Deja Do Over and Over Again, Dark Matter “All the Time in the World” 

The Dark Matter excellence trajectory is out of this world. This universe, even. For those like me who love a spaceship being the central location of a sci-fi series, this show is everything I need and more. Season 1 was good. Season 2 was better. And now Season 3 is shaping up to be even stronger.

Dark Matter has the writing. It has the cast. It takes risks. And, yes, it has the power to break my heart…over and over again. So while I’m still not over Nyx’s death (that won’t happen for a while), her being gone didn’t turn out to be a deal breaker for me. And even though Six decided to stay back with that colony, I’m still in this to win it. I’m committed to this show and it’s easy to see why when you watch episodes like “All the Time in the World.”

This episode is not just crazy good. It’s effing over-the-moon nuts. That’s my professional opinion.

“ATTITW” starts in one place and then it ends up somewhere completely different — let’s just say you need to use the blink drive to get there. It was unexpected. It set up so much story for the future, possibly all the way to the end of the series. I love how this show continues to surprise. It’s glorious, actually.

Let’s start at the top where the audience jumps into the action mid-Groundhog Day Time Loop. Three is pretty much aware he’s living the same day over and over again. He doesn’t know why. He doesn’t know how to stop it. But he mostly knows what’s about to happen, although something’s always a little bit different each time.

Starting mid-time loop is so much more refreshing than what we usually get. Usually, shows start at the beginning where we follow a character into the abyss as they try to suss out what’s going on. It’s often a frustrating exercise so I appreciate this version of a trope we’ve seen executed over and over again.

As Three tries to figure out how to stop the loop-de-loop insanity we get to see him do so many awesome things. I can’t rave enough about Anthony Lemke. He carries us through this hour with such authority. It’s awesome.

Three gets to do his best Android impression. He and Android not only get to speak French, they get to sing in French (plus she plays some sort of future-type ukulele and he’s playing what? A spoon?). A reboot just doesn’t happen when Three falls asleep at the end of the night, it’s also when he gets knocked out, mostly by Solara, which is awesomely hilarious.

I do have to say that Three has had it rough so far. At the end of last season, he got the crap beat out of him. In the season three premiere he was abducted and dragged. And now this. I don’t think things are going to get easier for him from here on out either.

At least he’s dealt with the Sarah situation. He immediately took the classic avoidance angle after he found she was still “alive.” He couldn’t go to her. At first I thought Sarah might be causing this temporal loop in order to get Three to show up in her Virtual Reality zone. Boy, was I naive. At least a benefit of this loop was that he did find it within himself to go to Sarah.

Over and over again, we see the two try to work things out. And by the end of the hour, they’re kissing. He can touch her. She can touch him. They can feel each other, which is madness. But I’m on board with this development, although part of me always wants to hold out for a Two/Three hook-up. I guess I might have to be satisfied with their alternative reality selves being a thing.

Speaking of which, I did love when Three tries to convince the group he’s reliving the same day. He questions why this is something his friends can’t wrap their heads around. After all, he’s been possessed by an alien and they’ve met their other selves so this shouldn’t be something so unthinkable.

The most interesting part of the Marcus/Sarah portion of “ATTITW” is that we learn Sarah’s perspective. Her body is gone. She lives in a VR world. She doesn’t know who she is anymore. But the one thing she does know is she’s lonely. Until now, Marcus (I can’t call him Three when he’s in scenes with her) hasn’t thought about what it’s like for Sarah.

Sarah: I miss you, Marcus. I miss you. So much.
Marcus: I miss you, too. So much.

What a quiet, achingly sad but beautiful moment.

On the flip side, there are so many fun scenes we get to witness while the crew figures things out. Android suggests if everything Three is trying isn’t bringing an end to this loop, he should do things differently.

What this involves is his trying to comfort Five over Six’s absence (thanks for mentioning Six, show. If we can’t see him this episode, at least they’re not forgetting him). Everything Three says to Five is met with…I wouldn’t call it disgust. But let’s say she doesn’t feel his advice. At all.

When he wants to prove he’s in the midst of this loop, he extracts a couple of secrets out of Solara and Adrian, which is a genius way of learning more about the newest additions to the Raza Crew:

-Adrian once snuck off a space station in a dress and heels so he could avoid the Galactic Authority
-Solara’s first kiss was with a girl named Trina. But Trina’s brother was also in love with Solara. So I guess that potentially makes her an equal opportunity kind of gal, right?

Three’s sudden knowledge of French comes in handy in subsequent reboots. When Android teaches him la langue d’amour, she slips in some technical lingo in there, which ends up helping her figure out what’s wrong with the ship. Again, it’s genius.

The action starts to grow dire when the crew makes a pit stop at some space station. This is where one of Ishida’s hired mercenaries reveals himself on the Raza and tries to kill Three. His name is Ash. From here on out I’ll be calling him “Ash-assin.” But I’m corny like that. Anyway, he’s there to steal back the blink drive and off the lot of them, of course.

