DARK MATTER – Season 3 – Episodes 1 and 2 – SPOILERS

Three tests the boundary of the extra-dimensional space bubble surrounding the Ishida Research Station by poking a protein bar into it. But why unwrap the bar first?
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Commander Truffault delays her departure from The Raza to enjoy a cup of coffee. “It’s amazing, really,” Truffault tells Two. “Your Android makes better coffee than anyone I know.” Two suggests she should drop by for one of The Android’s spaghetti Saturdays. Truffault says she’d like to, but she’ll be busy for the next little while, what with the war and all. (Let’s hope that doesn’t indicate a lack of Torri Higginson in the next few episodes.)

Later, after Truffault has left the ship, The Android serves a casserole made from some of the fresh vegetables they picked up on Corvus-8 with basil as the “secret ingredient”. The casserole seems to also contain pasta, and Martha Stewart’s website has a recipe for something much like it called Pasta with Roasted Summer Vegetables and Basil.

Lieutenant Anders (Jeff Teravainen) rescues Three and might be an important ally for the Raza crew in the future.

The Android (Zoie Palmer) also cures Five’s neurological difficulties, and, with a little help from Five, guides the Marauder home from extra-dimensional space with a modulated tachyon pulse. She is instrumental in wiping out an eight-man Ferrous Corp. boarding party as well. After mowing down the last of the boarders, The Android blows away the smoke from the barrels of her guns, like someone from a spaghetti western.

An oxygen-deprived Two hallucinates a goodbye kiss on the lips from Nyx that could have its source either in memory or in wishful thinking.

At the end of the first episode, Five (Jodelle Ferland) locks her door and uploads something (possibly a personality matrix?) to the ship’s computer. Then she uplinks to what appears to be a virtual reality. All we see of it is a circular white room with Three’s dead ex-girlfriend Sarah (Natalie Brown) in it looking very surprised. Five says: “Sarah, it’s me, Five. Welcome back.” We hear nothing more about this in Episode Two. Given Transfer Transit technology, wouldn’t it be possible to create a clone body for virtual Sarah?

The Android serves a casserole.

ANDROID: “She collapsed for a third time just before The Marauder reappeared. I believe the best course of action would be to attempt to recreate the conditions that caused the initial mind wipe, with some modifications. The memories are effectively superseding her conscious mind. They need to be isolated — walled off as yours have been.”
TWO: “What about her new memories? The ones she made after we came out of stasis?”
ANDROID: “I’ll do my best to protect and insulate all new memories. But I can’t guarantee success. There is a significant chance that she may lose some if not all of them. And without a clean neural imprint to work from, they’ll be inaccessible for the rest of her life.”

Sarah (Natalie Brown) is resurrected virtually by Five, but for what purpose?

In the second episode, Five accesses Ryo’s stored memories and locates the research facility where the blink drive is being kept. After that, Five falls unconscious three times, each time involuntarily entering her own memories from before The Raza. Before The Android cures Five of her newfound narcolepsy, Five learns from (the memory of) her old mentor that she has a sister, and that her mentor found this out from the Galactic Authority. Three was rescued by Lieutenant Anders of the GA (Jeff Teravainen) and seems reasonably friendly these days. Maybe he could look up the info on Emily’s sister?

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Dr. Borsin and Jean Yoon as Dr. Hajek. The scientists are surprised when The Emporer pays them an unexpected visit.

It is possible (though the ethics of such a thing are questionable) that The Android could do to Four what she did to Five (if he were to be captured). She could permanently partition off his memories from the time before he joined The Raza crew. He would still remember becoming Emporer and what transpired afterward, but the memories of his formative years would be gone, and possibly his ruthlessness along with them.

Four releases Teku, his old tutor, from prison. Misaki (Ellen Wong) doesn’t like it. Four finds out that Misaki killed Nyx. Four doesn’t like it, and at the end of episode two, Misaki tries to talk her way out of the Emporer’s disfavour with his hands on her throat. It seems likely that Ryo’s Machiavellian tendencies will prevail and Misaki will live to conspire another day. There will be a showdown between Teku and Misaki.

Kiana Madeira as Emily’s friend Lyra (left) and as Brookyn in BARBELLE

Kiana Madeira (Lyra) will be Brooklyn in the last two episodes of the ten-episode comedy BARBELLE a female written, directed, and produced web series featuring a cast of queer characters. It follows the story of a newly famous (fictional) Toronto based pop-star duo, Veronica Vale (played by Karen Knox) and Alice O’Hara (Gwenlyn Cumyn), whose extremely rapid rise to stardom has caused much destruction in their personal lives. The first episode of BARBELLE will be released sometime in July. A teaser trailer is available on YouTube.

Torri Higginson as Marie Cook in the mystery ORDINARY DAYS, a film due to be released later this year, which tells the story of the disappearance of a young college woman from three different points of view.

Torri Higginson (Commander Truffault) is Liz Sterling in FAKE NEWS, the story of freelance reporter Maxwell Stern (Eric Roberts) who covers the political beat. But only some of the stuff he writes is true. After one of his sources is murdered, he finds himself on the trail of what could be the biggest story of his career, but to write it, he needs to stay out of jail, and he needs to stay alive. FAKE NEWS will be released in the US on 24 November.

Andrew Moodie (Teku Fonsei) will be Ben Wright in FREEDOM 65, a film about a 65-year-old recluse (Brian McGuire), who retires and finds he has too much time on his hands. At the urging of his neighbour, and much to the dismay of his overly protective sisters, Hugh buys himself a 1976 Corvette, but just as he starts to enjoy the new car, he crashes it in a near fatal accident. Once he recovers, Hugh vows to start living the life he always dreamed of and not the one that was expected of him.

Andrew Moodie as Mr. Frontenac
in Episode 5.1 of ORPHAN BLACK

Moodie will also be FBI Agent Simmons in HIS MASTER’S VOICE, a film by award winning director György Pálfi based on the 1968 Stanislaw Lem novel (A Voz Do Mestre) about a mathematician who becomes involved in a classified US government project to decode signals received from outer space. Filmed in Budapest, HIS MASTER’S VOICE will be released in Hungary later this year. No word yet on a US release.

Alex Mallari, Jr. (Ryo Ishida) is Rainer in CODE 8, a film set in an alternate reality in which four percent of the world’s population is born with special abilities, but most are living in poverty, because they are unable to capitalize on their abilities. Conner Reed (Robbie Amell) is a powerful young man who is struggling to pay for his mother’s medical treatment. After a dispute with his employer, he finds himself in a confrontation with a police officer (Sung Kang) and the autonomous robots backing him up. Reed is lured into a criminal world run by Garrett (Stephen Amell), and a drug lord (Greg Bryk). The 2016 short film on which the feature is based is available on YouTube. CODE 8 began filming on June 1st in Toronto, and is aiming for a 2018 release.