Live to Fight Another Day
Episode 1 of Another Life Season 2 begins with Niko and the others watching in shock as Zakir is destroyed. With the debris heading straight for them, Niko puts up the shields but the hull is compromised. A meteor smashes through and hits Beauchamp, killing him instantly.
With the gang joining in the mess hall, it’s a race against time as Niko and the others worry that their shields could well fail before the allotted 9 hour period they’ve been given for it to hold out for.
Back on Earth, Eric heads inside the Artifact with Jana but after placing her down on a bed, she disappears completely. When Eric follows a light outside, a man from Homeland Security called Seth shows up; he’s working with them now.
Aboard The Salvare, William shows off his new female avatar, admitting that he’s augmented her with Achaian code. This avatar also won’t be swayed too, with William and the others confining her to a small space (called a sandbox) to limit her presence around the ship.
Niko is still not impressed though, and brings Richard in to speak to this female avatar. She chooses her own name, Iara, and boasts that Asimov’s laws of robotics don’t apply to her. She can’t be controlled. However, using her code it does seem like the Achaians are scared of Niko and her crew. As Richard himself mentions – understanding who they’re fighting and why is crucial.
Anyway, in the midst of this, Niko and the crew manage to make it out the debris field. For some reason this explosion is no longer projecting the debris outward and seems to be sucking it back inward again because…reasons?
With the threat thwarted, August and Oliver head out to fix up the holes on the exterior of The Salvare. Only, an Achaian ship suddenly shows and begins blasting them, causing plasma to vent out into space. Oliver’s umbilical cord is damaged in the process, prompting Oliver to try and help by cutting it… just as the outer ring spins and fries them in the plasma field. They’re both killed instantly.
Back inside, the crew realize they need to communicate with the Achaians. Apparently they want to talk peace with Niko, if Iara’s translation is anything to go by. In order to figure out what they really want though, Niko decides she needs to leave the ship and negotiate with the aliens.
The Episode Review
Another Life is back and after its tepid first season, it perhaps came as a pretty big shock for most people that this show managed to secure a renewal. The same issues inherent with the first season are still here though, albeit with a more trigger-happy script that isn’t afraid to kill off supporting characters. There’s clearly a desire here to tell a complete story but those after anything remotely scientifically sound will be left disappointed.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t an explosion supposed to scatter outward? Like it did when the planet blew up? Why then did we see Niko’s ship leave the field and all the debris ended up being sucked inward?
These little moments, along with the crew nonchalantly shrugging off the breached hull that killed Beauchamp (despite gravity still very much being a thing here) are two of the biggest issues in this chapter alone.
Still, we’ve got shorter episodes to blast through this time around, with plenty of drama to be had in the meantime I’m sure. The intriguing meeting between the Achaians and Niko is certainly a tantalizing prospect, so we’d best strap in and see what’s in store for us there.
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Episode Rating
(2.5)
Bit disappointed they killed off Oliver and August as they dynamic between the two and Javier was on the most interesting relationships of season 1.
Hey, thanks for commenting!
Maybe it’s my understanding but 3 minutes into the episode the crew show diagrams of the explosion and the ensuing wave which is blasting outward from the point of origin (Zakir’s destruction) They mention how the field is going to dissipate in 9 hours which is fine but then if you fast forward to 21 minutes and around 30 seconds in, you can see The Salvare leaving the field and all the debris moving away from the ship, inward toward a central point. If this was accurate, surely all this debris should still be moving in the same direction as the ship but just at a slower trajectory?
-Greg W
The explosion didn’t change directions. The ship had been coasting on the shockwave near the front of the debris field. They had been worried about taking too much damage by trying to navigate their way out of it, but when the FTL bubble was in danger of going out they realized they had no choice and had to risk it. So they turned on the power and accelerated out of there…and thanks to being in space, any additional thrust on top of the forward propulsion from the shockwave was enough to get them out in front of it and to safety.