A Sashurai’s Review: Dark Matter – Season 3×03 (And then there were three)

 

SUMMARY

The Raza helps an outer colony planet (Cepheus V) controlled by a Traugott corp. security force from an attack by Ferrous corp. On the planet, they meet with Tabor’s protégé, Adrian who offers his services as handler for them. They also learn that the inhabitants wish for independence from Traugott and are prepared for war. Six convinces them to let him negotiate after their leader is mysteriously killed by an explosion. Meanwhile, the android discovers Five’s secret regarding Sarah’s digital consciousness within the Raza’s database. When the leader of the security force is murdered, Six is held hostage while the remaining force goes to subdue the colony group. Two and Three find and free Six as they intervene on the Colony’s behalf, stopping the security team. Tensions rise when Six’s rival, The General arrives to offer his help to the colony which Six pleads them not to accept. Unable to sway them, the Raza crew depart only to discover The General putting the security force to death. Six returns and kills The General and offers to remain as a force for good to the colony. Two, Three, and Five leave with Adrian and his bodyguard who, for the time being, are granted a temporary stay. The android confronts Five about Sarah leaving Five to admit that she transferred Sarah’s mind into the database unsure it would work. Three, however shows silent frustration with what Five did. On Zairon, Four gathers a group of mercenaries, bounty hunters, and assassins and hires them to find the blink drive and kill the Raza crew.

 

INITIAL THOUGHTS

Dark Matter continues to build its corporation war framework by losing one of their own to the fight. Never doubt this show’s ability to disband and rework its family for the sake of grander storytelling. We know Six isn’t gone for good, but simply placed in a better position to do good and feel accountable for his actions. After his surprising shot that put The General to a permanent end, he’s off to fight a better fight, but the crew will lose a piece of their positive conscience. Will Adrian and his bodyguard, Solara fill the void, or will they simply be another pair of casualties between destinations the Raza goes to. And let’s not forget Four’s Darth-Vaderesque scene with a group of silent hunters being offered an opportunity to kill the group that remains. This could be a single one-off episode or a series of episodes that covers the bulk of the season. Either way, strap in because we’re in for one hell of a space ride.

 

THE GOOD

At first I wasn’t invested in the what felt like a trivial story between another outer colony biding for its freedom against a group that didn’t understand it was supposed to quit, then it really hit me about what this show is trying to do for us. The defining characteristic here is how Six is morally changing the compass of the crew. They’re not acting as particular as they used to and however we dive into it, the result is that Two and her crew are becoming quintessential heroes, but more than that, they’re becoming symbols. They may not be the right symbol at this moment and time, but they’re evolving almost at the same capacity as the android is becoming more human. Now that Six is off ship, Two will have to rely more on the message and what they stand for from her own perspective and hopefully she doesn’t falter. Hopefully.

 

I appreciate Six giving The General the final shot. I wasn’t expecting it and his choice to kill him means he’s ready to truly move forward. We won’t have to rely on his past guilt, which was very apparent in the premiere. He needs to become a leader on his own and only then can he rejoin the Raza when that happens. He’ll do good if not off screen for a bit of time.

 

THE BAD

The crew is becoming more self-sufficient and capable characters but there’s still an issue with how we’re being introduced to new supporting characters. Now that we’re in season 3, we’re seeing a trend where we swap or introduce new people, and then they die. Nyx was the last to suffer from this instance, and the truth is, I kinda like Adrian and Solara as they are. If Solara is just another replacement for Nyx, then it’s going to be difficult wanting to know more about her or Adrian if they’re just in it for the short term. If they add to the crew’s conflict then hopefully there’s some good stories to tell there, but otherwise I feel they’re just wasting space that’s better served developing the core crew as it is. We’ll see how they shape up.

 

FAVORITE MOMENT

When Six killed The General. His look said it all and after what Six went through back in season 1, it was definitely good this loose end was tied up. Six understood that The General’s help would lead to more destruction and death, and not even two minutes went by when that started happening. I do want to see if Six can hold it together and help the colony restore its own order by engaging the message of freedom.

 

CHARACTER MVP

It should certainly go to Six. He offered to negotiate with the security force and stood his ground against The General and went above and beyond by leaving the Raza crew to help the colony rebuild its foundation. You really can’t ask for a more heroic character that understands how to take responsibility for the bigger picture at stake. He should hopefully inspire Two to become more like him, but her journey is a bit more complicated. Still, Six was the most effective player this time around.

 

ENDING THOUGHTS

I wanted to touch upon this first. I’ve always been fascinated by the allure and cultural style of Zairon and how they present themselves. While I’ve been led pretty close to believe its primary attributes were rooted in Japanese lore and some Samurai heritage, they kind of swerved me by showcasing a student of Kung Fu who performed a Dao Shaolin sword form using a Darn-Dao blade. Are there in fact Chinese influences that we’re now learning about in this culture, and if so, how much more will we get to learn about them as a whole? Very rarely have I seen both cultures comparatively existing under the same roof. It’s interesting and I want to know a bit more on how that works.

 

Sarah’s consciousness within the Raza database is a little tough for me to get a read on. I’m uncertain if the goal here is to give Three more grief and conflict to work out regarding the woman who saved his life, or whether there’s a more subjective storyline being told here. I think its good that Three undergo this next stage in his character evolution, I’m just not certain if the result will be something akin to downloading Sarah into an android form or some crazier altogether. We’ll see what happens. Sarah seems to be in relative control over her situation given the scenario.

 

Cepheus is a constellation containing the Cephei stars which are located between 100 and 5000 light years from Earth. This could maybe give us a general clue on how far into space we’re getting and how much further the show could push the boundary. I want the Raza to blink to the literal edge of space. Give me an episode where they find the edge and all literal hell breaks loose.

 

Now that Four is declaring war against the Raza crew, I’m absolutely convinced that he’ll be involved in a lasting fight with hopefully Two or at the very least the ship itself. I can see a scenario happening where a bigger fight requires them to worth together, but let’s not forget that we still don’t know if Two knows that Four didn’t kill Nyx. And Misaki’s absence doesn’t actually mean she’s alive. I know she is, but there’s always the possibility he’s lying about where she’s at. Not that he’d need to do that, he’s the emperor. He could murder in plain sight and no one would bat in eyelash. Well, maybe his mentor.

 

OVERALL SCORE

7 out of 10. Dark Matter is putting the effects of the corporation war front and center as The Raza crew deal with the rough times the outer colonies must contend with. The main theme this season is providing us is the passion of growing leaders and the roles they will play. Ishida is a leader, Two has been a leader, and now Six is growing into a leadership role with Five becoming more and more independent as well. Soon, we’ll have them playing key roles that will better shape this war into their personal favor that could spell disaster for one of them, Four being the most to lose if he somehow loses his way. As much as I like seeing how Two and the others deal with Ferrous corp and the war at hand, I’m hoping to see more individual episodes that deal with their internal struggles and a bit more of the sci-fi weirdness that we know the show is perfectly capable of dishing out. Let’s see what else they got! Thanks for reading.

 

 

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