Continuum Season Finale Endtime Review!

Endtime is the finale of the first season of Continuum. After ten episodes I can categorically say that I want more. Most TV-shows that are considered great have had worse quality first seasons than Continuum, Endtime is in fact the best TV hour since Game of Thrones season 2 episode ‘Blackwater’. I might add that though Continuum started out as a straightforward time-travel show this last episode of the first season is a real mind-fuck that not only sheds new light on earlier events but will also keep fans arguing until the second season.

The plot of ‘End time’…

The episode starts with Liber8 members Chen, Travis and Garza performing the terrorist attack in 2076 that we saw at the start of the season. Kagame (Tony Amendola) and Kiera (Rachel Nichols) are watching the destruction nearby, while imprisoned Kagame asks an unseen inmate whether everything went according to plan. In 2012 Kagame and Sonya (Lexa Doig) have a brief conversation while sitting at a pool. Sonya gives him a copy of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ for his birthday and in return Kagame gives Sonya a letter and a key for an important errand.

Kiera wakes up after spending the night with Kellog (Stephen Lobo) and subsequently manages to open his save and steal the part of the time machine he took. Carlos phones Kiera and tells her an agent Gardiner (Nicholas Lea) is at the police station and wants to talk to her. Kiera agrees to come but is otherwise delayed because an insane person in a park claims to be from the future and warns Kiera of an impending terrorist attack that is said to happen on that very day. Kiera realizes he is talking the truth, apparently he was a guard at the prison in 2077 when he was also pulled into the time-travel device and ended up in 1992 where subsequently the authorities put him in a mental hospital.

Travis Verta meanwhile is anxious about the absence of Sonya and seems to give Liber8’s leader Kagame a hard time. Alec’s stepbrother Julian shows up at the Liber8 hideout and states he has an appointment with Kagame, further confusing Travis. The time-travelling prison guard Jason has managed to persuade Kiera that he can build a time machine to travel back into the future, Jason warns Kiera that there are more time-travelers and calls them ‘freelancers’. Jason specifically mentions a Mr Escher. Kiera manages to contact Alec (Erik Knudsen) after Liber8 has stopped all phone traffic in Vancouver and warns him that Julian might be involved in a terrorist attack today. Alec disobeys Kiera by trying to save Julian but only manages to get himself kidnapped when he follows Julian to the Liber8 hideout. To Travis’s frustration Kagame isn’t at all surprised to see Alec and orders Garza to tie him up while he discusses his planned attack with Julian.

Back at the police station Carlos and Gardiner are still waiting for Kiera to show up and as such Gardiner phones colleagues to try and find out more about the organization called Section 6 for which Kiera states she is working for. After Gardiner seems to have convinced himself that there is no section 6 he concludes that Kiera might be in league with Liber8. While Kagame and Julian are away from the hideout Alec manages to free himself and glance from a map that the intended target of Liber8’s attack. Sonya returns from her errand for Kagame and Travis seems to have had enough of Sonya’s and Kagame’s secretive ways and demands answers from where she has been.

Kiera and Jason go to the office building that were supposedly destroyed in the terrorist attack of 2012 but neither can seem to remember which building was attacked, as such they attempt to convince the tenants of all the building to leave. Kiera contacts inspector Dillon of the VPD to speed up matters. Agent Gardiner takes over the evacuation of the building but seems to doubt the source of Kiera’s information until Carlos sees that Julian has entered the basement of the building in a pick-up truck. After a standoff between the VPD SWAT team and Julian he pushes the detonator of his truck bomb but nothing happens.

While Julian is led away by the police Jason congratulates Kiera for changing history. Agent Gardiner meanwhile receives a phone call from a Mr Escher who convinces him that Section 6 is real and that Kiera is working for him. Carlos congratulates Keira on having such powerful friends but Kiera responds confused to this turn of events. While Julian waits in a police car Kagame opens the door and while wearing a police uniform thanks Julian for his courage but says it is for the best that he doesn’t die today. Kagame is spotted by Kiera when he enters another office building. While Kiera tries to disarm Kagame Alec shows up and Kagame states that this was all his idea. In a moment of surprise Kiera allows Kagame to slip away. Alec persuades Kiera that they should vacate the building. Just as they are standing outside Kagame blows himself up and brings down most of the building. Inspector Gardiner watches to his surprise as Kiera and Alec are saved from the falling debris by Kiera’s bodysuit.

