Review: Being Human (USA) "Turn This Mother Out"

Non Spoiler Review:
Being Human's American version returns for its second season, catching us up one month after Bishop's death (that makes it conveniently the next full moon). Aidan is dealing with all the fallout from his mentor's murder, having to handle a bunch of tweaked out vampires in need of a leader. But it doesn't take too long before vampire politics asserts itself.

Meanwhile, Nora still has that nasty scratch that's making her very paranoid about the coming full moon, which means she's annoying Josh with constant talk about what his transformation is like. Finally, Sally's high school reunion brings her back to her alma mater to see what everyone thinks of her now that she's dead.

All in all a fair return for the series. Josh and Sally continue to play second string to Aidan, and their domestic situation remains unclear, but the final minutes really ramped up the game for next week, setting what looks to be an even darker tone for the season.

Spoilers Now!

A month after Bishop's death, Aidan stops a street vampire from feeding on the locals, and brings him back to chow down on bagged blood. He's trying to help everyone now that Bishop is gone and the family is wandering around aimlessly looking for direction. There are rumours that she's coming. That would be Mother, queen of the vampires, whom Aidan is hoping will straighten everything out.

Nora is crashing with Josh and things seem to be going well, though she's constantly asking him about werewolf details to the point that he feels she can't get passed it (though it's really because she has that scratch on her arm and the full moon is imminent). 

At work, Josh finds a vampire chowing down on one of the patients. Aidan is furious, but Bishop's progeny are fearing Mother is coming to cull their numbers. Aidan goes to see the council, which includes Haggeman, who has apparently developed a fondness for him. He encourages Aidan to accept his responsibilities and not ask a lot of questions when she arrives. 

When Mother makes her appearance, Haggeman announces the council is fully behind Aidan taking over Boston with her blessing. As far as Bishop's orphans, Aidan says many are confused and scared, so he recommends mercy. She refuses and orders them culled. And the best person to lead Boston is her daughter, with Aidan as her second. In return she will overlook his heresy and would possibly grant him freedom if all goes well. There's some shock at the table at this announcement, as it seems her daughter has some history (she's cuh-razy!) that no one wants to speak aloud. Mother later tells Haggeman that Aidan can't fail, and he can't have any distractions in his life, either. Which means no wolf.

Meanwhile, Nora's beginning to experience cravings for raw meat as the full moon approaches. She quizzes Josh on the change, but he's had enough of it. He begins to question if the whole werewolf thing is too much for her to handle.

Sally has a high school reunion coming up and Nora thinks she should go to find out what people are saying about her. At school, Sally runs into a young, former classmate, Steve, who had committed suicide. He suggests she try sleeping to help pass the time of eternal wandering. And he can't move on either, as apparently suicides don't get a door.

Sally has a go at another late classmate, a real bitch who is just as full of herself in death as she was in life. But her dressing down allows the girl to have an epiphany and she gets her door. Sally is even less impressed.

Powerless to help the wayward vampires, Aidan urges Bishop's progeny to leave. Then he confronts Josh about being too hard on him regarding all that's happened in the last few months. In order to be truly free he'll have to help run Boston, and may become something he won't recognize. If that should happen he needs Josh to remind him of what they started here.

Bishop's children show up to talk to Mother, but that quickly turns into a desperate attack, and Aidan is forced into defending her. She really doesn't need defending, though, as she quickly dispatches the remaining vampires. Having shown his loyalty, Aidan takes Mother into the woods where he digs up a coffin that houses her daughter.

Sally returns home and tries sleeping. She dreams she gets her door, but it's not so pleasant as the bright white tunnel turns dark and a shadowy form rushes towards her.

Nora drives Josh into the woods for his change and they reiterate their commitment to one another. She watches him go and nervously looks at the rising moon. She hears Josh's yells of transformation in the distance, but she hasn't changed. She's relieved. But only for a few seconds, given she suddenly begins to transform and runs off into the woods herself. Semi-wolf Josh can hear her calling for him, so he comes running. And then he's shot by Haggeman.

