Dark Matter, SyFy's new space show, premieres June 12th

[kitik]

Loved it, this was my favorite episode yet.

Regarding the swords/weaponry, wasn't the head guard that Four killed reaching for something in his belt before Four killed him with the thrown knife? My first assumption was that it was a gun. He just saw Four kill these two other guards, and that woke him up to the fact that the time for swordplay was over, so he was reaching for something more modern. He certainly wasn't reaching for a sword.

As for the mysterious farm memories, the first and obvious choice is that she saw the real face of One in the mirror, and it's entirely possible that the reason he got a new face and joined the crew was to get revenge on whoever killed his nice happy farm family. (Be it one of the crew or the real Corso.) Which led me to the thought that maybe the farm family was on the space station that Six didn't mean to blow up, and One is on the ship to try to get revenge on Six.

But then I flipped it and thought that maybe One is actually this mysterious "the general" in disguise, trying to escape detection by hijacking someone else's clone body/face surgery or something like that. (The general may have started out as an idealistic do-gooder before the horrors of war turned him into a space station blower upper, which could account for One's friendliness.) And if that's the case, maybe Six worked his way onto the ship to try to kill One.

Which is probably taking things way too far, but I'm pretty sure it's a sign that I like the mystery on this show.

And then there's Three. Out the airlock you go.

 

[dansigal]

However, I'm not sure I like it that both Four and Six basically got redeemed

Were they though? Yes, we learned that their past was not all bad. Six was a freedom fighter who was opposed to civilian casualties and Four was innocent of his father's murder. That doesn't explain all the crimes they were wanted for (though I guess it could all be trumped up charges against Four), or all the actions they did after those memories that established the Raza's reputation. Plus Six particularly flipped his shit after finding out about the station being destroyed and straight up murdered, not just the guy responsible, but his two partners, who may or may not have had a role in the bombing, and the kid who was clearly upset about it. Six may not be an evil dude, but he's far from redeemed.

 

[Christopher]

^Okay, "redeemed" is too strong a word, but they were both made more sympathetic, more victims of circumstance than intentionally bad people. It just seems to be a bit of a copout.

 

[dansigal]

^Okay, "redeemed" is too strong a word, but they were both made more sympathetic, more victims of circumstance than intentionally bad people. It just seems to be a bit of a copout.

That's fair, though it didn't feel like a cop out to me. I think mostly because of Six's personality, it felt like him not being a bad person was the inevitable outcome. Four is kind of another situation. His stoic, pragmatic, and more or less selfish disposition, seems at odds with the little we saw from his memories, so it's like his background has served to deepen his character.

 

[Christopher]

Anyway, I find it amusing that Six/Griffin's backstory is basically the same as Roger Cross's Travis character from Continuum -- a member of a radical resistance group fighting against a corporate state. Except that Travis was more comfortable with terrorist tactics than Griffin was.

 

[Autistoid]

The real question at this point is the general, number 1.

An ideal childhood, long ago that was ruined by whatever.

Outraged he becomes a militant terrorist.

 

[Aragorn]

The memory she thinks was One is probably going to turn out to be Three's after all. Although considering how much time had passed in said person's memories, no one ever called him by name for her to know who it was?

 

[Autistoid]

Anyway, I find it amusing that Six/Griffin's backstory is basically the same as Roger Cross's Travis character from Continuum -- a member of a radical resistance group fighting against a corporate state. Except that Travis was more comfortable with terrorist tactics than Griffin was.

What's even funnier is the fact that the guy looks like a tom hardy bane rip off.

His nose is very similar and has the same eye movements that hardy is kinda known for.

Even the way he dressed in continuum was a tom hardy rip off.

 

[Christopher]

The memory she thinks was One is probably going to turn out to be Three's after all. Although considering how much time had passed in said person's memories, no one ever called him by name for her to know who it was?

She did mention the name the person was called by, but it seemed to be a nickname or something. I can't remember what the name was. Alternatively, considering that these guys were all criminals, Corso or Boone could be using an assumed name. Or maybe it's the real name of the guy who's impersonating Corso.

 

[Cyrus]

The name of the farm boy was Titch. I assumed it is the real name of One, but it could be a nickname.

 

[Christopher]

Titch sounds like a nickname. Though it's hard to see how it can be derived from either "Jace Corso" or "Marcus Boone."

Here's a left-field thought: What if the memory isn't from any of the six? What if she also has memories from someone else altogether, a character we have yet to meet?

 

[sojourner]

Anyway, I find it amusing that Six/Griffin's backstory is basically the same as Roger Cross's Travis character from Continuum -- a member of a radical resistance group fighting against a corporate state. Except that Travis was more comfortable with terrorist tactics than Griffin was.

You don't say?

