Continuum - The Desperate Hours
Termination Point
I have to tell you, the last thing I expected from Continuum was for it to go all Terminator on us.
That sequence when Rollins shot his way into police headquarters, the hallway gunfight and the rooftop extraction was one of the most thrilling sequences ever filmed on Continuum.
The stakes seemed to have been raised to a new level where, yes, zero hour prevailed and our participants were forced to make the hard choices they could only defer before.
I wasn't particularly brokenhearted over the forced split between Kiera and Brad. This was coming and with the introduction of the Tonkin family plot point there wasn't much way around it.
The best part of this dynamic was the standoff wherein the opposing parties had the "key" to each other's future. Actually, Kellog is important to both interests while the immediacy of Alec's importance is driven by Kiera's attachment to him.
This particular dynamic played out earlier in the episode when Alec once again questioned Kiera's motivation. Of course, he wasn't privy to her little conversation with Travis Verta during the last episode, but this question has lingered heavily over the narrative of this show.
Kiera has been overtly selfish in her decision making but slowly she has come around to the bigger picture. Let's not forget the harsh conversation between Kiera and Garza as they made their escape from the Piron facility also in the last episode. Garza was disgusted with Kiera that she sought to return to her family even if it meant protecting the corporate hell Garza set her life against.
Believe me, this was a pivotal point for Keira.
The whole point of this show, okay a large part of it, was getting Keira back to her future. Even the opening credits features a picture of Sam now. Travis was incredulous that Keira would even entertain a return to corporate hell during his conversation with Carlos.
No worries Travis, Keira made the right choice.
"Thank you Protector."
Kiera's selflessness led to Verta's return to VPD headquarters and his sacrifice may be pivotal in the direction the show will take in the final episode. He really will be remembered as the key Kellog!
That hole that opened up on the roof of VPD headquarters seemed symbolic of the wormhole that threatens to open in the final chapter of Continnum.
The shape of things to come?
The Future is Now
The other question that has weighed heavily over the narrative of this show is what does the future hold after all?
"..be there"
I'll finish that sentence for you Brad. He's referring to the possibility that Sam may not even exist in the future Keira wants to return to.
Hallelujah!
Carlos finally said it. Stay!
This is the point I've been pounding away at in most recent posts. Wouldn't Keira be better served by staying in the present? I think Continuum's thoughts and mine are finally starting to dovetail together. The future is now. Work together towards the common good. Build the future from the ground up for a better tomorrow.
Crackpot Theory Alert!
Naturally, Kellog can't be trusted with the future even when he senses the cards aren't necessarily in his favor. He's duplicating Alec's efforts into perfecting the wormhole device no doubt in order to steer events in his favor.
He can't do that if he is a pawn to Future Kellog's efforts. That's why Alec and Kiera agreed at the end Kellog is their best chance now that he is their "inside man." Kellog is eager to escape the clutches of his future self and steer efforts from his mirrored device he stealing from Alec.
Did I use that word steer again?
I did and this where the crackpot theory comes in.
I'm not entirely convinced the wormhole device is pointed at the future Keira want to go to anyway. Isn't angled at the dim future Kellog rules over in which would allow the invasion to pour through and or Kellog to get his kidney exchange?
Why not steer the wormhole?
Steer it to the future where Sam exists and have Keira grab him and bring him back to the present. With the enhanced serialized functionality to the device, the "time ball" that Alec is using and the one Kellog has, this will allow Alec to move the wormhole without having a fixed device at the other end.
Build the future now Keira. Stay with Alec and save him from the corporate hell he wrongly builds. Stop Kellog from creating that dim future. (Lay off the booze for your kidney's sake Matty) Prevent the invasion from ever happening and secure Brad's family. (Brad will die to ensure this) Alec can work with Julian and make sure he turns into Mother Freakin' Theresa as an insurance policy!
Bring Sam to your new home Keira. Be Carlos' partner and start a new future together.
Is that having your cake and eating it too? Of course. But I think this is the big twist ending Continuum has been building towards. Heck, even Annie doesn't have to die although I'd rather see Emily with Alec. Maybe that wasn't to be after all and Jason will get his future.
Continuum ends next Friday night and the future is now.
Hey Dave,
ReplyDeleteYou know how Heroes Reborn is using "Forget the past, save the future."? Seems Continuum is headed toward "forget the future, save the present. I would love for your theory to turn out true, however. Kiera would at least get Sam from the future.
As far as what they had planned to do, it reminds me of what Walter and September did in the Fringe finale. They hijacked the Observers time tunnel to power their contraption once they lost the ability to use a key part of it. (I forgot why.) But after this episode, everything has been upset it seems to me.
I loved the jail scenes between Kellog and Travis Verta. A twitter follower told me Travis was staring him down like a lion does his prey when Kellog was talking about himself as the bastion of their cause for freedom and self determination. Travis accurately said that it's what you do with those freedoms which determine the type of moral person you are. Somehow, Travis has become the sage and most moral centered person on this show (He gave good advice to Kiera last week.) if you can get past all the bodies he's put down in earlier episodes. Kellog certainly brought that up, and clearly it was a factor in Travis going back to rescue the VPD. His fight with Rollins was awesome - two special soldiers from two different futures and well matched. He went out a hero and it nearly made me misty eyed. Lots of growth since that other timeline when he died as a villain fighting Kiera on the elevator shaft.
I wonder, if present Kellog despite everything at the end of this episode is still in position to control the shots? One principle Continuum seems to be about in part is the sin of greed. Kellog is the ultimate symbol of it. They may have to stop present, not future kellog in the end. So sad this show is ending.
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about your characterization of Travis Verta and it reminded me of the old saw, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." I guess they made the conscious decision to remake Verta as the freedom fighter if he wasn't one all along. It's a matter of perspective I suppose, just like trying to predict the future or interpret the past. Maybe Verta is the embodiment of that.
Do you think Verta is dead? I would think he is. Everyone seems to be getting their exit from the stage. Which reminds me, no Garza this past episode! No doubt she will be granted her final bow.
As we speak I don't think Kellog is in the position he wants to call the shots. Knowing him, he'll have to fake his complicity with their efforts in order to buy himself some time until things work in his favor. I wonder if they'll make him a hero? I still think Vasquez is going to shoot him. That would mean a wormhole to an alternate future. Kellog being dead in the past but not the future that is. Curtis Chen did explore the possibility.
Ha, that would make it possible for Keira to grab the wrong Sam in a future where she never left him. Ouch.
Yes, it is sad it has to end. We waited so long and now it is almost over. At least it was allowed to go out on it's own terms.
Thanks Chris!
To answer your question, I would agree Verta is dead. As far as the old saw, I never liked that expression since it excuses terrorism from being an evil in and of itself. But on the show I think he has evolved from terrorist to freedom fighter. Being placed in different times and timelines is probably a factor for doing so.
DeleteI was thinking that Kellog being killed in the present would destroy this timeline like we saw at the season 3 beginning, but maybe not. The time tunnel once opened may hold the timeline intact.