Season Three Episode Reviews

3X22    Arrival 
Plot:  Lili returns to Earth with Jaridians in tow but crashes on the renegede Russian criminal republic in Antartica.

Damn impressive, the best of the season, but I was hoping for more- the Jaridian Invasion of Earth, namely.  But oh well, it was still a huge episode that will change the face of the series as we know it.  Lili returns pregnant with a Jaridian hybrid, the only way the Jaridians can survive.  Da'an is about to sacrifice himself to ensure the life of the Jaridians.  Sandoval and Liam have discovered each other's duplicity.  Presumably the Jaridian invasion will be coming soon.  It's all quite intriguing.  In addition to all this, the episode's progression is very interesting.  It's great to see Sandoval in such detail, doing an overt action against the Taelons by contacting the Jaridians- after a season of suspicion it's nice to have some things confirmed.  Also nice to see Sandoval's aide Tate again, he would be a nice recurring character to do the leg work of Sandoval.  I really love the concept of Rostok; a Russian criminal nation in Antartica with a nuclear arsenal.  That is such an interesting concept, it's a big political thing, plus that would be the perfect homebase for the Resistance or for Sandoval.  Though unfortunately it meant another Renee Romance moment...  I really hope we see more of Rostok next season (though it's a tad lame that we haven't heard it in the previous three years).  This episode displays an incredible sense of continuity, the best yet.  We've got the Da'an/Lili bond in "Wrath of Achilles", Lili's little saga in "Crackdown"/"Vanished"/"In Memory" recalled in every detail, Sandoval's Taelon-kryponite from "One Taelon Avenue", Zo'or's gold reserve from "Apparition", the human link in Jaridians from "Abduction", it's all very impressive.  This was really Sandoval's episode.  Particularly cool was his abduction of Da'an and his calm meeting with Vorjak (Lili's Jaridian comanion).  And plus this episode had a pretty impressive shootout on a gigantic tanker at the end, some great action there.  Again, Liam and Sandoval recognizing each other than shooting was quite a plot twist, I can't wait to see where this goes.  The cliffhanger was a tad disappointing (no Jaridian Invasion) but still with either Lili or Da'an being sacrificed it's pretty good.  Can't wait for the resolution!  One last nitpick: Liam wonders if the Taelons shooting this shuttle down will be the "first shot" in a Taelon-Jaridian War.  Hello!  This war has been raging for millenia and we saw them fighting several times last season!  This better not be some kind of stupid ret-con but just a flubbed line!

3X21    Abduction 
Plot:  The Resistance and the Taelons hunt for a mathematician holding vital information from Ma'el.

Another mix of neat ideas and questionable presentation.  The entire episode was essentially a big manhunt, and things seemed way too easy in this respect.  I did like Da'an and Sandoval conspiring, but this seemed a bit out of the blue to me, particularly since it's been going for three years!  As for the big revelation that Man is the missing genetic link between Taelon and Jaridian... I could've sworn we had already heard this several times last season.  It certainly didn't come as news to me, except that Ma'el knew about it.  Nice to see Ma'el appear again, and seeing the "Deja Vu" meme technology return to be used, as well as those cool portable Portals.  But the Renee 'romantic' bit was pretty horrible, especially when Liam suddenly acts like her boss (which unfortuantely he is...) and orders her off.  Ugh.  Interesting to see Zo'or aware of Sandoval betraying him- I guess this officially means that Zo'or knows Sandoval doesn't have a Motivational Imperitive anymore.

3X20    One Taelon Avenue 
Plot: A Taelon-created artificial intelligence controls humans including Joshua Doors.

Some nice ideas, some corny presentation.  A computer controlling humans was a cheesy idea to begin with, and I can't say it's handled very well here either.  On the other hand I do like the idea of the Taelons (read: Da'an and Zo'or) creating an AI to stall human technilogical progress, and them subsequently loosing control of it.  I like Sandoval sneaking in to destroy the AI.  I like the plot twist that Joshua Doors' "Crossfire" betrayal was because of mind-control (it IS cheesy, but interesting nonetheless).  Great to see a lot of Jonothan Doors, with his son Joshua no less.  Some interesting discussion on the DoorsInt corporate situation.  But then we've got all the stupid: Renee turns evil!  Jonothan Doors gets an unceremonial death at the hands of the Taelon AI!  This in particular was lame, surely they could have come up with a better way to off him, like the Taelons discover his duplicity and ice him.  Of course Doors was wasted this entire season; he's one of the best characters and actors on the show and he was only in like five episodes now he's gone.  SIGH.  Another interesting point is how they seem to be building up Joshua to replace him as a recurring character now.  This I like, but since I haven't heard anything to this effect it's probably just an empty promise.  I wish they explained more about this prototype shuttle; what exactly makes it special and will we hear from it again?

