Season Two Episode Reviews

2X1    The First of Its Kind 
Plot:  The Resistance learns Boone is dead and Beckett gives birth to Liam Kincaid who becomes an adult in a few hours.  Kincaid saves Da'an from the Scarecrow but it manages to kill Quo'on.  Kincaid is able to defeat Scarecrow and Da'an appoints him his new protector.  The Taelon agenda on Earth is revealed.

Disappointing, but still very good.  The reaction to Boone's death was handled well, especially Doors' non reaction.  The return of the Scarecrow was neat, but the rubber suit monster it created looked extremely fake and really ruined any kind of drama about the situation.  It's a shame they killed off the new Rayna like that; at this rate there won't be any stars for the series!  This seems to be a plot hole since at the end of "Destruction" she seemed to have Rayna's personality and went home with the Resistance...  I'm afraid Kincaid did not make a good first impression on me.  He can't hold a candle to Boone, and his quick memories were ridiculous.  I'd rather have an intellectual than a smart ass as the lead on this series!  The revelation about the Duridians (sp?) was extremely interesting; it basically changes the entire series!  The Taelons are here because of a war with an undefeatable race!  But the Scarecrow probe's programming was in Taelon!  Another plot hole?  The death of Quo'on was handled well, but once again why do they feel the need to kill all their characters?!  In the past three episodes they have killed 5 regulars!  On a more superficial note, the FX on the Taelon mothership and the Taelon Syn'od chamber look great.  But the title sequence sucks!  They screwed up the best music theme ever and added too much narration!  To top it all off, the title looks horrible!  I have serious fears about this coming season...

2X2    Atavus 
Plot:  Augur accidently makes Da'an regress into a monster and Zo'or orders Da'an's death.

A relatively interesting episode with the biggest ending ever on the series!  The discussion of the Commonality at the start was interesting, as well as what's going on with Liam.  I find that Liam isn't such a smartass anymore, he's a much more interesting character.  His scenes with Beckett were very interesting because of the secrets he must keep from her, and the way to indirectly reveal his feelings to her.  The ole' chase down a monster plot was pretty average, and since that is the essentially the episode I can't give a higher rating.  Once again Liam uses his Shaqarava to save the day from the monster, this is getting a little repetetive.  Augur's AI Lili meeting the real Lili was a hoot!  Biggest of all is the ending:  Liam lets Da'an into Resistance HQ!  I couldn't believe it!  And they don't even show them talking!  If we don't get the rest of this scene in the next episode I'm going to go crazy.  Does this mean Da'an will work with the Resistance who saved his life?!  If Doors was pissed at Liam before, how's he going to feel now?  This was the most amazing ending I've ever seen!  The possibilities are endless!  The ironic thing is Doors wanted to let Da'an die; will anyone tell him this?  With Zo'or now in charge of the Syn'od and ordering the death of the Resistance, Da'an is drawing side with the Resistance!  This will be quite a conflict, but unfortunately it will only weaken both sides for the eventual Jaridian invasion...  this show just gets better with every episode!

2X3    A Stitch in Time 
Plot: Liam takes a Taelon portal into the future and finds he may be responsible for killing the Resistance.

This episode was a nice episode with a horrible ending.  The first 3/4 of the episode were great, though I am very frustrated that they didn't show the rest of Da'an meeting the Resistance.  However his scenes with Liam suggest they now are allies and hold no secrets between them.  Da'an's explanattion of the Shaqarava and the Chimera and the Commonality were interesting but they essentially confirmed what we've already guessed.  The mystery of the Resistiance slaughter was extremely interesting, but unfortunately a good part of the episode was Zo'or and his 'paranoid ray' which wasn't too interesting but a good idea.  Liam's relationship with Augur and Da'an really stand out here.  Half way through I realized Doors was acting nuts because the Taelons were aiming the 'paranoid' ray at him and Liam was affected by accident, which certainly makes sense.  Liam 'assulting' the Taelon mothership was very exciting, and we learn that the set Zo'or is always on is the Bridge!  Interesting.  However the episode ends with NO resolution!  Doors is revealed and placated, but is the paranoid ray continuing?  Was Liam actually being affected, or was it just his Shaqarava influencing him?  Why would a Taelon time machine be sitting in a museum humans are visiting?!  If the Taelons are so scared of using it why haven't they destroyed it or at least keep it away from the humans?!  This seems to be one huge plot hole!  Augur giving Liam Doors' brain id?!  Cmon!  That is so suspicious!  If every brain id is identical, wouldn't that cast suspicion on Liam?!  Of course Zo'or is just screwing with Liam so he'll kill Da'an...  that's another thing:  Da'an said no Taelon has killed another for millennia.  Why isn't Zo'or bothered by this?  Will Liam and Doors continue to act crazy if the paranoid ray is left on?  Nice setup but no resolution.

