CONTINUUM Recap: “Time’s Up” (Season 1, Episode 6)

No matter what time period for which a person may have lived, there is always conflict. And, even in 2077 protests turn into riots and the police, or in this case, the CPS has to come in to take control and clean up the aftermath. But one clue that Kiera discovers after a particular riot was the fact that food that was to be distributed by one of the corporations in control of that time period – Piron – did not take place; but Kiera wants to know why?

In present day Canada, a similar protest is taking place outside a powerful oil company called Exotrol. Kiera and Carlos are called in to oversee the “Occupy-like” protests, but soon enough a riot takes place, led by a group of anarchists, who seem to be under the control of someone else; and includes among their numbers none other than Julian (recurring guest star Richard Harmon), who is Alec’s step-brother.

A woman inside the Exotrol corporate building is watching the violence as it breaks out beyond the glass windows, but is quickly led away by two security guards, going underground to an awaiting vehicle. Before she and the guards can get to the vehicle, though, Travis shows up, quickly taking out the guards and kidnapping the woman, who turns out to be Henrietta Sherman, the Chief Executive Officer of the company (guest star Marilyn Norry). Of course, it is quickly determined that Liber8 is behind the kidnapping as well as the anarchists who incited the riot and violence.

While Carlos and Kiera try to track down leads as to who or why Sherman was kidnapped, they question the Head of Security at Exotrol, Frank Lobo (guest star Mark Gibbon) and another executive at Exotrol, Terrence Chu (guest star Byron Lawson), learning that various threats had been received by the Board and the executives, leading them to review the security tapes of Sherman’s kidnapping. The fact that the culprit was never seen (and what she already knows about Liber8’s hate for corporations), Kiera knows it has to be them; but what is their end game exactly?

That goal becomes all too apparent when video feeds of Sherman tied to a chair reading off a prepared speech, claiming her guilt as well as a ransom demand (for $20 million) are both aired on the internet. Betty (recurring guest star Jennifer Spence) is hard at work to track down the origin of the video feed as well as mysterious texts that begin showing up on everyone’s phone; but she seems to be hitting a brick wall until Alec breaks through the code. Since his connection with Kiera cannot be revealed, Alec makes it so that Betty seemingly broke the code and tracked them down. [It should be noted that during Alec’s scan of the security tapes he identified the leader of the anarchists, helping Kiera and Carlos to get one step closer to the kidnappers and to discover that Julian took part in the riot.]

Soon enough, the pieces are put together that Kagame is behind the disturbing video feeds and that Liber8 is after the ransom; but even that is turned on its head when the police track down their location and Liber8 demands that the ransom be given out to the protestors outside Exotrol. As it turns out, based on advice from Kellog to Kagame (during his return to the Liber8 fold), they took advantage of the anarchists’ riot to sell short Exotrol stock in order to make hundreds of millions of dollars for their cause. A cause that now has a website, a manifesto and a powerful stance given the fact Liber8 didn’t harm Sherman, but at the same time got her to admit to the true crimes she and the Board of Directors at Exotrol committed.

And a few other truth were revealed: 1) that Bolo (the Head of Security) was working with Chu (the other executive at Exotrol) to gain control of the corporation by getting Sherman out of the way; and inadvertently working with Liber8 (who were much more dangerous than either of the men could have anticipated) and 2) that Kiera’s husband knew about the food not being distributed in 2077. Does that mean that there is much more than meets the eye with her husband?

What we learned in this episode:

• Kiera was surprised to see a horse, ridden by a mounted cop during the protest; as she mentioned to Alec she had never seen a horse before; so what exactly happened to horses in her time line (and does that mean there are no animals in that future);
• As was to be expected, Julian and Alec’s step-dad Roland are part of the early makings of Liber8; but Roland is averse to violence; however because of Julian’s anger over the way his dad lost their family farm he seeks vengeance by any means necessary;
• Julian is pissed at step-brother Alec, warning him (Alec) – now that he knows he was the one who turned him into Roland – that he is to stay away from him;
• Kellog is up to no good, as he breaks into Kiera’s hotel room, searches it from top to bottom and finds the missing piece of the time-travel device, pocketing it for his own use at some later point;
• Carlos is a great partner by backing up Kiera when they were chasing down Bolo, after it became apparent to them he was involved in the kidnapping; he got to Kiera just in time while she was in foot pursuit of Bolo and soon enough in hand-to-hand combat with the man;
• Kiera’s husband was questioning her in 2077, based on some things she said about the riot (and learning about the non-distribution of the food), about her sounding too much like the members of Liber8 (and maybe she started questioning his stance on things as well?)

“Time’s Up” is the 6th episode of the debut season of Continuum written by Jeremy Smith and Jonathan Lloyd Walker and directed by Rachel Talalay. Continuum will be back with an all-new episode on the Canadian channel Showcase next Sunday, July 15 at 9 PM.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Do you like how the show opens with a scene from 2077 that ties clearly and succinctly with the action in present day? Do you wonder just what will happen next with Julian and his dad Roland in comparison to what Liber8 is trying to do in present day Canada? Will Carlos eventually learn about Alec? And for that matter, how long can Kiera keep up her rouse? What will Kiera do when she learns the missing piece of the time-travel device is gone? And just what the hell is Kellog really up to? Please share your thoughts about this episode in the comments section below.