The Verdict:

There were some rough entries last season, but this week kicks things off to a promising start. While Sally and Josh's storylines didn't make for the most compelling viewing (sound familiar?), everything did resolve nicely into a tense final five minutes. Nora seems to be taking the whole infection thing a lot better than I would, but there's always next week to deal with the fallout.

There's a lot of ominous stuff implied with Sally's doorless situation, and I imagine the powers that be will be exerting themselves in the living world to show their displeasure that she's still hanging around. The scene of the shadow rushing towards her in the tunnel was nicely effective. I also hope Steve isn't just a one-off and comes back to provide some companionship for her (given Aidan and Josh seem to be busy with their own lives).

There still appears to be a lot of tension between Aidan and Josh that didn't get much screen time at all this week. Given it's the season premiere, it's a bit tough to recall everything that transpired between them last year, so it could have been given more play, what with all sorts of hungry vampires showing up at the house looking for Aidan (and Nora sleeping over).

The introduction of Mother (and now what seems to be a crazy daughter) will take the series in a different direction than its British cousin, which is a good thing. I was impressed with the vampire queen, so I'm curious as to what her daughter's story is. Haggeman also seems to be a lot chattier than he was last season. I'm guessing he's going to come to a bad end given his assault on those close to Aidan. Or will he remain to replace Bishop as the mentor figure in his life?

Review: The Tempest

Non Spoiler Review:

My first introduction to Julie Taymor was her stunning Titus, one of my favorite movies of all time. Ever since I've been comparing her other works to that and they've come up short—Across the Universe was a hodge-podge of randomly great songs with nothing to tie it together. So I was looking forward to a return to Shakespeare, and the trailer appeared promising. But the film never seemed to get any play anywhere, and I've only since managed to track it down.

The Tempest, of course, deals with the sorcerer Prospero, who is banished to an island after having his dukedom usurped by his brother. Raising his daughter Miranda along with the beast Caliban and the captive spirit Ariel, Prospero creates an elaborate plan to bring together the malefactors who wronged him, while his daughter falls in love with the duke's son.

In this case, Helen Mirren is cast as female protagonist, Prospera, and delivers her usual high calibre performance. As does Felicity Jones as Miranda. The rest of the cast is all capable and no one struggles with the material. Russell Brand and Alfred Molina appear as the comedic duo Trinculo and Stephano, accompanied by Djimon Hounsou as Caliban. But there are no memorable performances like that of Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins in Titus. 

Visually the island is a mish-mash of beautiful and barren locales, and Prospera's sorcery is given life with an assortment of CGI spectacle that tends to stand out (in a bad way) when it appears. The manifestations of the spirit Ariel are kind of okay, but again, nothing truly unique.

It all fell flat for me, and I'm not sure if it's simply because the play itself does have its slower bits—long talks about taking over Milan, and stretches of Caliban interacting with Trinculo and Stephano. I wanted something a bit more engaging, and really only found that when Mirren was on the screen. I also wondered by Taymor wouldn't continue her gender-bending route and go with a male version of Miranda? Why go only half way, except to be able to cast Mirren, it seems.

I'll damn The Tempest with faint praise by calling it a nice movie, which is really all I can say about it. It didn't raise any emotions in me one way or the other, or the need to replay and listen to some well-delivered scenes, despite being a big fan of Helen Mirren. So I'm disappointed that this wasn't the stellar rendition of The Tempest I'd hoped for from viewing the trailer.

If you're a fan of Shakespeare (or Taymor), then check it out to tick it off your list. But so far nothing she's done has compared to Titus in my books. Taymor works well with violent material, so she should tackle MacBeth, which really hasn't been given a fair rendition since Polanski's version.

Review: American Horror Story "After Birth"

Non Spoiler Review:

After Birth brings an end to the Harmon family's first season in the murder house, and it doesn't disappoint. The pace is frenetic, as usual, and we're immediately delivered a few shockers within the first fifteen minutes. Then the plot meanders into some interesting territory, but it never lets up and offers a decisive conclusion to plenty of the story arcs. 

