# Continuum: Season 3 (spoilers for Season 1 & 2)



## ctg (Jan 15, 2014)

Not really much they're showing in this teaser, but the main thing is it's not cancelled!


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## ctg (Feb 19, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*



> The "Continuum" Season 3 premiere will air on March 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT  on Showcase in Canada, to follow shortly on SyFy in the U.S. on an  unspecified date (which, as of this writing, hasn't been announced).  There will be 13 hour-long Season 3 episodes in total.


 'Continuum' Season 3: When, Where Can I Watch In Canada?


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## Lenny (Mar 16, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

A reminder to all that *Continuum* returns tonight (in Canada, at least - the US will get the new series from 4th April).

Regarding series three discussion, are we going to keep it in this thread, or would people prefer a series three thread?


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## ctg (Mar 16, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

Keep on this thread, as people still don't know this series as well as they should, and Anthony is going to get an headache if third series thread pops up suddenly. Besides three season and 40 posts doesn't mean suggest there's going to be a great need for a new thread.


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## Lenny (Mar 17, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

I guess we're keeping to this thread. In which case, spoiler tags and the customary warning:





**WARNING: NOW IS A TIME FOR SERIES THREE SPOILERS! THE FUTURE IS A TERRIBLE PLACE FOR DVD WATCHERS**





I imagine there are people who are subscribed to the thread, which means they'll get updates whenever a new post is posted, so I'll see if I can keep any spoilers towards the end of my posts (thus keeping them out of the snippet sent in e-mails).

I've just finished the series three opener, and I'm all a-tingley! I don't know about you guys, but to me that felt positively *Fringe*y, and I _love _it!

We start where we left off last series (spoiler time!): 



Spoiler



Kiera is in captivity, held by the Freelancers, along with many of the surviving Liber8 members. Alec is a week ago in a whole new timeline, desperately trying to save his girlfriend.

The Freelancers aren't quite what they seemed, Kiera and Garza become best buds for a short time, and Alec, with the best intentions in mind, gets his dear old daddy killed in cold blood by his dear old girlfriend. Oh dear.

Of course, I'm extremely pleased with where the story is going. I said in my thoughts on the series two finale that I'm dying for: "more detail and backstory on the freelancers, some actual time travel, and exploration of the timelines", and that: "Confirmation of [Continuum being parallel timelines], or even just five minutes of exposition" would really make my day, and I got what I wished for. 

With Kiera only staying the one episode in the original timeline, and alt-Kiera being killed off before we even knew her, I get the feeling that the writers are going to try and stay mainstream (there's only one Kiera in the alt-timeline, and the only person who knows of alt-Kiera's death is the original Alec, which leaves Kiera's cover in the alt-police intact - obviously an indication that we're keeping the cop show elements)... and I'm alright with that, because Kiera is now working with the alt-Freelancers, through whom the writers will be able to delve deeper into the show's mythology


.

The short of it is that I am proper pumped for this series! I'm incredibly excited by the early signs of the direction the third series is going, and I cannot wait to see more.


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## Connavar (Mar 23, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

Cant we have season 3 thread?  Why have only one thread for DVD fans who are 2 Seasons behind.   Reason i dont post often in this thread is because being afraid of spoiling is not good for talking about the series with other current season fans.

Im a big fan of Continuum and first ep of season 3 gave me the hope back the second season was only a temporary slump and the story is back to its Fringy quality.


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## Phyrebrat (Mar 23, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

I'm delighted this is back and have eagerly devoured the first episode from series 3.

pH


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## Phyrebrat (Apr 25, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

Have seen up to episode 5 of season 3. This show keeps getting better and better. The story is clearly bedded in now and this is by far my favourite season so far!

pH


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## ctg (Apr 26, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

To me something has been lacking in this season. It hasn't been as exciting as the previous ones. Maybe the reason for that is the continuous stress I'm under, but somehow I think they should extended this series and give it a proper chance to deepen all three worlds.


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## Connavar (Apr 27, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*



ctg said:


> To me something has been lacking in this season. It hasn't been as exciting as the previous ones. Maybe the reason for that is the continuous stress I'm under, but somehow I think they should extended this series and give it a proper chance to deepen all three worlds.



Its not as exciting in cheaper SF thriller way like the first season but this season is the most mature,dark,asking troubling questions about who is who,timelines, is the future worth saving etc.

I like very much the new complications for Kira,Alec and co the way to the future isnt as simple and as heroic as in first season. I too hope the series gets the chance to deepen its worlds, the chance to answer all the different questions it raises.