3X19    Apparition 
Plot:  A Taelon ghost leads Liam to a Taelon money conspiracy.

Some really interesting ideas make for a pretty good episode, marred with the usual implausibilites of Liam and Renee undercover and in action.  The concept of a Taelon ghost is extremely interesting, as is Taelon interference in the economy.  Unfortunately this huge Zo'or money project is another bit of retroactive continuity; why haven't we seen this before and will we see it again?!  I also would liked to have seen Ku'Don in a previous episode and his friendship with Liam; it sounds very interesting plus would give this ep more texture.  I really love that little portable Portal gun from "Once Future World"!  Some nice work between Liam, Renee, and Augur (though Renee going undercover in a MAJOR BANK is ridiculous- she's a financial celebrity damnit!).  I liked Zo'or being 'haunted' and forcing Da'an to preform the exorcism ceremony, as well his forthcoming plot to buy off the planet.  More interesting cryptic Sandoval conspiracies...  Nice Rho'Ha mention!

3X18    The Fields 
Plot:  Liam and Renee investigate mysterious disappearances from the Church of the Companions.

A pretty entertaining mystery, a big revelation, but lots of dumb elements.  The concept of the Fields is very interseting, but it does seem a bit of out-of-the-blue retroactive continuity.  I was surprized at what they actually were; I expected a Matrix-style field of comatose humans (particularly since we saw a recap clip from "The Sleepers" where this happened!).  Interesting surprize.  I also appreciated the return of the Church of the Companions (though I never saw that episode).  We get an interesting bit where Sandoval conspires with Rev. Murray to use the kryss to blackmail the Taelons, then see them setting up the new Fields on the Moonbase.  Interesting!  As for the kryss, that sequence where everybody got injections in their stomach was a pretty revolting scene, I like it!  Nice substantial Augur involvement (though once again I wonder what Doors' reaction is to all this...).  Unfortunately there's a ton of ridiculous occurances in this episode to further the plot; Liam just happens to be buddies with a guy who gets taken.  After years of no deaths, the first death just happens to occur when Liam is investigating it.  Liam and Renee manage to never be recognized while undercover despite the fact that they are both major celebrities- this is the one that REALLY hurts the plausibility of the show- they need a new character to do undercover stuff who is NOT a known persona.

3X17    Time Bomb 
Plot:  Liam and Renee are trapped aboard Ma'el's repairing ship; Zo'or and T'than have a duel to the death.

Pretty good episode with some big storyline movements.  The discovery and destruction of Ma'el's ship is of course a big thing, and there's even a hint that maybe this event will lead the Taelons to rethink their agenda.  We also get Zo'or and T'than in a fight to the death.  Big stuff going on!  All a tad predictable though, I was able to guess exactly everything that happens in the final act and that ain't good.  This Salvias guy was pretty interesting, not just cause of the Roddenberry-esque stuff (Gary Seven anyone?) but with the references to Ma'el trying to stop the Taelons from harming Earth.  Hell, I even liked Renee in this episode!  And man it was so great to have Doors back and interacting with Augur, I really miss their bickering from the first season.  This fight to the death subplot made sense but was dumb in that its obvious neither will die; Zo'or is a regular and if T'than were killed what would be the point of these past few episodes?  Oh, and this is the 6th of the last 7 episodes to feature a major Zo'or event.  Once again I must ask, why?!!

3X16    Through Your Eyes 
Plot: Zo'or takes possession of a human to learn violence.

A decent episode from a stupid sounding premise.  I really liked the opening attack on the Taelon Embassy and seeing Chief of Staff Urick again.  The episode was a bit slow though and had a bit of a non-ending.  The guy who played human Zo'or was really freaky but in a good way; a male Taelon.  However sometimes he came off as really gay, like when he says to the thug "or I will touch you back", boy that one had me in stitches!  It's a shame the Renee-Urick thing didn't go anywhere, maybe we'll get more in a future episode.  However the idea of Zo'or wanting to experience human rage is a decent idea and does tie in with "Deja Vu" well.  And what's up with that ending where Pierce had Taelon-y eyes, was this just a lameo X-Files end twist or will this go somewhere?  More weird Liam & Renee undercover crap (Doctor Liam?!!).