The finale left me with mixed feelings. It had everything necessary for a very satisfying end to the first season. Only subsequently have the writers confirmed that successive seasons will be about completely different people and locales, meaning this was an extended miniseries. Does it mean we'll never see another Jessica Lange diatribe or the Harmons again? I hope not. We'll just have to wait and see. Regardless of what comes, this freshman season concludes on a very cathartic note.

Spoilers Now!

Nine months before all hell broke loose, Vivien was preparing to leave Ben, despite their talk of moving to L.A. for a fresh start. She just can't forgive him, and a new house isn't going to fix it. Yet Ben persists and tries to convince her how amazing this house is and how great it will be. She says no. Then he uses all his manipulative psychological power to change her mind. He begs her to just come see the house. We all know how that turns out.

In the present, Ben calls out to his wife in the empty house, but he doesn't find her. He pays a visit to Connie, who's been looking after the baby, and a little reluctant to give him back to Ben now that Vivien's sister is coming out from Florida to help look after him. 

Connie's a bit rattled, and warns him that the house will kill the baby just like it did his wife and likely his daughter (whom she doesn't appear to know is dead yet). After all he's seen she asks how he can be so blind. That's when he sees the Langdon family photo that includes Tate, and sparks an epiphany and a flashback to when he spoke with Tate's mother on the phone (a vocally disguised Connie). He demands to know where he is, and she explains he's dead, and now Ben is paying for his sins. He warns her to lock her door and pray he doesn't come back.

Vivien is getting used to death and having coffee with Moira. It's hard for her to spy on Ben from afar, but he can't see her unless she wants him to. She watches her husband tend to the baby in the kitchen. And she doesn't want him to know she's in the house otherwise he'll never leave there, yet it's still difficult for her to see them go on with their lives.

And by the way, Moira isn't her servant anymore and she doesn't take orders from ghosts. Vivien suggests she call her by her first name and Moira suggests she not torture herself and leave Ben be (to tom cat around now that he's free of her, she politely muses).

Ben leaves the baby in his crib and says goodbye, then lays out all manner of documents and keys with notes before sitting down to try to blow his brains out with his gun. But he can't. Vivien takes the gun from him and tells him he can't leave their son. She wants him to take the infant and go. He wants to be together with her, and he knows he's not the baby's father. He then apologizes profusely for everything he's done. Vivien tells him not to be a drama queen and she forgives him. Just take the baby and never come back, and raise their child and be happy. And Violet?

Their daughter appears and Ben needs to apologize again for not noticing she was dead. She and her mother both press him to leave, because he's in danger every minute he's in the house. Ben finally concedes, says his goodbyes, gives Vivien one last kiss, and they're gone. 

Ben takes the baby downstairs but is stopped by Hayden. It's an ambush. The murdered home invaders throw a rope over him and string him up over the chandelier as she watches. He's tossed off the stairs and hung.

Later, Marcie is back showing the house, this time to the Ramos family, who have a son. She does an awesome job selling the home, even with the somewhat full disclosure that there were deaths there. The wife died in childbirth and the husband hung himself in grief, she explains. Marcie kept the dog. Their son Gabriel thinks it's a great house. And so they move in.

Connie gets a visit from her two favorite cops who are trying to solve the Harmon deaths and the missing baby. In a series of flashbacks we see she found Ben's body. Connie explains she entered the house after not hearing from him for some time. She then went to find the child but he was gone, too. Meanwhile, ghost Ben was reunited with Vivien and Violet (and they appear to be completely indifferent to the fate of the living baby). Connie has enough of their saccharine reunion and went searching in the basement, finding Violet's body. She then came upon Hayden with the child, but before they can get into a scrap, Travis slit Hayden's ghost throat and handed him over to Connie with a tender smile. So the cops think Violet is on the run with the boy, and that's all Connie says she knows. After they leave Connie goes in Addie's mirrored closet to retrieve the baby.

