Every cop show has an episode where a main character knows the victim, suspect, or perpetrator, but someone remains involved in the case. This is that ep. “The Politics of Time” also features a fair bit of SF.

Title: “The Politics of Time”

Cast and Crew
Director: Pat Williams
Writer: Sara B. Cooper

Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron
Victor Webster as Carlos Fonnegra
Erik Kundson as Alec Sadler
John Reardon as Greg Cameron
Brian Markinson as Dillon
Tamoh Penikett s Jim Martin
Jen Bird as Sara
Sara Edmondson as Hearther Martin
Stephen Lobo as Matthew Kellog
Pascale Hutton as Alicia Fuentes
Richard Harmon as Julian Randol
Jesse Moss as Shane Mathers
Tony Amendola as Edouard Kagame
Jennifer Spence as Betty Robertson
Luvia Peterson as Garza
Paula Elle as Riki

Full cast and crew information may be found here.

Premise

The murder of someone close to Carlos creates a conflict of interest, which only intensifies when key suspects turn out to be old friends. Meanwhile, Kiera’s tech improves, and she recalls issues of trust raised by events she experienced in the future.

High Points

This episode develops Carlos Fennegra as a character, and its connections to the main story arcs establish the potential for some excellent plots.

Low Points

This episode features a lot of lazy tv writing. I’ll buy the convoluted connections that create so many suspects, since this episode is in its essence a murder mystery. I could not swallow the convention of the cop who gets suspended with good reason, nevertheless continues to work on the case, and gets reinstated miraculously at the end of the episode because the case gets (sort of) solved. As a bonus, we get a confession of sorts when the police confront a guilty party.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6

Effects: 5/6 The future plot ends with an excellent shot, and the effects work well throughout.

Story: 4/6 It’s a passable story and it sets a number of things in motion. It suffers from sloppy plotting.

Acting: 4/6 The regulars give strong performances; the supporting cast varies.

Emotional Response: 4/6 “The Politics of Time” follows one of the show’s best eps, and suffers by comparison.

Production: 5/6.

Overall: 4/6 This story features some good uses of the SF elements, but it relies rather heavily (even given the future tech) on hackers being able to perform magic.

The plots set in the present and future concern ideas of relationships and trust. I’m surprised they didn’t call more attention to well-intentioned corruption, because it characterizes the behavior in the present as much as it appears to dominate the future society.

In total, “The Politics of Time” receives 28/42