Press+1's Katie Nohr reviews this week's episode of Continuum.

Written by: Katie Nohr

The first season of Continuum concluded this week, but it felt more like a beginning than an end. We got a lot of answers, but every new piece of information just raised more questions. After ten episodes we are only starting to unpack the conspiracy that landed Keira in 2012.

The opening 2077 scene starts off as Curtis and Travis running out onto the roof of a building and calling for Garza to pick them up. They are clearly in a hurry. Security soon follows them, but that is not why they are in such a rush. Garza arrives just in time to get them out of there before the building explodes. The scene shifts to an office window across from the falling building and we see Kiera watching the destruction while Kagame is arrested. It is the same attack we saw in the pilot.

We follow Kagame to prison after this, and he speaks to somebody who we are not shown about how they will change things.

In 2012, it is Kagame’s birthday. Sonya gives him a copy of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ as a present and he gives her a note and a key. He has an errand for her which he wants kept secret.

Next, it is time to wrap up a rather uncomfortable loose end from last week’s episode; whether or not Kiera and Kellog hooked up. The question is answered when she wakes up in his bed. The first thing Kiera does after waking is find the fragment of the time travel device Kellog stole from her and steal it back. Then she goes up to the kitchen, where he has made her coffee. She tells him that the previous night never happened, and will never happen again. He does not seem particularly bothered. I am right back to finding their interactions charming. As Kiera leaves, we see Kellog smiling to himself and saying “She’ll be back”.

Kiera has not even left the docks when she gets a call from Carlos. He says it is his first day back to work, and Kiera is surprised. She has good reason – Carlos almost died the day before. It is also odd the way he refers to it as his first day back, as if he had been off duty for more than just an overnight. Anyways, Carlos says there is a man from CSIS at the station. He is investigating some stolen explosives which he thinks could be connected to Julian and Liber8. Kiera says she is on her way.

When she is done talking to Carlos, Kiera calls Alec to see if he has had any luck finding Julian. He has not yet, but will let Kiera know when he does. The phone cuts out suddenly then, and we find out that this was the work of Lucas. Liber8 has cut cellular communication.

As Kiera is on her way to the station, she happens to walk past what appears to be a crazy person trying to warn everybody in the vicinity about a disaster. He focuses in on Kiera for a while and, while she is trying to get him to leave her alone, he says he recognizes her from the execution of Liber8. He is also from the future, but he landed 20 years earlier than Kiera did. He was put into a mental institution upon arrival, presumably because his talk of the future sounded insane to the 1992 authorities. He does, however, need to tap Kiera on the shoulder to make sure she is real and mention hearing voices.

At Liber8’s base – which is a very nice house now, not the warehouse they were using while Travis was in charge – Travis asks Kagame where Sonya went. Kagame says that she is on a personal errand for him, and refuses to elaborate.

With the police, Dillon is explaining to the guy from CISIS that Kiera is from Section 6 and has been leading their Liber8 task force. He does not seem convinced.

Alec manages to find Julian by tracking his cell phone and, as promised, calls Kiera to give her the news. Kiera is still talking to Jason, the eccentric time traveler, who did not know about Liber8’s presence in 2012 (which seems odd since they were shown to have some public support a few episodes ago and have been mentioned on television). He did, however, know there were other time travelers called ‘freelancers’. Specifically, he mentions somebody called Mr. Esther.

After Alec tells Kiera he found Julian he suggests they go to get him, and Kiera says she is going to call Carlos to come to. Alec does not want the police involved because of what they did to Roland last week. Kiera insists that Julian will be treated fairly, but Alec still fakes their communication getting cut off in order to protect his stepbrother.

Through Kiera and Alec’s whole conversation, Jason was chattering on about how it is too late and someone named Theseus is going to emerge. When Kiera’s conversation with Alec is ended, he tells her that he has a time machine.

Sonya’s secret errand takes her to a safety deposit box, where she finds a lot of cash and a letter. As she reads the letter, she looks shocked.

Travis is still trying to figure out where Sonya went. He asks Garza and Lucas, but Lucas just says that nobody ever tells him anything and that he should ask Kagame. Realizing that Travis already tried asking their leader, Lucas seems amused. Travis intimidates that out of him quickly, and I am reminded of the scene a couple weeks ago where Lucas complained to Kellog about how serious everyone in Liber8 was.

Julian shows up at their door around then.

Meanwhile, Kiera and Jason arrive at his apartment. He is hesitant to show her his time machine because it still needs a specific part to work, and that part has not been invented yet. Kiera asks Jason if he believes in destiny before pulling out the fragment of the time travel device. Jason is initially excited, but then he realizes Kiera must be CPS to have something like that. It seems odd that he did not know that already, if he really did witness the execution where Kiera was present as a guard. In any case, she puts any fears he has about being arrested to rest by telling him how badly she wants to go home. He says he can help with that.

