Spoilers ahead. Make sure you are caught up all the way through episode #6 before reading further.
In Episode 6, we are treated to insight into Nyx’s backstory. Hailing from a race of pre-cog’s, we leave with a host of questions, while also getting many answered along the way. Left with few prospects, Two decides that the crew needs to mount up and take on a job. One of their own genesis rather than plying a corporation or Tabor Calcheck for a gig. When Two asks the crew if they have any ideas, it’s Nyx who steps up and offers a lucrative target. Little does the crew know that she has ulterior motives that serve her own needs and not only those of the Raza’s crew.
Another good episode in the can. It was going to be tough no matter what to come off the emotional high of episode #5. Watching Two go through the emotional and moral turmoil before making the final decision to execute Jay Corso…a twisting knot of a plot strategy that paid off exquisitely. How do you top that? I suggested in our recent Dark Matter podcast that there is an architecture to this Season’s overall arc, a tick-tock approach that would see the show hitting big drum beats of unpacking the main crew’s storyline, and then quick snare hits of expanding on the adjunct crew’s back stories. And that’s exactly what we got here. Hence the show avoids the need of needing to top the previous episode, giving us time to relax and process the events of episode 5 while consuming the tick of Nyx’s backstory.
Wherein I got to see another one of my theories pan out. That Nyx is not another genetically engineered being akin to Two, but is some kind of mystic. OK, so my theory was not entirely correct. She’s a psychic. Or more specifically a pre-cog, if you will. Which is how she gains her incredible combat ability. But she’s not a second ahead of her foes, she is more like a full minute, apparently seeing the entire upcoming combat sequence and how the enemy will respond unfold before the engagement even starts. Rad.
The nice touches in this episode: we got to see Three and Six somewhat mend their differences, at least as well as can be expected. More than that really, as I was genuinely surprised to see Three offer Six the space and time to prove himself as regretful of his past actions as a Galactic Authority cop. And it was very welcome to see Six back at the helm of the Marauder. Honestly, watching Three pilot the Raza’s shuttle is like watching my old friend from New Jersey pilot his Celica GT. More like an uncontrolled bullet-shot than any notion of how any sane person drives a car.
Fellow GWW writer and podcast host Dave Pecci and I are both anxiously awaiting the episode that focuses on Devon’s story and how he became an addict. I’m still not certain which crew 
member will be the intervention focal point. The obvious money would be on Five. But a more stern intervention by Two, Four, or Three would be interesting as part of the conflict. Better honestly, seeing one of the more hardcore crew members take a compassionate approach might be the most rewarding unfold. Or maybe even the Android with the emotion chip enabled. At any rate, we got to see glimpses of Devon’s continuing addiction this episode. His one scene did not place any of the crew in danger, but I am sure that is coming.
Nyx’s backstory and the concluding vignette was solid, if not breath-sucking. It is the one aspect of this story that fell with a bit less oomph than it might have had we not seen the Corso murder last episode. The most intriguing aspect? Was that Nyx’s plan when she specifically went out of her way engender Four to spend some one-on-one time getting to know her brother? As a pre-cog, did she foresee that Four would offer Milo the way out of taking an honorable death by taking his own life to prevent the race of future seers from tapping into his superior pre-cog ability? The unfortunate conundrum this leaves me with is wondering whether or not we’ll ever see this race again? With Milo gone, is there any real need for them to come after Nyx? They had not taken up feet and hyperspace to track her down to this point, so maybe she is off the radar?
Two has her own giri to contend with, as she falters under the notion that she is just as predictable as any human. That while she possesses superior physical abilities, she is not better as a leader against a race that can predict the future than any other might be. In the end, the crew’s resolution is to just give up, and to give up Milo, more specifically. Four would have been the only one who would have known that there was perhaps a successful resolution possible, in the hands of Milo himself. Four and maybe Nyx. Maybe. But the issue remains: what will happen the next time Two’s leadership is similarly challenged? In that vein, I certainly do hope that the Raza encounters the pre-cog race again. If only for Two whoop their ass with a superior intellect, and to pull a Captain Kirk, whose unpredictability would most certainly have won the day. With the help of the logical but also also unpredictable Spock.
This episode was a great tick. Now I’m ready for a tock. Did the crew get enough of the drug skim to make some solid cash when they sell it? Are we in for a space station episode? Feels like it. This truck keeps rolling with a solid pace. Who says summer TV can’t be great? Not this guy.
Until next episode, give a listen to Dave and I discussing episodes three through five in our latest episode of What You Can’t See: a Dark Matter podcast.