Continuum Review: “Three Minutes to Midnight”

You never catch the Roadrunner. It can’t be done.

This week on Continuum, the cast gathers together and tries to figure out the premise of the show.

…They experience great difficulty nailing anything down.

Title: “3 Minutes to Midnight”

Cast and Crew

Directed by David Frazee
Written by Jonathan Walker

Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron
Victor Webster as Carlos Fonnegra
Erik Kundson as Alec Sadler
Ian Tracey as Jason
Lexa Doig as Sonya Valentine
Luvia Petersen as Jasmine Garza
Roger Cross as Travis Verta
Omari Newton as Lucas Ingram
Terry Chen as Curtis Chen
Ryan Robbins as John Doe / Brad Tonkin
Brian Markinson as Inspector Dillon
Stephen Lobo as Matthew Kellog
Richard Harmon as Julian Randol / Theseus
Jennifer Copping as Robin Gautuma
Danielle Kremeniuk as Adele Mason

Full cast and crew information may be found at the imdb.

Premise

We learn that Dillon has been helping Piron conceal problems with the Halo device. We wonder if Alec is really the Master Chief of his new device, as he faces Jason’s deterioration, Kiera’s questions, and Julian’s concerns. Kiera, meanwhile, tracks Brad Tonkin and learns some disturbing truths.

Several characters come together and have their ideological worlds fall apart.

High Points

Ian Tracy is brilliantly demented this week as Jason. His conundrum—when he’s psychotic, he wonders if Halo drives him or he drives Halo—reflects, to some degree, the show’s larger concerns. Who, if anyone, runs the timeline? Or do histories run us?

I thought the commercial at the start was real, until they revealed the product.

Low Point

They had to have a scene, sooner or later, where characters sit down and explain things to each other with lengthy speeches. I get that. The final scene still feels overwrought and artificial, as disparate characters enter and exeunt, moving from stage right to left while soliloquing.

The Scores:

Originality: 5/6 Just when we’re beginning to side with Liber8, they show what utter assholes they can be.

Then the episode reveals that the sides of this battle don’t matter.

Effects: 5/6 Brad packs an impressive weapon.

Story: 5/6 The fact that the show can keep so many plot elements juggling is a wonder.

Acting: 5/6 Uneven, but with some strong moments.

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 5/6

Overall: 5/6

In total, “3 Minutes to Midnight” receives 35/42

Lingering Questions

1. Brad’s last name appears to be Tonkin; there is a gulf between what we hear on the show and what is reported in some online sources.

2. Is Alec only lying about the problems with Halo, or is he also lying about wanting to avoid the grim future of the Corporate Congress?

3 replies on “Continuum Review: “Three Minutes to Midnight””

  1. The closed captions also say Tonkin I believe. It definitely started with a T.

    So they’ve gone from one extreme to the other now, surely there must be a good middle ground.

    I found the idea of corporations declaring war on the government interesting, though I’m not sure I could see that happening in reality. And aside from that, why would corporations want to kill their customers and sources of revenue? Maybe it makes sense in that timeline…

    I’m thinking by the end of the season there will definitely have to be some sort of collapse of plotlines/timelines. Not quite a reset but a course correction.

    • Once corporations become the equivalent of a national power, though, a war may make sense– securing their power long-term. It’s not as though wars haven’t been fought for economic reasons before.

      As for a reset or convergence of timelines– your guess is as good as anyone’s right now.

      • Agreed, at the end of the day corporations and governments are both organizations, and organizations look for power. You don’t need a government to maintain a market, and the corps can extract revenue through their own means of taxation.

        For the war you already have numerous cases in Africa of corporations that are arguably more powerful than the countries they do business in. Even in Ukraine an oligarch is helping police Mariupol on the side of the government and independent groups are well involved in the fight for the government. Make the corps strong enough and add a motive and open conflict could erupt.

Comments are closed.