After the Ramos family has settled in, Gabriel finds Violet rummaging through his music collection. She seems much less depressing these days. But Tate is standing in the doorway watching and getting angry.

Miguel and Stacy Ramos get hot and heavy in the kitchen, while Ben and Vivien watch and muse how nice a couple they are, and they can't have a baby in this house given all that's happened. Moira suggests they'll need some help, given the number of angry and vengeful spirits in the house looking to do harm. Others are innocent and don't want to see more suffering.

Later on, Miguel goes for a sleepwalk to the oven (à la first episode Ben) while Stacy is terrorized by the rubber man. Gabriel gets a visit by Tate who explains Violet is his girlfriend. He's about to kill him but finds it difficult having to look into his eyes. Violet shows up and tells him to put down the knife. She never said goodbye to him, so they share a final kiss, which gives Gabriel time to flee, then she disappears herself. Tate is very sad.

Mayhem ensues. Vivien tells Miguel to open his eyes to what the house is truly about, while Moira and Larry's wife help add to the scares. Miguel can't hear Stacy screaming as she flees the rubber man, running into Beau, the dead nurses along the way, even the goddamned exterminator. Miguel gets treated to a disemboweled Black Dahlia and everyone meets up in the basement as the rubber man corners Stacy. It's Ben in the mask, and Vivien puts on a good act saying he's a perverted bastard and rips his stomach open with a knife. Ben shoots her in the head and both Harmons collapse to the floor, then sit up and tell them this is what the house does to them. Run! The Ramoses flee the house as the Harmons watch from the doorway. They decide they have to keep others from moving in.

Ben cleans up around the place as a desperate Marcie continues to reduce the price. Tate shows up and wants to talk to him, but Ben informs him he's a psychopath and he was incurable from the start. But guest what? Therapy doesn't work anyway. Tate wants to be forgiven, but Ben won't fall for his act anymore. Tate persists that he's sorry, so admits to his murders of the students, burning Larry, killing Chad and Patrick, and raping his wife. Ben can't absolve him of anything but Tate just wants to hang out sometime.

Vivien is playing her cello, looking the most at peace she's ever been. She hears a baby crying and in the basement finds Nora and the stillborn twin. Nora thinks she's the new nanny, and has quickly grown tired of the crying baby. She thinks he's a weakling and when she sees Vivien is able to quiet him down, her need for a baby isn't so important anymore. Nora isn't sure she has the patience to be a mother. Vivien shows the infant to Moira and asks her if she'll be a godmother. Moira's delighted.

The Harmons and Moira are decorating for Christmas. Ben lights the tree and they share a moment as one happy family, all of them at peace for the first time. Violet notices Hayden and Tate watching from the window. Hayden tells him to grow a pair because she's never going to talk to him again. He promises to wait forever if necessary.

Three years later (!) Connie walks into her hair stylist's to get a make over, given she's been so preoccupied with...her baby. Well, it's actually the child of cousins who died and she's taken him in. He's changed her life. She muses dreamily that all the hardships she's faced through her life have been leading to this sole purpose.

Reinvigorated, Connie heads home, but finds blood all over the floor and an empty cookie jar. Following the trail to the nursery, she finds the dead babysitter (throat slit) and her grandson sitting in the chair with bloody hands. He laughs and she sighs, "What am I going to do with you?"

The Verdict:

The pace of this series has never been an issue, and this episode was no exception. We get a series of satisfying flashbacks (yay, Travis!) that bring us up to speed, and then Ben is quickly dispatched. After Birth delivered on all my expectations offering closure on pretty much everything and ending on an ominous but fitting note for me.

Enter the Ramos family to provide a quick bit of comic relief as the Harmons go all Scooby Doo Mysteries to drive them out. But how are they going to keep the house empty? Won't property taxes, development, or whatever, eventually bring someone there? 

