Continuum: Closing the Loop

A couple of years ago I decided to check out a show on Netflix because time travel, so duh. Continuum wasn't great, but the premise was enough to keep me on board for a few episodes. That grew into having it on mainly in the background and then deciding I wasn't going to watch the next season. Except, when the next season became available, I did watch it. And I went back and forth on my opinion a couple of times, but still continued. By the time season 3 hit, I was all in. And now, having watched the last 6 episode wrap up season, I'm glad I stuck with it.

The premise of a group of terrorists from the future being sent back in time, followed by one supercop (Rachel Nichols) is simple enough. But the show had layers to it at every point. For starters, those terrorists were fighting a fascist corporate empire for which the supercop worked. On top of that, the man responsible for sending them all back (William B. Davis) in time is the man responsible for said empire. And to top it off, who winds up helping supercop in our time but the younger version of the man responsible for the empire. And if that wasn't convoluted enough, along the way the status quo changes a few times due to time lines shifting and other factions coming into play. Basically, the show kept my interest because it never really settled into a grind.

Sure there was some not so great acting along the way and often the dialogue was beyond expository. And the effects weren't great.  But at the heart of the show was always the relationship between Kiera, the supercop, and young genius Alec (Erik Knudsen), the potential corporate ruler. Over the three and a half seasons of the show their friendship was tested to its limits and their attempt to fight the future while simultaneously getting Keira back to her son in said future was the blinking light at the end of the twisty tunnel. The last few minutes of the finale were surprisingly moving and satisfying in a bittersweet way. Basically the ending was much better than it had any right to be and for that, I give this show major points that forgive the inconsistencies. It's hard to nail an ending, but man, did they ever. Between this, Dark Matter and Orphan Black, it appears Canadian Sci Fi is kicking some ass.