2X4    Dimensions 
Plot:  Liam and Augur get stuck in a parrell dimension when their shuttle is sabotaged, where the Taelons are hunting down humans across the world.  The leader of the humans, Maiya, returns with Liam to our reality.

This was a relatively dumb episode with some goods bits.  The teaser was pretty shocking but still confusing because of the previous episode's open ending.  Doors orders Liam's death- is he still under the psycho ray or is he doing this of his own free will?  Meanwhile the whole parrell universe thing was done bad, but some excellent action scenes slightly made up for it.  First of all, alt-Sandoval is ridiculous!  He has absolutly nothing in common with the real Sandoval, and the rest of the alt-characters seem to be slightly warped versions of the real ones.  Why is Sandoval in Spain is he's Asian?  Since in this parrell world there are no cities, people probably don't go across the continent.  Then, there's his appearance.  Long hair and a 'see my nipples!' shirt, oh god no.  Then there's Da'an and Zo'or.  Exactly the same, except for those ridiculous belts that look like the thing that Worf and Chewbacca wear.  Then there's the fact that Liam was able to recruit 'sinister' Da'an in about five seconds while it took the already sympathetic Da'an two episodes to come to Liam's side.  I did like Maiya though.  She has an interesting accent and looks to be a strong new regular, but I wonder if where she'll go:  The Resistance?  With Liam and Augur somehow?  And while we're at it, why is this suddenly the "Liam and Augur Show"?  What about the Resistance?  However in the middle of all this were some interesting revelations:  The Jaridians have Shaq'arava as well as the Kimera, which suggests that the Jaridians are savage Taelons (ie Atavuses) who did not form the Commonality when they absorbed the Kimera and instead ran off to form their own civiliazation, like the Romulans and the Vulcans.  Lili also looked like an idiot, and her English accent only worked on half her lines.  The action sequences were pretty cool.  The Taelon shuttle attack with its gravity beam, and then the Star Wars ripoff assult on the Death Star to rescue the old' resistance leader.  The shootout on the Mothership was pretty cool, and it's nice to see all those human crewmen have Skrills.

2X5        Moonscape 
Plot:  Augur is captured in Russia and agrees to participate in a Taelon experiment to create a super warrior to safe his life.  Maiya runs into Sandoval which causes trouble for Lili.

Why is this season the Liam and Augur and Mothership show?!  The teaser showing Augur's capture was really nicely done, and its interesting to see just how Augur gets all this techno crap.  The Augur plot was pretty interesting, especially where he learns from Zo'or about the Jaridian invasion and the Taelons trying to create warriors to fight them.  I certainly hope he thinks to share this with Doors!  However once Augur undergoes the experiment the view suddenly shifts to Liam, thus robbing us of any character devealopment with Augur.  The Liam-Da'an 'rescue' Augur bit stretches credibility a bit, especially when Zo'or and Sandoval see Liam almost working with Lazarus who's holding a gun on Zo'or!  And speaking of Lazarus, I wasn't sure but it sure seemed to imply that it was Boone's intelligence in that body!  If they do something like that, it seems that it should get more screen time and actually shown.  As it was it's a cheap tease that goes nowhere.  All in all this was a somewhat interesting plot that ended in a really stale way.  For the third consecutive episode, Liam gets into a fight on the Mothership!  I did like the Maiya plot, mainly because I was worried that they would never show the consequence of her coming over like Rayna in "Destruction".  I wonder... did Liam make her join the Resistance?  That's what it seemed like, but didn't Doors just try to kill Liam?!  This seems like something that REALLY needs explanation!

2X6    The Sleepers 
Plot:  A Jaridian probe arrives and disrupts the Commonality, forcing Zo'or to round up suspected Resistance members and place them in near-death states so the Taelons can feed off their souls and heal themselves.  Augur and Maiya experience 'heaven' and Liam must save them but he meets his 'father' Ha'gel and is offered something more.  Sandoval is concerned about Maiya and must find and destroy the Jaridian probe.

