Welcome back to the Raza! We’re getting close to the end of Season 2, but don’t worry! Syfy has announced the renewal of Dark Matter for a third season. This week, we’ll go up against some old enemies (and friends) in a high-stakes whodunit, with the lives of the crew on the line. Here’s what happened in Dark Matter: Take the Shot.
Episode 10 opens on Android (Zoie Palmer), wearing pajamas, sitting in the bed we last saw her in, surveying the wintery scene through the windows. She sees a photo of herself and Victor (Brendan Murray), the Android who gave her the upgrade that allowed her to pass as human. Victor then enters the room, and Android tells him that she had been having a dream about being on a ship. Victor begins to kiss her, and they tumble onto the bed together. Just then, the Android who is on the Raza opens her eyes, and a screen tells her that her charge cycle has completed.
“I didn’t delete anything: an indication you don’t know what you’re talking about.” | Android tells Two (Melissa O’Neil) about the dream, adding that it shouldn’t have been possible for her to dream while in her charge cycle. She’s not sure if it’s indicative of a problem, so she decides to show her holographic, unemotional counterpart to the crew. Android explains that she started the simulation to monitor her behavior, as she had suspected a flaw in her programming.
Nyx (Melanie Liburd) asks Android if there is any evidence of a malfunction, and Android tells the crew that when she landed the Raza on the planet they had tracked Jace Corso (Marc Bendavid) to in episode 2×05, she had neglected to initiate a certain sequence. This caused a secondary capacitor to fail. Android adds that there was no serious damage, and Simulation Android interjects, “This time.”
Two decides to take Android offline for the time being, and Android decides to run another charge cycle to see if she has another dream.
“Are you sure—I mean, are you absolutely certain that she really feels anything?” | On the bridge, Five (Jodelle Ferland) defends Android to Two. She tells Two that the reason Android hadn’t told anyone about the potential flaw was because she was afraid that they would delete her programming and start fresh. Android had told Five that the Android from the parallel universe said that Portia had been the one to alter her. Portia had added the empathy and emotional subroutines to the other Android, to try and make her more human. Five believes Two did the same thing to Android in this universe, for whatever reason.
Three (Anthony Lemke) and Nyx escort Android to her charging station, and Nyx assures Android that they’ll find a way to fix her soon. Android tells Nyx that she doesn’t want to be fixed. She says that she’ll understand if the crew decides they don’t want her to be the Raza’s Android anymore, but asks that if they do, they let her go her own way, rather than wiping her personality matrix.
“I will return to claim my throne.” | Four (Alex Mallari, Jr.) is sharpening his sword in his quarters when the lights blink off and back on. He stands up to investigate, and a skirted figure flits across the doorway behind him. Four stalks through the hallways, the lights still flickering, and Misaki Han-Shireikan (Ellen Wong), commander of the Royal Imperial Guard of Zairon, appears, drawing her swords. Misaki tells Four that it’s time to pay for his sins, and attacks. In their fighting, Four strikes a pipe, and on the bridge, Five and Two are alerted of a coolant leak. Two goes to see what’s wrong, and Four chases Misaki.
Misaki engages Four again, berating him for abandoning his people when they need him. Four tells her that he plans to return and take back his throne, but without his memories, he doesn’t know who to trust. Misaki strikes again, and stabs Four clean through the gut. Four looks down at the blood pouring out of him. Suddenly the blood and Misaki vanish.
“This time, we are going to finish the job.” | Down in the hallway where Four first saw Misaki, Two notices the lights flickering. She asks Five over coms if she’s reading any power fluxuations. Five responds that all the power systems are running normally. Two can’t hear Five’s response, and repeats her question. Five can hear Two just fine, but Two can’t hear anything Five says, and thinks the coms are malfunctioning. The lights blink off, and when they come back on, Two is surrounded by masked men. One of them grabs her, and another tells her that Alexander Rook is disappointed in her.
