Dark Matter "Episode Eleven" Review: Did This Show Just Get Awesome?

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http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6u_Ht8wPwSGjw9tjchHpbw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/cbstv.cbs.com/8ace0645bf111649dd22db11e3f55fd8 (http://news.yahoo.com/dark-matter-episode-eleven-review-160800902.html)Dark Matter S01E11: "Episode Eleven" One of my biggest concerns about Dark Matter was how it could live beyond its elevator-pitch premise of six strangers waking up in a derelict space vessel with no recollection of who they were or how they got there (and expanding to, "They're criminals! But do they have to be criminals now that they don't know they're criminals?"). And for me, episodes that haven't addressed that basic logline have been the most disappointing of the series so far. Side stories about space zombies? No thanks. But Dark Matter is a full television series, so it can't tackle its premise with every episode and it needs to stretch its legs into regular space adventures to fill out 13 episodes a season. The two-part heist-and-mutiny exercise of "Episode 10" and "Episode 11" was a perfect example of putting the premise aside for generic sci-fi plots, and if you had told me this was coming a few weeks ago I would have dreaded it. I didn't think Dark Matter could handle weekly television that didn't scratch its core concepts. Except here's the thing: "Episode Eleven" was fantastic! Wayyyyy better than I expected, probably the best episode of the season, and a seemingly transformative point for the series. Everything about the episode worked better than all the hours leading up to it, from the acting, to the writing, to the sets. It's almost as if several of the prior episodes were written and put together over Happy Hour while "Episode Eleven" was given a full 8-day production cycle, and the results were dramatic. Things in "Episode Eleven" weren't much more than an hour of ass kicking as the Raza crew, well certain lady parts of it anyway, took out the roughnecks who worked alongside and then deceived our heroes in "Episode 10," but gosh darn (pardon my language) was it entertaining. And what made it so was the tone. This was dark, yo, elevating it from adorable Canadian science fiction production to serious and intense action piece as each of the bad guys were picked off one by one. A dude was thrown into space! A lady-dude had her neck broken! And a leader-dude was blasted out of an airlock! These weren't just duck-and-cover kills with pew-pew laser guns, these were visceral and personal assassinations performed heartlessly under a ticking clock of doom. This show just hit puberty and rocketed into adulthood. And it should be noted that most of those kills came at the hands of Two, who made her triumphant return from being sucked out into space and became a one-woman killing machine. Her fight with Tash was—as well-choreographed lady fights tend to be—radical, ending with Two separating Tash's neck vertebrae. Two's takedown of three armed soldiers was also a thing of beauty entirely new to the series, and the increasingly impressive Melissa O'Neil—who was playing Eponine in the Broadway production of Les Miserables, pretty much the polar opposite of Two, right before she auditioned for Dark Matter—was a stone-cold badass delivering swift kicks and turning guns on their owners. Her face should be put on the Canadian flag. We also got some more answers as to who Two actually was and my previous guess that she was some alien-like cyber-android-borg-robo-something-or-other didn't appear to be far off. An organism synthesized somewhere (the show has to keep some secrets!), Two has a system of nanites coursing through her body that repair her injuries, hence her immunity to the zombie bite, and when called for, the nanites can provide a thin spacesuit that helped Two survive an airlock ejection. I'd say that's pretty sweet stuff. But "Episode Eleven" was one of the season's best just for its writing and pacing. There was never a dull moment, as even a typical interrogation scene was drenched in tension, and the team's normally bland banter was energized thanks to the ever-present danger of the assholes who took over the Raza. The team was ----ed, and Dark Matter made us feel that. That made all the difference from the series' previous episodes. And it was done so simply, too. One thing a series can do when it's having problems getting its audience to think favorably of its heroes (and let's face it, Dark Matter's characters have been okay at best) is pit them against some people who are worse. Wexler, Tash, Cain, and Vons SUCKED in the best way possible, pushing us to root for the team and it worked. It's the first time, to me, that these characters seemed to really care for each other, and it's all thanks to a common enemy that had the upper hand. Of course, after they were dispatched, the crew began to wonder if they could trust Two, and now we're right back into the best parts of Dark Matter. But what I really liked about "Episode Eleven" was how it ditched the machismo of male heroes and let the ladies take the spotlight in a fantastic role-reversal of typical gender sci-fi tropes. Two has had her moments up to now, but nothing like this. She's the center of the show and most likely to be cosplayed at Comic-Con, and "Episode Eleven" was her coming out party. And Five was able to be a major contributor and did it in the best way possible: She never broke out of the character we know her as. She was still a scared kid, but had the balls to pull the trigger when she needed to save her friend. All this while the guys were helpless in the vault, getting high off of oxygen deprivation. Good and funny stuff. We'll see if Dark Matter can put together a few more quality episodes like this one before making statements about it turning the corner, but this was a fantastic first step. DARK MATTERS – Wow, One wasn't totally annoying in this episode. Progress! In fact, I really enjoyed the guys' chats in the vault. – So, what kind of super-energy planet-destroying weapon thing do we have on our hands? – How do you think Vons got sent into space while he was trying to fix the coupler or whatever? Do you think Five messed up the instructions? Do you think Two kicked him out? Or do you think space accidents just happen? – Shoutout to Ennis Esmer as asshole leader Wexler. He was great in the villain role, and really helped push the danger factor of "Episode Eleven" to where it needed to be to make it work. – A big thank you to Noel for covering me while I was gone!



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