As a seasoned sci-fi enthusiast who has seen countless space odysseys, I must say that The Ark has undoubtedly carved out a niche for itself among the stars. The emotional depth and complexity of the characters, particularly Garnet and Ian, have been nothing short of captivating. Their journey from comatose to dream-living together for decades, only to return to their physical selves after mere hours, is an intriguing premise that few shows would dare to explore.
Following the death of a major character on “The Ark” during last week’s Season 2 episode, this week’s installment, titled “It Should Have Been You,” focuses on how the remaining characters deal with their most significant loss to date. The storyline takes unexpected turns as Captain Sharon Garnet (played by Christie Burke) and the rest of the Ark One team grapple with the aftermath.
In this rephrased version, the text conveys that the characters are deeply saddened by the death of Lt. Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie), as demonstrated by a solemn funeral at the beginning of the episode. Garnet and the rest of the crew are struggling with their emotions following his passing. A devoted and courageous team member, Lane gave up his life in the previous week’s intense episode of The Ark to foster peace between his own spaceship group and the dangerous Eastern Federation faction.
After Lane’s departure, the team is feeling subdued but they decide to focus on their primary objective this week: navigating the Ark One ship through faster-than-light (FTL) travel with the help of their new Eastern Federation allies, whom Lane had connected us with. The two spaceships aim to meet outside the Trappist planet system, a location where the remnants of Earth’s nearly extinct humanity will attempt to establish a new home and rebuild.
Without a doubt, excitement kicks off immediately in this week’s episode that packed an emotional punch. Garnet and the latest team recruit Ian (the character resembling Lane, played by Ritchie, who joined Ark One earlier this season) find themselves separated from the group, placing Lt. Brice (Richard Fleeshman) at the helm of the ship. Meanwhile, an unexpected pairing in space finds itself embarking on a curious journey that seems to be heading towards… matrimony?
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Coma buddies: How Garnet and Ian get trapped in time on The Ark
This week, events took an unexpected turn for the worse. The Eastern Federation’s vessel successfully jumped into hyperspace using FTL technology, while our own spaceship, Ark One, struggled to engage its FTL drive effectively. Suddenly, the malfunctioning FTL system emitted a bright blue flash, causing a power surge and discharging lightning bolts onto three crew members – Garnet, Ian, and Dr. Marsh (Jadran Malkovich). As a result, all three are now in a deep coma, from which they have yet to regain consciousness.
From Garnet’s perspective and her two seemingly comatose companions, things aren’t as others might think: They perceive themselves not as patients in the actual Ark One’s medical bay, but rather transplanted into an alternate version of the Ark One. This alternate Ark One is devoid of people (apart from themselves) and is isolated, with no means of communication to the rest of their crew, who, for some strange and unexplained reason, have inexplicably disappeared.
It transpires that Marsh’s premature tap-out provides Garnet and Ian with crucial insight into the actual events unfolding: This is due to some underhanded actions by Evelyn Maddox (a cunning former commander of Marsh), which took place off-screen during Season 1. As a result, Marsh possesses a hidden brain implant that malfunctions while he’s in a coma on the genuine Ark One. This unforeseen incident not only awakens him from his coma but also erases him from Garnet and Ian’s reality within their alternate Ark One.
After Marsh vanished mysteriously, Garnet and Ian found themselves the last ones left aboard the Ark One. They were puzzled by his disappearance and started pondering if something could’ve transpired involving all three of them on the actual Ark One. They recalled the FTL flash but didn’t remember feeling the impact of its energy, leading them to surmise that they might be stuck in a dreamlike state while their true selves were unconscious back on the real Ark One.
Additionally, outside the main-deck window of their alternate reality spacecraft, there appears a colossal wormhole – rest assured, it’s just part of a dream! Ian, an engineer by profession, proposes that the group’s mysterious coma-inducing accident might be related to their bizarre resurrection on an empty Ark One drifting in the farthest reaches of the universe. As such, he and Garnet, now the only two aboard their mirror ship, pledge to do everything within their power to assist their friends on the genuine Ark One in regaining consciousness from what seems to be a coma.
The Ark‘s dream logic: Does Garnet really fall in love, grow old… and die?!
In Garnet and Ian’s shared dream world, time moves at an entirely different pace compared to their reality in the coma, a point emphasized vividly in this week’s episode through contrasting action scenes. The episode effectively demonstrates how it appears as if days, weeks, or even years are passing for the stranded couple, while merely hours are actually elapsing on the actual Ark One.
In their surreal state, days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and eventually years for Garnet and Ian, while their physical bodies lie in the non-dreaming medical bay of Ark One. Meanwhile, in reality, only a few hours pass but viewers catch up with Garnet and Ian spaced out over several decades. Initially, we notice some fine lines on their skin; later, we see hints of silver hair; and by the end of the episode, the dream counterparts of Garnet and Ian appear decidedly older – sporting grey, frazzled hair, deeply etched wrinkles, and eyes that hold a wisdom born of time.
In addition to becoming more tender, those eyes have developed a sense of affection too. With no other companions but themselves, Garnet and Ian eventually develop feelings for each other – an interesting plot development that allows Garnet, in her dreams at least, to move past her sorrow over the tragic loss of Lt. Lane. After all, Ian and Lane are identical clones, and although Ian is friendlier and less tense than his late lab brother, he carries many traits reminiscent of Lane that draw Garnet towards him during their long years spent in isolation together.
