Continuum - SpoilerTV review - Excellent Sci-Fi Series with Deep Mythology

2077 - After governments went bankrupt corporations have taken over the world and taken away freedoms and human rights, turning the world into slaves to the corporate congress. The main opposition to this is a group called Libert8, who will pay any price, including blowing up hundreds of thousands of innocents in order to kill just 20 targets.

The leaders of this group are arrested and are to be executed, but during the execution they use a devise to travel through time back to 2012, our protagonist Kiera (Rachel Nichols), one of their guards, attempts to stop them and is taken back with them to the present time leaving her family behind in the future, Kiera has a powerful weapon a futuristic body suit armed with an array of powerful gadgets and weapons.

The terrorists are out to destroy the corporations that will one day take over the world by any means necessary. The series asks the question of how far would you go and how much would you pay for the greater good, and who is the real good guy Kiera or Liber8?

In the present Kiera makes herself a key ally in Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen) a teenage tech genius who will one day grow up to create the technology her world is built upon, in the future he is played by none other than the X-Files' William B. Davis.

Kiera goes undercover at the Vancouver Police Department. They have the resources and database access she needs to help her track the gang of criminals. Working with front line cops, Kiera is positioned best to hear about whatever it is the gang have planned and hopefully intervene. Kiera finds herself partnered with Detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster).

The series had excellent acting all around, Tony Amendola and Roger R. Cross give extremely powerful performances as the leaders of Libert8. The series has a very serious tone but Rachel Nichols and Erik Knudsen attempt to inject some humor into the show in contrast with the rest of the cast who mostly play their roles dead serious. The pacing is very fast and there are plenty of action scenes but the highlight of the show is it's deep mythology and ethical questions. We rediscover our freedoms in the present through Kiera who grew up in the restrictive corporate society.

Continuum can be easily compared to FOX's Alcatraz given the similar concept of tracking down criminals from another time, but Continuum has stronger story execution than Alcatraz taking a faster pace, and giving us an understanding of the escaped convicts' back story, organization and motivation from the start with a much smaller number of convicts all of whom we are introduced to in the first episode.

Viewers must keep in mind that this is a budget Canadian cable series and not expect mind blowing effects, i have not seen the final version of the pilot and alot of the effects and sound were just temporary but it seemed like its effects would be better than Showcase's Lost Girl.

On the whole, Continuum is most definitely one of the best series of the year and a must watch for any Sci-Fi fan. Continuum has all the makings of a hit and is likely to prove a huge success for Showcase.

Continuum premieres on Showcase on May 27th.