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## ctg (Apr 29, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

I was just thinking last night why aren't the libre8 ever using their superior knowledge help them to make something so powerful that the world has no choice but to act. Then I pressed play and was amazed by what the terrorist organisation actually did. They used their knowledge to strike the "company" and benefit their "agenda." It was almost as if the producers knew I was going to question their show and show me (us) what can be done in the continuum. 

What annoys me now is two Alex's. The other one is in my honest opinion a twerp and the other a whining little *******. I let you decide which is which so, that I don't fill too many spoilers in this thread.


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## Phyrebrat (Apr 29, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*



ctg said:


> I let you decide which is which so, that I don't fill too many spoilers in this thread.



Hi,

I don't think many people in this thread are as fortunate as you, me, and *Connavar* regarding seeing S3 - certainly not up to the episodes we have seen, so I think this is wise. 

We don't have a season-by-season sub-forum for _Continuum_ so people reading this thread have in some cases not even finished S2, so let's hope they've not read this far.

pH


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## ctg (Apr 29, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*

There's not going to be any subforum. Not from my side at least. I'm too tired to put work in it. But it's kind of sad that people want to read about things, and in the other hand you cannot talk about it. Not even those who're still waiting to see second season. It's almost like it's better if there would be no thread at all.


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## Phyrebrat (Apr 29, 2014)

*Re: Continuum*



ctg said:


> There's not going to be any subforum. Not from my side at least. I'm too tired to put work in it. But it's kind of sad that people want to read about things, and in the other hand you cannot talk about it. Not even those who're still waiting to see second season. It's almost like it's better if there would be no thread at all.



I didn't say you should make any effort. I said I agreed with you avoiding spoilers. It is kind of sad, I agree, but we have the privilege of seeing the show before others. I'm assuming people further up this thread (such as Dave, who has just said he's on S2) even care about spoilers - which they may not - but I think is safer (and nicer) to err on the side of caution. 

pH


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## ctg (May 2, 2014)

*** Spoilers ***


Why has Libr8 never used their ultimate knowledge like that before? 

Why haven't applied all that knowledge to strike like never before and get on to their subjects? What has been keeping them, the old man is dead and this ship is sinking member by member. And I cannot see them getting any smaller, while the effin' what-you-call-them people they keeping getting smaller as well. It is almost as if there are small circles, and their time-temporal waves hitting each other to causing paradoxes. 


​


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## Lenny (May 5, 2014)

I rather enjoyed the little diversion episode seven took us on. We've seen bits and bobs of Kiera's future in the first two series, mostly in relation to her son, but the flashforwards this series have had a focus on world building and showing how Kiera developed into the person she is. 

This extended look at the future is our clearest yet of the state of the world (much more so than shots of skyscrapers crumbling, or firefights in small environments), whilst also giving us a key moment in Kiera's life (a day or two of clear thoughts, and first-hand experience of what the system does to those trying to survive outside of it) and, maybe more importantly, creating backstory for Sonya.

I wonder what the next few episodes will bring for Sonya - when we've had backstory in the past, it's been to explain a character's ongoing or proceeding actions, for example when Garza went after Young Alec.

---

As an aside, am I right in thinking that the third series has a new title sequence? With the first two series, each episode I saw simply had a "Continuum" titlecard, but all the third series episodes I've seen so far have a full sequence. No-one else has mentioned it, and I can't find discussion about it on other sites, so I'm wondering if I'm just watching a different broadcast for this series.


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## Dave (May 7, 2014)

I, for one, like the way this series turned in the first episode. Very _Back to the Future Part II_. It looks like it will do a reset button on a lot of Season 2 though, but plenty of new complications to ponder upon.


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## ctg (May 8, 2014)

Lenny said:


> I rather enjoyed the little diversion episode seven took us on. We've seen bits and bobs of Kiera's future in the first two series, mostly in relation to her son, but the flashforwards this series have had a focus on world building and showing how Kiera developed into the person she is.
> 
> This extended look at the future is our clearest yet of the state of the world (much more so than shots of skyscrapers crumbling, or firefights in small environments), whilst also giving us a key moment in Kiera's life (a day or two of clear thoughts, and first-hand experience of what the system does to those trying to survive outside of it) and, maybe more importantly, creating backstory for Sonya.



Even though I enjoyed seeing the first full episode in the future, I just couldn't think it any other way than a filler. The man with stripe in his face didn't make any sense. Just like the way how they showed him in the cube. 

The character, even though he was part of the original liber8, was mostly a side-character. He was in three episode at first season and in one at second. So devoting him an episode, with additional casting on the old man, just drew me out from the overall story, and I for one is confused about what's really going on. 