This was the first bad episode this season, and I thought it was going to be great!  A Jaridian probe attacks!  The Teaser got me really worked up, but then the episode turned to crap.  This probe is here to...what?  Disrupt the Commonality on purpose?  Something else?  The probe gets about two minutes of screentime- it's arrival and it's destruction.  The probe essentially became a plot device when it should have been much more than that.  So Maiya is now a bar tender at the Resistance bar?  Right...  It was interesting that Zo'or knows the bar is probably a Resistance hideout, wait until he finds out that Liam lives there!  As for the dream sequences, I found them to be excessively dumb.  It was interesting to learn some backstory on Augur but this was the worst possible way to do it!  The Maiya thing was so flat and unoriginal it was ridiculous.  Liam meeting Ha'gel was pretty interesting but the offer of omnipitance was a little wierd.  Is this what happens to all species abosrbed by the Taelons?  Who cares!  The Sandoval concerend plot was also a little hokey but I enjoy the fact that Lili is riding his butt about it at every oppurtunity.  Another plot hole; Liam's back in the Resistance HQ!  Right in front of Doors!  Liam knows Doors tries to kill him and they both go on like it didn't happen!  Cmon!  Again we are forced to ask if Doors is still under the influence of the crazy ray in "Stitch in Time".  Sandoval's big 'battle' with the Jaridian probe was ridiculously easy given the previous probe's powers.  The greatest thing about this episode is that it didn't involve Liam and Augur on the Taelon Mothership for once!  And that's not saying much.

2X7    Fissures 
Plot:  Alien bugs from the Portal demension infest Earth, eating all of its energy.  They even get a taste for eating Taelons on the Mothership.  Liam, Lili, and Sandoval are left to solve the crisis.  Meanwhile, Sandoval begins to act strangely.

Now that's more like it!  This was easily the best good episode since "Atavus".  The basic idea of the episode was interesting and action-packed, there was a real crisis for once.  I've heard complaints that the FX were horrible but I think the bugs looked great.  The only stupid FX was on the Mothership when the humans were shooting up the bugs; they weren't CGI just little glowing lights.  That looked pretty dumb but it was brief.  But of course the most interesting thing about the episode was Sandoval!  He's suddenly become a Resistance wannabe!  How could be beat his motivational imperitive?!  Obviously his interaction with Maiya has caused these doubts, combined with the fact that his new implant might not be so loyal, has given him at least some free will.  I'd say it's more Maiya since up to now he was Zo'or's bitch.  This is amazing though!  He stole Zo'or's ?thumbprint? so he could access his files, and apparatently turned off his motivational imperitive!  Will Sandoval now join the Resistance unofficially like Da'an did?  Seems like Zo'or is the only bad guy left now!  This episode also brought new heights to the Lili-Sandoval relationship, who knows where it will go now?

2X8    Redemption 
Plot: Beckett's CVI begins to fail and she halucinates a trial of her loyalty to humanity.  Meanwhile Liam and Sandoval search for her to say goodbye since both know she will die.

HOW COULD THEY KILL BECKETT?! I do not believe it!  What is it with these writers?!  Why do they need to kill off 75% of the freakin' cast?!  I realize the drama of killing a regular but do it enough times and the show begins to suffer.  Of course it was quite a shocking way to end the episode; I was sure Beckett would survive and join the Resistance.  See, that would be interesting as well as the continuing Liam-Sandoval-Beckett relationship.  Killing Beckett robs the series of so many interesting relationships, and Beckett was a really cool character.  Given all that, the episode was a pretty good way to send her out.  We finally get the full information on Beckett and who she is and who she was.  It was interesting to see all the regulars she hallucinates putting her on trial.  Unfortunately the first half of the show looked like a clip show!  Half of the screen time was reused footage!  And plus they do some sloppy editing to mix shots of Beckett's face with Boone getting his CVI in the pilot with Dr Parks reinserting Beckett's CVI in the season premiere to create one scene of Beckett getting her CVI for the first time.  Plus, the cave set looked really fake, and looking at flashbacks through the waterfall was really cheesy.  However after that the episode got really good; the talks about Ireland and Cambodia in peticular were great.  Doors the actor did a really great job here, so did Liam.  The brief scene where Zo'or asks Sandoval if his motivational imperitive was still working was pretty interesting.  It's nice that Beckett died knowing Liam was her son, but by another ambiguous ending are we left to think that Sandoval now knows this?  Oh well, if it weren't for the clipshow and vague ridiculousness of the show this would a true classic.

2X9    Isabel 
Plot:  Maiya suffers breakdowns in reality (like the series!  hah!) and must find her double Isabel and decide who must live and who must die.  Doors decides to run for President and receives an offer from Zo'or.  Augur buys the Resistance HQ from Doors to be his new home.

The Maiya plot was just plain ridiculous and boring.  Sandoval 'accessing' memories was just ridiculous, as were most of his actions.  The whole Sandoval-Maiya plot is silly anyway... and ONCE AGAIN it's Liam and Augur causing mischief on the Taelon Mothership!  This has replaced Liam's Shaqarava Saves the Day at the running cliche!  The Doors for President plot was awsome though, a great new plot twist!  The Doors-Zo'or scene was also wonderful, and plus the way Doors turns around and reports Zo'or's offer to the media.