My other eye rolling bit was the immense peace everyone achieves when they're dead. Ben and Vivien become the perfect couple they never were in life, happily decorating the Christmas tree with all their angst forgotten. It was a nice ending for them, but I question how easily each could put their violent deaths and all the history behind them. Moira achieved her family, and I loved seeing them all together for that last scene, with a perfect rendition of Little Drummer Boy. But no Travis? No burned little girls to join them for Christmas? Or Beauregard? That would have been an awesome bit to see such an eclectic bunch hanging out while Hayden and Tate watched bitterly from the sidelines. We can't have everything, I guess.

The three year jump came as a bit of a jolt, but Jessica Lange's (perhaps) final monologue was immensely satisfying and suitably melodramatic, leading to that excellent final scene as we see the mischievous Antichrist (extremely well-cast). A funny and horrific moment to go out on, considering television's worst mother is raising the plague of nations.

My disappointment comes with the future direction of the series. Each season will be its own contained story, with a completely new house and family next year, according to interviews with the creators. After investing in these amazing characters and actors, I'm sad to leave them behind (especially Jessica Lange and her storyline with the child—who wouldn't want to see the series devoted to following the Antichrist being raised by Connie?). It seemed they were giving this particular plot major focus in the final episodes. I'm doubting that will be the case now, though. So that comes as my only major criticism.

The finale felt like a finale. But it was effective. If this is all I get of Connie, the Harmons and the murder house, it will be a fulfilling twelve episodes to return to in the future. This series has lived up to all the hype and expectations for me, answering its major mysteries. While I expected future seasons to delve further into the origins of the evil in the house and more on the Montgomeries and little Thaddeus, I can take what I got. This bunch of characters will really be missed, but I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with for the second season.

Review: Terra Nova "Occupation/Resistance"

Non Spoiler Review:
What a season this could have been had it matched the calibre of this two-hour finale. While not perfect by any means, it was captivating enough as the future conspirators come through the portal and quickly take control of Terra Nova. That leads the Shannons to help form resistance and try to prevent Lucas and his allies from beginning their strip-mining of the past. There's a lot of hard decisions that affect the future of the series, and even some character bits and deaths. But not to worry, it was still pretty cheesy.

Given it was a two-hour stretch, it managed to keep my attention throughout, when its previous one-hour instalments were an endurance test. If the series is renewed, and that's a big if, I would hope this week marks the beginning of a change in the writing, and not simply a wow episode to end the season.

Spoilers Now!

Back in the shitty future, Lucas is meeting with a nefarious person as mining machines assemble along with troops. The plan is to force their way into the Eleventh Pilgrimage at Hope Plaza. While at the portal, Taylor, Malcolm, and Jim assemble their army to protect the entrance. They won't destroy the portal, as that would mean the pilgrimage could appear somewhere within a three kilometer radius. With the portal intact, the enemy forces will have to come in two by two. Josh wants to join his father in case Kara comes through, but Jim insists he remain at the colony. 

The portal begins to activate and Taylor gets a message from Hope Plaza asking if he's ready to receive the pilgrimage. People begin to step through and Taylor escorts the families away as they arrive. Jim sees Kara and he goes to get her, but a man behind her opens up a suicide vest and blows up the portal, causing mayhem. 

Jim wakes up in the infirmary and realizes he's deaf. He wanders outside to find Terra Nova in ruins, with tanks rolling through and soldiers wandering about. He sees Mira and Lucas looking out from the command center, as well as some odd looking flags hanging down. Liz runs over and gets him before the soldiers rough him up.

She says the kids are safe at home and fixes his hearing. He was out for three days. With the portal gone, the fracture reopened close to the colony and the army came through before resistance could be mounted. Two dozen were killed before Washington surrendered, and no one can find Taylor.

Jim gets home to see the kids, and finds out Kara was killed in the blast, which is a bummer for Josh given he's responsible for getting her on the pilgrimage and all that. All the weapons have been confiscated and the colony is under curfew. Liz thinks Taylor won't try to retake the colony if there are civilians inside. 