The Continuum only have ten episodes per season, and so far there hasn't been as much progression as there was in the first two. And for a moment, I cannot seem to be able to connect the dots on what is the overall theme in this season, because it certainly cannot be all about the continuum. 

Or can it?

I'm asking because I wish Kira opening her eyes and realising how devastating the corporate controlled future can be for the humankind. And in some ways it seems that even those in the control aren't that happy. It is almost as if there's no hope, and what liber8 is offering is the only way out to restore the balance. 

I'm saying that because at the moment whatever Kira is doing with the Freelancers cannot be anything good. And in the other hand Alec is pushing towards the corporate future with a glee in his eyes. Can they both be really so blind on their actions? Or are they playing some game that we haven't figured out yet?



> As an aside, am I right in thinking that the third series has a new title sequence? With the first two series, each episode I saw simply had a "Continuum" titlecard, but all the third series episodes I've seen so far have a full sequence. No-one else has mentioned it, and I can't find discussion about it on other sites, so I'm wondering if I'm just watching a different broadcast for this series.



It is different, but as far as what I've looked into it, there's no clues on anything. Or then the clue is that the canadian producers finally decided to put a bit more money into this controversial series, and push it towards a main stream as first two series has finally finished rolling in the states site.


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## Dave (May 9, 2014)

ctg said:


> ...the canadian producers finally decided to put a bit more money into this controversial series, and push it towards a main stream as first two series has finally finished rolling in the states site.


It looks like they have realised that this is a series that has the potential for a long run of Seasons. I like the way there are many layers and if it is to run for 7+ seasons it will need more layers and more characters. They just need to introduce them carefully without breaking the existing Canon.

According to Wikipedia 





> David Hinckley of the New York Daily News compared Continuum positively to Life on Mars, another series with a time travelling police officer, and gave the show three stars out of five. According to Hinckley, the series has potential to do well, and if it "doesn't aim to soar, it executes the basics well".



Exactly, it needs to "execute the basics well." They have a book of rules for their version of time-travel and they must stick to that. It will build a faithful following without a need to 'soar'.

One thing I've noticed in the Season 3 episodes that I've watched is more SF cultural references - "Marty McFly", "they're no Picard or Kirk, they don't even have a Geordi." That is fine in moderation, but overdo it and you become _Warehouse 13_.


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## Dave (Jun 1, 2014)

This Season isn't grabbing me in the same way as the earlier two. It is more complicated, but somehow less of a 'must-see'.



ctg said:


> I'm asking because I wish Kira opening her eyes and realising how devastating the corporate controlled future can be for the humankind. And in some ways it seems that even those in the control aren't that happy. It is almost as if there's no hope, and what liber8 is offering is the only way out to restore the balance.
> 
> I'm saying that because at the moment whatever Kira is doing with the Freelancers cannot be anything good. And in the other hand Alec is pushing towards the corporate future with a glee in his eyes. Can they both be really so blind on their actions? Or are they playing some game that we haven't figured out yet?



I agree with you. One thing that bothered me was Kira's illogical reaction to the two versions of Alex. Could your personality change so much in just one week? Death of a loved one will certainly make you look at life differently, but he is essentially the same person who would make the same choices given the same circumstances. Yet Kira holds a grudge against only one of them.

However, her grudge and his increasing power is changing him. From next week's trailer it looks like she soon has a real grievance against him.


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## ctg (Jun 9, 2014)

Damn. Continuum did it again. This series has so much potential and it keeps delivering it time and time again. No pun intended. But when you think you got everything figured out and well... 

... in this season, figuring what's what and who's holding the strings has been so difficult, and I seriously recommend everyone holding on patiently as you'll be surprised more and more as the series gears up towards the final. 

You just don't know, but those who comes in the sledge later, will be positively surprised as Continuum is far better than any time-travel series or movies before, minus HG Wells original one. And I should warn you, there are new players in this season, and they drop in far more devastating or liberating reveals. 

Like for example what happens in the future. Or should I say in both of them.


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## Dave (Jun 10, 2014)

I really want to know Brett Tonkin's mission, but judging by the point at which the last episode stopped then I think I can guess what it was.


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## Laeraneth (Jun 13, 2014)

I'm just going to leap right ahead and say it: That (Episode 10) was a bloody excellent episode and I can't wait for the next one.

Though from what I've seen online, it seems to have somewhat divided the fans...


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## ctg (Jun 17, 2014)

Sometimes I have to watch the episode twice or three times because a) it's so awesome but also b) because there are bits that I don't get. Like for example in the last episode they revealed the traveller, and to be honest, it does kind of make sense, but in the same time it didn't as all of them are time-travellers, even dimensional traveller more than one way. 

