As soon as any character in a sci-fi time travel story talks about predetermination, it becomes inevitable that the story's protagonist is going to overcome the odds to prove the indomitable power of the human spirit and the existence of free will. It's such a predictable well worn and tired sci-fi trope, and been done a million times before.
Which is why I was delighted when this series ended, and despite what I thought was a bleak nihilistic and sudden finale, it had managed to break the mould and challenge that expectation. I was perfectly happy to forgive all the questions and lose threads it left open, just because it was bold enough to be a bit different.
Unfortunately that was episode 6. And it turns out there's 8 episodes.
Of course those final two episodes took us to the completely predictable well trodden feel-good conclusion you would expect. And while doing so also did nothing to answer the paradoxes and questions the story had created along the way - if anything making them less clear, less well thought through, and more paradoxical. Plus adding some extra silly plot points to get us there (The Throat was completely unguarded?).
It's a shame, as the cast is good, there's some great moments, and it's got an intriguing concept. But it's let down by a predictable and unoriginal desire to give us the same easy happy ending heroic answer we always get - when it got so close to giving us something just a little different and more challenging.
I would have preferred an alternative timeline. If you want a pretty decent and original sci-fi, turn it off at the end of episode 6 and pretend someone's gone back in time to persuade them not to write the final two episodes.
Which is why I was delighted when this series ended, and despite what I thought was a bleak nihilistic and sudden finale, it had managed to break the mould and challenge that expectation. I was perfectly happy to forgive all the questions and lose threads it left open, just because it was bold enough to be a bit different.
Unfortunately that was episode 6. And it turns out there's 8 episodes.
Of course those final two episodes took us to the completely predictable well trodden feel-good conclusion you would expect. And while doing so also did nothing to answer the paradoxes and questions the story had created along the way - if anything making them less clear, less well thought through, and more paradoxical. Plus adding some extra silly plot points to get us there (The Throat was completely unguarded?).
It's a shame, as the cast is good, there's some great moments, and it's got an intriguing concept. But it's let down by a predictable and unoriginal desire to give us the same easy happy ending heroic answer we always get - when it got so close to giving us something just a little different and more challenging.
I would have preferred an alternative timeline. If you want a pretty decent and original sci-fi, turn it off at the end of episode 6 and pretend someone's gone back in time to persuade them not to write the final two episodes.