The fourth episode of Dark Matter Season 3, titled All the Time in the World, saw the series go into Groundhog Day territory via the good old temporal time-loop.
Three reveals he is experiencing a time-loop
Things start like any other day, except for Three its actually the same day — which he has experienced 12 times over.
When he tries to explain his experience of a time-loop to the Android and Two, they don’t believe him.
Even when he tries to explain to new crew members Solara and Adrian Maro, he winds up being punched out by Solara, which does nothing more but reset the loop.
All the time in the world
Having gone through the same day several more times, Three is still struggling to convince his fellow crew mates about his dilemma.
Android suggests that he try and do things differently every day to see if that helps him figure things out.
To this end, Three hooks himself up to the computer to try and talk to the computer composite of his dead girlfriend Sarah.
He finds this a little difficult at first and thinks better of it, but does eventually start to rebuild his relationship with her.
He then asks Solara and Adrian to tell him something that only they would know — his aim being to share the information with them when the loop resets again.
But he needs more, so asks Android the same question. She reveals to him that she can speak 100s of different languages and proceeds to teach him French while she works on repairing the ship.
This sees a fun scene in which Android and Three start singing French drinking songs.
The eureka moment
After much perseverance, Three finally manages to convince the crew that he has been experiencing the same day over and over.
The revelation comes at the breakfast table when he starts speaking in French.
At first they do not believe him, but when he describes the problem with the ship in fluent French the android is convinced.
Two, acting on this new information, decides that it would be wise to make a pit-stop for supplies.
Three opts to stay onboard the ship while the others board a trading outpost.
The phasing bounty hunter
While going about his business on the Raza two gets attacked by Ash, a bounty hunter who has been sent to retrieve the Blink Drive by Ryo Ishida.
When Ash shoots Three his day is reset once again.
Upon awaking, Three goes about the usual routine of the day, which involves convincing the others that he is still in a time loop.
He warns them about the bounty hunter and they proceed to come up with a plan to capture him.
It is Adrian that proves useful in the capture by hitting Ash with a brightly lit box.
When they do capture the bounty hunter, it is only for a short period of time.
His ability to phase and pass through solid matter seems to be internal and not a part of what he was wearing. This means Ash is able to escape.
He is not loose for long, though, and is eventually killed by the combined efforts of Solara and Three.
Temporal time box
Having hit Ash with the brightly lit box, Adrian has figured out that he is now also caught in a time loop.
He reveals this to Three and the others and the Android proceeds to investigate.
To this end, she figures out how to set the box so that she can go back in time by five minutes, but something goes seriously wrong and she winds up skipping back and forth through time.
She eventually skips so far forward to a point where she boards the Raza and meets up with Five who has aged by several decades.
Five tells Android that she needs to destroy the box.
Ending the loop
We skip back to the moment where Android says she is going to set the box to take her five minutes into the past. Instead of trying to figure it out, she destroys the box — which ends the loop.
We then skip to a scene in which Three once again hooks himself up to the computer to speak with the computer-generated consciousness of his dead girlfriend.
Ryo Ishida’s plans foiled
The death of Ash the bounty hunter means that Ishida’s plans have had a bit of a setback.
Two, upon learning about the bounty hunter, figured out how Ishida was tracking them and has cut the tracking device off, which means Ishida can no longer pinpoint where they are.
The final moment of the episode sees Ishida reporting back to someone, but we do not know who it is.
Final thoughts
This was a fun episode to watch. I loved Anthony Lemke’s performance as Three. He was the perfect character to choose to experience the time-loop.
The use of the time-loop was also a big gamble for the writers given that it is a device that has been used countless times in science fiction and fantasy shows.
Thankfully they managed use the plot device to good effect without making it seem like just another clone of Groundhog Day.
If anything, the use of it was a great way to get to know the two newer characters a little as well as build a little more on the character of Three.
The end of the episode presents us with somewhat of a mystery.
Who is Ishida, formally known as Four, reporting to? Is this version of Four from the parallel universe and reporting back to that universe?
Could this be why he is so determined to get hold of the Blink Drive?