Colony 3: Ascending, in More Ways than One

I'm a little late reviewing the third season of Colony - well, more than two years late - because I missed its initial airing on the USA Network and then I couldn't find it anywhere for free until I happened upon it the other day on Netflix.  And I thought it was so excellent, so fine a season of science fiction television, so much better than its first two seasons, that I regret I didn't shell out the few bucks to see this third season much sooner.

[Spoilers follow]

In addition to the whole season being top-notch, there were two especially effective and memorable turning points.

One was the death of Charlie, killed in a hail of grey-hat bullets.   The grey-hat commandos had been called in by "Uncle" Alan, and Will understandably holds him responsible, even though Will, Katie, and Bram were about to be killed by a firing squad, when the grey-hats arrived and violently disrupted those proceedings.  Charlie's death was a daring, terribly transforming event for both Bowmans and the audience, upsetting the previous givens of the series, and letting us know that anything was possible.

The other turning point flows from Charlie's death.  Will is determined to kill Alan, who, conniving as he always is, feels genuine grief about what happened to Charlie.  In a sequence that lasts at least ten minutes, Will later in the season has a gun pointed at Alan, and later his head in a bucket of filthy water, and struggles with himself over whether he can do this.  Peter Jacobson gives a tour-de-force performance as Alan, alternately trying to reason with Will and screamingly pleading for his life, and the combination plus whatever Will has inside him gets him to let Alan go.   Some of what Alan said, especially that without the grey-hat attack Will, Katie, and Bram would have died, apparently got through the Will.  I was on the edge of my seat, the whole time, as this scene played out.

In addition to Jacobson, the acting by the rest of the cast was good, especially, again, Josh Holloway as Will, Sarah Wayne Callies as Katie, and Tory Kittles as Broussard, and it was fun to see Peyton List from Frequency on the science fiction screen again.  The plot was fairly complex, with two outer-space entities at war with each other and we humans caught in the middle, but it all made sense through the end, with some kind of alien attack ensuing in the sky above Seattle.  It would have been great to find out more about this in a season 4 of Colony, but--

The geniuses at the USA Network failed to renew the series, for who knows what reason, so we're left high and dry, or maybe under the clouds of battle in the sky would be a better metaphor.  Hey, if it helps, I'll pay money to any streaming service to see another season of this series which, because of this third season, now ranks as one of the better science fiction series ever to have been on television, above Falling Skies and Revolution, its two closest competitors in theme.

See also Colony 2.1: Prelude ... Colony 2.2: 1969 ... Colony 2.3: The Wall ... Colony 2.7: Countdowns and Intentions ... Colony 2.8: What Passes for a Happy Ending ... Colony 2.9: Together Again ... Colony 2.10: The Fight Continues ... Colony 2.11: Twist ... Colony 2.12: The List ... Colony Season 2 Finale: Out and About

And see also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential ... 1.2: Compelling ... 1.5: Questions ... 1.6: The Provost ... Colony 1.7: Broussard ... Colony 1.8: Moon Base and Transit Zones ... Colony 1.9: Robot Arm ... Colony Season 1 Finale: Not Quite Enough

Colony 2.1: Prelude

Colony was back tonight with the debut of its second season, with an episode that was mostly prelude, and, like the first season, pretty good.

A couple of general impressions:  Colony now feels a little like FlashForward (cars suddenly stopping when the aliens arrive), Lost (prelude flashback), and even Fear the Walking Dead (the dawn of apocalypse).   All of that of course makes sense - especially given that star power from Lost (Josh Holloway) and The Walking Dead (Sarah Wayne Callies, not Fear the Walking Dead, buy close enough) are in Colony.

Colony was also a successor, from day one, to Falling Skies and its alien invasion, except we never saw the aliens per se in the first season.   Now we finally get to see ... well, not quite the aliens, but more of their ships and hardware.   We did see a big tall something, but it's not clear if that's an alien, robot, or even a tall co-opted human.

The prelude was generally satisfying, though - and, like everything else these days, like The Man in the High Castle, especially disquieting because ... you know why, look at who's set to be sworn in as President next week.  So Trump has had the unintended benefit of giving any show about a near-future or alternate history totalitarian state in the US a little more of an edge than it otherwise would have had.

But this first episode of the second has set the board nicely, and put the pieces in motion.  The first season had lots of potential, only some of which was realized.  I get the feeling that the second season will do better, and I'm looking forward to it.

See also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential ... 1.2: Compelling ... 1.5: Questions ... 1.6: The Provost ... Colony 1.7: Broussard ... Colony 1.8: Moon Base and Transit Zones ... Colony 1.9: Robot Arm ... Colony Season 1 Finale: Not Quite Enough


not exactly aliens, but strange enough ...  The Silk Code

Colony 1.2: Compelling

Colony 1.2 was as good as 1.1, which is saying a lot, because the debut episode was good indeed.   A common progression in weekly television series is for the second installment to be not as strong as the first, which signals a disappointing series, which I'm glad to see is not the case for Colony.

Of greatest interest in the narrative so far is the powerful role of Katie Bowman (Sarah Wayne Callies), wife of Will (Josh Holloway).   Indeed, her role is even a little more pivotal than Will's, seeing as how - as now is clear - she's not only actively working for the resistance but Will apparently doesn't know.  Thus, when she tells her kids that she supports Will's working for collaborators because that can help locate their oldest son, that's only half true.  The other half of the truth is Katie needs Will's information about what the collaborators are doing so she can report to the resistance.

Not that Katie is happy about being in such a difficult position - far from it - but the character navigates the difficult currents well, at least so far.  At some point, Will will find out truth, with any luck before the collaborators do.

Will, by the way, is no pushover, and shares the same abhorrence of the collaborators as his wife.  It's just a matter of time, at some crucial moment, when he breaks lose of the place he's in.

Significantly, we've seen no signs of the aliens themselves at this juncture in the story.   All we know of them is their space-faring ships, and what they've done to Earth.   There's a huge story to be told here, and if the no-holds-barred, lack of happy endings of the first two episodes provide any indication, we should be in for a rough and compelling ride.

See also Colony 1.1: Aliens with Potential


not exactly aliens, but strange enough ...  The Silk Code

#SFWApro

Colony 1.1: Alien Occupation with Potential

Hey, I saw the first episode of Josh Holloway's latest series, Colony, on the USA Network last night, and liked it.  Definitely has potential.  (I saw it On Demand - the series will premier this Thursday, January 10.)

With the demise of Falling Skies and the success of Childhood's End (it got pretty good reviews, though I wasn't thrilled with the ending of novel in the first place, but that's just me), we're definitely due for another alien occupation of Earth series.   Colony could well be it.

Holloway's Will Bowman and his wife Katie (played by Sarah Wayne Callies = Lori Grimes from The Walking Dead) play the pivotal couple in the story, and do it well.  It's good to see both back on television, as well as more work from Lost co-runner Carton Cuse.

[spoilers below]