3X15    Sanctuary 
Plot:  Zo'or is infected with a Taelon virus, goes amnesiac, and hides in New York City where he could drive all insane.

The 'search for Zo'or' half of the episode was very decent, particularly the Sandoval-T'than plotting, but the other half... an amnesiac and insane Zo'or hiding in a nuthouse with an insane young couple... was just hilariously ridiculously stupid.  Nice to see another Taelon (Mit'gai).  I really like a reference to the Taelon search for Ma'el's ship near Peru ("Once and Future World"), nice to see continuity.  Also we again see Zo'or's little blue energy burst that he used on Sandoval in "Crackdown".  Again we see good Sandoval plotting, but I am confused about one thing.  Mit'gai was a T'than ally, yet he distributed the cure to save Zo'or when he agreed with T'than he wouldn't... hunh?  Zo'or acting nuts was so stupid and over the top, and why is this the 4th out of the last 5 eps to highlight Zo'or?  He was never used this much before!  Most of this episode, particularly the insane couple, was a big case of who gives a rat's ass.  Also, the Taelon Embassy is fine after being practically destroyed last episode, what's up with that?!  Ruins the impact of that scene in the last episode.

3X14    Scorched Earth 
Plot:  Someone is bombing embassies in memory of the S-I War, which hides a Taelon secret.

Another good episode!  Bad ending though.  It was extremely interesting to finally hear some facts on the S-I War, which we now know is the China-India war which US intevened in, as well as the Taelons.  Great flashbacks to this.  Liked Robolard, definitely one of the better one shot bad guys.  Really freakin' great to FINALLY see Doors again!  Some neat little scenes like Sandoval and Robolard seeming to become allies (doesn't go anywhere!), Da'an lying to Liam for Zo'or, another Taelon past secret.  And blowing up the Washington Embassy really shocked me!  Woah!  The ending sucked however, Robolard dies to easily, Liam sabotages the device to easily, and isn't it conveinent that Liam and Renee were perfectly safe standing in the 'eye' of the vortex while all this radiation rages around them.  Renee's attraction to Robolard was annoying, but then again most everything with Renee is annoying.

3X13    Subterfuge 
Plot: Zo'or and Sandoval lead an elaborate conspiracy to kill T'than and expose Liam with a secret agent.

Very good political/conspiracy episode!  The opening murder was a very neat action sequence, and the ensuing investigation with Sandoval was very interesting.  Hannah looked like an interest romantic interest for Liam, so it threw me when she turned out to be working for Sandy.  This episode addessed some important issues like Liam and Sandy keeping their respective secrets.  Augur got to make his first substantive appearance in several eps, he's got a new holo chick.  Once again Liam is sighted with Augur (by a Sandoval agent!) with no repurcussions, they once again seem to forget Augur is a well known Resistance member!  Oh well...  implausibilities aside it's neat that Augur is working as a sabotage tester for the Portal Authority.  Nice continuity to "Fissures".  Zo'or suddenly wanting all Taelons to come to Earth to learn individuality and come away from the Commonality is an out of the blue thing but it makes sense.  Nice Jaridian reference, also to CVIs being broken (again entertaining the confusing theory that Zo'or knows about Sandy's CVI being broken).  It's pretty obvious they are greasing up T'than to replace Zo'or, I like that Da'an is supporting neither (he agrees with T'than but Zo'or is his son!).  The final assassination attempt was clever, I think Liam saved the day a bit easily though (if they leave ID in middle transit won't they come out half way between the surface and the Mothership and not in Da'an's office?).  While this Taelon political war is very interesting it seems so far removed from Season One Taelons, then again they give a rationale to this saying the Commonality is so weak they can kill each other.  I'm not sure whether this is good or not, but it made for a damn good episode.  Too bad Da'an wasn't secret involved in say thwarting T'than's assassination.  Nice return of the Taelon Homeworld holo-set seen in "Defectors".  With Hannah kept alive I wonder if she'll return...

3X12    Keep Your Enemies Closer 
Plot:  Liam and Zo'or crashland into a reclusive cult who refuse to let them leave; War Minister T'than arrives.

