasn't what you'd call perfect. There were some big plot holes to be found. To wit: wouldn't using the alt-blink drive to get back to their reality fry the thing just as badly as the first time? Presumably, it was the improper calibration that allowed the trans-dimensional travel in the first place.
Maybe Five figured out a way to prevent this from happening, but if she did, I missed it.
Possibly not a nit, more of a wonderment: neither alt-Portia nor alt-Marcus seemed very upset about being locked up by the prime crew for most of the episode. I'm guessing Two also neglected to mention that they stole their blink drive...
Nyx did not appear in this episode, and frankly it didn't hurt at all. Though I am slightly curious to know whether her prescience would still work in an alternate universe.
There was also no firm word on the fate of Devon. When Five wondered what happened to him, Three coldly but accurately pointed out to her that none of them really knew the guy.
That goes for us as an audience, too: should we care that he is possibly laying dead in a dark corridor somewhere on that station? We just didn't feel the sort of connection with Devon that would inspire us to be upset about his likely fate.
A few final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- Three really needs to work on that glass jaw of his.
- What happened to alt-Derrick Moss? Did he ever join the crew at all, or did alt-Jace Corso catch up with the Raza, kill him, and take his rightful place?
- Who was in the alt-Marauder that flew off at the end?
- Is Portia Lin responsible for The Android's original emotional emulation modifications? If so, why would she do such a thing?
- Does Six now have a way to disable The Android? (Three-Tango-Five-Gulf-Sierra-Six)
Remember to watch watch Dark Matter online if you haven't already! Dark Matter Season 2 Episode 9, "Going Out Fighting," is scheduled to air on Friday, August 26, 2016 at 10/9c on Syfy.
So, what did you think of "Stuff to Steal, People to Kill"? Was the trip to the alternate reality a fun diversion? Who hitched their way back to the prime universe on the alternate Marauder? Let us know in the comments section below!
