Kill Or Be Killed – Episode 2 resumes with Angus Medford (Ryan Adams) being rushed to Med Bay. Although Doctor Sanjivni Kabir (Shalini Peiris) is on her feet thanks to the assistance of Doctor Marsh (Jadran Malkovich), she doesn’t appear to be in much better condition, despite her saying otherwise. After briefly introducing Kimi Joma (Diana Bermudez), Captain Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke) doesn’t waste a second updating the Ark 1 crew on the deal they’ve brokered. James Brice (Richard Fleeshman) is just as quick to voice his concerns about trusting Joma’s crew but eventually takes the spare engineers to where they are needed. After the other are directed to security for intake, Jelena Griff (Tamara Radovanovic) shows up with William Trust (Paul Leonard Murray), who wants to help. Although Garnet is hesitant due to safety issues this time, she also eventually accepts his offer. The crew’s immediate concern becomes repairing the FTL Drive for more effective travel but that doesn’t look as if it is going to be too easy.
When Alicia Nevins (Stavey Read) voices her concern with Kelly Fowler’s (Samantha Glassner) presence in Med Bay, it leads to Dr. Marsh revealing the truth behind the bomb inside her. Apparently, Evelyn Maddox (Jelena Stupljanin) was using it as a fail-safe while trying to engineer the perfect human/soldier.
That discovery and Kelly being Evelyn’s daughter is brought to the attention of the rest of the Ark 1 crew when they meet to vote on giving the Ark 15 personnel unfettered access to Ark 1. Being Felix Strickland (Pavle Jeerinic) and Brice are uncomfortable with Joma even attending the meeting, the decision is divided. Despite this, it is ultimately decided to open Ark 1 completely to them. Kelly is a different story and although practically everyone wants to airlock her, they settle for a trial. The immediate problem becomes finding unbiased participants. Dr. Marsh initially refuses to act as defense counsel but eventually agrees.
After a bit of bickering at another council meeting one of the head engineers, Eva Markovic (Tiana Upcheva), suggests returning to the damaged Ark 3 ship to get the components they need to repair Ark 1’s FTL Drive. Despite the colossal risk and being that the FTL jump is the only way they can make it to Trappisst 1D, the course of action is decided. Even with repair components, Felix points out that repairing the drive will require a spacewalk.
When Felix and Garnet later take on the colossal task, Angus and Alicia’s relationship continues to grow. Neither of these scenarios go well thanks to Angus’ fainting and Felix getting flung into the atmosphere. Things don’t appear to be going much better for Jelena when she learns that William is reassigning her from security to medical. Her opinion later changes when he points out that both Kelly and Dr. Marsh will be in the medical area.
While cleaning out one of the crew member’s cabins, Garnet discovers a tablet hidden behind a Cat Call poster that leads to her learning about the Juno Project. Much to her surprise, William puts up zero resistance and even logs her onto the Juno Network when she confronts him with the discovery. All this ultimately leads to her learning that the Network is nothing more than a super high-tech social network that links the Ark’s members with their most genetically compatible counterparts. The data, however, is no longer usable since the Ark’s population dropped below 132 survivors. The merge with Ark 15 does open the door for more possibilities but Garnet isn’t at all interested in pursuing that.
Garnet later shares her Juno Network discovery with Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie) while they examine the damaged bridge. This leads to an awkwardly brief discussion about love and dating but it is interrupted only moments later with the news of the start of Kelly’s trial. Although Kelly immediately pleads guilty, Dr. Marsh convinces her to give him a chance to defend her.
The trial opens with Felix calling Jumo to the stand where he questions her about Maddox attacking the other Arks. According to Jumo, Maddox led her crew to believe that the Ark had been taken over by the Eastern Federation members. Despite the fact that Jumo began to suspect Maddox was misleading them, she did everything within her power to ensure that Jumo never got the proof she needed to confirm her suspicions. This was until a boarding party never returned from the Ark 3. Jumo attempted to lead a rescue party but Maddox would only send Kelly and two of her most trusted guards.
When Kelly is called to testify, only a portion of the truth is revealed because she claims she can’t remember. This adds to Felix’s outrage and Dr. Marsh’s suggestion that they tap into Kelly’s implants and pull the memories. This only confuses things future because the memories suggest that after Ross (Aleksandar Stoimenovski) was attacked on Ark 3, he practically took over Kelly’s body via her implants, giving her superhuman-like strength at the same time.
It is at this time that Garnet ends the trial to consider the verdict. She ultimately comes back with a guilty decision but doesn’t feel that Kelly deserves the death penalty because of Maddox’s cruel treatment and implants. Although Kelly claims she’d rather be put to death, Garnet decides to have her locked away while Dr. Marsh studies the implants. While Garnet introduces Kelly to what will be her new home for the unforeseeable future as the rest of the engineers finish repairing the FTL drive. By the time Garnet arrives, they are ready for the jump.
Although the crew makes the jump, the episode ends with what appears to be a mysterious bolt of electricity creeping through the Ark.
The Ark Review
The episode was decent but could have been better. The characters are mostly unlikable due to how poorly they are written. The plot is juvenile and at times cringeworthy. It is a mere attempt to produce a quality sci-fi series on a budget. The episode deserves a 4.5 out of 10.
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