The coolest thing about this guy is his ability to phase through the walls and floors of the ship. Even after he’s caught and put in the brig, he escapes by phasing through the floor. I love how each season new technologies are introduced into the mix. Phasing is the new Black. Sorry, blink drive. You’ve been replaced.

Let’s talk about Adrian. While he does commendably have a low center of gravity, he’s kind of the weak link of the group. He’s trying to improve his fighting skills and while he does take offense that Five contributes to the crew more than he does, it’s the truth. But you like Adrian anyway because he seems to mean well. And his sense of humor is awesome. There’s a fun scene where he awkwardly plays with some of the ship’s weapons. Things start to get crazier, however, when he ends up in the same temporal loop that Three is in.

They finally trace the instigator of all this chaos to some sort of time device Adrian stole from Tabor. And this is when the episode goes from 50 to infinity on the crazy meter. Android says she’ll just recalibrate the device to send her back five seconds. What unfolded was simply insane.

All of a sudden, Three comes onto the bridge and shoots Android. Next thing you know we see the return of HumAndroid. Her hair is down. She’s crying. CRYING. She doesn’t understand what’s happening. Two lets her know her tears means she’s crying.

Then we see Android in some highly secure research facility under the direction of Electus Corps. Apparently she was caught by the Galactic Authority. They interrogate her while she’s lying on a laboratory table. They ask her questions about the Android Liberation Group. And talk about how she has this chip upgrade that allows her to pass for human. And instantly I’m so happy that one of the best storylines from season two is about to work its way back to the forefront. Although, at the same time I’m super scared because of what we’re seeing.

She’s on this table lying there and she can’t move. She soon learns her captors have disabled her touch receptors below her neck. And also, they’ve dismantled her. Half of her is on a separate table. CRAZINESS. Android is in pieces.

We then see Android (I think) but this time she’s a brunette with some sort of facial accoutrements and, more importantly, she has a red eye. I’m going crazy at this point wondering what the hell is going on. It’s so much to process at once. But we’re not done there.

This brunette Android is back on the Raza, She walks onto the bridge where she meets up with Future Five, which from here on out I’ll call Old!Five. Five has long gray hair. She’s ancient. Android wants to know what’s transpired and Old!Five tells her very bad things have happened and that Android’s trapped in a temporal anomaly that’s giving her glimpses of the future.

Old!Five tells Android when she gets back to the present to destroy the time device. She also forewarns what’s ahead for Crew Raza:

Old!Five: Dwarf Star’s Conspiracy, the Double Deception, Kryden, Carina, the Accelerated, the fall of the House of Ishida, the meeting with your creator. The Black Ships.

I don’t know what any of this means. I don’t know how quickly the gang will have to face any of these things, although I feel like the show gave us a glimpse into everything that’s going to happen from now until the end of series. I could totally be wrong, however.

Old!Five’s final knowledge dump involves her telling Android that while this won’t be a happy ending for the Raza Crew, it will be a positive outcome for the rest of the galaxy. Pressure instantly added. After all, some of the people have an issue with being selfless and good.

Shit. That’s all I can say. Android suddenly finds herself back in front of the time device with her friends. It’s only been five seconds. Everything we just saw happened in five seconds real time. Android destroys the device. Should Android have? What’s coming next? Have I mentioned how scared I am for the crew? Old!Five wouldn’t give Android anymore information because she’s afraid that it would motivate them to change the future.

Old!Five: “And I can’t take that chance. “I’m sorry, Android. Forgive me.”

Shit again. And I’ll raise you all a what the hell? Because the future doesn’t just look bleak for our crew, it looks like it’s going to be dark and painful. Do you blame me for being scared? On top of that, this episode isn’t over yet. Not only do Marcus and Sarah share a quiet moment where they reconnect, so to speak.

We also go back to Zairon where Ishida is busy villain-ing it up. He realizes Ash-assin’s gone. He laments this saying the guy was one of his better operatives. And we find out that the former Four is talking to someone mysterious. I originally thought it one of the Seers, but now I’m not sure who that was. Guess we’ll find out in time.

Random Thoughts

-Love that Three knows how everyone on the ship can knock him out except for Adrian.
-The scene where Android’s first trying to teach Three French is awesome. He was so bad at it. He was just making up words.
-Zoie Palmer is so incredibly awesome in this episode. There are no words.

-Three briefly kissed Two for believing him. Just had to mention that.
-Three’s final words of comfort to Five are really great. He says he wishes he could say something to make it better for her. This is the advice that works for Five. Nice moment.
-The fight between Solara and Ash-assin is really great. Too bad he came out on top. #Boo
-The Raza crew figures out that the way Ishida was able to track them down was because of the tweaked blink drive emitting a signal so it had to be disposed.

“All the Time in the World” wasn’t just a fantastic and exhausting episode. It’s easily one of the best of the series so far. Also, it seems like the Raza Crew don’t actually have all the time in the world. Yikes.

Dark Matter airs Friday nights at 9/8c on Syfy.