Five still can’t get ahold of Two, so she sends Six (Roger Cross) and Nyx down to check on her. They find her standing motionless in a hallway. But Two is hallucinating that she is about to be strapped into a chair to have her skull sawn into. Six touches Two’s shoulder, and she spins and grabs him by the throat. Nyx knocks Two away, and Two stumbles up, asking where Rook’s men went.
Four joins them in the hallway, and tells them about fighting Misaki. Six theorizes that both Two and Four had some sort of hallucination. Five tells Six that there are no unusual readings from the ship. No one can get ahold of Three, so Six goes to find him, and Nyx takes Two and Four to the infirmary.
“No. You cannot be here. Cause you’re dead.” | Three is sitting on his bed cleaning his gun. Lights flicker, but he isn’t too bothered. Until, that is, he turns around and sees his dead girlfriend, Sarah (Natalie Brown). Three freaks out, knowing that it can’t be possible, since she’s dead, but Sarah says that she’s back. She explains that things are more complicated than what he knows, and that death isn’t what he thinks it is.
In the med bay, Two, Four, and Nyx have no idea what to make of the scans they’ve run, so they pull up Simulation Android.
“I’ve watched you pretend to be this strong man, pretend not to care. And every day, you’re in pain.” | Six rings at Three’s door, asking if he’s seen anything out of the ordinary. Sarah tells Three that if he tells Six about her, she’ll have to leave. Three shouts out to Six that everything is fine, and that he’s trying to sleep. Sarah then tells Three that she wants him to come with her. Three knows that logically she isn’t real, but his heart is having a hard time believing that. Sarah tells him that where she’s been, there is no pain or loneliness.
Six asks Five to open Three’s door, because he thinks something fishy is going on. He explains to Five that Two and Four had been hallucinating. Five says that it will take a few minutes to get his door open, but that in the meantime, she can hack the camera on his computer to see what’s going on.
Sarah puts Three’s hand on a pistol and guides the barrel to his temple. She tells Three that she loves him and would never hurt him. This is the only way they can be together.
Five gets into Three’s computer’s camera and sees him sitting on his bed with a gun to his head. Six pounds on the door, telling him that what he’s seeing isn’t real. Three is being drawn deeper and deeper into Sarah’s trance. His finger moves to the trigger, and just as he pulls, the door opens and Six barrels into him, knocking the gun away.
Now we get another glimpse of Android’s dreams. She’s standing in the same house, looking out another large window. She tells Victor that she knows that none of this is real. Victor says that he had been wondering when this would happen. Android tells him that she’s standing on her charging platform on the Raza, and that her higher functions should be shut down. “But they’re not,” Victor finishes.
“The instinct for self-preservation.” | Back on the Raza, Simulation Android reports her findings. She believes that Two, Three, and Four experienced the hallucinations because of the neural links they had with the Raza way back in episode 2×03. Simulation Android says that they were targeted by Android, using their neural imprints stored in the ships database. She thinks Android has uploaded an artificial intelligence virus to the ship, creating a new command system independent of the crew’s input. The hallucinations were a byproduct of the virus attacking the neural link programming. Simulation Android believes Android is trying to take over the ship because she perceived a threat to her existence.
Five seems to be the only member of the crew completely unconvinced of Simulation Android’s story. She heads down to the command center to see this virus for herself.
“Two or three armor-piercing rounds through her central processing unit should be sufficient.” | The rest of the crew try to figure out what they should do. Nyx suggests taking Android off her charging station, since that’s how she’s connected to the ship. Simulation Android says that will make her fully active, potentially causing physical danger to them. Six asks what she recommends, and she suggests shooting Android through the head.
Obviously, they won’t do that unless they absolutely have to, so while Five is looking for evidence of the virus, Four deletes the neural imprints from the database.
In her dream, Android talks with Victor. He tells her that she would be safer and happier with him—the real him—than with her crew, who will never fully accept her for what she is. She denies this, but Victor points out that he’s a voice in her own head.