What I mean with the dimensional travel is that they've brought in the multiverse theory and twisted it so that every parallel time-lines are happening at the same time. And some poor scientists are probably loosing last of their hair because of it, as is it possible that all of these things, what we've seen, could be possible in the prime earth? In the prime timeline? 

I mean there are, for example, so many instances of the "oriental assassin" that I have lost a way of knowing which one we're watching and who has died. And above all, I don't understand why he's so keen on assassinating the "traveller"?


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## Laeraneth (Jun 17, 2014)

(Spoilers incoming, don't read if you haven't watched the newest episode yet! That's Episode *Twelve* just to be clear!)



ctg said:


> Sometimes I have to watch the episode twice or three times because a) it's so awesome but also b) because there are bits that I don't get. Like for example in the last episode they revealed the traveller, and to be honest, it does kind of make sense, but in the same time it didn't as all of them are time-travellers, even dimensional traveller more than one way.


They didn't reveal who it was did they?... I mean, we hear a male-sounding voice, but that's about it, unless I blinked and missed something vital?... all I got was Kiera's _assumption_ that it was the first freelancer who had supposedly travelled back a thousand years, and Chen's _claim_ that they (the Freelancers) were his jailor, not his disciples. Hence his wanting to free him? (and working with Tompkin to do so originally I believe)



ctg said:


> What I mean with the dimensional travel is that they've brought in the multiverse theory and twisted it so that every parallel time-lines are happening at the same time. And some poor scientists are probably loosing last of their hair because of it, as is it possible that all of these things, what we've seen, could be possible in the prime earth? In the prime timeline?



That's not how I've interpreted it (though there's no guarantee that I'm right )
To my mind, the best way to describe how it's working is...:
- There is only a single 'active' timeline at a time. _including_ that timeline's future.
- Individuals from that *current* future can, and have been seen to, come back in time.
- Once they're back in time, they exist independently of the future. This is self evident in many places in the show - the mere fact that Kiera and Liber8 are still there for a start. The future they came from may disappear (shown early this season when Kiera sees the disintegrating timeline when she first hooks up with the Freelancers) but they will remain.
Think of it as a single time-line with turns in it, rather than the 'branching tree' that time travel plots usually use. Provided someone hops back along the line BEFORE the line is turned, they continue to exist in the past, even though the future they came from is gone.
It's a different style of time travel than is usually used in TV, and makes for a great refreshing change.
(It also makes things kind of complex... I suspect for example, that all the time travel devices currently existing in the 'current' time are the same one from different futures. Essentially copies of itself!)

Thus, people from various different alternate futures can all exist in the same time, even without their futures being there any more.



ctg said:


> I mean there are, for example, so many instances of the "oriental assassin" that I have lost a way of knowing which one we're watching and who has died. And above all, I don't understand why he's so keen on assassinating the "traveller"?



I think you've got that part backwards (though again, I may have blinked and missed something with regards to this traveller in the latest episode judging by what you said about him being revealed)
If memory serves me...
The original Chen, who travelled back with Liber8 right back at the start of the show, was killed, by Kiera, in a fight fairly early on. (Episode 5 or 6 maybe?...)
His body was picked up by the Freelancers, 'revived' (as we saw in flashback form in the latest episode) by some means, and recruited into their ranks.
(This part was hinted at before, but only now has it been shown to be true)
I don't _think_ he got killed again...?
Now, it seems he has a connection/devotion to this traveller person. The details of which we are yet to discover fully.


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## Lenny (Jun 17, 2014)

**Another post that needs a SERIES 3 EPISODE 11/12 spoiler warning**












Did Catherine, the head of whatever Freelance branch Kiera stumbled into, not actually describe time as a branching tree in episode one of the third series?

I'm inclined to agree with ctg, in that we have multiple, parallel timelines existing and progressing simultaneously.

I've sketched my interpretation to help my explanation:





Four timelines: *T0 *("Initial"), *T1 *("New"), *T2 *("Alternate")*, T3* ("Current"). ● is a jump from that timeline, ■ is an arrival in that timeline.

NB: Every new timeline, when created, is a copy of the timeline jumped from.

*T0* is our initial timeline, that Kiera is trying to get back to. The big time event in 2077 sent everyone (Kiera's partner Elena, Jason and the Freelancer Warren, Liber8 and Kiera) back in time together, thus creating a single new timeline: *T1*. Elena ended up in 1975, Jason in 1992 (possibly with Warren? I don't think we've been told where he ended up), and Liber8 and Kiera in 2012. After the time event in 2077, *T0 *pootles on regardless, with everyone who jumped simply not existing in the timeline.

