Smoke and Mirrors
As the Achaian ship approaches, Niko’s communications are severed. The crew of the Achaian ship decide to fortify their shields while they wait for Niko to return.
With Cas taking charge, she decides to finish what August and Oliver started, heading outside the ship to patch up the damage. In her absence, Richard speaks to Bernie, expressing his concerns given how closely tied Cas and Niko are. As he so eloquently puts it “they’ve fought in the trenches together.” If this mission goes sideways, Cas is going to have to make some difficult choices and Richard’s not sure she’ll have the stomach for it.
Cas decides to send Iara on a mission to retrieve Niko and bring her back. However, Iara decides to hack the ship and retrieve intel from the computers. Bearing in mind this is a peace negotiation and she’s essentially conducting intergalactic espionage, Cas has to decide whether or not to allow her to complete the mission.
Niko follows the light and finds strange firefly-like creatures swirling around her. This light eventually strips off her suit, revealing a vision of Jana. Only this isn’t a vision, she’s really there. She seems to have been inexplicably transported from the Artifact back on Earth. Niko hands over her ring and promises they’ll see each other again in the future. ..
Jana rushes out of the Artifact and into Eric’s arms. Niko hears Eric and tries to follow, but ends up in a lush garden with his mother. Now, the Achaian have taken her mother’s (Ava) form to talk about peace.
According to the Achaians, they actually healed Jana and stopped her from being sick. After transporting her back to Earth, they suggest Niko and her crew can also be sent back home with their families too. In return though they need Niko and the crew to spread a message – the Achaians come in peace. Pretty simple right?
Ava reveals that the Zakir were the ones who struck first and actually the graveyard and devastation they found was as a result of a civil war the Achaia had no part of. After Niko and her crew blew up the Artifact and killed thousands of Achaians in the process, these aliens decided to retaliate – hence the attack.
Ava grabs Iara by the throat, throwing her back aboard The Salvare. Iara feeds back what happened to Cas, who decides to jump over to the ship herself. Cas is emotionally driven by her actions despite claiming not to be. ..
In a move that can only be described as absolutely hilarious and completely ridiculous, Cas dons her spacesuit and uses her thrust propulsion to fly toward the Achaian ship.
Niko is taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere in the graveyard. He’s surrounded by death, and it seems like all of the aliens want peace, but as he gets closer, he realizes that there’s something different about these people. They’re not just angry – they’re grieving. Niko can’t help but be affected by this, and he soon finds himself in a fight with Eric.
Niko finally wakes up to find Cas there after making it onto the ship. After Niko kills one of the Achaian spiders, four vessels hone in on the ship. With Niko and Cas stranded aboard this Achaian ship, the rest of the crew fly toward them… and then make the jump to hyperspace. ..
The Episode Review
The show again proves that a single woman wearing a spacesuit is as quick and accurate as a spaceship flying toward the Achaian ship. This chapter is completely immersion breaking and worse, because the characters are not helping.
Niko’s negotiations were going well until Cas and Iara jumped in and messed things up. Cas’s weak explanation that Niko should be saved because she is “the highest ranking officer on the ship” is pointless when the mission is obviously bigger than all of them. ..
Despite the Achaian’s claims to the contrary, it is still unclear if Niko and his friends are telling the truth about their involvement in this mess. However, even if they are, it remains to be seen how much of the truth they are able to reveal. ..
Despite mixed reviews for its first season, Another Life has managed to keep some of its dedicated fans interested so far. ..
