Continuum Rec
I'm jumping on the bandwagon and reccing the new show Continuum.
Short blurb: policewoman for corporate dictator-state from 2077 gets accidentally transported back with a prison escape of 7 anti-corporation terrorists to 2012 Vancouver.
Prison escape
Keira, protector
What else: Keira has some cool tech, like an invisibility suit that stops bullets and can electrocute people, a gun/hypodermic needle/tagging device, and some useful memory implants which allow her to communicate with a young computer geek (and future corporate boss). In 2012, she manages to wheedle her way into the police and become head of the task force to fight 'her' terrorists. Her partner, Carlos, is first and foremost a nice guy, not the brightest, but he has a good heart. Which he has to have, to put up with Keira's secrecy. *g*
Carlos and Keira
Then there's the question whether the terrorists are actually the bad guys, considering Keira is working for a totalitarian corporate-controlled state and they are trying to alert the public in 2012 to the danger of trusting corporations. Admittedly in a pretty violent way, but things aren't clear-cut.
Keira's husband - looks like Ken doll and is about as engaging
There's also a cute, flirty con-man amongst the terrorists who is playing informer to Keira, but probably can't be trusted.
The con man
My opinion:
+ The show is smart.
+ They mostly have the same ideas a viewer would have, and they follow them through.
+ The characters don't usually make the same mistakes twice and actually react to each other and gain experience from ep to ep.
(The best is when one of them gets the idea of threatening someone's grandmother. It doesn't stop there, and the culmination of the episode is hilarious. Mostly. Trying not to spoil anyone here.)
* The tech of her suit and memory implants is maybe a bit farfetched for only 65 years into the future, but I can deal with that so far.
- Episode 7 sucks. You can basically strike the whole episode, plot-wise. Although the chief of police is way cooler and makes the whole ep much more realistic than I'd expected - which was *nothing* after the first five minutes.)
+ I *LIKE* the police chief. Good actor (where do I know him from, again?), and cool role.
+ The supporting characters are wonderfully diverse. Almost all the women are part Asian, it seems. Not only in the future, not only the terrorists, but the police as well. Carlos is Hispanic, the con-man is Indian. I like it.
+ Keira is strong. She has to cry about not being with her family in almost every episode, but I can understand how they want to make her more relatable, maybe? It's not too annoying.
+ The special effects are cool. I had been afraid that they'd only be in the pilot - but there are enough effects from Keira's memory upgrades as well as flashbacks to the future.
* I think her husband is badly cast. There is a secret there somewhere, and it would have made the show much more interesting if he'd been a great personality. So far, not so much.
* They haven't decided on a definity time travel theory yet, but they are theorizing plenty. I like that.
+ Alek, the computer geek character, is purposely too young to be a love interest, but he's also not annoying. Well done.
+ None of the geeky characters are omniscient or omnipotent.
-> So... overall, it is already pretty rare that I rec anything after 5 episodes. But that I actually find it smart and cool and interesting, that basically never happens. Now I can only hope it'll be around for a while.
Do check it out.
x-posted to dw (comments:
)
Short blurb: policewoman for corporate dictator-state from 2077 gets accidentally transported back with a prison escape of 7 anti-corporation terrorists to 2012 Vancouver.
Prison escape
Keira, protector
What else: Keira has some cool tech, like an invisibility suit that stops bullets and can electrocute people, a gun/hypodermic needle/tagging device, and some useful memory implants which allow her to communicate with a young computer geek (and future corporate boss). In 2012, she manages to wheedle her way into the police and become head of the task force to fight 'her' terrorists. Her partner, Carlos, is first and foremost a nice guy, not the brightest, but he has a good heart. Which he has to have, to put up with Keira's secrecy. *g*
Carlos and Keira
Then there's the question whether the terrorists are actually the bad guys, considering Keira is working for a totalitarian corporate-controlled state and they are trying to alert the public in 2012 to the danger of trusting corporations. Admittedly in a pretty violent way, but things aren't clear-cut.
Keira's husband - looks like Ken doll and is about as engaging
There's also a cute, flirty con-man amongst the terrorists who is playing informer to Keira, but probably can't be trusted.
The con man
My opinion:
+ The show is smart.
+ They mostly have the same ideas a viewer would have, and they follow them through.
+ The characters don't usually make the same mistakes twice and actually react to each other and gain experience from ep to ep.
(The best is when one of them gets the idea of threatening someone's grandmother. It doesn't stop there, and the culmination of the episode is hilarious. Mostly. Trying not to spoil anyone here.)
* The tech of her suit and memory implants is maybe a bit farfetched for only 65 years into the future, but I can deal with that so far.
- Episode 7 sucks. You can basically strike the whole episode, plot-wise. Although the chief of police is way cooler and makes the whole ep much more realistic than I'd expected - which was *nothing* after the first five minutes.)
+ I *LIKE* the police chief. Good actor (where do I know him from, again?), and cool role.
+ The supporting characters are wonderfully diverse. Almost all the women are part Asian, it seems. Not only in the future, not only the terrorists, but the police as well. Carlos is Hispanic, the con-man is Indian. I like it.
+ Keira is strong. She has to cry about not being with her family in almost every episode, but I can understand how they want to make her more relatable, maybe? It's not too annoying.
+ The special effects are cool. I had been afraid that they'd only be in the pilot - but there are enough effects from Keira's memory upgrades as well as flashbacks to the future.
* I think her husband is badly cast. There is a secret there somewhere, and it would have made the show much more interesting if he'd been a great personality. So far, not so much.
* They haven't decided on a definity time travel theory yet, but they are theorizing plenty. I like that.
+ Alek, the computer geek character, is purposely too young to be a love interest, but he's also not annoying. Well done.
+ None of the geeky characters are omniscient or omnipotent.
-> So... overall, it is already pretty rare that I rec anything after 5 episodes. But that I actually find it smart and cool and interesting, that basically never happens. Now I can only hope it'll be around for a while.
Do check it out.
x-posted to dw (comments:
)