Like "Interview", watchable but bad.  Filled of rehased concepts; Taelon and Resistance member crash in shuttle "Wrath Achilles", crazy cult hates Taelons (too many to count!), Our Hero turns the younguns against the leader, Da'an being set up to overthrow Zo'or, etc.  Then there's the horribly cliched cult angle with the cliched EVIL! cult leader who kills his own, the only thing missing was him passing out poison punch to his people at the end!  This would have better with no cult, just Liam and Zo'or being forced to interact together.  The cult stuff was pretty bad as a whole.  I did like the introduction of T'than (of course in Season One the Taelons had no warrior class!), I assume he set up the shuttle crash or else it's a ridiculous coincidense.  I am confused how powerful this guy can be though; apparantly he was leading the Jaridian War off in another galaxy and was not in contact with the Earth Taelons... but I thought Zo'or led all!  More on this next episode!  The T'than/Sandoval scene was vaguely interesting as well.  There was a nice Liam/Zo'or scene where he says he was surprized a human saved him.  The last Liam/Da'an scene was an interesting mix of bad acting from Liam and good acting from Da'an.  I like how Da'an says the meaning must get lost in the translation; this simple line illustrates the fundemental differences between them subtly.  Tidbits:  the Taelon air bags introduced last episode get used again.  Great FX on the shuttle crash.  I question using Zo'or to power the shuttle if he's so close to death.  Once again Augur has a practical non-role, which is a nice change from last season aka 'the Liam and Augur show'.  Once again Doors does not appear; season's half way done and he's made two appearances, yet he's a credit regular.  Why?!  Also, this is the third of four Zo'or heavy episodes.  Why?  Rumor has it Zo'or dies at the end of the season; perhaps they're getting him out of their system and T'than will replace him.  Hmm...

3X11    Interview 
Plot:  A dying journalist holds Zo'or hostage on TV to expose the dark side of the Taelons.

Not boring but bad; it was a freakin' clip show!  This episode felt like nothing original; we've seen people 'expose' the Taelons before, we've seen television shows and journalists 'expose' the Taelons, we've seen Taelon publicity, we've seen Liam being caught in the middle, we've seen a lady shooting people with pseudo-Shakarava, we've seen alien probes crashing on Earth then killing people, etc, etc.  This wasn't even really an episode but a frame for clips; and how stupid were these clips?!  They play them from 'the Taelon archives' yet there no cameras at these events!!  That television suspsension of disbelief just got shattered.  On the plus side, nice to see continuity from all these Taelon projects.  But wait it gets stupider!  Augur meets Liam IN PUBLIC IN FRONT OF VOLUNTEERS!!  He's a freakin' fugitive, a known Resistance member!  ("Moonscape", "The Sleepers").  And the ending was just a tad dumb; it was nice how the situation reversed and made Zo'or a hero though.  There were a few intersting bits:  this "early" Taelon probe which we then hear nothing more on and Da'an secretly trying to expose Taelon bad doings (but we saw that before too).  As for really cheap shots, check out that Blair Witch Project parody in the Teaser...

3X10    The Cloister 
Plot:  A visit to the Cloister sisterhood  turns into a murder-mystery.  Zo'or undergoes fertility even though he is sterile.

This has to be the first Zo'or-heavy episode of the series, and it nicely paints Zo'or as a sympathetic character.  The whole murder mystery plot was... not really good but original for the show at least, I feel vaguely positive about it.  The Cloister was an interesting idea but I didn't like how powerful this organization was made to be considering we never heard of it before.  Mariana Sirtis was nice to see outside of Star Trek for once, but she looks completely different in this episode, which is a good thing I suppose.  What I really liked was the Zo'or subplot; it addressed the sexual condition of the Taelons in a good and believable way, and for the first time Zo'or became a sympathetic character.  I also really liked the (dare I say it?) motherly concern that Da'an had for Zo'or, of course it seemed very contradictory of many earlier episodes, then again you could look at it as Da'an as a parent punishing Zo'or for his emotions... maybe.  That final revelation was quite a shocker though, even though I knew about it before hand.  As for Da'an framing himself for Zo'or, it was nice to again see the pro-Taelon side of Da'an but again this seems contradictory of what came beforehand.  Or maybe Da'an is only now acting this way because Zo'or is going through fertility?  One last thing, I'm still confused on how Margret got blue shaqarava.  Oh and I loved that nightmare about Zo'or killing Da'an!