Simulation Android shows Two the extent of the virus’ reach. She says that if they don’t shut Android down now, they’ll be past the point of no return. She adds that the Android the crew knows is already gone, her personality programming superseded by a new directive.
“Why they gotta make her look so damn human?” | Two finally has no choice but to give Three the order to shoot Android. He repeats, “just a machine,” to himself, struggling to pull the trigger.
Just then, Five bursts onto the bridge, telling Two that Android wasn’t responsible for the virus. She thinks that Simulation Android has been infected too, because the original program file for her was gone, and, she thinks, overwritten. She tells Two that she can prove that it wasn’t Android, but she needs more time.
“We can’t shoot a projection in the head.” | Simulation Android pops down to the charging platform where Three, Six, and Nyx are standing, telling Three to take the shot. Three asks for Two’s input, and she doesn’t know what to do. The whole crew congregates in the bridge, and Five discovers the origin of the virus. It started when Android first activated Simulation Android to show the crew. Whoever created the virus uploaded it into her program files. Three asks how they’re going to deal with her, when suddenly alarms start blaring. The virus is leaking toxic gas from the cooling system, and the crew is shut out of the computer system. Two decides to have the crew ride it out in the Marauder while she pulls the computer core, which should stop the virus.
Simulation Android stops Two, who is now wearing a space suit. She tells Two that if she pulls the computer core, they won’t be able to fly the Raza, and that they’ll drift out in space for a thousand years before anyone finds them. Two asks Simulation Android if Android would be able to fly the Raza without the computer, and she says no. But Two thinks she’s lying, and walks away. Simulation Android says that she’ll never make it.
“Are you sure—are you absolutely certain that they’re your friends?” | In Android’s dream, she and Victor are hosting a dinner party. She sees a news report of the Raza being attacked by the Mikkei Combine. The Mikkei Combine says it has little choice but to destroy the Raza, and kill everyone on board. Android asks Victor why she would dream that, and Victor suggests that she feels guilty for taking time for herself instead of serving the crew. She says that she thinks her friends are in danger, and Victor questions whether they truly are her friends. Android leaves the dream and steps off the charging platform.
Simulation Android pops up in front of Two again, telling her that the space suit was a good choice, except for one detail. The suit has a wireless connection to the ship. The virus breaches the connection and increases the strength of Two’s magnetic boots to 300%, making it impossible to walk. But Android shows up behind Simulation Android, and Two tells her to get to the control room and pull the computer core.
Simulation Android follows Android to the control room and threatens to kill Two if Android pulls the core. She has disengaged power regulation in the part of the corridor that Two is in, allowing a static charge to build up. If the charge is released, Android threatens, Two will die.
“I should warn you: although I’ll do my very best, I can’t guarantee I’ll never make another mistake.” | Two orders Android to pull the core anyhow, and she does. Two is zapped by the static electricity, but only falls unconscious. She wakes up in the infirmary, where Five tells her that the virus is gone, but the Raza isn’t in great shape. She thinks that the virus came from the Truffault in the other universe, since she had full access to the Raza. Android is working on repairs, but it will take a while. She hasn’t restored her neural link, because she wasn’t sure if the crew would want her to. She also says that she can’t guarantee that she’ll never make another mistake again. But no one objects to her restoring the link, and Two tells her that they need her.
In his quarters, Four plugs a flash drive into his computer, opening a copy of his neural scan, which he had deleted from the ship’s databases. He can use them to restore his memories from before the stasis pod malfunction at the beginning of the show. The crew had all decided not to restore their memories after finding out what horrible people they were before the wipe, but he must have changed his mind.
So, who thought that Android really had gone rogue and was trying to take over the ship? What’s up with her dreams? And don’t forget, we’ve still got the mysterious black substance that inhabited Three floating around out there, as well as whoever tagged along when they came back from the parallel universe! Come back next time to (hopefully) get some more answers!
Dark Matter airs Fridays at 10pm on Syfy.