*T1*, from 2012, plays out over the first two series. Alec's jump back at the end of S2E13 creates *T2*, which Kiera then jumps to (it's strongly suggested that Kiera jumps to Alec's new timeline, rather than her jump creating a new timeline) before *T1 *collapses. BOOM!

*T2*, which was created from *T1*, plays out far into the distant future, with two Kieras and two Alecs. I'm not sure we actually see *T2 *on-screen, but it doesn't matter. As established in S3E11, Liber8s actions in *T1 *were successful, which leads to the Corporate Congress never being created. Instead, we get the Corporation Wars, and humanity splitting into clans, one of which Kellog heads. *T2 *is the timeline that Brad exists in, and he jumps from 2039 to just before the "cataclysmic time anomaly". Brad's jump creates *T3*. As with _*T0*_, *T3 *pootles on regardless, just without Brad.

*T3 *is the timeline we've seen in the third series - the one in which Brad kills T3Kiera, T1Kiera turns in T1Alec to T3Freelancers, T3Alec uses T1Kiera's CMR to accelerate Halo, and so on.

I don't think *T2 *== *T3*, because of what has been happening in the third series. T3Alec became aggressive with Piron because T1Alec angered him. He was then able to accelerate the creation of Halo using T3Kiera's CMR, which is only available _because_ Brad came back. We know that *Continuum* deals in multiple, parallel timelines, so it doesn't make sense for the writers to implement a Terminator-style time event.


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## Laeraneth (Jun 18, 2014)

I guess we're not going to know for sure until someone tries to jump forwards... to my knowledge, no one has tried to do that before now.

But... I took the scenes of the decaying/imploding/whatever future at the start of Season 3 (with Kiera and the Freelancers) to be a cast iron indication that a dead future is just that, it's dead. Once the past is changed, that's it, it's gone.
By extension, I assume that the original timeline we saw (ie, Kiera's original life in 2077) is long gone, replaced by the various other futures we've now seen.
The main one being the one Brad Tompkin came from, which is _probably_ still on track, given the current events.


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## Lenny (Jun 23, 2014)

**SPOILERS FOR S3E13**




Eee, I did enjoy that!

Jumping right in: Alec was not quite the "cataclysmic time anomaly" you were looking for. Well... Original Alec's jump did put in motion the events that lead to Escher's death, which opened the door for Kellog to take control of Piron, but at the end of the day, Kellog was the threat, not Paranoid Alec (as Emily/Maya calls him) and Halo. Did not see that coming... which I kind of think we should - right from the very first episode of the third series, Kellog has been scheming to get on top. He didn't know at the time that Alec would inherit Piron, but we've seen how quick he is on his feet. And twenty-five years in the future, Clan Leader Kellog is still scheming, sending Brad Tonkin back in time with a mission that Kellog knows will help 2014 Kellog's cause. That is cold.

I think we can safely say that the writers aren't going to try and pull the old 'evil doppelganger masquerading as the good doppelganger' card. The surviving Alec didn't have the RFID chip (do Americans/Canadians really pronounce it "arfid", rather than spelling it out?), he changed office, and he didn't try and fight Kellog - PAlec obviously had the chip, would have stayed in his lab, and would have fought Kellog and vowed to destroy him. In some shows it works, and in some it doesn't. I don't think it would work in *Continuum*.

I can't make up my mind as to whether I'm shocked by Kiera's change of heart. The foundations of her character are built on her wanting Big Brother to succeed, so she can be reunited with her son. It's a short list the people who are rooting for Big Brother, but we can ignore that part of her because her goal is to get back to her son. The character has definitely changed over the past two years, and she's been thinking with a clarity that wasn't possible in 2077 (hey, that flashbackforward episode is starting to make sense!), but has she really changed to the point where she would sacrifice her only reason for continuing in 2012 for the greater good? Does Brad really mean that much to her that she would choose him and a possible future over Sam and her future?

And finally, Continuum has it's very own Brotherhood of Steel. Cool!  We're going to have to go back to the drawing boards to determine which timeline they're from, and what that means for the current timeline**, but I'm glad to see that the writers are totally committed to what they've already written. Simon Barry thinks we'll hear about a renewal in July, which would be good, because I'm excited to see the possibilities that await us in the fourth series of *Fallout Continuum: The Sarah Connor Chronicles*. I wonder how the fact that two whole TTDs, a 2014-engineered TTD segment, and a time beacon are in play is going to affect things moving forwards. Any up for setting the beacon in 2014 as a home base, and using the TTDs (and maybe engineering more whole ones?) to jump around to see what's cracking?