2X10    Between Heaven and Hell 
Plot: The Da'an-Zo'or conflict regarding humanity is defined.  Zo'or tampering with Da'an experiment with giving humans Taelon/Jaridian DNA results in the estranged daughter of Dr. Belman receiving god-like abilites and deciding to wipe out the Taelons and the humans leaving only her and Liam.  Joshua Doors resigns from President Tompson and calls for his estranged father to run for President.

Wow!  A spectacular action episode that feels like a strange hybrid of Season One and Two.  The first half was very Season One-ish, then Joyce goes crazy and decides to kill everyone, sending the Taelon Mothership to collide with Earth so Augur must save the Taelon Mothership... oh well it was exciting dammit!  The first half saw the welcome return of Dr. Belman and Joshua Doors.  That scientific meeting with the Belmans felt extremely Season One-ish, very modern and realistic.  The Da'an-Zo'or arguement was extremely interesting because it revealed A LOT of importannt plot tidbits that had been hinted at but never explained.  Zo'or is the younger Taelon!  The last from their last species assimilation!  Da'an wants to evolve and then join with humans, Zo'or just wants to bioengineer them into cannon fodder for the Jaridian invasion.  It is confirmed that the Taelons and Jaridians were the same until they split off, each getting different abilites.  When the two are mixed in a human, they result in god-like abilites (teleportation, telekinesis, telepathy) but the Taelons or Jaridians can no longer get this; they are incompatable.  Best of all, there is a Jardiain captive on the Taelon Mothership!  Wow!  Where did he come from?  Anyway, the Joshua Doors-President Tompson scene was also spectacular; I can't believe Joshua just resigned like that!  Best of all, he annouces he'll help whoever runs against Tompson, and suggests it be his father!  I hope they explain this is more than politics...  Any way onto the plot.  The Belman-Belman estranged relationship was interesting because it came as a result of Dr. Belman joining the Resistance.  It is also noteworthy that Liam was very subdued in this episode and played a secondary role- I liked it!  However the Liam-Joyce relationship, interesting as it was, seems almost sacriligious.  Since Dr. Belman is played by Roddenberry's widow, in a sense Liam is hitting on the daughter of Roddenberry, and considering how the fans feel about Liam, it seems a bit like a slap in the face!  The experiment itself was interesting, but the super monkey was a little silly.  At least he didn't morph or anything!  Joyce getting the powers was at first extremely interesting; she was able to talk to her mother about their relationship because of the Resistance, and knew about Liam's.... MIXED... heritage.  Then she gets taken to see Zo'or and begins talking about her New World... please!  I know she went semi-insane because she was unable to deal with the abilites, but that was stupid!  Oh well, stupid or not seeing the Mothership screaming towards Earth was an amazing visual, and it was nice to see Zo'or be powerless for once.  Joyce joining with Liam was an interesting way to defeat her as well, it gave her the maturity she needed in a sense.  The ending where she makes buddy buddy with Liam and her mother then teleports away to visit all these alien worlds SCREAMS deux ex machina to me.  Will she return to stop the Jaridian invasion?  It seems like such a powerful character (I'm absolutely shocked she wasn't reverted at the end) was created for a reason.  All in all, definetly one of the better Season Two episodes; it used Liam and its action quotient to good effect, and no Maiya!
    NOTE: This episode chronilogically takes place before the previous episode "Isabel".

2X11    Gauntlet 
Plot: The captive Jaridian escapes the Taelon Mothership with Lili hostage and Liam following.  They encounter an ancient Kimeran vessal in which they must pass leathal tests to reach the core where the repository of all Kimeran knowledge is.  Da'an uses the oppurtunity to attempt to impeach Zo'or as Syn'od leader.