The man from CSIS, Agent Gardiner, is getting really impatient waiting for Kiera. He makes a call and has a check run on Section 6, which he has never heard of.

Kiera is still talking to Jason. They arrive at the topic of the eight-shaped sculpture which is broken in Kiera’s time, and how it was broken in the first attack on Vancouver. It is that attack which Jason was trying to warn people about; it is going to happen that day. Even though going home is what Kiera wants most for herself, she cannot leave knowing she might have been able to stop that attack.

In Liber8’s rather posh HQ, Kagame and Julian have tea. Kagame says he is sorry about what happened to Roland, who he thought of as a smart man who knew what was happening to their society. Julian says he is willing to do anything to stop the corporations, which segues nicely into Kagame’s suggestion that he make a sacrifice for their cause.

Not long after that conversation, Alec is caught outside the house. He tells Julian he came because he thought he was in trouble, but Julian says that any trouble he’s in is Alec’s fault. Alec is taken out of the room by Garza, who ties him to a chair and – in an extremely creepy manner – asks if he thinks she is pretty.

Julian leaves after that, in a truck filled with explosives. Kagame sees him off, and hands him the detonator.

Kiera convinced Jason to help her stop the attack. He actually thinks this could have been why they were sent back. Kiera corrects him that they were not sent back, but he is convinced that it was all planned.

Once Julian is gone, Kagame goes back inside to talk to Alec. He says that Alec is very important to how he is going to change the future. Alec does not seem intimidated. He feels confident that Kagame cannot change anything important, but Kagame says that it is actually Alec who makes him believe he can. It is clear in this scene that Alec thinks of Kiera’s future as a positive one and believes his future self to be an important figure of progress and innovation.

Jason and Kiera go to where the sculpture is and try to figure out which building is in danger, while at the station Agent Gardiner begins thinking Kiera works for Liber8. Kiera ends up having to call the station to get police backing to evacuate the building. Since the case just became a matter of national security, Gardiner is now in charge. He does not, however, accuse Kiera of anything yet and instead has everyone mobilize to handle the bomb threat.

When Sonya arrives back at the Liber8 base she goes to kiss Travis, who she has been shown to be in a relationship with. Travis pushes her away, and demands to know about her errand for Kagame. Travis has become suspicious of Kagame and Sonya reminds him that he, not Travis, is their leader. Travis does not accept that and claims that Kagame has strayed from their plan, but Sonya tells him he just has to trust him.

While they are talking, Alec manages to free himself from the chair. He walks out of the house without running into anyone, and even manages to see some of their plans.

When Carlos, Gardiner, and the rest of the authorities arrive to handle the bomb Gardiner takes the opportunity to ask Kiera where she got her information. She says they do not have time to talk about that, but he insists so she tells him she has informants with Section 6. Jason pipes up that they are from the future, but he is mostly ignored.

Since he has already learnt that there is no Section 6, Agent Gardiner is still suspicious of Kiera. They see Julian drive up on a security camera then, though, so there is no time for him to do anything about that. We see that Julian now has a tattoo on his wrist like Kagame’s. The cops surround his vehicle, and Julian presses the detonator. Nothing happens, and he is quickly arrested.

After that is done with, Gardiner finds the time to start expressing his suspicions about Kiera. He gets a call at that moment, from his superior at CSIS. His superior has apparently been talking to Kiera’s superior at Section 6, a Mr. Esther, and Gardiner is now to cooperate fully with Kiera. The rate at which he backs down amuses Carlos.

Jason is very happy that they have managed to change history and cheerfully reminds Kiera that they have a time machine waiting for them. She says she will meet him there and goes to talk to Carlos. Carlos just smiles and says “Let me guess; it’s complicated”. He has learnt by this point that he is not going to get any answers out of her. Perhaps he remembers everything she said last episode about hating having to lie to him, while he was only semi-conscious due to the gunshot.

Disguised as a police officer, Kagame visits Julian where he is being held in a car. Julian is quick to explain that he pressed the detonator like he was supposed to, but it did not go off. Kagame tells him that that was all part of the plan and that it will be a different kind of sacrifice he makes.

Alec arrives around that same time to warn Kiera that they have protected the wrong building. He saw in Liber8’s plans that the building Julian targeted was just a distraction. Kiera sees Kagame then, heading into one of the other buildings, and chases after him.

Kagame has strapped a bomb to himself. Kiera tries to talk him down, but he says that it is already done. This attitude seems strange coming from Kagame, who supposedly wanted to change the future not have it play out the same. He says that this is his role to play in the larger plan. Kiera asks who’s plan he is talking about and Kagame says ‘his’, as Alec runs through the door. Kagame gets on the elevator then, and Kiera and Alec know they have to make a run for it. They are still caught in the blast, but Kiera’s suit protects them with a force field.