Jim goes to the bar to talk to Washington. Boylen's trying to keep his business running with the new management. She explains they are a private military—the Phoenix Group—hired by Lucas' bosses. Once they started shelling the colony there was nothing they could do but surrender. They brought a new portal back with them to make the fracture go both ways, though it got damaged in the fight. But they're fixing it, with Malcolm's help. 

Jim goes to see him his favorite scientist. They killed Malcolm's assistant so he would help fix the portal, but he's working as slow as he can and Lucas hasn't caught on yet. Mira arrives looking for Shannon and finds him, but Malcolm tells them the blast took his hearing and has left him in shock. They also create a ruse that he's on crutches. Lucas wants to know where his father is. Jim acts like he's lost some of his memory. 

Lucas creepily forgives Skye for betraying him to Taylor given they're kind of like brother and sister, but not really. Just don't try it again, he warns. Josh wants a fight, so Jim suggests he get Boylen to give him his job back so he can spy on the soldiers.

Liz extracts some bullets from some of the wounded and finds the serial numbers are hand-etched. They're map coordinates from Taylor for a rendezvous point. Jim has to figure out a way out so Casey creates a diversion and Jim sneaks onto a convoy heading outside.

The convoy goes to a valley rich in meteoric ore, but they can't start mining until they clear out the wildlife. New corporate badguy Weaver shoots a brachiosaurus. They'll detonate pyrosonic bombs to clear out the rest of the wildlife so they can strip half the continent. Jim manages to rendezvous with Reynolds and Taylor. In a very quick subplot they trace the charge with the hope of defusing it, find it in, like, twenty seconds, and attempt to deactivate it. But their tech hasn't seen anything like it. 

Unfortunately Weaver sees movement on their infrared cams and Lucas realizes it's Taylor. They plan to detonate as soon as Lucas is out of the blast zone, but no worries, as Taylor deactivates it before they blow it. Lucas throws a fit and fires a nasty missile down into the valley. Taylor and company flee in their rover. End first adventure on the run.

Taylor sends Jim back to the colony with a comm on a rotating frequency, with plans to maintain an insurgency. Jim gets back in by acting delirious around the perimeter and is escorted back home by soldiers. Easy breezy.

Jim gets to work putting tracking devices on rovers, which allows Taylor to ambush convoys. This vexes Lucas to no end. Washington sluts it up with the soldiers and puts tracking devices on them too, which gets the patrols ambushed.

Josh serves Lucas at the bar, who taunts him for losing a friend (Kara) in the battle. Skye joins Lucas who wants to know what Taylor thought of her betrayal. Skye says he never said a word to her afterwards. He starts to come onto her which leads to Josh punching him out. The soldiers hold him so Lucas can beat him up.

Skye gets Jim, who goes mental in the bar and takes on everyone, and thus blowing his cover. He's eventually overpowered and searched, and his transponder is found. Josh is set free but Lucas wants Jim to tell them where Taylor is, so tortures him. Lucas blames Taylor for his mother's death, see, but Taylor blamed Lucas for having to choose between his wife and son.

Weaver visits the infirmary for a bug bite, so Liz injects him with a parasite to get Jim set free in exchange for the cure. Weaver comes to get Jim and sends Lucas off on the assault against Taylor. Liz gives him the cure, which is actually a sedative, given she lied, and the family heads out to the treeline to get a pick up from Taylor.

Washington tells Jim she'll distract the guards while they make the run for it. The Shannons get out but Lucas catches Washington and shoots her. Taylor watches through the binoculars.

The Shannons move into the less than luxurious accommodations at Taylor's camp. Jim gives him the last message from Washington, which is in reference to a past battle when they blew up a bridge so the enemy couldn't bring troops across. Taylor assumes that's a reference to blowing up the portal. That would mean taking out Hope Plaza, and Jim isn't sure that's a great idea—no more meds, colonists or technology. Then Jim decides he's okay with that. 