3X9    In Memory 
Plot:  After an encounter with the Jaridians,  Lili finds herself in an Earth hospital, years later after the Jaridians defeated the Taelons, but nothing is as it seems.

This was a spectacular episode that really advanced the plot!  The sheer novelty of a Lili episode really carried the somewhat slow movement of the episode, and fortunately the VR premise was revealed early and had the ole' double twist to it.  I always knew it was the Jaridians, but the double twist that it was the Taelons did temporarily fool me.  The opening sequence, like the "Crackdown" one, was really great just on an action level, seeing that gigantic Jaridian ship and the Taelon ship duking it out while poor Lili watches on helpless... wow!  I forget how the Jaridian ship in "Heroes and Heartbreak" looked, but I really liked this design; it was truly alien with weird angles, and appeared to be semi-transparent.  The alternate reality where the Jaridians freed Earth was interesting, seems that the Jaridians were testing to see how humans would react to their presence.  Doctor perfect didn't do too much for me, though.  One clue that Lili unfortunately forgot about was when one nurse growled at her for speaking Taelon, that should have showed her the truth right off.  The ending gunfight was pretty entertaining as well, but of course that final twist was the best.  Lili just gave the Jaridians Inter dimensional Drive, and in a few months they'll be coming to Earth!  (Season Finale anyone?)  Like in "The Vanished", Lisa Howard is really good at giving a helpless 'i'm screwed' look...  This makes me wonder about Sandoval's objective, did HE disable the ID drives or did that Taelon attack?  I still think he wants to ally with the Jaridians but maybe he wasn't going to give them an ID until they had a dialogue first.  On minor notes, we got a mention of Boone and an absence of T&A!  Nice to see the intimidating Tate, the Sandoval flunky from "Crackdown"/"The Vanished".

3X8    Pad'Ar
Plot:  A new gladiatorial combat show harbors a dark secret about its players.

This was easily the worst episode this season so far, it was pretty dumb on a whole.  The Pad'Ar concept was pretty dumb and uninteresting, the whole Renee pines to be a Pad'Ar gladiator plot was just horrible.  There was a ton of blatant T&A with the various gladiator babes which really hurts the already faltering integrity of the show.  Liam, Renee, and Augur meet at the Flat Planet Cafe in the open conveinently forgetting that it is a known Resistance hideout and Augur has already been connected to the Resistance.  The only saving grace of this episode is the ending revelation that the gladiators are elderly military people in Biosurrogate bodies, connecting to past episodes.  That's about it though!

3X7    A Little Bit of Heaven 
Plot:  Liam investigates a pair of Taelon-human Hybrids carrying out an experiment on people; Sandoval counsels Da'an.

A somewhat lackluster main plot helped by an intriguing subplot.  The Hybrid twins plot was a tad slow and pretty confusing, I have watched the episode twice and am still only vaguely certain of what the twins were doing.  Liam getting framed for murder was pretty dumb, especially since it lasted all of five minutes (and we had to get Renee making out with Liam because of it).  The ending had some nice but too brief shoot-outs which were ridiculously non-leathal; Renee gets hit with a Shaqarava and survives?!  It would seem like the twins would be shooting to kill, and they DID kill the sheriff!  A small part of me wishes Liam still had his Shaqarava so he could just shoot back n' forth with the twins for a while, a small part mind you.  One nice thing was the suitably wierd atmosphere of Taelonville, and how Liam was made to be a big celebrity there.  On a minor nit, these nanorobots DoorsInt made were just a tad too conveinent (Renee can make one as a key which will fit a lock she has no info on?!) and will hopefully disapeer from the show after this episode.  Once again we get a cryptic and interesting Sandoval plot where he allies himself with Da'an to help him stay in power, and helps Da'an convince Zo'or to work on Hybridization now not bioengineering.  Nice to see Sandy and his secret agenda at work, but haven't the Taelons ALWAYS worked on Hybrids?  Zo'or makes this sound like a big policy change!  And for those of you who assert that Zo'or knows about Sandy's free will this may be shown here when Zo'or asks Sandy "when did I become one of your informants?" when Sandy suggests something.  Also nice to see continuity; Liam is distancing himself from Da'an because of last episode, but he unfortunately remains buddy buddy with Renee even after she threatened to kill him two episodes ago.  And that last scene with Da'an and the baby blushing was nice and creepy, nice to see Da'an continue to become a darker character.  On a minor note, the Taelon makeup seems to have changed slightly, Da'an and Zo'or now have small blemishes on their faces.  Also there was a lot of T&A this ep; first a woman wearing only a towel running through the streets, then Renee, then we get the twins dressed only in their underwear with the brother standing right behind the sister them both writhing and grunting... a little strange...