**For the record, I, er... don't know. My gut feeling, based on my interpretation, is that our armoured friends are from Brad's original timeline (going back to my diagram: *T2*), having jumped between timelines the same way Kiera did at the start of the series, and that the future of *T3* is still in flux, in which case, Brad's assumption that nothing responding to the beacon is a good sign is wrong. Horribly wrong.

Either that, or what we see when the soldiers arrive is the beginning of *T4* - off-camera, Brad set off the beacon in *T3*, nothing happened, and time continues to 2039, where the technology is developed to 'hear' the beacon. The signal is picked up, and soldiers jump back to when the beacon is activated. Their jump creates a new timeline, *T4*, which is picked up on camera immediately following the jump.

The question then is: is Brad an unreliable narrator with the wrong idea about time travel (I think his assumption is that time is a single, dynamic timeline, that he went back to a point on the same line, and that any changes he makes change the future... hence the idea that he can "prove" change with the beacon), not realising that his old timeline still exists and that the beacon will be picked up by them, or are the Freelancers wrong with their ideas about time travel being a branching tree? Of course, throw in the idea that timelines die and are replaced by newly created timelines, and a whole extra level of complexity is added!

Because it's so much easier to follow, I'm going to interpret it as the soldiers turning up in *T3* from *T2*. It sucks that Brad might have doomed this timeline with his incorrect notions, but that is price we have to pay. That said, in my interpretation, the show has already done an off-camera timeline with *T2*_, so having *T3* play out off-camera isn't beyond the realms of possibility, and I like the idea of following existing examples._


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## ctg (Jun 23, 2014)

Even though I can say Wow at the moment, I have to watch it and the previous episode again, before I comment on the final one.


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## Laeraneth (Jun 24, 2014)

Excellent stuff.

I'm totally on board with Tompkin's "single changing timeline". I've been kind of working on that assumption for a while (which is what I tried to describe before )

On a general level, the episode was great, perhaps not quite as brilliant and shocking as the end of the first season, but still some darn good TV. (The Alec vs. Alec fight was fairly impressive, and somewhat more... 'juicy' than one might expect ;P)

I was sort of hoping they'd just leave the beacon alone, because to my mind, the ONLY thing that could ever cause would be disaster, frankly, and I'm surprised neither of the smart time-travelling people took a moment to properly think about it! On the other hand of course, it's an obvious hook into a future (no pun intended!) series, so... not surprised they DID do it.

What I mean is: Even assuming the current, new, future were to be perfect and idyllic (which it's obviously not with kellogg in charge) setting up a beacon to leave a signal that people could pick up in the indeterminate future would be able to be detected by *any* future civilisation with decent technology to pick it up. Whether it's a good one (that they're hoping for) the bad one that they're leaving, or some entirely new future (as this appears to be) is besides the point... it's like sending up a massive flare saying "come mess with the past! Here's the directions!"

So... traveller.
My theory thus far is:...
- There's an original 'untarnished' timeline (lets call it T0, to use your labelling ) that led to a future society that we know little about thus far. This 'traveller' came back into the past from there, set up the oddly named 'Freelancer' group. They (Catherine) claimed that he travelled a thousand years into the past and set them up to protect the timeline and keep things running the way they were meant to. I'm assuming he actually went back to set things up the way he wanted them to be set up.
- Whatever changes he made led to what we see as the 'first' future of 2077 (T1), with corporations, decent tech, corporate police, big-brother-ish state, etc. Kiera and Liber8 came back from that future, probably using the travellers own device (no one has ever given ANY explanation for where the time travel device even came from, or how Liber8 got hold of it... I'd love to hear more about that ) with their own plans.
(Quite how Alec's son, Jason, got sent back, I'm not yet sure... I don't think there's been any mention of how or when in the show, but I suppose it's possible he was just 'caught' in the travel of Liber8 and Kiera, just like her partner was.)
- Liber8 do their thing, things get changed, they blow up buildings, etc. We're now barrelling towards T2 (as in, Timeline. Not Terminator) to be honest, we don't really know what future this ultimately leads to. I assume largely the same as T1
- Alec and Kiera skip back a few days/weeks (via different methods) and that change sets the events of season three into motion. This leads to future timeline T3, which is the one Brad comes from, where Kellogg is in charge of at least some faction, and frankly, the future is bad.
- Now, 'evil Alec' is dead, Kellogg is in charge (potentially even earlier than before) and it looks like we're still largely heading towards the same future. But... there's one clear difference: If it WERE the same T3, then Brad's beacon would have alerted people that were waiting for it... not some uber-tech space-marines. Thus, to my mind, this is an entirely new timeline (T4!) that we're heading towards now, and Brad and Kiera firing off the beacon have basically invited anyone FROM that future to come back and affect the past at a known crisis point.
[edit]
Turns out I'm definitely wrong here: the writer had an interview and basically said that the soldiers are indeed from Tompkin's time. So the implication here is that Kellogg was always going to end up in charge. Either way, the future is still very much on track for something similar to the one Tompkin knows, so... T3 is still a go