Remember Mira, who now has nothing important to do anymore? She wants to get back to 2149 to see her daughter. Weaver assures her that as soon as the terminus is repaired the Sixers are free to go. The terminus gets fixed, and Weaver is anxious to return home for awhile himself, given he just hates hates hates the past. Skye shows up and suggests she'll switch loyalties to Lucas as Taylor is an unforgiving meany. She and Lucas head off in a rover with the convoy to the portal.

Jim is preparing for a mission to go to Hope Plaza with the plot device pyrosonic bomb they conveniently stole. Liz gives him a mysterious syringe. 

Skye tells Lucas she can get in touch with Taylor and lure him into an ambush, but it's all a trap for Taylor's men to get him. They seize the rover which now contains Jim and the bomb, and Reynolds and his men take it to the terminus.  The cargo is pushed through the portal and Jim arrives in the future.

Unfortunately Lucas overpowers Skye and calls the portal to warn them, except there's inference and they can't understand a thing he's saying. Malcolm has shorted out the terminus at their end to delay transport and has to return to Terra Nova to get equipment.

In 2149 Jim listens to the powers-that-be discussing meteoric iron contained in the containers. They also discuss the mysterious thing found in the badlands—but their container got the old switcheroo and actually contains a carnosaur (what they needed the syringe for). It kills everyone but Weaver.

Skye wakes up and lets Taylor know Lucas got away. Taylor intercepts him and lays down a beating, telling him he's glad his mother's dead so she can't see him like this. Lucas just wants a hug and Taylor's forgiveness. But that allows him to stab Taylor. Then he's shot by Skye. She tends to Taylor's wounds but when she turns back Lucas is gone. Gasps. 

Jim gets out and sets the bomb after a gunfight, then makes a run for it, but is cut off by Weaver (and the carnosaur that abruptly eats him). Jim races the dinosaur to the portal as the explosion takes it out, arrives back in the past and is reunited with Liz. Taylor and Skye also return. They get a transmission from Boylen in the colony that all the Phoenix Group rolled out north to the badlands. Mira gets the news that Hope Plaza is gone and they're stuck there forever.

The resistance returns to a heroe's welcome in Terra Nova. Everyone hugs and the clean up begins. Taylor is curious about this whole badlands thing and Jim reports he overheard Weaver talking about something they brought back to Hope Plaza. So they find the container in question and open it up, revealing a fossilized reptilian alien wooden prow of a ship that Malcolm immediately determines is 18th Century (because he's an expert historian scientist). Taylor wonders what else is in the badlands.

The Verdict:

Sure it was melodramatic and full of coincidences and glossed over escapes and plotting, but that's what we've grown to expect. So I have little to complain about, aside from the fact that they should have devoted this much effort on the entire season as they did for this two hour finale.

When Jim woke up in the hospital and I realized they flash-forwarded three days passed the invasion, I wasn't impressed, but the rest of the episode made up for that lack of action by carrying everything forward into the insurgency.

The big drive all season has been leading to the isolation of the colony from the future, so whether this will be permanent or not is still in question. For some reason I thought there were thousands of more people there than Taylor mentioned this week, but I could be wrong. Boylen better protect his microchip repairer thingie, and Maddie better not bust another core for her plex.

Washington's death was a waste of her character's potential. And so has Mira fallen by the wayside as soon as Lucas made his appearance, unless there are plans to make her more pivotal now that her mission is over and she's stuck there with them. Lucas' getaway wasn't a surprise, nor his father/son angst with Taylor. The big mystery now is what's in the badlands, and if there's another portal to the future (and whose future?). Are there some 18th Century sailors wandering there, as well?

Maybe we'll find out, pending a renewal. This certainly wasn't the series I expected from the promos, so I'm not going to lose any sleep if it doesn't come back. But given it replaced V as my sole source of cheese, I'll come back for more to see where it goes, if it returns.