3X6    Thicker Than Blood 
Plot:  Da'an secretly hires an old partner of Augur to make Augur betray the Resistance, and it's up to Liam to stop him before he reveals Liam's identity to Zo'or.  Sandoval comes down with a rare blood disease which will kill him, unless Liam somehow donates blood to him.  We learn that Liam's alienness is fading with time spent on Earth.

Wow, another great episode with shocking revelations!  The action plot was pretty good, the Sandoval plot was underutilized but nice, what makes this episode so great are the shocking actions taken by Da'an and Augur.  Da'an used his knowledge of the Resistance to set up Augur and kill half their leaders!  Wow!  Nice to see Da'an acting in a 'grey' mannor, he did it to save himself and Liam (who he feels is very important).  And Augur betrayed the Resistance, leading to half the leaders getting killed!  Wow!  Sure he was under threat, but it's still a shocking action.  We had BETTER see continuity for this!  Liam and Renee (and Doors) should no longer be friendly with Augur.  We also learn Augur's real name and more of his past, which is very nice.  Max made for a pretty good villian, and even his swordfight with Liam at the end was pretty cool, definietly one of the better 'Liam Beats Up Bad Guy!' scenes.  I am still confused about what Sandoval was doing with the memory block, but I'm sure it relates to his secret agenda.  On to tidbits... nice to see Halley Simmons (from last year's "Second Chances") return, it's a nice bit of continuity for the Resistance.  Nice to see the Resistance get practically wiped out... again.  As for humorous trivialities, Liam and Augur must explain to Renee about Liam's alien origans.  Heh heh.  How could Renee NOT know being the big Resistance leader she is?!  Halley knew in "Second Chances"!  Oh and we finally get an explanation as to why Liam's Shaqarava has not been used; the more time he spends on Earth the more his alien features go away, so his Shaqarava isn't there anymore.  Horay!  Too bad Sandoval didn't learn Liam was his son, it would have added an interesting tapestry, but still the Sandoval stuff was nice if too brief.

3X5    The Once and Future World 
Plot:  An artifact of Ma'el is found in South America and smuggled to the US, prompting a desperate search for Ma'el artifacts in South America both by Liam and the Taelons.

This was a really good episode!  With the exception of "Crossfire" this was the best episode since Season One!  It had some great globe-hopping adventure as well as some amazing revelations concerning Ma'el, the Taelons, and Doors.  This episode really felt like a Season One-ish adventure, with the Taelons actually having some mystery around them.  Just when you thought everything was known about the Taelon Agenda, we learn that this 'shaba' thing is so important humanity is useless to the Taelons without it!  Assumedly it is the sum of Ma'el's research on humans which will allow them to engineer/bond with humans.  Anywho we get an interesting break-in using temporary portable Portals (usually we get this at the end of the episode not the beginning!), some great 'foreign' locations.  I especially loved the shuttle flying around the giant land carvings in Peru!  Sure there were a few dumb bits; the jewel thief was a bit annoying and that Italian chick was REALLY annoying, but these are minor items.  Even the fistfight tween Liam and the thief was good because it was pretty realistic and Liam wasn't a superman.  But the best thing about it was the revelation that Doors and Renee have Ma'el's ship, and have had it since 1 year before the Taelons arrived!  Wow!  It's so amazing a twist, and it makes perfect sense!  And that set was beautiful, especially the sea cieling!  I think that it explains where technology like Globals came from in so short a time, and it most especially explains why Doors founded the Resistance a day after the Taelons arrived!  Wow, this is just facinating stuff!  Also interesting is how Renee betrays Liam here and is prepared to shoot him, and how Liam (strangely easily) agrees to keep it secret from Da'an (even though Liam later gives it to them.... huh...).  In particular I thought that the actor playing Doors delivered his lines excellently, it really gave a weight to the already poetic dialogue saying that Ma'el left this behind to help humanity fight the Taelons, the "once and future world".  Great stuff!  We really need to see more continuity from this episode, like work continuing on Ma'el's ship, and Zo'or's continuing search for it.  And more final dumb bit, Liam gets it on with the Italian chick.  Ugh!  Here's one bit of continuity I DON'T want to see in future eps!  On a minor note, Liam's hair has gone back to normal.  Perhaps the static electricity wore off, but he looks more normal now.  Renee wasn't annoying this episode.  She wasn't so smug or smirking this time around.  Good!  Oh, and why is Augur so willing to help Liam here when last episode he was having a hissy fit saying he won't help the Resistance anymore?!