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## Lenny (Jun 24, 2014)

> (Quite how Alec's son, Jason, got sent back, I'm not yet sure... I don't think there's been any mention of how or when in the show, but I suppose it's possible he was just 'caught' in the travel of Liber8 and Kiera, just like her partner was.)



One of the second series episodes dealt with this - Jason and Warren (one of the Freelancers) were beneath the execution chamber when Liber8 used the TTD. I can't remember exactly what Jason was doing, but it was under the orders of Old Alec. Possibly Warren was trying to stop the time event, and Jason was there to make sure it happened.

---

Something we're both missing (and I'm also missing things like the Traveller), is Escher. We know he was part of the Freelancers (he's got the dots between his fingers), and I'm fairly sure we know he travelled back in time. If that's the case, then the timeline Kiera comes from (the one in which Alec Sadler is some Big Deal) is even further removed from the initial timeline - let *T0 *be the initial timeline, which is the Traveller's initial timeline. He jumps back, creating *T1*, and sets up the Freelancers. Escher joins the Freelancers at some point along *T1*, eventually jumps back and creates *T2*. In *T2*, Alec is born, grows up, creating SadTech (maybe even inheriting Piron at a point where he much better understands what he is doing), and the future that Kiera comes from.

So one extra timeline, at the very least. Who knows how many jumps Freelancers have made, and how many timelines that changed and created?

---

Do you have a link to the interview you mention in your edit?


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## ctg (Jun 24, 2014)

I still believe Kira and rest of the people around here, include ghost of old Alec are in the primary timeline, and when the events like for example Brad's soldier appear, new timeline splits off and fires towards that outcome with the copies of the humanity and universe, while we keep watching the primary timeline (t0). 

At times we get glimpses from Kira's and Brad's own timelines (t1 and t2), but we know next to nothing about freelancers, who might be living in all of them (t0 -> t2 ... tn) or then they are from their own one (t3), and the Traveller might be the Traveller, who has visiting all of them (t0 -> tn), but he is currently living at the present time, observing a fixed point in the (t0*), where (*) presents the notion of when Brad launched the beacon and allowed travellers from all time-dimension to travel if they're willing to do so. 


Why I'm saying all of this, even though I'm a firm believer of the multiverse theory, is because if you look closely, and study paused pictures, you start to notice all sorts of weird little hints in the notion of a time-travel. And it is clear to me that the Traveller has visited all of them or at least a large number of time-lines to see all sorts of possible outcomes. And it was his decision to resurrect Ched and give him instruction to clear out last resistance from the Freelancer, who acted in the primary timeline as  time-cops. And now that they're gone, everything is possible, and everyone who has a time-travel capability can travel towards the beacon to alter the course of their future. 

So, in my mind, Kira and Brad could setup another location and fire the beacon again, if they wanted to do so, and this time, bring in their own futuristic battle-brothers.  And they might do so as that would a create good drama, instead of using the single beacon location and sending in everyone that point of time.  


Anyway, Continuum continues surprising everyone and it keeps proving time after time that it is one of best time-travel series ever come out on the small screen, and it is shame that there are a large number of people out there, who know nothing about it.


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## Laeraneth (Jun 24, 2014)

> One of the second series episodes dealt with this - Jason and Warren (one of the Freelancers) were beneath the execution chamber when Liber8 used the TTD.



Oh yes... I remember that now! Thanks for the reminder 

I wish I could find the interview again (I only read it two hours ago!) but I can't for the life of me seem to find it now. I'm assuming i didn't just imagine it...

if I can find it later, I'll post it here.

Suffice to say, he all but confirmed the space-marine type soldiers were from Tompkin's time (he may be lying of course... if I were ever a show-runner, I'd probably lie my arse off about details like that, just to keep the audience guessing )

I think you make a good point about Escher. There is indeed every chance he was set there by the Freelancers (ergo, presumably, the Traveller) to push things in the direction he most wanted/needed.
Perhaps this season has been more about correcting the damage done by Alec hopping back a week (ie, Emily killing Escher) from the Travellers point of view, and installing someone of a similar mind at Piron?


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## Laeraneth (Jun 24, 2014)

Ah, finally!