Well, from the preview I was expecting a mindless action thriller but not THIS mindless!  The Jaridian's escape is totally implausible (no one sees this huge alien running around the ship?!).  Worst of all, they fly interdimensional for five minutes and find this Kimeran vessal?!  Why is it so close to Earth?!  How in the hell could the Taelons not know about when it's five minutes away?!  Don't they have sensors to detect ships?!  However we do learn alot about the Jaridians and the Taelons in this episode.  The biggest fact learned is that the Jardians... are the Cardassians from Star Trek!  They look like long lost cousins or something!  In fact nothing about this episode seemed original.  The 'gaunlets' were the oldest idea in the book, with most of them being a direct rip-off from Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Last Crusade!  I couldn't believe it!  I was hoping this would mainly be a Lili episode where she's stuck on the shuttle with the Jaridian.  Why in the hell did they feel need to throw in this damn Kimeran ship?!  And that rubber serpant was so damn fake!  At least the sets looked really big and realistic.  Plus, they reach the computer and Liam says you're malfunctioning so she says okay I'll kill myself then!  Then just to prove how bitchy she is she orders a countdown to self-destruction instead of just waiting for them to leave and then blowing up.  And of course, the self-destruction doesn't just happen!  No, it has to slowly build up with many small earthquakes and reactions so their escape is dramatic!  Anyway it was interesting to meet a Jaridian, though his breathing and snarling did get annoying what he had to say was interesting.  The Taelon-Jaridian conflict is almost a Cold War kinda thing; the Jaridians are forced into warfare by the Taelon aggression who want to rejoin so they reproduce again.  Like last episode the like factoids about Taelons and Jaridians are very interesting.  And plus, it was pretty damn cool when he used his Shaqarava!  Liam was once again in this episode nice and subdued (not annoying) and used his Shaqarava for the first time since "The Sleepers".  I like the Shaqarava in moderation but it's been a while since we've seen it!  We also learn about the Kimerans (who frankly aren't that interesting!).  Da'an trying to impeach Zo'or was also very interesting.  The fact that no one supported Da'an and backed Zo'or suggests that most Taelons are like Zo'or and that Da'an is on his way out.  But, given all its cliched faults the episode was very exciting and had some nice scenery as well as lots of interesting facts.  Like the episode before it it was ridiculously out of control yet still enjoyable.

2X12    One Man's Castle 
Plot: A crippled scientist has created 'biosurrogates', artificial humans that humans can download their minds into.  Zo'or has tampered with the project giving them Jaridian weapons so when one escapes sans controlling mind, trouble ensues.  The crippled scientist gets an inexplicable hard-on for Maiya.

This such an average, non-descript episode I can't even remember the damn thing!  Once again some super powered thing is on the loose and it's up to Liam Action Hero to stop him.  But wait, it's not mindless!  There's also the hardfelt and touching story of the crippled scientist who has a perchant for bimbos with wierd accents, large breasts, and poor acting ability!  Oh well... this episode seems like a re-hash of previous episode (not a good thing!).  The whole Da'an project given Jaridian crap by Zo'or causing a test subject to run amok was already in "Heaven and Hell".  While the idea was interesting enough, I still wonder why the Taelons are obsessed with giving humans special powers to fight the Jardian invasion.  Shouldn't they be more concerned with, say, SHIPS?!  MAKING SHIPS WITH WEAPONS ON THEM?!  Won't the Jaridians arrive in SHIPS?!  What good is a short-range weapon like a super-powered human against a ship a mile away?!  And while we're at it, the Jaridian abilites in this episode came from the Jaridian replicant in "First of Its Kind".  Since the damn thing disintergrated, how in the hell did they get enough sample of it to recreate its abilites?!  President Tompson threatening Zo'or was a little wierd (it came out of left field a bit considering what a wet paper ass Tompson is).  The Maiya love angle was really ridiculous, as well as this scientist suddenly being buddy with our characters and being allowed into the Old Resistance HQ.  The breif Doors appearance was nice, but the way Sandoval threatens to kill him in front of a camera is just freakin' ridiculous.  And while we're at it, whatever happened to the fact that Sandoval is secretly working against the Taelons?!  The escaped bio-surrogate with Jaridian replicant powers was interesting enough, but that final FISTFIGHT between him and Liam was ridiculous!  At least he killed that damn scientist along the way, if only he hit Maiya too...

2X13    Second Chances 
Plot: A Taelon program Second Chances can regress the age of the elderly, but it leaves them with false pro-Taelon memories.  With Doors going legit a new Resistance leader must be chosen.

This episode did feel Season One-ish but it was marred by stupid stupid things in the end.  The concept Second Chances makes perfect sense and felt something right out of Season One so that's good.  It didn't involve superpowered humans going crazy, that's good.  It showed the normal person's reaction to the Taelons, that's good.  Zo'or wasn't quite so maniacal, that's good.  The Resistance had to find a way to discredit the program, that's good.  What was really interesting about this episode was the way it showed the different leaders in the Resistance.  ?Hedi? Simmons was a very interesting character, hopefully she will become a recurring chracter.  It makes perfect sense to have regional leaders, and for them to be worried about where they will be when Doors goes legit.  But then the stupidity starts... The Second Chances complex was ridiculously easy to break into.  No security cameras?!  A skelaton crew of guards?!  Did they really put that much faith in the Taelon energy fence?!  Another stupid thing; two of highest ranking Resistance members (Liam and Simmons) are the ones to make the break-in!  I understand Liam cause he has powers but why in the hell would Simmons go?!  You don't see Doors going on these missions!  It's just ridiculous!  And their getaway was too easy (like the car couldn't be tracked?  in fact, Lili ordered a Shuttle to track it whatever happened with that?!), but I admit dressing like the troops was a good idea.  But why didn't they wear masks on the way in?!  And the stupidest thing of all:  Liam is the leader of the Resistance?!  What bull!  Liam is a grunt, a solider with super powers and absoluely zero experience at leading or politics!  Lili is the logical choice!  She's a solider with experience at leading and politics!  If not her, Simmons!  Making it Liam is ridiculous, another bit where the writers try to make Liam out to be the superhero, the world's only hope.  Ridiculous.  On a lighter note, the actress who plays Lili is getting very noticably pregnant.  Notice when she runs through the complex, it is much slower than the other troops?  Making Lili the Resistance leader would mean a desk job, and good excuse to hide her pregancy!  Oh well...

