The Ark season 2, episode 10 delivers a heartbreaking opening as we say goodbye to a lieutenant who deserved better, reminding us that anyone can diet.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS for The Ark season 2, episode 10.
The episode opens off the back of the previous one, "Cycle of Violence." The Eastern Federation Captain has pulled through his operation, but at the cost of Spencer Lane's life. There was no way to save him, although it's clear that Kabir feels guilty that she couldn't.
There's a beautiful moment as the crew of Ark-1 say their goodbyes. Spencer is given the funeral he deserves and is blasted into space. It's very much like a death at sea. You can't take the body with you, so you need to release it where it happens. He gets an honorable send-off and there are tears all around.
This will mean some changes. Brice needs to step up as No. 2, but he finds himself as No. 1 during the episode.
The Ark season 2, episode 10 review: What happens in a coma stays in a coma
With the loss of Spencer, Ian just wants to find a place on the ship. He hates the way that the rest of the crew look at him. Garnet doesn't have the time for him, though. She can't look at him without thinking of Spencer.
She's forced to change that when the FTL machine malfunctions and puts Garnet, Ian, and Marsh into a coma. They are all together in this coma, and time is moving faster in the coma than it is on the outside. While the three try to figure things out, Marsh suddenly wakes up.
It turns out that Marsh volunteered for some human trials for the implants before Maddox used her daughter. Marsh was a failed test subject, with all implants except the one in his brain removed. That brain implant is the reason Marsh woke up, and now it's malfunctioning and needs to be removed.
While Kabir and others grapple with that, they also need to deal with how to wake Garnet and Ian up. The two of them remain in this coma, which spans years of their lives. We watch as Ian admits to growing a beard so he no longer looks as much like Spencer as he once did. Garnet gets to a point where she sees past who he looks like and falls for who he is on the inside. The two of them show that they can move forward.
As the team wake Garnet up, she effectively dies her in the coma. Garnet and Ian's connection is so strong that she is pulled back into the coma by him. That's when they both realize that they need to die in the coma dream if they want to get back to their old lives. But do they want to do that? Garnet clearly does, but Ian is, understandably, on the fence. He's going back to a world that doesn't accept him.
He's right to be worried. Kabir finds a way to wake the two up after realizing that they are holding each other in the coma. As Garnet wakes holding Ian's hand, she quickly lets go. You can see in Ian's face that he remembers the coma dream and he hoped that the two of them could continue the way they had been going in that other world. Garnet can't do that, though. She's back in the world without Spencer, and she needs to mourn that loss. Everything around her is going to remind her of Spencer again, so it probably feels wrong to move on with Ian despite what happened in the coma dream.
My heart goes out to Ian. He's not a bad guy. Sure, he's angry at the way he was created and what he was used for. He has the right to be angry. He's still human, though. He still has feelings, and those feelings he had in the coma dream were real. We need to see him acknowledge those feelings and face Garnet about them before the end of The Ark season 2.
I will say that I love that Ian isn't trying to be another Spencer. He has engineering skills and may find a space on the ship, but he's not trying to take Spencer's place. Even Ian himself admits that he needs to find something to do. The show has done a great job already of making Ian completely different to Spencer, so it doesn't feel like he can take Spencer's place.
Eva is back to being Chief of Engineering
Ark-1 has figured out what to do about Eva. They trust that she will choose them over the Eastern Federation. So she's back to being the Chief of Engineering, which makes Trust angry. Trust points out that Eva can't be trusted, but how often has he lied to Garnet?
Brice manages to get Eva and Trust to work together. Brice points out that Trust is a necessary part of the crew, but if he remains stubborn about losing his position as Chief of Engineering, he's going to get them all killed. I love the way Brice is able to get through to Trust. He's blunt and honest, giving Trust a choice: death or sucking up his pride. Brice doesn't want to be captain, but he pulls through when needed. He also proves that you don't need skills in a particular subject to have good ideas. Sometimes, it's all about life experience.
Trust chooses to suck up his pride on this occasion. They get the FTL drive fixed so Ark-1 can follow the EF ship to the planet. This allows Garnet to follow through with her promise to create harmony between the GSA and the EF.
Dr. Marsh's chip is sure to become a bigger problem
If you thought the chip was going to be introduced just for a one-off storyline, you'd be wrong. The Ark doesn't do things just for an episode. There is something much bigger about these chips, and it turns out that Trust was, for once, on the side of good.
Kimi took classified documents from Ark-15 before she left. She logs into the documents when Strickland shows her the chip from Marsh's brain. Those chips were designed for mind control, and Trust shares that Maddox wanted to create them. He put his foot down because in the wrong hands, brain control chips could be dangerous. Finally, he thinks about humanity!
Of course, Maddox is able to take over the company and go about her experiments. I don't think this should be all that surprising when we consider Kelly's implants. She was being controlled by the implants, and it was only through that knowledge and the ability to push past the control that she stopped. Of course, that wasn't the first and only experiment that Maddox did.
How many other people have these mind control chips in them, though? Does Kelly have one? The crew of Ark-1 don't seem concerned enough about this particular situation. They're so focused on getting to the planet that sustains life that they're not looking at the bigger picture. What happens when they and Maddox get there?
The Ark airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Syfy.
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