3X4    Deja Vu 
Plot:  A new Taelon technology allows people to experience their best memories, but a bootleg is killing people.

Well it wasn't stupid or ridiculous, but it was BORING.  It had a very by the numbers investigation and no action.  However it was nice how 'realistic' this episode was like Season One.  We get realistic technology, it's impact on normal people, etc.  Unfortunately we get a Season Two stereotype; Daan runs some project which is then taken over then subjegated by Zoor into evil.  Good god how many times did we see that!  There were a few interesting points.  Sandoval was running the bootleg (presumably tying in to his secret agenda- to villify the Taelons a la those fanatics last episode).  Zoor is out to understand humanity by reading their memories, and he read Renee's worst fear (involving a car crash possibly as a child).  Oh, and that war sequence was beautiful!  We also get a curious ending; Sandoval catches Liam and Renee together breaking in then later speaks cruelly to Liam... does he know the truth about Liam?!  Speaking of which there was one nice action sequence when Liam is fleeing in the truck and Sandoval skrills at them.... I love those skrill blasts!  Another minor nit; we get a black mayor of DC who like jail bait... was this some kinda Marion Barry joke or something?  And as for that ending, Liam giving a medal to the guy who lost his legs... are the writers trying to forget that Liam is a one year old who made up this military identity?!  If you didn't want Season Two you would swear that Liam fought in the S-I War!  A minor appearance by Dr. Belman, nice to see.  Incidently there was a Battle of Kashmir in this S-I War, and last week Pakistan was taken over by the military and they've always fought with India over Kashmir... is science fiction about to come true?

3X3    Emancipation 
Plot:  Renegades steal the Skrill Queen and use a Skrill to villify the Taelons.  Liam learns the truth about the Skrills.

A nice episode, nothing spectacular but some interesting concepts marred by a by the numbers investigation.  The idea of rogues using a Skrill to villify the Taelons is a good idea, but the characters themselves were the weak link; the girl was essentially brought in for T&A.  Of course the same could be said for Renee (whose constant smirk is really annoying).  The use of the Skrills was REALLY wonderful though (sure they look really fake especially the Queen!), and in fact this whole episode really felt like it was straight out of Season One.  Hell we even get Da'an treating Liam like Boone (opening his eyes to the truth about things) and Augur regresses back to his selfish personality (which I am all for!).  The ending was pretty nice (Liam dodging Skrill blasts was pretty cool) where Liam freed the Queen and let it live in the rainforest.  The scene of a Taelon battlecruiser sucking up the spider-like Skrills on their own planet was very good.  We also get this season's first Jaridian reference when Zo'or says the Skrill world is under Jaridian control so their Skrills are now a finite resource.  Nice to see such a 'minor' episode have such major consequences, not that we'll really see these consequences but still.  I'm confused about Liam 'bonding' with the Queen though, was it a complete Protector type bonding or what, was it because Liam is part alien, etc.  While Renee remains annoying, its nice to see that she's actively going against the moderate Liam (kinda like Y1 Lili and Boone!), and we get a nice bit at the end where Da'an compares their treatment of Skrills to human's treatment of animals.  Nice.  But what the hell was up with that butterfly thing the Queen released at the end?  What was that thing, a baby Queen or something?  On a minor point, we get an audio Dr. Belman cameo with Augur.

3X2    The Vanished (part 2 of 2) 
Plot:  Liam and Renee investigate Resistance members not returned, who are now prisoners of Sandoval.  Meanwhile, Lili is also a terrified prisoner of Sandoval and is experimented on for a mysterious purpose.

