The Ark Season 2 Episode 8 Review: We Don’t Kill Our Own

Critic’s rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

This just goes to show that you should never stop watching a series as entertaining as The Ark, regardless of the tranquilizers in the air.

It was a fun episode, but at TV Fanatic we tell it like it is, and what we got here was a version of “Die Hard” in space. Vents be damned.

The Ark season 2 episode 8 continues the show’s trend of trying out new story ideas and circumstances.

At this point in the season, it’s fair to say that many of the risks taken by the showrunners, writers and producers have paid off.

Now that we have a clearer picture of the plot’s direction, let’s hope The Ark doesn’t lose its direction or momentum toward the big climactic finale.

We’re more than halfway through Season 2, and it’s time for the series to decide who or what the crew of The Ark One will have to face.

The Ark doesn’t need space monsters or ray guns thanks to its well-designed characters.

As mentioned in previous reviews, The Ark is a special kind of sci-fi show. The series makes a tangible effort to focus on the humanity of the story.

Sci-fi shows tend to lean toward the pomp and showboating of space monsters, aliens, and ray guns. The Ark needs none of that thanks to its well-designed characters.

However, with so many moving parts at this point in the season, this Syfy series did something smart: they incorporated an episode about sleep, and in doing so, recalibrated the plot around the main characters.

It’s easy for a show to overextend itself in its ability to grab too much of viewers’ attention. That’s how we end up with a series that feels convoluted.

When the season began, the main problems were avoiding Maddox and getting enough spare parts to get the ship to its destination planet.

Since then, there have been electric tentacles, parallel universes, post-humans, and now we have to deal with the Eastern Federation and a ship full of clones.

The Ark had to reposition its focus.

The captain can’t keep clowning around with these clones.

Speaking of clones, they’ve caused way more trouble than they’re worth. Admittedly, they weren’t worth much to begin with.

They were introduced solely to introduce a new type of foil, and boy did they do just that.

Those second generation clones wasted no time in getting to work. I’ve said before that I see a clone uprising on the horizon, and here we are. However, that’s not the only prediction I’ve made about clones.

Since the beginning of The Ark’s second season, there have been multiple subtle moments of sweetness between Captain Garnet (Christie Burke) and Lieutenant Lane (Reece Ritchie). Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.

Then there’s the Spencer clone, who seems just as charming as Lane. A clone love triangle is the only reason I see for the writers to have a random second-generation clone take over The Ark One.

We saw Milos several times in the last few episodes, but he didn’t say a single word, so there was no reason for the audience to pay attention to him.

It really seems like they decided not to make Spencer’s clone, Ian, the leader of Generation 2, in order to keep the character redeemable.

Not that that’s going to stop Spencer from losing his temper again. Have you noticed how he goes from zero to sixty with every bit of bad news? Someone please tell the actor to breathe between the lines.

If the hands behind The Ark need something to focus on, though, they can start with the coincidental good fortune of its characters.

I’m referring to the launching system the Generation 2 clones used to destroy the entire ship. It was rather convenient that there was an easy-to-use tube that would disperse whatever was thrown into it to the rest of the Ark.

There wasn’t even a security panel or anything on the delivery system. Someone on the security team made a mistake. Maybe they should hire Kelly (Samantha Glassner).

The Ark has an unlikely but much-needed friend in Kelly

The Ark is trying really hard to keep Kelly at the forefront of the plot. Now it feels like they’re forcing a heroic arc on the character, and I don’t mind.

Kelly has been a deeply misunderstood person for quite some time. However, her story has been fascinating.

Modified and enhanced by her mother to become a super soldier, Kelly has never known freedom. Used as a weapon, her life has been plagued by tragic events.

So when it was revealed to The Ark One that Kelly’s homicidal tendencies were brought on by augmentation implants, I thought this was Kelly’s chance to prove that she’s not a killer.

With the help of Captain Garnet, Kelly finally showed the redeemable qualities that should make her a more reliable ally on the ship.

And confidence is in short supply with the ever-growing number of enemies at the gate.

Kimi is cool, Lati is locked up, William Trust can’t be trusted, and for some reason Brice still has his shirt on

As mentioned above, the clones and the Eastern Federation became problems for The Ark at almost the same time. Their episodes aired back-to-back.

One thing led to another and before we knew it we had a boat full of unreliable people. Now it’s hard to remember who’s on the good side and who’s on the bad side.

If I’m not mistaken, Kimi (Diana Bermudez) is fine as long as she keeps communicating with Sharon. Lati is locked up and not going anywhere. Eva is also locked up, but in a much nicer place. William Trust is, well, William Trust.

Brice was on Kimi’s hit list, but he’s about to get away with it. Still, did anyone else notice those brief moments when it seemed like something was going on behind those beautiful blue eyes?

I’m not entirely convinced that Brice (Richard Fleeshman) doesn’t have skeletons in the closet. So, even if he’s not from the Eastern Federation, something is tearing at Brice’s past.

Either way, we’ll find out soon enough now that the Eastern Federation has officially entered the building.

As a side note, the crew must be tired of looking out the windows and seeing another problem approaching. Well, it’s a fun way to watch TV.

As usual, things get ugly for The Ark, but that’s part of the charm of the series. Everything may be on fire, but at least we can always count on Angus (Ryan Adams) and Alicia (Stacey Read) to sweeten things up.

Go ahead, Alice, get that contraceptive implant!

Do you think Brice is from Eastern Fed or does he just have a dark secret from his past?

What direction do you think Kelly will take now after helping save the crew?

Leave a comment below to let us know and join me again when I review the next episode of The Ark!