Dark Matter Review Part 2

Spoiler Alert for eps. 4-6!

So, despite the length of time between blog posts, I actually wrote the reviews for each episode as I watched them, so when I wrote the review for Episode 4, I hadn't watched 5, etc. These are just my impressions as I had them:

Episode 4: I was disappointed to find out that do-gooder guy isn't actually evil, as the Ep. 3 cliffhanger would have us believe, but the 'good' clone in an attempt to play on the old 'evil clone' trope. My new guess about do-good guy is that he's actually a secret agent or undercover cop, which would explain his morals being so at odds with his supposed identity. I would much rather have seen him try to manipulate the crew with his good-guy act, but a psychological subplot would have been too ambitious for this show. On a side note, stereotypical stoic Asian guy is revealed to be the lost prince of Planet Japan.

Episode 5: The show's attempts to earn fans through Firefly resonance (or plagarism) continues as the crew takes a job from Mr. Universee and discovers Reevers on a derelict ship. Fake Jayne blackmails do-gooder, the two of them compete over Zoe Washburn's stunt double in a love triangle that really no one cares about, only to find in the end that they must work together to save the day. Onl a good, steamy bromance can save this show now, which brings me to another question: Why is no one gay in the future?

Episode 6: Finally things start getting good! The problem with amnesiatic characters is that their back story is almost inevitably more interesting than their current blank-slate personalities. However, that being said, I am a fan of that trope and have used it in stories myself. Certain plots are cliche for a reason--because people like them and like seeing them. So, despite that, I did enjoy learning about the characters back stories. I also liked that we finally get some heart in this story (not to be confused with the shallow sex triangle from Episode 5). Five and Six (I still hate that they're using numbers instead of names) get the majority of the screen time and prove to be the first characters in the show that I could get emotionally connected to. They also hint that fake-Jayne had a good childhood, pointing to some complex reasons for him growing into, well, Jayne from Firefly. Though I do find it unlikely that the entire crew of most-wanted fugitives are actually hiding hearts of gold...there you have it.

As for the rest of the show...I will let you watch for yourselves. I know I was harsh in reviewing the first few episodes, but the show did get better as it went on, and SyFy has renewed it for a second season. I have a suspicion that it may be one of those shows that takes a little while to find it's legs, but gets better once the characters start filling out their roles. Big Bang Theory was like that. I found its pilot episode shallow and full of offensive cliches, but now it's one of my favorite shows of all time. Though I do not think Dark Matter measures up to its SciFi predecessors (Farscape, SG-1, Firefly...) quite yet, it is worth a watch. And there's always hope for Season 2.