Well, it was weaker than the premiere but had some very good elements.  I don't know why this is a two-parter cause aside from Lili and introducing Renee, these episodes aren't connected too much.  It turns out that Tompson recalling martial law last episode was actually the abrupt end of the 'Taelon America' cliffhanger, but as we see at the end of this episode Volunteers and Warships are still everywhere.  Anywho, the main plot starred Liam and Renee, and was generally average though not bad in any respects.  It had some agreeable action sequences, but I must confess in Renee's first major appearance I found her extremely annoying.  Her smug attitude, the smartass look on her face, it all was just horrible.  Plus, she's being used for T&A; we got to see her dressed like a hooker for crissakes!  Oy... and where the hell were Doors and Zo'or!  Talk about a dropped plotline...  The rest of the episode was pretty damn stellar, and gave Lili and Sandoval their best material in a long time.  First of all, Lili did a stellar acting job, in her every scene she really broadcasted the terror of being experimented on and since she's now only a 'guest star' anything could happen to her!  (Plus the creators seem to like to kill off the best characters!)  And that last scene, where a terrified Lili is strapped to a shuttle and Sandoval says goodbye, it was subtle but clear that Sandoval truely cares for her, maybe even has a secret love for her.  It was very touching.  And we finally get confirmation that Sandoval is working towards his own aims; though what they are exactly remain a mystery.  I think its fairly obvious that Lili was sent to Jaridian space, but I have no idea what he was doing with the Resistance members.  Maybe he planned on sending them or was testing the medical procedures on them but then Lili came along the perfect envoy for humanity.  Of a small note; on Sandoval's scribble pad, we see Liam's name.  Is Sandoval aware of Liam's dubplicity?  He did see Liam on a security monitor here but it was too grainy to recognize him.

3X1    Crackdown (part 1 of 2) 
Plot:  Liam and Augur are saved by a mysterious woman connected to Doors.  Lili fails to destroy the Mothership and gets arrested.  Liam pursues evidense of the Presidential shooter which is complicated by Sandoval's coverup.

Wow!  That was good!  This was the perfect season opener because it generally dealed with the cliffhanger in a logical way and little details in the cliffhanger suddenly become much more important here.  In a general sense, I love the new look and feel of the show.  The Volunteer uniforms looks much better, the Taelon makeup looks much better, there was some great FX, Liam got a nice new haircut (so did Lili), etc.  Everytime we go in the public, we see Taelon troops everywhere and helicopters overhead.  And the new title sequence is awsome!  As radical as the change was, there were a couple of dumb things.  Liam and Augur should NOT be able to walk around; Liam had to have been recognized by those dozen Volunteers he fought, and Augur is already a Resistance-known person after "Moonscape" and "Sleepers".  But hey I guess someone has to remain the double agent, at least they stuck through with Lili!  Unfortunately in my personal opinion Augur killed Holo-Lili in what turned out to be an extremely emotional scene with an interesting psyhological twist (Augur is symbollically killing Lili which he will feel even more guilty about).
            The opening sequences were really good; first we get a very involving and hectic fist fight between Liam, Augur and lots of Volunteers.  Wow!  Then we get Renee the mystery woman helping them escape.  Then we get Lili being discovered in the midst of her reactor sabotage and arrested.  In a very intriguing scene, Sandoval grabs Zo'or to take him off the ship, and Zo'or hits him with an awsome looking telekinetic hit!  Wow!  Then things to start to slow down.  In a horrible scene Augur learns Lili is 'dead' and starts smashing furniture, some horrible overacting there.  Then we learn that NOTHING happened to Da'an after the obvious hint that Sandoval was arresting him at the end of "Crossfire", but Da'an seems quite distressed by recent events.  This was actually a big Sandoval show, he does lots of mysterious things which I think prove he's secretly working against the Taelons.  He runs a coverup of the Presidential assassin's identity and apparantly smuggles Lili somewhere and fakes her death.  The great thing about this episode was how 'realistic' it was, it was Earth-based and very Season One ish in that respect, it was basically about Liam's investigation of the assassination conspiracy coverup.  And it had some cool gunfights too!  And Liam finally gets a cool looking gun!  I like the addition of the Pressy's hardline Chief Staff who is sympathetic to Resistance and helps Tompson change his mind.  Though it's nice to see Tompson turn against Zo'or it happened a little to early in my opinion, though it did make sense.  There's another problem though; Liam is seen as a double agent by Tompson and the CoS, again making his secret identity very questionable.  It is a shame that the state of emergency was lifted and the Resistance members returned though, but it was interesting how Zo'or directly threatened Tompson.  And as for freaky plot twists... Doors is now working with the Taelons again?!  Well obviously he's doing what he did before, secretly running the Resistance while publically being pro-Taelon, with the new regular Renee acting as the Resistance leader hopefully, thus deposing Liam the most idiotic choice in the world.  And for a neat little cliffhanger, we see Lili is a secret captive of ?the Taelons?.