2X14    Payback 
Plot: A disgruntled scientist uses a teleportation invention to assassinate Taelons.

This episode felt like a real return to Season One, almost.  We have Taelon press conferences, Da'an in mortal danger at the end and his Protector must save him (not from crazy aliens I mean), all good.  Unfortunately there were some real scientific problems; how can one scientist with no funding do what all of Taeloneia couldn't?  Would a matter/anti-matter explosion of a few pounds of material do more than a small bomb- A LOT MORE?  Still, this was a nice retro episode.  Liam was a Boone-clone in this episode, their lines are practically interchangable.  I also notice Liam is much more subdued now, he isn't smirking all the time.  These are all good things!  Plus, Da'an takes the time to explain why Zo'or isn't some evil villian, he wants Da'an dead because he thinks him a credible threat to the Taelons he is responsible for protecting.  Zo'or...a credible character!  Wow!  The finale was pretty exciting with the little cameras teleporting around and Liam/Boone talking down the scientist.  Also: Dr. Belman!  On a lighter note, I think Augur is really sick.  He creates another fantasy hologram of Lili, only this time it's a pregnant high school cheerleader!  That's perverted!

2X15    Friendly Fire 
Plot: Lili's old pilot friend Paul Chandler returns with Lili's stolen shuttle to attack the Taelons.

This must be the first time where some freaky sci-fi technocrap wasn't used this season!  It's just a shuttle, but then again the Taelon Embassies showed their armor.  It seemed very realistic, except for Liam yet again whipping out some new kind of lazer gun and the fact that Lili's Shuttle suddenly has weapons when Shuttles didn't have weapons in the First Season when it was stolen (in fact they're not supposed to be armed at all but have been so since "Gauntlet").  I don't remember Chandler that much he seems much more fanatical in this apparance and much more attracted to Pregnant Lili.  Nice things about this episode include Liam actually doing his job as Da'an's protector, Da'an showing backbone, and some nice Shuttle chase sequences that weren't too stupid, plus some nice explosions.  Not much else to say, but Doors seeing the Embassy Armor as making them impregnable fortresses certainly makes sense and shows Doors skepticism well.

2X16    Volunteers 
Plot: The Resistance infiltrates a new Taelon program, training disenfranchised youths into soldiers for some kind of war.

This was on the most part a stupid sci-fi crapfest that attempted to rip-off Starship Troopers.  First of all, the concept of Taelons helping disenfranchised youths was a good Season One-ish thing, but ONCE AGAIN Zo'or perverts one of Da'an's good programs towards his own ends.  This is like the 5th time this has happened this season!  It's just a rehash!  Anyway, the Volunteer girl that Superhero Liam rescues was a horrible actress who looked like she was a cavewoman, what a great sacrifice that was at the end... The Resistance girl who infiltrates the Volunteers wasn't very interesting either.  The whole Starship Troopers thing was just plain stupid, worst of all when they teleport OUTSIDE THE GALAXY to fight some alien enemy for the EEVVVIIIILLLL Taelons.  This was just horrible.

2X17    Bliss 
Plot: Lili encounters a drug of Taelon origans and goes through withdrawl.  Liam and Sandoval must track down the drug's source and finds it is from Ma'el's tomb in Ireland.

This episode was actually good but marred but a corny 'villian' to give the episode some action at the end.  The teaser with greasy pervert guy was stupid, but Lili's addiction was excellently handled.  The best part of this episode was the Lili-Augur scenes, where Augur sealed them up in the Church Base until she got through it, for once Augur doesn't act like an sexist bastard and gets to show his tender side and a realistic expression of his fondness for Lili.  Returning to Ma'el's tomb in Ireland and the Taelonists were both great Season One throwbacks, examaning how humanity is reacting to the Taelon's appearance.  The Liam-Sandoval partnership was handled well here, almost like Boone-Sandoval.  Unfortunately the episode had to end stupid with the hand picked by the Taelons archeologist turning into the villian sperading the drug throughout the world so she could produce the cure and get rich.  C'mon!  Then she seals Liam and Sandoval in her Slow Death Trap and leaves!  What a brilliant supervillianess!  Please!  And why in the world would Ma'el have a forcefield in his lab that you couldn't breath through?!  Excellent bits marred by a stupid ending.  And, that final scene where Liam (RETURNS FOR GOD'S SAKE) in Ireland at the ruins is looking at his glowing palms at dusk.. while this was a wonderful image it was shown to quickly and also too apruptly with no connection to the rest of the episode.  I think he was thinking about his dead 'mother' Beckett but she wasn't even mentioned in this episode, this scene felt like it was cut from the end of "Redemption" where Beckett died or something.

