Lili’s baby is born, apparently at the expense of Da’an’s life. As she tries to protect it from the environment it finds itself in, Sandoval gets a dressing-down from Zo’or and Augur is forced to go on the run.

There’s something not quite right about this opening episode of the new season of Earth: Final Conflict. And that thing is the storyline. Now, I appreciate that there are a few changes this season, but I have a problem believing what I’m seeing. For one, Augur was last seen on Lili’s trail last season, but now he’s out and about when Liam could need to contact him at any time. And he’s being chased again for no apparent reason. It’s a lazy way to write him out, and although his replacement looks like being a fun addition to the cast, it just doesn’t work.

Sandoval likewise has been threatened before with little effect, but this time he seems totally caught out and the Taelon once more has the upper hand. Quite what the agent is trying to achieve with Lili and his assistant Tate isn’t completely clear either.

Now onto Lili: her actions seem out of character as well. Although she’s trying to protect her child, turning on her friends, who might be able to assist her, is not a good way of going about it. She has little concern for Da’an, despite the bond they’ve shared and seems altogether far more uncaring than she’s previously been painted.

Liam and Renee are pretty much caught in the middle of it all, chasing after various different people in an attempt to sort things out. The main problem of all this really is not so much that there’s no plot, it’s that there are too many strands to deal with to set up the new arrangements for the fourth season, and trying to tackle them all in one episode is futile. Most of them don’t get enough time and are forced to simplistic resolutions, the worst being the cliffhanger from season three. After leading us to believe that either Lili or Da’an had to die, both of them escape unscathed, Da’an handily showing off a new hibernation power that Taelons have. It’s not really a bad episode, it’s just trying to hard, and the events from last season it has to wrap up weren’t the most exciting in the first place.

***

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