Dark Matter “I’ve Seen the Other Side of You” Review (Season 2, Episode 3)

It has been said that we all have two sides of ourselves. The side we are in private and the side we show to those around us. On last night’s episode of Dark Matter, this took on a whole new meaning.

As the Android lay down to be scanned and checked for damage after its ordeal at the prison, it became clear that it had to make repairs – specifically in order to set up its neural link to the Raza. While it was in a temporary stasis (if you will), however, problems abounded for Portia (2), Marcus (3) and Ryo (4) and especially for Five.

While the team had limited the movements within the ship of the new inhabitants of the Raza – that would be Arax, Devon and Nyx, the prisoners who escaped along with the original crew – Marcus and Ryo started experiencing violent headaches. Of course, Five was suspicious as to why they would have headaches at the exact same time, expressing that feeling to both men just before the collapsed to the floor. Five quickly discovered the same thing happened to Portia.

Naturally, the show used a familiar plot device showing Marcus and Ryo hunting Five down throughout the ship, pointing guns at her and then bouncing back to 10 hours earlier to give viewers the rundown of what led to that unexpected moment. Much like the overuse of voiceovers, the time jump within an episode doesn’t always work or can be jarring for viewers, but – at least for me – that wasn’t the case in this episode.

What was jarring was the stark change in Portia, Marcus and Ryo as they reverting back to their personalities from 14 months prior to a time before they went into the stasis chambers back to when they were very different people – showing a different side of themselves to Five. It was pretty scary for the 16-year old, obviously. Arax and Devon didn’t really win out either, as Portia took Arax down and Ryo took Devon down, locking them up with Five.

It was Nyx who somehow escaped their wrath (albeit for the short-term), pilfering weapons from Marcus’s stash and attempting to get the upper-hand against him and Ryo. That didn’t really work out in their favor as Portia used a combination of the nanites coursing through her body and a neural link to control the ship. The problem with that feat of almost superhuman ability was eventually going to cause her some serious problems – it was bad enough that she, Marcus and Ryo were their old selves.

In the end, Five – with the help of the projection of the Android’s consciousness (if you will) – was able to link into the ship, stopping Portia from doing any harm not only to herself but also to Arax, Devon and Nyx. And, thankfully, the neural link that caused all the problems in the first place was severed with our crew returning to the other side of themselves that weren’t bent on ridding the Raza of Five and the three newbies.

What are your thoughts on last night’s episode? Please share them in our comments section below. And remember the next new episode of the second season of ‘Dark Matter’ will air on Syfy on Friday, July 22 at 10/9c.