Title: Give it up, Princess
Director: J.B. Sugar
Writers: Create by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Written by Joseph Mallozzi
Starring: Melissa O’Neil, Anthony Lemke, Alex Mallari Jr., Jodelle Ferland, Roger Cross, Zoie Palmer, Ayisha Issa, Misha Thebaud
Episode length: 42 minutes
Network: Syfy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What starts as a simple mission to find a data file gets complicated and sends the Raza crew on several voyages into enemy territory.
The series is still back on track after last week’s solid episode we have another of the sort this series excels at, a dangerous heist that might alter the course of the war. As often happens in this series, a plan goes south, this time with the life of a woman at stake, and when it does the team pulls together and pulls out a win. Also this time around we get better acquainted with Adrian and Solara
Also, this time around we get better acquainted with Adrian and Solara as circumstances reveal just what sorts of people we are dealing with here. A new dynamic is developing on this show that reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation it concerns the question of characters that regularly save everybody’s ass. Like Wesley Crusher and Commander Data in that other series, we have that duty being shared by Five and Android (in her upgraded persona) A pattern is emerging that they are the ones who always pull the asses of the others out of the fat. In fact, Android surprised me by her ability to improvise this time around while Five seemed out of ideas.
Surprisingly there’s no mention of the Blink Drive this time around. For such an important facet of the series story to go unmentioned, is a little perplexing.
(*Warning Spoilers to Follow*)
As the episode begins, we find Five getting better acquainted with Solara who agrees to pick up teaching Five self-defense where Four’s lessons left off. Solara reveals she learned martial arts in a monastery where they took a vow never to use their skills on people. The vow got all of her fellow monks killed. Solara took revenge breaking her promise in the process, making her into a sort of Ronin.
Her story offers a fascinating glimpse into the galaxy they live in populated by religious sects and the people that provide support for them
Things get started when Adrian wants to make a phone call to one of Tabor’s safe houses, see if anything useful can is there. Ambrosia, Tabor’s girlfriend answers and is in distress. It is worth noting that both Five and Three responded to that with “Tabor’s got a girlfriend?!” It’s a question worth asking because she’s closer to what you would call a professional escort. She’s being held hostage by a competitor of Tabor named Goren (Michael Bisping). He demands that Adrian brings him a particular file that Tabor had in his possession. Adrian thinks it’s weird because the file they are asking for was deemed useless by Tabor, a few random items and information on something called Project Phoenix.
The name catches Two’s attention as Phoenix was the code name for Ferrous Corp, a ship manufacturing facility that has the potential to change the entire course of the corporate war almost instantly. She makes a deal with Adrian; he will give the file over to The Raza, and in exchange, they will rescue Ambrosia. The Android scans the area where Tabor would have hidden the file, and it looks abandoned, making it an easy task to pick up the file, but of course that when things get complicated. The first location they look for the file is has been abandoned and destroyed reduced to a floating cloud of debris.
It turns out Tabor always kept backups, and all that’s needed is a quick trip to a space station to open a safety deposit box. The only problem the location is deep in Ferrous territory, but the station’s crew is on Tabor’s payroll. The plan is taking Five a to get past the security code making it a quick and easy errand. Immediately arrested upon their arrival things are not going as planned. It turns out Tabor fell behind in his payments of the bribes that kept the station personnel loyal. Adrian proves himself loyal to the Raza crew when offered a chance to leave if he will sell them out. He refuses.
It’s Android to the rescue as she dons her upgrade persona along ith a sexy dress and high heels that serve to make her a sufficient distraction for all the lonely men stationed there. She is overtly flirtatious and then proceeds to kick everyone’s ass in the place. After all that it turns out what they are looking for isn’t there. The rescue was a delightfully amusing segment of the of the episode.
Adrian has got one last trick up his sleeve; Tabor has a super secret hidden storage facility. If any other copies of that file exist, that is where it’ll be. Though it’s a long shot, they don’t have anything else to go off of, so it’s worth a shot. I mean what else could go wrong for the crew in trying to track down this damn file? Sure enough, Tabor does have a storage facility here, cash, goods, all types of things hidden away. For the size of the stash, it sure was easy for them to get it. Almost, too easy. And just like that Adrian, Two, and Solara are all trapped inside of a force field, being watched over by a security android who is required to hold them there until Tabor arrives. Tabor hasn’t been there in over three months so it could be a long wait.
Android comes to the rescue once again, showing the other Android that there is so much more he could be, what his real potential is. She’s still got her upgrade in of course, and she is close to talking him down when Three stuns him instead. She leaves him an upgrade chip of his own, so he can decide on his own when he wakes back up. And the crew is finally in possession of this impossible file.
Long story short they attempt to trade the file for Ambrosia who it turns out is in league with her captor who she betrays and kills on the spot. She is about to kill Adrian too when the rest of the Raza crew prevents her from carrying out her evil lying bimbo plans. They have been unable to decrypt the contents of the file, but it turns out the key to opening it is in a locket around Ambrosia’s neck. Poetic and ironic justice for the treacherous woman.
It turns out the file does lead them to the location of the secret ferrous shipyard, but the ships are gone. It turns out they are part of an ambush that did significant damage to the forces of Zairon.
The episode also includes a visit to Ryo (aka Four) and the Zairon war. The war is not going well. Zairon has lost a crucial battle including the loss of the valuable resources of ships and men. During a ceremony to review recent graduates from his military academy an attempt on Rypoo’s life is caught and prevented by Misaki. It seemed a little too convenient, but it was not clear if she had engineered the entire incident to make herself to be seen by the increasingly paranoid and frustrated Ryo in a more favorable light.
One thing is clear Misaki is bat shit crazy nd has her agenda going on that may even include putting herself on the throne. She’s a ticking time-bomb, and Ryo doesn’t seem to notice. [review]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss3BPjXOypc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMRu1zuwQM