‘Continuum’ Q&A: Simon Barry on “Last Minute” : The Loop


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## Lenny (Jun 24, 2014)

Whaddya know, that's an article I linked to a few posts above, regarding when we might hear about a renewal. I guess I must have skimmed past most of the content when I first, er, read the article.


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## Laeraneth (Jun 24, 2014)

Ha, now _I_ feel stupid for missing that!

(in my defence, I was writing the post from work )

Either way, great show. I really hope they do get a fourth season, lots of potential for full on 'open' sci-fi now.

... I'm not _entirely_ sure how I feel about that... but... I still want to see it


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## Dave (Aug 14, 2014)

Excellent final episode. Just when it looked like they had succeeded and nixed the two dystopian futures for something better...

Some spoilers...

Trying to prevent technology being invented is rather Luddite and futile. As usual with this series, it makes perfect sense that whether Evil Alec or Good Alec or Evil Kellogg is in charge, the technology will still be there for Saotech to develop.

The future Warriors that Brad invoked would likely come from his own Timeline?? I'm confused as to why the freelancer 'time-cops' don't have more muscle and were completely absent from this episode (considering the amount of timeline changing activity going on.) And wouldn't future Alec have foreseen this possible likelihood when he sent back Kira to prevent Liber8 and have planned for something further to happen (or has that future [Kira's original future] been completely erased with the death of the first Alec?)

I'm looking forward to the next Season, but the series is beginning to have a very different feel. We are no longer living in our present day with a handful of people from the future, and with the odd piece of future tech. Now we have a whole cast of future players, soldiers and renegades, two time machines that could bring even more, two suits, various weapons, and a company making future technology headed by a man from the future.

It feels like the difference between Stargate Season 1 and much later Seasons when they got Asgard technology. I like series set within present-day boundaries and restrictions. Too much tech is like magic and the story plotting can suffer as very little is impossible any more. It is also very hard to remember everything that has gone on. Like Laeraneth a few posts back, I had forgotten how Jason had got there.


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## Anthony G Williams (Aug 1, 2015)

I've now seen all of the third season, so this is my take on it:

At long last the third season of the Canadian time-travel serial has become available on DVD in the UK. To refresh your memories, this follows the efforts of Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) a 2077 "Protector" (paramilitary law officer), thrown back to the present day in an incident which also sends back members of Liber8, a terrorist organisation. Liber8 is fighting to stop major corporations from taking over the country and turning it into a police state, and in fleeing to the past hope to change history by preventing this from happening. Cameron, who despite being the heroine is working for that police state, is desperately trying to stop them since, if they were to succeed, the future she had left behind would vanish, destroying any hope that she might some day return to her husband and child.

The first two seasons are full of plot complexities as the Liber8 members subdivide while Cameron (aided by some high-tech hardware) tries to establish a new identity in the present day as a detective, despite being regarded with suspicion by her new colleagues. Another key figure is Alex Sadler, who in 2077 is an elderly industrialist of immense power and who seems to have something to do with the time-travelling incident. Cameron comes across him as a young computer geek in the present day (Erik Knudsen) and they work together to hunt down Liber8.

In the third season, even more complexity is added by a further leap back in time of only a week by Sadler and Cameron, which results in two of each of them sharing the same timeline. Also featuring are the Freelancers, a covert group with knowledge of the future who act to police time travel in order to prevent the kind of changes Liber8 want to make, and someone who appears to come from a very different alternative future. The original Sadler has inherited control of a large corporation and is trying to establish himself by introducing far-reaching technical innovations inspired by what he has learned from Cameron, while his double from the near future has a different agenda. The complexities pile up and both concentration and a good memory are required to keep track of everything that is going on, particularly since the scenes keep jumping between the present and the future – the latter to fill in more of Cameron's backstory. Meanwhile Cameron seems to be no closer to getting back to her home in the future – and the moral ambiguity which underlies the story becomes more marked, with indications that she is beginning to feel some sympathy with the aims of Liber8, as even more ruthless criminals emerge to fight for the corporations. In the final episode there is twist after twist in the plot, setting up what should be a dramatic final half-season of six episodes, due to show on Canadian TV this autumn.

The standard of the previous seasons is maintained, my only complaint being the lack of any of the flashes of humour that the serial started with. *Continuum* is still the best TV SF drama since *Fringe*, and provides top-class entertainment.

(An extract from my SFF blog: http://sciencefictionfantasy.blogspot.co.uk/)


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## Dave (Sep 13, 2015)

I've started a new thread for Season 4 here: https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/561340/

Just to keep the spoilers down. I've move some of your posts on S4 there in case you were wondering.


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