2X18    Hijacked 
Plot: A reporter comes abord the Mothership just as it hijacked by a Jaridian Replicant and sent to Jaridian space.  After a mishap the Mothership becomes trapped in a space anomaly.

This was a nice mindless action episode, nothing too stupid but exciting.  The Power Ranger reject Replicant returns, but at least this time it's continuity and not an original idea.  While the premise wasn't exactly original, I found it entertaining enough.  The ole' paranoia game began to play with a shapeshifter running around, that was pretty good.  It was interesting to see Liam temporarily 'discovered' by Zo'or and Sandoval.  We also a continuation of Sandoval being free and Da'an knowing about.  Da'an orders him to eject the ID Core, mentioning in passing that if he refused it would mean his Motivational Imperitive wasn't working, so he covered for Sandoval there in front of Zo'or.  Da'an also gets to accuse Liam of overstepping the bounderies they laid out about him being with the Resistance.  I must wonder how in the hell this Replicant was able to masquerade as a human for so long to get onboard, is it really that smart?  And I also wonder if there are more, as Lili said they never found the delivery system of the first one (actually they did come to think of it, it was the Scarecrow probe destroyed in "Destruction" which created the Rayna Robot which was the Replicant).  As for Abby, she wasn't that annoying but I must wonder why the first reporter to come aboard the Mothership, a historical turning point, WORE A MID-DRIFT.  Cmon!  Anyway, her 'romance' with Liam was thankfully subdued, but she did agree to keep secret his Shaqarava.  The Replicant still looks ridiculous, but at least there were some good action scenes.  However I must wonder how there weren't many other humans on the Mothership with Skrills, surely if you had 100 people shooting guns at the Replicant that might hurt it.  Unfortunately this episode was marred by a ton of technobabble as never before seen on this series, but it didn't get in the way too much.  The ending where Liam blows a hole in the ship to blow out the Replicant was a cool image, though it was the exact ending from the Movie "Alien".  As for the final revelation, that the Jaridian terrortory is like 3 times the size of the Taelon terrortory, I found this very strange.  The Jaridians do not have ID tech but the Taelons do, so how can they even reach all this terrortory?  I also must wonder if Earth is considered Taelon terrortory...

2X19    Defectors 
Plot: A renegade Taelon comes to Earth to help the Resistance fight the Taelons; but in fact he has come after Da'an who masterminded the Taelon galactic conquest and is now undergoing a spiritual ceremony.

Another acceptible but not standout episode.  What I like most about this episode is the way is draws from the things learned in previous episodes to further it's own plot.  I love the way they use "The Sleepers" apparatus to hide the Taelon, and the "Atavus" Atavus appeared as well, and Julia from "Volunteers" and many other little mentions.  I like that a alot.  What I also found interesting was the fact that Taelons cannot act against the majority opinion even if they think it is wrong, and that Zo'or has allowed himself to retain a pocket of hatred to become the best leader for the Taelons.  Of course it is also interesting that Da'an was the Taelon who lead the way for galactic conquest, though apparantly he has had a change of heart since coming to Earth.  And of course the fact that the Taelons have destroying whole planets, and that the Jaridians destroyed the Taelon homeworld!  The set for the Taelon garden looked pretty fake but not too bad.  Of course the epsiode must end with a fist fight between Liam and the Atavus, pretty dumb.  I like the ambiguity about Da'an now though.

2X20    Heroes and Heartbreak 
Plot: Augur falls in love with the woman he is working with on a Taelon weapons project, which will be used against the Jaridians.