Carlos, Gardiner, and numerous other people in the area manage to survive as well, but they at least look worse for wear. Alec and Kiera are fine. Alec tells Kiera to go, and she uses her suit to go invisible.

Sonya, meanwhile, is completing her final errand for her beloved leader. It is Kagame’s birthday still, his very first one, and she visits his mother in the hospital. She gives her all the money from the safety deposit box, without explanation, and kisses baby Kagame’s head. She thanks his mother and, getting a bit chocked up, leaves the room.

She runs into Travis in the hall; he followed her. She takes them to an empty room and explains to him that Kagame was in the explosion, not Julian. He wanted her to make arrangements for his mother and his infant self, and that is what she did. Kagame also told her that she is to be his successor, and her delivery of this news is accompanied by a gun pointed at Travis. There is a bang, but it is hard to say whether she shot or if that was just the elevator door slamming in the next scene. I hope she did not shoot as I would have trouble imagining Liber8 without Travis, but at the same time I’m really interested to see how they operate with Sonya as the leader.

After Kiera leaves the site of the attack, she goes to meet Jason at his time machine. He shows it to her, and it is made of bicycle wheels and other trash. It actually looks really cool, but not like a working time machine. The question of whether Jason really is just crazy looms, and Kiera takes back the piece of the time travel device which is just sitting on a counter nearby. Jason puts on a tinfoil hat, confirming his insanity, and Kiera leaves the room heartbroken.

She goes back to Kellog’s yacht, as he knew she would. She asks him if he had anything to do with the attack, and he says no. He did not have anything to do with the attack in 2076 either, he was just a pawn. Kiera seems to believe him. She moves on to asking if he was the person who vouched for her earlier to CSIS, and he denies that as well. She mentions ‘freelancers’, Jason’s term for the other time jumpers he says are in 2012, but Kellog is only confused by this. Or, he seems confused anyways. It’s hard to say for sure with Kellog.

Once she is out of questions, Kiera seems at a loss for what to do. Kellog offers to get them away from the city. Last week when Kellog was Kiera’s escape from reality it came off slightly disturbing, but this toned down version seems fitting. I’m not throwing away my suspicions about Kellog quite yet, but they can wait for season 2.

We continue the flash-forward of Kagame in prison. Older Alec visits him, and Kagame is surprised to see him alive. He was supposed to die in their attack. Mr. Sadler says that he knew about the attack and avoided it. It’s hard not to wonder what happens to Alec between now and then that he did not warn the people who did die in that building. Apparently he has changed quite a bit; he gives Kagame the time travel device and says the two of them have a lot in common.

In 2012 Alec finally opens that file he found on Kiera’s tech, and it is a message from his future self.

We’re back to 2077 pretty quick, and Kagame is still in prison. This time he is talking to someone named Theseus who has been a mentor to him. Theseus has that tattoo on his wrist and refers to Mr. Sadler as his brother; he is Julian. Kagame asks whether he can trust Mr. Sadler and Theseus cannot say for sure, but knows that both of them will play their parts in the plan.

After reading the file, Alec calls Kiera. Voice serious, he tells her it was future him who sent her back in time and that she won’t believe why. We do not get to hear the ‘why’. The last scene is of Kiera and Kellog sailing off into the night.

That was a pretty evil cliff hanger.

Best Moments

5. Sonya and Baby Kagame. Sonya’s relationship with Kagame is very sweet. Considering that they are both terrorists this seems odd, but it is true. He seemed to be a sort of father figure to her, and her meeting him as a baby knowing how his life is going to end was pretty emotional.

4. The Time Machine. I really felt for Kiera when Jason’s time machine was revealed to be a fake. There had been hints all through the episode that he was truly out of his mind and not just quirky, but you do not know for sure until that moment and it hurts to watch Kiera’s hope die. That is what makes it a good scene, though.

3. Mr. Sadler’s big reveal. We’ve known for some time that future!Alec was involved in the larger plot, but I never expected him to be working with Kagame (or was Kagame just working for him?).

2. “You really don’t understand how important you are, do you?” The conversation between Alec and Kagame in 2012, which references the one in the future, really grabs your attention. Alec already knows he is successful in the future because he has peeked at the memories stored on Kiera’s tech. He is very certain that the future is good, that he is a part of it, and that Kagame’s attempts at ruining all that will fail.

1. Cliff hanger. Alec learnt something very important from that file, and it is going to be hard waiting for next season to find out what it was. It was a great way to end the first season, though. It feels like these first 10 episodes were only the tip of the iceberg.