After Kiera and Alec wander out of the rubble agent Gardiner sees Kiera leave through her invisibility cloak. Sonya visits the hospital and on the instructions of Kagame checks to see if his birth did indeed occur on that day. Travis has followed Sonya to the hospital and demands what she is doing. Sonya states that not Julian but Kagame has performed the suicide attack and that she is merely there to make sure that the infant Kagame is being taken care off. Just as Travis seems to be settling in as the new leader of Liber8 Sonya states that Kagame had one more job for her, she pulls a suppressed pistol and shoots Travis dead. As Kiera is back at Jason’s warehouse to see the time-machine he has built he tells her that the entire time-travel episode and even the execution of the Liber8 members was a set up. After Kiera demands to see the time machine Jason reveals it to be no more than a construction of bicycle tires and flashlights, as he puts on an aluminium foil hat it becomes clear to Kiera that despite the fact that he has moments of lucidity Jason is essentially a delusional mental health patient. Kiera seeks comfort with Kellog as she realizes she will probably never be able to make it back to 2077. Kiera questions Kellog on whether he was the Mr Escher that agent Gardiner and Jason were referring to but Kellog denies knowing who that is.

In 2077 we see Kagame being held in detention where he is visited by the older Alec Sadler (William B. Davis), much to the irritation of Kagame as he had hoped to kill all of the CEO’s of the world largest conglomerates. The old Alec says that he knew Kagame would launch his attack and that the two of them have more in common then Kagame thinks. Alec Sadler shows him the time-machine and tells him all the events of 2012 that are still going to happen. When Kagame is in his cell he asks a very old Julian if he can trust his step-brother to which the old Julian gives a positive answer. Back in 2012 Alec finally finds the courage to tell Kiera that it was the older Alec who sent Kiera to 2012. The episode ends with Kiera pondering this on Kellog’s boat observing the Vancouver skyline.

Review…

This final episode of the first season of continuum wraps up some storylines in a neat fashion and introduces for season 2 a number of new ones. While it doesn’t really have a cliffhanger the large number of questions that have arisen from this episode is sure to keep fans wanting more Continuum. Below are a small number of those possible questions.

Who is Mr Escher? Is this a reference to M.C. Escher, the noted dutch mathematician? If so, is it a reference about how the timeline of 2012 more or less resembles one of his drawings.

What was Garza going on about when she asks Alec Sadler whether he thinks she is pretty. Garza is known for her mind-fuck attitude but the question was really out-of-place. The question that arises is whether they will know each other in the future.

Is Liber8 still the enemy in season 2, if so will Chen be part of it. If not will Sonya also kill Garza and Lucas.

Does agent Gardiner suspect that Kiera is from the future? Will agent Gardiner be the villain in season 2? Will he interrogate Chen about the future?

Does Julian spend the rest of his life in jail because of the failed 2012 terrorist attack?

Now that is has been revealed that the present events of 2012 were preceded by an earlier version of 2012 would it be possible to change the future or are time travellers bound to just making new versions of past time lines?

The introduction of Nicholas Lea (The X-files) and the retirement of Roger Cross (Travis Verta) and Tony Amendola (Kagame) is somewhat bitter sweet, but they do ensure that the show remains fresh.

Despite my jubilation Continuum as whole does not yet match the quality of this last episode. A lack of humor has been noted by fans who have come used to the X-files and Fringe dialogue being snappy and witty. The thing between Kellog and Kiera also doesn’t work for most fans but I suspect Kiera may be working on Kellog so he will help her more often. For season 2 fans would probably also like to see more of 2077, frankly since the pilot we have seen little more than just a few scenes. The depiction of the year 2077 won kudos with fans and though I am sure it is quite expensive this show can really stand out by moving whole story threads to the future. Perhaps the older version of 2012 might also be exciting.

Several characters such as inspector Dillon, Betty Robertson and even Carlos Fonnegra have remained underused in the first season. I hope to see more of them with proper storylines. Carlos’s miraculous recovery while otherwise being somewhat absent in this episode was also noted.

Some fans have become irate over the fact that Continuum has yet to be renewed for another season and though I have advocated patience I am sure that season 2 is a sure thing. Season 2 of Continuum is certainly number one on my list of most anticipated TV, even before Fringe’s final season and season 2 of Person of Interest.

Score; 9.5 / 10.

Source; www.syfy.com/continuum/

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