Three Moments of Goodness: Mania, a Meal, and Mama Drama in Continuum “Rush Hour” 

Continuum has always been adept at the action and the undertones, and tonight the two strengths collided in a fantastic outing for the series. Only four eps left!

First up–the action sequences–THREE of them, spliced together in such a way that you’d be forgiven for wearing out rewind/rewatch on the DVR. In the first sequence, we have Carlos throwing down with Travis after he intentionally T-bones him and Garza, who are attempting to kill Kellog (and collaterally speaking, Kiera). Carlos slams into them with his car, and then he and Travis go hand to hand, and then Travis UNLOADS HIS GUN into Carlos, who thankfully is wearing a vest. Travis is arrested, and Garza ends up hiding out in Kiera’s car.

Kiera has her own predicament when the assassination attempt against Kellog nearly takes her out, too, because she’s been bullied into a weird lunch date while handing off the disks Alec stole from Piron. She has to patch Lucas into her CMR to figure out how to un-poison Kellog. She throws a chair through a window, hoists him over her shoulder, and slams him into the pond outside, straddling him under the water. His security team (headed up by former Captain Dillon) can only watch as Kiera tries to convince them she’s saving him–as she drowns him. Once Kellog is out, Lucas counts down the time required to flood out the poison and then she revives him with CPR and he’s cheeky that she got to kiss him.

In the third scene, a terrified and desperate Emily gets the upper hand against one of her captors and beats him to death in a huge, aggressive tussle that unfolds while Alec takes FOREVER to make his way toward her, pretending to be the other Alec. Alec arrives and gets thrown into the mix when his cover is blown, but they both make it out alive.

One of these scenes on its own would have been impressive–all three jump cutting back and forth to heighten the “Holy Crap!” factor was masterful.

Then we have a terrifically layered scene back at Alec’s house, where a who’s who of past and present heroes and villains–Alec, Kiera, Garza, Jason, Emily, Julian, and Lucas (but no Carlos–boo) gather for a home-cooked meal, and it’s an odd mix to watch everyone seated around the table like the ragtag family they are. It’s most certainly the calm before the storm, and not to go too Biblical, but I went straight to wondering who at the table will betray the rest.

The moment doesn’t last long. Just before they all sit down, Emily is in the bath, and Jason wanders into the bathroom, and immediately backs out when he realizes she’s there. She tells him it’s OK because she’s already in the water, and she asks him the question she should have asked him a long time ago, “Am I your mother?” Jason struggles with the right answer, and then sadly tells her no and ducks out.

Emily is devastated as that settles in. She’d always just assumed it to be true, and now she knows she’s not a part of this future they’re building, or at least she wasn’t in the original timeline, and if she’s not integral, then she’s dangerous as a distraction who can be used for leverage, so she decides to leave, but she doesn’t tell Alec what Jason confided. Now, after all of this maneuvering of time and imperiling Carlos, Kiera, and himself to save her and be with her, Alec is on his own. I’m curious if he’ll eventually ask Jason about his mother, too.

Random thoughts–Kiera and Carlos talk about her wanting to go home again and he seems surprised, so I don’t know if last week’s scene in his office wasn’t properly synched into the timeline for the show.

Continuum airs at 11 pm/10c Fridays on Syfy.