Dark Matter: We Voted Not to Space You – Android Interrupted (Review)

Dark Matter has handed out more twists than a demented Chubby Checker this season.  Last week The Android got a game changing bit of illegal tech that would upgrade her to practically human.  In “We Voted Not to Space You”  The Android uses her new “self” in a number of ways. This upgrade does indeed  make her more human in that it also allows her to make a mistake.

Six is let out of his holding cell he also helps save the day later after the GA capture Four.  Three, however, is not impressed.  The reduced Raza team track down Jace Corso on a  revenge mission. The mission takes place because Derrick Moss’ murder investigation has been suspended . Corso is seen by hotel security so the Raza crew know who killed “One.”

The episode begins with The Android in a bar. She orders a whiskey and another patron warns her about flashing her money about. The Android states she can “handle” herself. “Watch me,” she tells the concerned barfly.

The Android then approaches Danny Bones. She offers him money which he takes with no intention of telling her what she needs to know.  A one-sided fight begins where The Android kicks arse and takes no names. She does, however, take Bones.

(The choreography for this fight sequence was brilliant.  Major kudos for The Android using the butt of one opponent to launch an arial attack on the other bodyguard. In the fight she places one foot on the downed bodyguard’s nether region and pushes up and off to take out the other chap.)

Six is quite helpful in this episode even though he is still healing from Devon’s surgery.  Nyx proves to be a valuable new crew member and Devon seems to have a version of PTSD. Three still does not trust Six and The Android enjoys her upgrade as she  evolves  into something  more human.

Evolving is the subtext in  Dark Matter this week.   Six is evolving into his new role as distrusted crew member. Two has learned to care, but is still cold blooded enough to shoot Corso between the eyes. Out of all this evolution, The Android is the focus of attention here though.

She becomes so human that, as mentioned before, she makes a mistake.  Her evolution is so complete that The Android then tries to justify her boo-boo.  The holographic Android points out, yet again, that   robot  is flawed. This, says the computer software program, is why the mistake was made.

The upgrade does allow The Android to go solo on two missions. One, to plant a bug in a small GA station computer and the second to bring Danny Bones in for questioning. Her new “personality” has The Android practicing  her swordsmanship. Four points out that her skills are programmed. “You can’t get any better,”  he says. The Android replies that it makes her feel “powerful.”

Speaking of power…What is going on with Nyx? This recent addition to the crew can instantaneously learn fight moves and has…What? Supersonic hearing? She saves Three when the tunnel ceiling collapses. She shoves him out of the way seconds before the rocks come tumbling down.

When Three asks her about it, she attributes it so great hearing.  Three does not buy it and neither do we. Is Nyx another version of Two, aka Portia Lin? Is she another human enhanced with nanites or could she be like The Android and her new chums, an upgraded bit of tech?

Only time and more episodes will tell. Nyx is quickly becoming a fascinating new crew member on the Raza.

Points to Ponder:

Three must be on a diet. He did not “stuff his face” once in this episode.

The Android computer  program has turned into a pedantic Jiminy Cricket.  The thing is also quite grumpy with her real life counterpart. Are we talking “upgrade envy” here?  Probably not as the software version does not like “flaws” of any sort.

Should Six still be in so much pain? Devon clearly has issues with surgery, this appears to be the reason for his “drug” abuse, and his mention of internal bleeding is worrying.

Two has developed feelings. (Or compassion.) Corso sneers at the Raza commander. He calls her vulnerable and declares it will bring her down in the end. It is Jace, however, that is brought down with a bullet in the brain.  Portia Lin may have lost that cold edge but she can still pull a trigger.

It was interesting to note that when The Android has her mistake pointed out by her computer self, she gives a technical excuse that is akin to “the sun got in my eyes.”  (Or any other similar “it’s not my fault” justifications that humans trot out.)

Who, or what, is Nyx?

Overall Thoughts:

Paul Mullie penned this episode and he has given us a new Android. A version of herself that is not the norm, a sort of Android interrupted.  The build towards a robotic/human  conversion has been in the cards since season one.  This upgrade will, no doubt, shake things up a bit and may even be quite disastrous for the Raza crew.

Mallozzi and Mullie have  taken this second season and pumped it full of creative steroids.  The looming GA and Corporate war and the evolution of the crew members have shot this series forward at warp speed.

That “pockets of inter-dimensional space-time” card is still hanging out there and it will be, like The Android’s upgrade, a game changer. The general already knows it can win the war.  It could also be used to save Derrick Moss from being murdered.

So many questions remain not least of which is who gave The Android those flaws? There are eight episodes left in season two. Will One be saved and will the new improved Android endanger the crew? (And will Three ever trust Six again?)

[The previous paragraph incorrectly stated that five episodes were left in season two. The show’s creator and Executive Producer graciously pointed out that there are eight episode left. This has been corrected.]

*Sidenote* Zoie Palmer looked brilliant in her new Android threads and relaxed hairdo.

Dark Matter airs Fridays on SyFy and Space. Like the old Batman intro used to say, “Don’t touch that dial.” (Or do to make sure you do not miss this brilliant show.)

CAST:

• Marc Bendavid  –  One/Jace Corso
• Melissa O’Neil  –  Two
• Anthony Lemke  –  Three
• Alex Mallari Jr.  –  Four
• Jodelle Ferland   –  Five
• Roger Cross  –  Six
• Zoie Palmer  –  The Android 

Guest Stars:  Melanie Liburd  –  Nyx and Shaun Sipos  –  Devon