This was definitly one of the better episodes of the season, though it was hurt by a horrible final act with some horrible acting from Augur and his honey when she lay dying.  This is strange because before they were giving excellent preformances.  The opening acts with Augur (without dorky glasses!) out doing covert stuff were very engaging, and looked very realistic.  The initial scenes with Beverly Woo were nice, but they slowly denegrated.  I question Augur so readily working on a Taelon super weapon when all this season he's been fighting the Taelons, to suddenly have him act Season One selfish again is nice but now out of character.  The Forge Project was very interesting and a nice visual, and though I am disgusted with all mystery surrounding the Taelons being stripped away I did find the war strategy conversation between Da'an and Zo'or very interesting.  Apparantly the Taelons have a fleet that is loosing against the Jaridians!  Now they have a fleet!  Oh well, this show is lost cause if you want Season One back.  This episode managed to be pretty exciting, what with Sandoval fighting a Reistance strike team, and Liam and Da'an going into battle against a Jaridian planet destroyer.  I don't appreciate these tecnobabble battles, but I really liked the conversation between Da'an and Liam where Da'an was saying how by sacrificing themselves they are helping the war effort, that was nice.  Still, the ending where a dying Woo curses Augur is pretty stupid.  Appreciate the Doors and Joshua Doors appearance, it's been like five episodes since we've seen either of them and they're supposed to be running a goddamn election!  Also nice to see Lili still intersted in Joshua, though it appears that plot is going nowhere fast.

2X21    Message in a Bottle 
Plot: Another Jaridian probe comes to Earth, forcing the Resistance into an uneasy alliance with a top secret government operation to learn the secrets of the probe.  Complicating matters is the operation's leader- Liam Kincaid.

An interesting episode that seems to introduce a major new organization into the series, one that rivals the Resistance in power.  I figured that this Liam Kincaid II would be a Jaridian Replicant, fortunately they went with it being the real Liam, which was interesting.  I also like the concept of a top secret government organization against the Taelons, which is extremely secretive.  I also like the appearance of Mount Weather, which I have read a little about.  I for one hope that Operation Dark Knight appears in the future.  I also like that the Jaridians made a peace offering here, hoping to ally with the humans against the Taelons.  Unfortunately the Augur/Replicant costume looked ridiculous, along with the stupid fake voice.  Kinda ruined the drama of the moment.  Plus, the shoot out between Dark Knight and the Taelon forces was pretty exciting without being stupid.  I also am underwhelmed that Julia didn't know about Liam's origans when Hallie in "Second Chances" and every body in the Resistance HQ in "First of Its Kind" knew.

2X22    Crossfire 
Plot: The Presidential elections are up, but an assassination conspiracy involving Joshua Doors frames Doors, making him a fugitive.  The Resistance is blamed for the assassination attempt, and Tompson is re-elected.  America becomes a police state, and any suspected Resistance members are being arrested.  Da'an is arrested by Sandoval.  Liam, Doors, and Augur are attacked by a Taelon war shuttle.  Lili decides to destroy the Taelon Mothership with her on it.

Though as a whole I despise Season Two, I was astonished to find this was probably the best EFC episode ever!  Nothing about this episode was weak or stupid, and the ending just blew me away.  I love assassination conspiracies, and this was a great one.  For once the whole damn episode does not resolve around Liam, and it shows.  The teaser where Liam chases the spy who kills himself was nice, plus it implicates the Flat Planet Cafe in the conspiracy.  The brilliant and methodical way the Resistance was set up for the framing made perfect sense, the only slightest complaint I have is these bullet proof bio- warriors, but they were partially set up in "Moonscape".  And Julia was her usual annoying self, but at least she got arrested at the end!  The actual assassination attempt was the perfect frame job and mislead; Liam is distracted with some bio warriors while a second distraction draws out the  Resistance presence, then the real assassin wounds Tompson.  Wow!  I also love the way the Taelons sat in the balcony, looking down on the humans.  The whole scene was just charged with tension.  But the ending was the best.  Tompson is re-elected, and promptly creates America the Police State in a wonderfully epic and moving scene where new Taelon battle shuttles appear for the first time to arrest any Resistance sympathizers.  Meanwhile Doors has been framed as well, by Joshua!  This was a great plot twist, and in retrospect it makes perfect sense.  Joshua was the one to call out for Doors to run in the first place!  There follows a decent Joshua-Doors scene, unfortunately Doors lapses into some horrible overacting when he bellows sporacically "I-AM-SORRY!".  And Da'an has finally been arrested by Zo'or!  This episode made Zo'or out to be a brilliant manipulator and conspirator, elimating most qulams about how crappy he is in Season Two.  By the end of the episode the series had dramatically changed, the Taelons now have complete rule over America (what will the world's reaction be?), and the Resistance is dying.  Liam, Doors, and Augur end the season under attack.  Lili ends the season about to destroy the Mothership!  Plus, there was a hilarious little subplot about HoloLili giving birth.  It was short and funny, playing off the reality of Lili's pregnacy excellently.  It's hard to believe this excellent episode could have come from the Season Two writers, but I am very much looking forward to the continuation of this episode.  A Taelon police state in America.  Da'an arrested.  Doors back in hiding.  Wow.