Dark Matter - 'Kill Them All'

"A riot is a very ugly thing. And I think is is about time that we had one!"

So, first up we address the elephant in the room:

One is pretty definitely dead. I'm not ruling out a bait and switch entirely, but the actor's name is out of the credits and this episode is pretty damned insistent that what we thought we saw at the end of the last was what we actually saw. One is dead; and not 'Jon Snow' dead; 'Ned Stark' dead.

With a special investigator in town to pin the crew of the Raza to the white hole machine they nicked in the heist episode and the colossal death toll that ensued from corporate shenanigans, the warden - who is definitely Up To Something (TM) - panics and tries to have the crew killed, but prison boss Arax saves them in return for getting in on their inevitable escape. Six starts to get antsy about the system he serves, and is visibly hurt when the Android tells him he's not on the crew anymore.

Also sword fights.

With the help of a map provided by Tori Higginson's Mikkei executive and some well-timed sabotage by Six, the crew bust out and aim to steal a shuttle sent by the Ishida to bring Four back for execution. Naturally, this leads Four into a sword duel with his childhood friend Miskai, who has also replaced their mentor as Commander of the Royal Guard since Four, y'know, murdered him. Back on the block, Arax starts a riot, and Two uses her resistance to the sonic security system to escape and disable the guards, forcing a power down so she can let the others out.

This is all well and good, but the real meat comes from Five and the Android.

Wait... What?

The Android is not having a fun time, and once more Zoie Palmer is fucking killing it with her childlike manner and incredibly subtle expressions, including a heartbreaking look of restrained fear and pain when the tech starts trying to break into her memory. As she has refused Six's authority, the investigator brings Five to release the Android's record of events, but instead Six cuts the power and Five gives the Android a single order: "Kill them all."

And seriously, the fuck? It comes almost out of nowhere for Five, the innocent of the crew, but following a season of peril, Six's betrayal and the investigator pointing a gun at her head, and given Jodelle Ferland's performance, it's totally believable. And the Android of course does exactly as requested, including a wonderful moment when everyone is dead and she just drops the gun she took and goes back into her regular mannerisms.

The crew get away, along with Nyx, Arax and a doctor named Devon, but Six is shot and has to be put into stasis, and the Android can not neural link to the ship. Elsewhere, a mysterious woman of mystery is told that the crew are back aboard, including her 'asset'; Five.

Dark Matter pulls out all the stops for a cracker of an episode. As in season one, the overall premise is pretty familiar, but the show is enlivened by strong characters, decent writing and direction and some excellent performances.