And hey, he goes from resistance fighter fighting corporate authority on Continuum to resistance fighter fighting authority on Darkmatter. He must be getting tired of that.

 

[Zaku]

Regarding the swords/weaponry, wasn't the head guard that Four killed reaching for something in his belt before Four killed him with the thrown knife? My first assumption was that it was a gun. He just saw Four kill these two other guards, and that woke him up to the fact that the time for swordplay was over, so he was reaching for something more modern. He certainly wasn't reaching for a sword.

Definitely a gun.

 

[sojourner]

Or a radio.

 

[Cyrus]

Titch sounds like a nickname. Though it's hard to see how it can be derived from either "Jace Corso" or "Marcus Boone."

One's real name is not Jace Corso, so Titch could be his name or nickname.

Here's a left-field thought: What if the memory isn't from any of the six? What if she also has memories from someone else altogether, a character we have yet to meet?

That would be interesting.

 

[cylkoth]

However, I'm not sure I like it that both Four and Six basically got redeemed

Were they though? Yes, we learned that their past was not all bad. Six was a freedom fighter who was opposed to civilian casualties and Four was innocent of his father's murder. That doesn't explain all the crimes they were wanted for (though I guess it could all be trumped up charges against Four), or all the actions they did after those memories that established the Raza's reputation. Plus Six particularly flipped his shit after finding out about the station being destroyed and straight up murdered, not just the guy responsible, but his two partners, who may or may not have had a role in the bombing, and the kid who was clearly upset about it. Six may not be an evil dude, but he's far from redeemed.

This. I wanted to watch the episode again before posting, because I was shocked over how the 'grounded' Six, literally lost it during that scene. The director didnt show us the reaction of his two comrades, so it was hard to decide after first viewing, whether they were in on the plan. Evil Guy in Charge said the shuttle was rigged to blow after the stolen Galactic Authority ship jumped to FTL. Did Evil Guy have operatives already onboard the station go and set it up, or was it one of the comrades?

After Griffith shoots Evil Guy, I did notice one of the comrades had his gun already in hand when he got shot. The other didn't appear to either have or be going for, a weapon. That leads me to believe that the armed friend was aware of the master plan, with Griffith unfortunately assuming the other was too. He has, as already pointed out, no excuse for killing the messenger who was clearly as outraged over the bombing as he was. Wow. A mess all the way around. That's not to excuse any further criminal activity he may have engaged in prior to hooking up with the Raza crew, we don't know yet whether he sunk any lower after that. I'd imagine his friends in the Liberation were none too pleased and may not believe he was used, cutting ties with him from the movement.

 

[kitik]

This. I wanted to watch the episode again before posting, because I was shocked over how the 'grounded' Six, literally lost it during that scene. The director didnt show us the reaction of his two comrades, so it was hard to decide after first viewing, whether they were in on the plan. Evil Guy in Charge said the shuttle was rigged to blow after the stolen Galactic Authority ship jumped to FTL. Did Evil Guy have operatives already onboard the station go and set it up, or was it one of the comrades?

After Griffith shoots Evil Guy, I did notice one of the comrades had his gun already in hand when he got shot. The other didn't appear to either have or be going for, a weapon. That leads me to believe that the armed friend was aware of the master plan, with Griffith unfortunately assuming the other was too. He has, as already pointed out, no excuse for killing the messenger who was clearly as outraged over the bombing as he was. Wow. A mess all the way around. That's not to excuse any further criminal activity he may have engaged in prior to hooking up with the Raza crew, we don't know yet whether he sunk any lower after that. I'd imagine his friends in the Liberation were none too pleased and may not believe he was used, cutting ties with him from the movement.

Maybe Six was really a government/corporate double agent, trying to infiltrate the insurrection, and when he found out that he could be implicated in something so horrible, he decided he needed to eliminate everyone who knew he was part of the plot, so they couldn't rat him out later.

 

[dansigal]

Titch sounds like a nickname. Though it's hard to see how it can be derived from either "Jace Corso" or "Marcus Boone."

One's real name is not Jace Corso, so Titch could be his name or nickname.

Yeah, I'm surprised a lot of people did not pick up on this. For me, I thought that was the primary reason it was obvious that it was One's memories and not Three's, as a number of people are predicting here. He's the only guy whose real name we don't actually know, so the Titch thing was a dead give away.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

But if it's a childhood nickname, which the way it was used sort of sounded like, the fact that we don't know One's real name is irrelevant in determining whether this was his memories or not.

I'm by no means rock solid in my conviction that it was Three's memory, it's just that from a twisty, comedic, challenging expectations standpoint it would be funnier if the lone wolf renegade badass stereotype grew up with an idyllic family life.

 

[sojourner]

I don't think One's story is as simple as an "altered face". I still think he/they may be clones.