As time passes, it’s evident that the occurrences in the dream world involving Garnet and Ian might not be confined to the dream realm when normalcy resumes. However, the question remains: how much of these experiences will they retain, and how much will be lost or intentionally suppressed? Moreover, it is intriguing to ponder where Garnet’s identity boundary lies between Ian and Lane – two clones who have unique abilities and impact her life significantly.
Jonathan Glassner, the showrunner and executive producer, mused during this week’s post-show webcast of After the Ark. He pondered, ‘Your mind insists it was just a few hours… but your feelings whisper it was all those years.’ The question arises, which side takes precedence? We know how Ian chooses, but Garnet is torn. I want them to be united – yet, I’m not the audience; I’m the storyteller!
Wait — Did Garnet actually get married on The Ark?
In a charmingly peaceful and heartwarming manner, the leisurely progression of dream-Garnet and dream-Ian’s love story unfolds as they patiently await their awakenings from their real-life comas. In this fantastical realm, they express their blossoming affection for each other and, indeed, arrange an unexpected wedding (with Ian playfully stating that he would need to adopt Garnet’s surname since he currently doesn’t have one, jokingly referring to a lab clone.)
If a space-married duo is genuinely dreaming, it’s quite peculiar that they’re both having an identical dream, isn’t it? However, on the actual Ark One, Marsh along with his brain implant have come up with a solution: A mysterious power surge that caused their coma altered something in Marsh’s implant. The only possible way to wake up the real Garnet and Ian may be by connecting Marsh’s extracted implant chip to both their brain activities.
In essence, Garnet and Ian’s dream selves understand that their shared dream experience necessitates a drastic action from both of them to assist the medical team aboard Ark One in reviving them from their coma. While they are contentedly married and well into their golden years, they aren’t thrilled about the prospect of death… yet they recognize that dying within their dream might be the sole means of exchanging their dream consciousness for a potential awakening of their real bodies back on the actual Ark One.
In the final moments of that episode, a torrent of emotions swept over me as the older versions of Garnet and Ian shared a heartfelt embrace. “This isn’t genuine,” Garnet said, trying to fortify us both for what was coming next, but it seemed so authentic – like we had truly spent our golden years together in this dream world: “It feels incredibly real to me,” I murmured back, “and incredibly precious.
Next, the pair climb into the airlock of their alternate Ark One spacecraft, resolute on exiting into the cosmos and bringing an end to their lives, which by now have been richly lived in harmony. If successful, their astral selves will cease to exist – but they’ll reawaken with complete awareness on the genuine Ark One, though neither has a clue about how much time has actually elapsed.
Without a doubt, and thanks to Marsh’s suggestion of the shared-network implant, Garnet and Ian miraculously wake up together on the genuine Ark One. Although it seems like years have elapsed in their dream world, they’ve merely been unconscious for 36 hours on the Ark One. With reality restored, an intriguing question arises: How much of their dream-filled decades do Garnet and Ian recall? There isn’t a clear answer; however, as Garnet glances over to find she has unconsciously held Ian’s hand, it’s evident that she has a great deal to ponder over: “Could we maybe not discuss it?” she pleads.
At the end of the show, Garnet wept over a picture of Lane, muttering “It ought to have been you,” while dealing with his recent demise and possibly cherished recollections of their lifetime spent together in blissful marriage with his clone. Burke shared with After the Ark that this week’s episode is her most beloved among all episodes from both seasons, expressing her feelings as “We all simply wanted to create something truly captivating: ‘Let’s just make something incredibly beautiful!’
…”In my view, we all touched on something deeply personal, perhaps about coping with loss and the healing process of death and sorrow – and love, indeed, is the path forward,” Burke shared. “This experience means a great deal to me. I can hardly believe I got to be part of this on SYFY, and that Madeline wrote such an exceptional episode… not to mention, I had the chance to play an 80-year-old character – and that was quite strange!
Other Happenings About The Ark
As the final two episodes of Season 2 approach, this week’s episode of The Ark brings Garnet and Ian out of their comas, perfectly timed for the Ark One to repair its FTL drive (no more blue lightning) and team up with their new Eastern Federation allies on a lengthy space voyage en route to the Trappist planet system. Even these allies returned to ensure Garnet and Ian were alright!
During this week’s episode, Alicia and Angus (Stacey Read and Ryan Adams) officially became a couple after overcoming their geeky and awkward relationship. Interestingly, Brice offered advice to Angus on enhancing his romantic skills in the bedroom. However, where he may be lacking in that area, Angus is excelling in mixing cocktails at home using spirits distilled from the bio-shelter. This newfound talent for creating cocktails might just serve as a powerful bonding agent among friendships.
In the meantime, Brice is now eager to pass on command of the Ark One back to Garnet, having spent much of the episode under pressure and meticulously overseeing everyone’s tasks. However, it appears that both Brice and William Trust (Paul Murray) are evolving right in front of us: Brice begins to listen to some constructive advice, learning to trust the crew to manage themselves, while Trust, despite his air of intellectual superiority, chooses to step down from his high pedestal and offer assistance to the engineering team.
After facing some setbacks, will the spacecraft “Ark One” successfully navigate its course to the Trappist system, a destination that holds the dream of our team to establish a human colony? Don’t miss the latest episodes from Season 2 of The Ark, airing every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on SYFY. To get up-to-speed on the entire series, head over to Peacock now as all 12 Season 1 episodes are currently streaming.
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2024-09-19 19:17